Congress drafting legislation to "evacuate" pets?? What are these people smoking?

PETA has invaded Congress!

Federal disaster grants to state and local governments should be conditioned on how they accommodate pets in their evacuation plans, say lawmakers disturbed that some Hurricane Katrina victims refused to leave home because they couldn't take their animals with them.

"I cannot help but wonder how many more people could have been saved had they been able to take their pets," Rep. Tom Lantos, D-California, said Thursday.

Lantos and Reps. Christopher Shays, R-Connecticut, and Barney Frank, D-Massaschusetts, are sponsoring a bill that would require that state and local disaster preparedness plans required for Federal Emergency Management Agency funding include provisions for household pets and service animals.

They were scrambling to find shelter for the HUMANS and had 10,000 of them packed into stadiums! There were thousands of children who were lost from their parents! Can you imagine the additional headaches and health hazards of animals?

Look, service animals are one thing. They have special training to behave around people and THEY ARE A NECESSITY for some disabled folks. But pets? Hell, I've seen how some folks "train" their precious little animals. I can just imagine the dog fights, the bites, the smell, etc... Pet owners should be able to make special arrangements for their own animals. If people can't afford to take care of their animals in any instance, then they can't afford to have them.

Deploy...or else...

So...George W. comes into the Presidency with a list of agendas, one of which is to "save money" by eventually privatizing every civil service job within the federal government through several different methods. Of course, it means giving the contracts to his buddies and campaign contributors...I mean...businesses that are best able to execute the contract.

Anyway, President Bush (with the help of Congress) worked towards that goal - even after he declared war on Iraq and started sending civilian employees over there to assist in the mission. Agency budgets were cut, hiring freezes ensued, employees left through attrition and were not replaced, more folks were pressured into serving in Iraq, but the workloads continued at the same levels or, as in Alaska's case, increased exponentially. Project quality, safety, etc...are all in jeopardy.

Then come the hurricane seasons.

Last year was bad enough - I had to cover 3 jobs while folks deployed on hurricanes and typhoons during a time when all of those jobs had emergency deadlines. (Afterwards, I was sick for a month.) This year...we get thwamped with Katrina and at the same time Iraq enters a critical phase. Suddenly, managers are desperately trying to hold on to enough people to complete their projects while HQ, in their inifinite wisdom, starts demanding that various Emergency Management-trained personnel be deployed immediately. You see, folks don't realize that civil servants ALSO SERVE at the whim of the President in extreme circumstances (aka. The only difference is...if we don't go where they send us, they can't put us in jail. However, in extreme cases they can take away our careers, retirement, etc...if we don't comply. (Of course, that's not something you find out when you apply for/accept the job.)

As of this morning, those seem to be the options that the Administration and military are chosing to exercise at this time - and management is frustrated because HQ isn't giving them any choice in the matter. We already have a bunch of folks down there voluntarily, however it seems that the Bush Administration is sending everyone they can, whether it's prudent or not, to try and "fix" his badly damaged image.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am happy to do "my part" in all of this (since my health disqualifies me from going) by backing up those folks who are leaving. Also, I think that we should be sending as many folks as we can to help with Katrina recovery. However, this is just one more consequence of the failed Bush agenda. Get rid of the Federal employees only to discover...ooops...that you need them.

And here comes Rita!!!!!

By the way, when are they going to deploy Cheney's daughter, her lover and the Bush twins?