State/County/Municipal politicians salivate... planning for "terra-ist" attacks

[SoCalDem]

and yet skimp on plans & costs for prudent planning that would prevent loss of life and property...and can happen at ANY time, just about anywhere.

Municipal leaders look the other way, or accept kickbacks all the time when it comes to "opening up" wild areas to unscrupulous builders who line up ticky-tacky boxes, 8 feet away from each other...on fire-vulnerable ridges, unprotected beaches, on floodplains..

County officials juggle their "protection" workforces to save money, while crossing their fingers that nothing bad will happen "on their watch"..and if it does, they can always go to the state or the feds to be bailed out..

State governments twiddle their thumbs and write more laws that they have no intention of staffing enough people to actually enforce the laws. and if there's a catastrophe, they can always go to the feds for bail outs..

The Federal government looks away and pretends to not notice when states are not being careful with their resources & manpower for "events"..Feds get their money from the "people", yet are reluctant to send much back..

The whole plan of "everyone working together" sounds admirable, but when everybody's in charge...NO ONE's in charge..

When push comes to shove, the average-person on the street ends up digging into their own resolve & bank accounts to help their fellow citizens, but the governments pretend that they are all doing a great job as they pat each other on the backs and ask for donations to charities that may (or may not)give aid to the people they failed to protect.

Look at the millions of dollars that was donated to people who were in NOLA.. When people donated, they MEANT for their money to go to the actual poor people who were suffering, but when have we EVER gotten an accounting? There are damned few cases of people coming forward to say how WELL they were treated..and why are so many still suffering TWO YEARS later?..And just LOOK at that place:cry:

Government loves to tell us to be self-sufficient and to plan prepare..and yet they also tell us that "ONLY THEY CAN KEEP US SAFE"..

The sad truth is that NOTHING can "keep us safe", and the bad things WILL always happen. There will always be floods, fires, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, bridge collapses, hurricanes, tornados..you name it.

Governments need to fess up to the fact that they CANNOT "keep us safe".. All we need them to do is to act responsibly, and to QUIT wasting the money we entrust to them.

The various local calamities that are sure to occur just need to be planned for in an adult and prudent way. If more firefighters are needed, then just HIRE them, and use them in the non-fire seasons, to do preventative measures.

Make some REALISTIC zoning decisions that prevent developers from building in indefensible areas.. Just because you "can" put roads into wilderness and run utilities there, and then cantilever houses onto hillsides, or line them up and down canyon roads, does not mean you "should" do it.

Someone signed the papers that made these developments happen..

Governments are shirking their duties, and we are too, because we "let" them pocket our money and we just keep giving them more..