October 2009
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Day October 8, 2009

Entries 2 Total

All Fired Up

Oct 8, 09 8:28 PM

I’ve already posted today, but I just got a piece of news that I cannot ignore. As a member of the Fire/Rescue/EMS community, I have a passion for fire safety and prevention. I’ve studied fire science and love the subject. I’ve seen many fires destroy homes that could have been prevented, lives upended by people who don’t educate themselves about the dangers of fire.

The US Department of Homeland Security has a grant program with a cap of $35M called the Fire Prevention & Safety Grant. The maximum grant allowed is $1M per organization. It’s a part of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program; the aim is to help fire departments acquire equipment, training for firefighters and education for the public. In Louisiana last month, some genius at DHS awarded nearly the full amount allowed to…wait for it…WAIT FOR IT…

ACORN.

WTF?!?

I literally fell out of my chair when I read this a few minutes ago. It wasn’t news at the time because it was kept on the down-low. So was last year’s awarded grants, nearly HALF of which went to ACORN. That organization does absolutely nothing–nothing!–to further fire safety or prevention education whatsoever, and their mission statement never goes into it. So what the hell is anyone doing awarding a first-responders grant to ACORN?

Janet Napolitano, who used to be my state’s governor (don’t ask me how), refused to comment to the media. She had her spokesman say that they will respond directly to Louisiana State Senator Vitter–because “we don’t respond to correspondence through the media.” Translation: we’re not going to do anything to make ourselves look any more stupid than we already have.

Newsflash, Napolitano–you’re just about too late.

A small-town fire department in Louisiana applied for a paisley $120,000 in grant funds to buy smoke detectors for low-income families in the wake of a home fire that killed four kids. They lost that grant to ACORN. Many fire departments lost grant money to ACORN for no visible reason. A similar thing happened last year–we wasted more than $450,000 in the same grant fund on ACORN, and that was during the Bush years! Who the hell makes these decisions?

I wasn’t able to find out. There’s little to nothing on the webpage, except a suggestion to email the program’s directorate. There’s little to no information available on the decision process–who gets what. Bureaucracy in action.

It took exactly minutes from the time that the news broke on firerescue1.com for the Obama administration to suddenly sit up and notice the incredible flub. They’ve now said that ACORN will receive none of these funds.

My problem isn’t that their funding wasn’t cut soon enough. According to government sources, as soon as the sting videos were posted and Congress voted to cut their funding, DHS followed suit to revoke the grants they’d been awarded. What galls me is that a grant for first responders–money meant to help firefighters, paramedics and dispatchers make their communities safer through fire prevention and safety education–was ever awarded to ACORN at all. They’re not involved in educating the public about fire prevention. They don’t have any fire experts in their employ. So how did this happen?

It shouldn’t have. They never should have gotten a dime of that money, not last year, and sure as hell not this year. The idea that a group completely uninvolved in public safety won such a massive amount of money supposedly for that sole purpose has got me all fired up, and I’m not letting this one go.

I’ve shot an email to DHS and FEMA reps. I’ll let you know what I get in response.

Comments (5)

Obama to Taliban: Let’s Make A Deal!

Oct 8, 09 2:00 PM

Democrats are saying some amazing things right now…and they’re ensuring their pending demise with their words. Today, it’s come out that President Obama is talking about only sending enough extra troops to Afghanistan to effectively fight Al-Qaeda. Worse yet, he’s talking about making the Taliban “a partner in the political process.”

I’m sorry…since when did we recognize any difference between Al-Qaeda and the Taliban?

They may go by different names, but in ideals they are the same. They both believe that America is the great satan. They both believe that jihad needs to be carried out against America. The Taliban may be a government while Al Qaeda is a paramilitary organization, but I can’t tell where one begins and the other ends. And I cannot believe that we’re talking about actually trying to make a deal with the Taliban.

The Taliban gave Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda shelter, resources, and the ability to train for jihad. They helped 9/11 happen. While I may agree that we needed to have a better plan before taking action against Iraq, we should have taken out the Taliban before they got a foothold back in the 80′s. There was no excuse for allowing them to take power. We have pictures and video of human rights violations that make my blood run cold, and our President wants to make a deal?

I don’t suppose this has anything to do with his Muslim upbringing. Or his desire to find some way to apologize to the world.

I hear liberals all day telling me how even the war in Afghanistan is wrong and needs to end. It’s their culture, they say. It’s not up to us to tell other people how to live.

This is where Philip goes, “Oh, REALLY?”

If it’s not our job to tell anyone how to live, then what’s the point of hate crimes legislation (which, by the way, you’ll get your wish for today when Congress votes to add sexual orientation to the list)? If we don’t have any right to tell anybody else what’s right and wrong, then why do we as a society have any laws to begin with? If it’s not up to us to determine what constitutes a punishable human rights violation, then what the hell gives you the right to call waterboarding torture? And please, explain to me WHY you’re demanding a global response to the genocide in Darfur. Explain this to me. Tell me why Israel is so wrong for doing what they do and defending themselves, why you’re so ready to support Palestinian suicide bombers.

If it is not our business what another nation does because that’s their culture, then why do you point fingers at us here at gayconservative and say that we must be a group of self-loathing closet cases and liken us to Jews trying to be Nazis?

You can’t have it both ways. Either there’s a clear right and wrong and we’re willing to stand up for it or everything is gray and there should be no societal law.

Oh, and I have to point this one out, too–GOP members issued a statement about the kerfuffle over the proposed troop surge in Afghanistan, saying, “If Nancy Pelosi’s failed economic policies are any indicator of the effect she may have on Afghanistan, taxpayers can only hope McChrystal is able to put her in her place.”

Pelosi, on cue, made it a women’s rights issue and was completely aghast that Republicans would dare make such a statement. She just couldn’t believe that they’d say that to the first woman speaker of the house, and she hasn’t heard that language in decades.

Get a clue, Pelosi. We don’t give a damn what’s in your jockeys. What we care about is the fact that you have zero military experience and no concern whatsoever for what’s best for our nation and the future. That comment had nothing at all to do with your gender, so please, quit trying to make this a civil rights game. You’re proving that you’re incapable of using your brain to respond intelligently. You’re only playing politics, the same partisan game you accuse Republicans of.

One more thing…if any Republican had done what Charlie Rangel has, you’d be calling for his head. You’ve done it for far lesser offenses. Once we take the reins, you can bet your gender- and race-baiting ass he’ll answer for what he’s done.

Comments (7)
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