When is terrorism a spectator sport? When Republicans are involved of course. A bus and several cars were blown up today in Anaheim as a number of police and fire agencies, as well as Homeland Security, participated in exercises that cost $1.7 million. There were drills in other parts of the state as well.
Assemblyman Chuck DeVore sent out an email denoting the many politicians that showed up in Anaheim for the anti-terrorist training exercise. Here are a few excerpts from DeVore’s email:
Mayor Curt Pringle, the host of this major preparedness event was in the stands, as was Anaheim councilmember Lucille Kring, City of Orange Mayor Carolyn Cavecche, Mission Viejo Major Gail Reavis, and Buena Park Councilman Art Brown. Earlier I saw Anaheim councilmember Harry Sidhu while later I saw Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby.
Officials from the State of California in Anaheim today included Matt Bettenhausen, California director of Homeland Security, and Brigadier General Jack Hagan, the head of the volunteer State Military Reserve force and officials from the Governor
Awww Art what’s a matter you did not get invited?
Flowerszzz,
Give me a break. I was busy working today, and attending a meeting of the OC Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers.
I don’t have much time for extra curricular activities right now. My employer specializes in fire restoration – we are very busy with hundreds of jobs all over Southern California.
BTW, you have been blogging here a lot lately. Things pretty boring right now over at Red-Faced County/OC Blog?
typical art far left anti republican art . what are they suppose to do . they need to be prepared for a attack .so then you can rip on them for not being ready when it dose happened .. great post flowerz .
Art no – I have been just sooo super busy because I am so important and have been saving the world that all I have time for right now is to comment here.
Flowerszzz,
You partisan hacks are so funny! If this event had been put on by Democrats you would be slamming the hell out of it. But since your Republican Governor and his staff headed up this exercise, you guys showed up to drink the Kool Aid and eat the free popcorn.
As for saving the world, you Republicans are doing a great job at that, aren’t you? What a joke! Your party has made a mess of things globally and most of the world hates us now. Congratulations. Why do you think the Democrats will be taking back the White House next year?
As much as I loathe the prospect of a President Hillary Clinton, it will be very funny to see how you and the rest of the OC GOP machine bloggers at Red-faced County/OC Blog deal with it. I am sure your boy Matt/Jubal will spin the Clinton victory into some kind of win for the Republicans…LOL
if the democrats ran this art you would have spinned it to be a great event . you are so blinded toward your hatred of the republicans that you say crap that dosent make sense and p .s we saw you crying already when joe dunn is not running to take out your other punching bag c.b.wha wha wha . and i want to see your face when rudy wins this thing and your far left thoughs are out of touch with the u.s.a. AGAIN .
LOL I am a partisan hack? I am a pretty moderate republican. And you are wrong…no matter who put it on, I think the exercise is valuable and important.
As far as the white house…we shall see if america is ready for a woman president….I tend to think we are just no there yet…but we shall see.
And once again here you are with your Jubal envy. Why does every comment you make end up about Jubal?
Let’s not all fool ourselves. The clowns running this event can’t catch known gang members running around town.Judges are robbed in broad daylight and councilmembers are robbed on the way to community events.
Flowerszzzz promised a post. So far, no action there 😉
Flowerzzz is indeed a partisan hack who needs to stay at Red-Faced County/OC Blog. Please don’t give her any ideas about posting here. She belongs on Oprah the way she rambles on over there.
Anon….I am shocked! My posts over there have not been HALF as dramatic as what Art & Sean post. You must be picking on me because I am a girl….I think you are a sexist! 😉
Too bad preparing for disasters isn’t as important to you as responding to them – whether in person or in theory. Or do you still think teaching kids to “duck and cover” is the best form of preparation?
Poster 12,
So, are you prepared for the Big One? Peru was hit by two big quakes and now Chili has also suffered from massive earthquakes. California is part of the “Ring of Fire.” Never mind terrorism, when the Big One hits us, it will be a real mess.
So are you ready? And here is another question…what if the Big One came, and then Al Qaeda struck, while our emergency services were tied up responding to the quake? No amount of drilling will prepare us for that.
And that is the point. These public exercises are a huge waste of money, as far as I can tell. You can approximate the same thing using computers and table top exercises. But when federal money is available, state and local agencies go nuts trying to spend it.
The irony is that the terrorists are unpredictable. No one saw 911 coming, and no one will be able to predict when and in what fashion the terrorists will attack. But it sure would be a mess if they chose to do so while we were reeling from a big quake.
I’m ready for the quake, after nine weeks of CERT training. Are you?
Art, It always good to test the systems. You can’t figure if radios will work together or other systems unless you try it out. Perhaps they spent too much money, but neither of us know that at this point.
You just want to piss and moan about anything that will get people rilled up. It’s all about the web hits.
Flowerszzz, We are ready for a woman president. Just not Clinton 2. Now if we could get Condy to run, that would be differnt.
#14, what is wrong with Hillary? You would rather have Chevron’s public policy advisor as President. Absolute ignorance!
Yes, I am ready for disaster Art. I have my disaster kit, my furniture secured to the wall – many of us have also gone through exensive disaster training whether at work, or attended a class, or just preparing from reading the newspaper. I have also attended CERT classes, and the biggest thing I learned what that government was not communicating —radios did not talk to each other, agencies did not know what the other was doing or where they were going or how many deployed to where…triage for wounded have to be set up and categorized…and the biggest thing I learned is that sometimes people with most knowledge can’t show up, or are killed, or are ineffective…and regular people have to take charge. So many of us have to take the reins…including boy scouts. The more informed all of us are – the better off we are to take action when it is needed. Computer simulations don’t take into account human reactions like fear, panic, blood, heat, dust, noise, or any other thing that might prevent people from taking action. These exercises are just a mild account of what might happen, but they do simulate chaos, and make people get ready for what can be worse. Get off it!
Poster 16,
One exercise won’t count for much if one has no stomach for chaos.
I still think spending almost two million on this exercise was questionable.
Obviously you and I will have to agree to disagree.
I am glad you took some CERT classes. Did you finish? It is a worthwhile program.
It was somewhat repetitious for me, as I am already highly trained in safety. But I do recommend it for anyone interested in learning what to do after a disaster strikes.
Art, I agree with one is not enough. But it is far better than none.
You have to analyze the event and learn from them what works and what isn’t, train better, and do it again. That takes a little time.
You aren’t saying the military trains to much are you? They do this kind of stuff all the time and it’s why, when it counts, more often than not, they do the right thing.
Simply, it costs money to do this. Make all the noise you want. Simulations help prepare for real life situations.
Frankly, if I could have gotten my picture taken with all that in the background, I would have been there too.