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October 29, 2007
Arnie's ups and downs on CA fires
On one hand, Arnie and his staff apparently saw the fire season coming and cut red tape to get a DC10 tanker approved that has turned out to be a big part of the firefighting effort. [Note in the article however, that the Feds have been unwilling to give the issue any priority]
But Arnie's grandstanding roots quickly came to the fore. During a visit to an evacuation center he got snippy when asked by a reporter about the state refusing to use military helicopters to help on the fire due to bureaucratic rules. “All you have to do is look around here and see how happy people are,” he said. “No one is screaming. No one is complaining. Anyone who is complaining about the planes just wants to complain.” Ahh, so in other words, focus on my visit to the refugees, and don't ask any impertinent questions about actually working on helping get the fires put out.
Hat tip to Richard Rider in San Diego for point out thes and other interesting things about the fires.
Posted by adrianm at October 29, 2007 08:08 AM
He is such as ass. I know Assemblyman Spitzer's rant was less than coherent and in retrospect only partially informed, but it turns out, he was right. Whether the OC and San Diego had air assets available or not, they were still screwed because of the spotter rule. That, plus the mutual aid system essentially puts up a perverse incentive to have your local fire start first. As I write, there is still fresh smoke on the mountain behind me as the fire burns east of Santiago Canyon. And to think this could have been nipped in the bud last Monday morning. Who's printing up the "Schwuck Farzenegger" T-shirts?
Comment by: BoscoH ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.reason.org/outofcontrol/nav-commenters.gif)
at October 29, 2007 03:28 PM
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