Firefighters are being kept from helping in NOLA.

[Achán hiNidráne]

Frustrated: Fire crews to hand out fliers for FEMA (http://www.sltrib.com/ci_3004197)

IMHO: I'm sorry, there was no "miscommunication" here. Does anyone seriously think that these firefighters would come all the way down to New Orleans if all they were going to do was hand out flyers, take sexual harrasment seminars, and try to make Dubbya look good for the photo ops?

Somebody isn't being truthful. The questions are "Who?" and "Why?"

[WildCat]

"It's a misallocation of resources. Completely," said the Texas firefighter.
"It's just an under-utilization of very talented people," said South Salt Lake Fire Chief Steve Foote, who sent a team of firefighters to Atlanta. "I was hoping once they saw the level of people . . . they would shift gears a little bit."

Unfreakinbelievable... those bureaucrats at FEMA need to be taken to the putrid flood waters of NO and have their heads stuck under it until they regain some common sense.

At this moment, CNN is showing dozens of fires burning out of control in NO... everything seems to be hunky-dory in the flyer-handing-out department though.

eta: This story: (http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/05/katrina.lott/index.html)
Lott said he has been trying to get FEMA to send 20,000 trailers "sitting in Atlanta" to the Mississippi coast, and he urged President Bush during a meeting Monday to intervene. He said FEMA has refused to ship the trailers until contracts are secured.
Got to make sure every"i" is dotted and "t" is crossed in the alternate universe the gov't bureaucracy lives in... :mad:

[roger]

No, it's all good. See, they are going to be used to give the appearance of doing something. Let's make sure the politicians look good, that's the important thing.

But as specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew's first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas.