Well, I have been spending a lot of time with doctors the last few days so I am sorry that the blog has not been well-updated, but you are not missing much.The Mayor of Galveston asked everyone that is not in town to stay out, and asked everyone still in town to leave. She strikes me as a strong woman and I like her. I feel bad for her as well; this is going to be a long and hard road and she looks very tired already.
Reports and statistics on Ike seem to be plentiful and most of them crap. If you want more storm surge than CNN reported, just go to FOX. If you want the death toll, flip through the channels 'til you find a number that suits you. I have resorted to talking to folks actually there and watching the press conferences in Louisiana, Texas and surrounding states.
Can you tell I am in a mood today?
Here comes more!
The error-plagued disaster food stamp program announced today in Louisiana that 22,000 applicants got double payments, while nearly 33,000 eligible applicants still await benefits.
Once again, we see the flaws in systems that should become a priority during what I call “peacetime”; the days or months when we have no disasters.
I will give you an example of a peacetime project that I think should get some attention:
For three years now, as I have toured, FEMA has done an excellent job of supplying me with disaster recovery booklets, brochures and handouts for my events. We have distributed tens of thousands of pieces of this literature, yet, everytime I ask if there is ANYTHING hurricane related, I am told that it is being discussed, but there is no educational materials available yet. 3 years!
Now, of course, I know we could give a grant to some University and have hurricane preparedness materials right away, except for one thing…
Four years ago I requested earthquake preparedness materials. A grant had been awarded an organization to create these materials, and yet I was told that they were not available. I was told I could get a single copy and duplicate the 4000 pieces I needed with my own money. ARE YOU KIDDING? I got the single brochure, a tri-fold on colored pastel 20lb paper. It had 6 to 8 typos in it, and a poor piece of clipart on the cover.
Lets discuss the business continuity program offered through a University on behalf of The Department of Homeland Security, paid for by government funding that was SO incomplete I had to create over 24 pages on my own just to use it!
I am not surprised that the Emergency Food Stamp Program is not working.
According to the latest report, a "computer program error" caused the duplicate benefits, but it has been corrected. As of 3 p.m. Today, the department processed 334,000 applications for emergency food stamps, which were initiated after Hurricane Gustav evacuations strained budgets and widespread power outages spoiled food left behind in refrigerators and freezers.
I know, Food Stamps conjure up an image of people “sucking off the government” to many, but this program is not like that. If you have been through a hurricane or similar situation, you know how difficult it is to even live day to day when you have suddenly have no home, no job and no cash flow. This program should be a priority to those we entrust to hone and perfect programs for times of crisis!
Despite the report that the gliche was fixed, there were people that were in Louisiana today attempting to use the program after having been approved two weeks ago, to no avail. It is hard enough having to be forced to use food stamps, but it is even worse to stand in the grocery store line and have your food stamp card not work in front of 2 dozen people!
Supposedly the problems stem from a power outage at the Food Stamp office caused by hurricane Ike… hmmm…here is today’s thought…
IF we had hurricane preparedness materials, we could have sent some to the Food Stamp office and they would have known that a generator should be a part of your hurricane preparedness stuff…
All of this comes right after the resignation of DSS head Ann Silverberg Williamson, in the wake of a week of foul-ups with the federally financed, state-administered disaster food stamp program. Today, two other top leaders at DSS were forced out.
It appears that Governor Bobby Jindal is cleaning house at home…I wonder if we could loan him to the Feds?
Okay, I have a lot of opinions and due to no storm activity ANYWHERE right now, I have some time on my hands…tomorrow maybe we will talk about why we will never have an accurate death toll from Ike and why I know for a fact that we never got one from Katrina and Rita… maybe a discussion on RFID will liven this blog up a bit.
