Ok, man, I m angry now! I heard it said that FEMA is a bumbling organization. But it doesnt matter nonetheless. I m pretty sure that any state Office of Emergency Management at random would be just as ill equipped to deal with any disaster or terrorist attack. I think all the states are ill prepared. The problem here to me is that we are COMPELLED to pay taxes. But as a result we are assured NOTHING in return. You cant tell me you have to pay this tax and this user fee and then maintenance tax(all of this to support the government and its expenditures) and when you need them to be there for you they say "if a disaster strikes, you are on your own". How bullshitty is that!!!!!! I was in Miami last October when Hurricane Wilma came through. Me, I was ok. I had access to potable water and had some staples in the house. After the storm receded up the coast I was able to make it to the market on the emergency power generators they had. My area lost power for a week, but I was able to still prepare food, using old timey campstyle methods(I ll go into detail one day, when all things are better). The problem here is that the officials seemed to be out of touch with life as it lived. People were running out of emergency provisions A DAY after the storm. OK, the storm came through on Sunday night, and Monday. By Tuesday afternoon people were running out of food! What! They live in a hurricane prone area but never prepared for it? I dont think so. I think people are caught in a vice there that they think check to check and hope it wont be so bad. But this time it was. People in Broward County were told to boil there water because the Water Management Board didnt prepare. Power was out going up the Eastern seaboard. Which was why I didnt leave. I d rather be out of gas in Miami than in the middle of some bunghole in some retard county. But the situation is that people who cant prepare are left to plotz at the discretion of the government to govern their well being. And the talking heads never understand(or refuse to understand) the issues. "People arent saving anymore". "The increase in gas prices wont affect consumer spending". "This war in Iraq will be a good thing for democracy". "The US economy is creating more jobs than ever before in the past 8 years". "Illegal immigrants take jobs Americans dont want to want to do....." Oh I m so riled up, I must take a Root Beer break. But I just wanted to get the point out that even with this year being an election year, the same morons will be elected and the cycle will continue. We need to Corey Booker-ize this election and freshen up the voices of the people. "....No more backward thinking, time for thinking ahead" 'Wake up Everybody'-Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.