BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

Well, as much as I have been all over FEMA, they will have to wait.  Who could believe that the FAA has dropped the ball as they did?  Let’s just be thankful they didn’t drop an airplane!

This week before Congress there was testimony that some of the inspectors who tried to do their jobs were threatened with losing their jobs if they went after a supervisor for negligence and perhaps a little too much chummy-ness with Southwest Airlines.  Well, what difference did it make in the long run?  The threatened gentleman lost his job in one sense anyway.  A week after the threat he was removed from his office and transferred.  In total there were five stories that confirmed that some FAA staff was threatened with being fired if they reported the overwhelming negligence of inspectors, supervisors and Southwest.

Of particular interest… the supervisor who did all the threatening is still employed by the FAA!  Ah, is there something wrong with that program?

Okay, so thank God for whistleblowers.  And, let’s just wonder if Mr. Sabatini, who heads the FAA, needs to have his head examined for letting the supervisor stay with the agency or perhaps and more probably he needs to be replaced.

Now, here is what really pisses me off with the whole scenario.  If you have flown on any airline within the past few years, you know that security measures to get on an airplane are bordering on the absurd.  My last flight, several years ago, required that I step to one side and take a seat.  I must have looked like a suspect or something, especially since I was flying on an employee ticket from Southwest.  Oh, yeah.  I was using one of those free flights that pilots for Southwestern get as a part of their package. 

Anyway, with a Southwestern employee ticket in hand, I was asked to step aside and take off my shoes.  Not a problem.  Then, I was asked to stand up as a rather sour faced lady with a magic wand seemed to be waving it all over my head, down my arms, up the inside of my arms, down my torso, up between my legs and back up the other side.  I had been careful when dressing not to wear a belt with a buckle that set off any alarms.  But, there was a little beep as the wand passed around my body.  The next thing I knew the woman had her hands all over my breasts.  I haven’t been felt up that way since I was in college and…. oh… that’s another story and TMI.

I have to admit that I was shocked and took a step back from the woman’s roaming hands.  I suggested the bleep may have been a result of an underwire in my bra and by then she accepted the explanation, perhaps aware that I was on the verge of making a really ugly scene, not caring who approached next.

My two pieces of luggage were tossed sufficiently to look as if they had been in a salad shaker and of course, my laptop was checked completely.  And, now, I am convinced there is some collusion between Proctor & Gamble and the TSB or whatever agency it is that makes the rules for getting on a plane.  We can’t carry more than a few ounces of anything and everything has to be labeled and in clear plastic baggies.  So, we as air travelers have been willing to suffer the long lines and watching our shampoo and toothpaste hit the trash… all in the name of safety.

Little did we know that while the passengers were being inspected from head to toe… and I mean that very literally, no one was inspecting the plane we was about to board.

In a time when Homeland Security has color coded our state of alerts, to think that the FAA is shirking its responsibility is not only negligence, it borders on criminal.  We, as passengers, have been lucky.  There have been no known crashes due to the negligence.  However, once this little “oversight” came to the attention of the nation, flights have been cancelled and passengers have been delayed and rerouted.  In fact, the FAA negligence not only affected the whistleblowers, it disrupted air traffic for days after having put thousands of lives in jeopardy.  And, no one has been fired!

The other F-agency of the week is FEMA.  I just can’t let it slide.  This week there was Congressional testimony that we are prepared for a catastrophe.  Preceding that was testimony by another set of whistleblowers on the incompetence of FEMA when it came to the toxic trailers.  Obviously, FEMA knew the trailers were toxic.  We have written about that in several previous posts.  And, yes, the trailers are still being delivered and the remainder are sitting on the runaway in Arkansas. 

After recent tornadoes in Arkansas and Tennessee, FEMA only delivered 16 of the trailers.  It wasn’t because they didn’t try.  It was because Tennessee was only willing to accept 16, after testing.  Those fell under the deadly range, but still had elevated levels of formaldehyde.  Arkansas to date has accepted none.

Did the testimony this week help build confidence in FEMA?  Not here.  I remember the last time they said everything was under control.  FEMA talked about its “preparedness” and “transparency”.  Well, that was right before the California wildfires, the ones that took down multi-million dollar homes and displaced citizens for a week or more.  It may have looked on first blush as if FEMA was doing its job.  But, then… there was that press conference… the staged press conference that played like a commercial for FEMA.  In fact, as it turned out, it was nothing more than a commercial, played at a time when housing was scarce for the displaced and people were scrambling to escape the fires.  Yet, FEMA saw the need to stage a press conference to make the agency look good.

Now, testimony before Congress once again tells us that FEMA is ready!  And, they expect us to believe them, why? 

So, for the week, we have learned that two of the government agencies designed to protect the citizens have not done their jobs and will lie to cover their tracks.  There are no excuses for FAA or FEMA, unless we consider incompetence and irresponsibility.