Michael
The American Dream
11/2/2012
Will Hurricane Sandy turn out to be Obama’s Katrina? When the storm first hit, the media was full of praise for the way that Barack Obama was handling the crisis. But that was just based on the bold statements that Obama was making at the time. If those statements are not backed up by actions, what good are they? Obama has always been good with words. Unfortunately, several days after the storm it has become apparent that the federal response to Hurricane Sandy has been absolutely nightmarish. Large areas affected by the storm are still without power, and authorities now say that some power outages could persist until late November. Due to the lack of power and widespread transportation disruptions, very few gas stations are open right now. On Thursday, officials estimated that more than 80 percent of the gas stations in New Jersey were closed, and the lines at the stations that were still open were so long that some people had to wait for up to six hours for gasoline. Meanwhile, people are running out of food and they are getting desperate. There have been news reports that show hungry people rummaging through garbage dumpsters for food. There have been other reports of people actually defecating in the hallways because they have nowhere else to go. If you don’t believe this, just check out this video from NBC News. So what is “President” Obama doing about all of this? Well, after his 90 minute tour of the devastation that Hurricane Sandy caused, he jetted off to Las Vegas where he posed for pictures with Eva Longoria and did some last minute campaigning.
One would like to believe that the federal government has learned a few things about disaster response in the years since Hurricane Katrina. But instead, Obama’s big promises have turned out to be empty words and he now seems far more concerned about campaigning than about helping the people that are deeply suffering.
Could this end up turning millions of voters against Obama?
As you can see from this video, the devastation on Staten Island is absolutely mind blowing, and many people are desperate for help…
It would be hard to overstate how bad things are on Staten Island right now. People have been waiting days for assistance from the federal government that never seems to arrive…
The article continues at The American Dream.
Related: Mobile FEMA Unit Dispatched to Log Disaster Victims into ‘the System’
Hundreds lined up to be the first to get logged into the system Friday morning as a mobile FEMA truck showed up on Coney Island.
Update: Oops: Mayor Mike Bloomberg announces free fuel from National Guard, deletes tweet
New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg caused some excitement tonight when he tweeted that free fuel would be available in Queens. Bloomberg quickly deleted the tweet and issued a correction, but not before word had gotten out through retweets. For Everybody? “@MikeBloomberg: Free fuel from Ntl. Guard is available at the Queens Armory at 93-05…
Update 2: Opinion: Marathon Cancelled, but Damage to Bloomberg’s Rep is Done
…Let me tell you a story about a group of buildings in Brooklyn called Amalgamated Warbasse Houses. It’s a series of 15 Mitchell-lama buildings in Coney Island. There is a high concentration of elderly people in the Warbasse buildings, many of them of Russian descent, as I am. The buildings are 20 stories high each.
If you look up the Warbasse in the news from the last few days, you won’t find any mention of it. But it is in dire straits. In addition to no power, they also have no gas. It’s one thing not to have heat, another to not be able to make any food. Elderly people are trapped on the high floors with no way to get out.
Here’s a comment from a Warbasse resident on a Russian parents board who, along with his wife and two children, is currently homeless: “Approximately 350-650 seniors trapped in my buildings in Coney Island Warbasse, rumors of National Guard coming to enforce evacuation…Broken gas line, no heat, no power, no hot water, animals with no place to go, no incinerator to throw trash, so people throw out the windows and in the halls, rats and roaches here!!! You declare a mandatory evacuation but shelters are full, and there is no gas for cars anywhere. DOT won’t allow people to cross bridges and tunnel, buses too full, no trains.”
If Warbasse Houses were on the Upper East Side, your friends in Texas, Sweden and Fiji would have heard about it by now…
In today’s Daily Mail, a photo essay:
Bitter: A sign about the marathon and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is displayed in a devastated section of Staten Island yesterday, before the marathon was canceled.
The full sized photo is here.
Ben Stiller doles out pancakes at New York shelter…
Ben Stiller took time out from his busy showbiz lifestyle to help Superstorm Sandy victims.
The Zoolander star was snapped feeding the hungry at a shelter in Brooklyn on Friday and seemed somewhat sheepish to be found out.
Stiller, dressed in a neon reflective volunteer jacket, was serving up pancakes, bacon and eggs to the hungry New Yorkers who had lost their homes or had no power after Sandy ripped through the city…
There’s video and more at the link.
