Mitt Romney: Let FEMA Go Bankrupt

If you're one of those people on the East Coast bracing yourself for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy, my thoughts and prayers are with you. (Yes, I'm a prayer kinda guy.)  I have family in Massachusetts, and I'll be anxiously watching the hurricane path over the next few days.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney is still running for president. And in case you're still deciding who to vote for, please remember that Mitt Romney hates FEMA. He thinks disaster relief shouldn't even be part of the federal government.




"We should take all of what we're doing at the federal level and say, 'what are the things we're doing that we don't have to do?' And those are the things we've got to stop doing."

So yeah. FEMA is just a wasted budget line. Let's wipe out the budget, so we can kick more tax breaks back to rich folks like himself. Bear that in mind as the flood waters come rolling in, as roofs crumble, as we see the inevitable shots of rescued citizens and homes in ruins.

And, as Greg Sargent noted, Romney doesn't even stop there.

"There’s another nugget here worth highlighting, though. In that appearance, Romney also suggested it would be 'even better' to send any and all responsibilities of the federal government 'to the private sector,' disaster response included. So: Romney essentially favored privatizing disaster response."

So yeah. Blackwater gets to run your disaster relief. Good luck, civilians!

But just in case you really get hammered from the hurricane, Mitt has advice for you. Just go home and call 211.

The Job: Not Perfect, but Not Hell

This would have been a different post a few days ago.

A few days ago, I would have been raging about how I'd found yet another idiotic employer, one that didn't have any respect for the contributions of their employees, where I was once again being overworked and underappreciated.

I might have lamented the entire job sector in which I work, and maybe I would have idly wondered about becoming a mail carrier or a construction worker. It would have been seething with bitterness and resentment. And I would probably have gotten a lot of sympathetic comments from my friends and followers.

I can't write that post.

I can't allow myself to become jaded. I was scarred by my last job. I left wanting to burn the entire place to the ground. I don't ever want to work in a place that insane and dysfunctional again.

But I also don't want to have that kind of rage within me again.

Look, I have a good job. It's not a perfect job. There are moments when I don't love it. There are things I'm asked to do that I think are silly. I don't get as much money as I should.

But unlike my last job, I like going into the office every day. My co-workers like me and appreciate me and laugh when I send them silly cat pictures and Bruce Lee videos as responses to work emails.

They respect me. My last job didn't respect me.

They appreciate me. My last office couldn't have cared less about the quality of work I was doing.

They make me feel welcome. In my last job, I'd run into my office, close the door, and keep it closed for as long as I possibly could.

Most importantly, this job did something for my confidence. I was working in a place where I felt like dirt, and they gave me an escape. More than that: they said "we want you." Not just "come here and cower for a while," but they gave me an emphatic "come here; we want you; we're going to fight to get you on our staff." I need to remember how much better I have it now than I did six months ago.

So yes, there are petty annoyances. There are things I wish were better. I'm going to be sending out a few resumes to see if I can find a better offer elsewhere. But I don't hate my current job.  I refuse to hate it. I won't let myself go to that place again.