>>>*One thing should be very clear, anyone waiting for "government" to act in the event of a major crisis such as Katrina and now the storm on the each coast will likely find themselves doing exactly that.

Waiting.

Now we see, long after the damages done by the storm are well known that "government" finally acts.

The problem is that those at the highest level of government are so out of touch they do not deal with the real underlying issues. First is clean water, food right behind, and energy following closely.

Yet the key to the first two lies in the latter.

Shelter of course matters, but with lots of debris shelter can be thrown together, and fire can be used for heat and cooking, boiling water, etc.

So our President orders fuel supplies in, lots of it. Great, but they already have adequate supplies on hand, just no power.

The next thing government does is RATION fuel, like that is a solution. It isn't, although perhaps it does help some in jam ups of traffic.

Of course the added fuels will help, but DAYS late?

I remember pumping gasoline in my own first service station on the oregon coast using a modified bicycle, it took perhaps 3-4 minutes to fill a normal tank. Back then the power went out in almost EVERY storm.

Now this old man could set up and be pumping fuel in about 60 minutes with equipment right on hand here are on our ranch, my best guess is that on say, Staten Island there is a wealth of pumps that can be converted.

If not, make one!

No engine on it? Power it with any vehicle, dig out the kid's bicycles if they must.

Instead, on TV we see one person after another, complaining that government has not been there, "Where ARE they?"

I can explain that, very likely in a meeting trying to decide what to do, like perhaps when to hold the NEXT meeting.

Lord help us should a disaster be Nation wide, I think. Far too many of our citizens lack self sufficiency.

It pays to be ready, and take care of what needs to be done ourselves, worry about fixing what government comes up with later....Just some thoughts this morning.....*EB

FEMA to the rescue....

Penn congressman (Dem) is now talking about $12 billion.

FEMA is the last agency that needs more money to waste.

The best response I have heard is the military is moving in portable power units to begin to address the energy issue.

Politicians and their grandstanding are a hindrance.

Sandy does underscore a critical deficiency in American infrastructure - energy, both production and delivery.

The sustained winds over 40 mph means that wind turbines are shut down, no energy production.

The sustained number of hours of cloud cover means that solar energy is seriously reduced.

The growth of government has compounded the problem. New York is giving away gas. New Jersey is beginning to ration gas. Government stupidity is here to hinder progress.

Wow, FEMA shows up to save the day -- they hand out 800 phone numbers for people to call for assistance.

Thanks to the local residents that are self-organizing work parties to help neighbors, something is being done.

Congratulations to the local volunteers for their dedication to helping their neighbors.