With this news, both the National Weather Service and FEMA remind us that “be prepared” should be everyone’s motto, not just the Boy Scouts’ motto.  FEMA had this to say in a news release today:

Everyone, even, those living outside of hurricane-risk areas, should check personal preparations such as emergency kit supplies (enough to last at least 72 hours), note messages from local emergency officials, and rehearse emergency evacuation routes…Important items to have ready in case of an emergency include a battery-powered radio, flashlight, extra batteries, medicines, non-perishable food, hand-operated can opener, utility knife, and first aid supplies. Copy and store your important documents in a waterproof bag. These may include medical records, contracts, property deeds, leases, banking records, insurance records and birth certificates.

Now that you know what to do at home, do you recall what to do in the federal office space should a storm strike? Have you looked at your continuity of operations plans lately? Are you prepared?

FEMA had been an independent agency before the creation of DHS after Sept. 11, 2001, and many have argued that it could respond to disasters best by being removed from the bureaucracy of DHS.

For a full story, check back with Federal Times shortly.

Vitter had put the hold on Fugate’s nomination as an effort to get answers from FEMA officials over rebuilding coastal areas, V-Zones, decimated during hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He lifted the hold after recieving a letter from FEMA Acting Administration Nancy Ward promising to resolve the rebuilding issue quickly.

He said he was pleased that FEMA responded to his concerns.

Louisianans have gotten way too many easy spoken assurances from FEMA over the last four years that didn’t mean anything. Now that I’ve secured a specific written commitment from them on the V-Zone issue, we can move forward.”

Fugate’s nomination had been thought to be non-controversial. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved his nomination by voice vote April 27. A floor vote on his nomination hasn’t been scheduled.

The Smoking Gun

“Oh gosh, that was on the front of a coloring book?” Kim Pressley-Herrick, founder of Coloring Away Pain, told Fox News. Pressley-Herrick’s company produces coloring books intended to help children deal with traumatic events. “As a parent, I don’t think children need to see that. There are ways of delivering messages to children on their level without being graphic.”

But with some of these drawings, you have to read between the lines to find out what FEMA’s really trying to warn you about. Hidden subtext after the jump:

Take this picture, for example:  

FEMA’s clearly trying to tell us that the zombie menace is going to be the next major threat we face. Look at this “girl’s” cold, dead eyes. And the fact that she’s trying to eat whole fruit with a spoon. Those are the signs of an undead ghoul trying to hide that she hungers only for human brains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here we see the threat of fly-by-night contractors – who often swoop into disaster zones with dubious credentials and fail to provide promised goods and services to desperate victims — clearly illustrated. This guy gets bonus points for being some kind of post-apocalyptic radioactive mutant who thinks he’s Lucy Van Pelt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They're already dead.

There are other coloring books remaining on the FEMA Kids Web site, like Urwin and Wufi’s Adventures With Wildfire and this one from Racine County, Wisc. But kids…if a seven-foot dog-man monster blocks the door and says “Where do you think you two are going,” you run. Seriously, GET OUT. Find a window, find a back door, anything. No good can come of this.

Of course, the coloring books still pale in comparison to the infamous “FEMA Rap” — the single greatest hip hop track of all time. Better than Grandmaster Flash. Better than Public Enemy. Better than The Roots. Click here for the Real Audio track and the lyrics are here.

The Senate Homeland Security and Government Reform Committee approved two nominations by voice vote Monday: W. Craig Fugate for Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator and John Morton for assistant secretary of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Senate may vote this week on their nominations, which aren’t controversial. No vote has been scheduled.

Meanwhile, senators are debating the nomination of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for secretary of Health and Human Services Tuesday, with a vote expected later in the day. The vote on her nomination has been delayed almost three weeks, as some Republicans have taken issue with her pro-choice stance and her acceptance of campaign contributions from a Kansas doctor who performs late-term abortions.

She must receive at least 60 votes for her nomination to pass, part of a compromise reached by Senate Democrats and Republicans late last week. She’s expected to have the needed number of votes, but not by much.

Today, two prominent senators voiced their support for keeping FEMA where it is.

In a letter to the New York Times, Sens. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine — the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee — said FEMA needs to stay inside DHS.

The agency still needs improvement, but our reforms are working: FEMA’s response to the 2008 hurricane season was effective. Lives are saved when skills, resources and missions are united — not dispersed.

FEMA is becoming a far stronger agency. The last thing it needs is another upheaval.

But what does secretary-designee Janet Napolitano think? We’ll have to wait and see.

But there was an interesting bit of language in Obama’s introduction of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, his nomination for Homeland Security secretary:

She understands the need for a homeland security department that can respond to terrorist attacks and respond to catastrophes.

What’s interesting is the part about “respond[ing] to catastrophes.” That’s the responsibility of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And there’s been a lot of talk about removing FEMA from DHS and restoring it to the Cabinet-level status it had before DHS was founded.

But if Obama’s language this morning is any indication — and he tends to pick his words carefully — that doesn’t look likely.