I saw a news report last night describing the scope of the chemical disaster that resulted from the train derailment in New Palestine, Ohio. The decision to burn the chemicals, backed by the Governors of Ohio and Pennsylvania, as well as the Biden administration, has resulted in a toxic cloud that appears to be a significant health threat to local residents who were told it was safe to go home. Bad call. But what appalled me most was the conservative media's accusation that nobody cared about these people because they were poor white republicans who voted for Trump.
It was just as offensive as the accusations made by the left a few years ago that the contaminated water pipes in Flint, Michigan were ignored because it was a poor black democratic city. Are government employees just political weapons or are they simply incompetent.
I found out for myself this week. Our county was declared a disaster area because of severe flooding. We suffered extensive damage and I began the process of opening a claim with FEMA. I was not homeless or needing a trailer in the front yard, but was curious how the process would go. It was my first official disaster. It started off with a frustrating attempt to open an online account. The site had layers of security, but with great perseverance, I managed to generate:
a login,
password (not just any password but had to contain all but the kitchen sink),
a 12 digit PIN,
10 digit loan application number,
a 16 digit alphanumeric Personal Key,
a 4 digit disaster number.
It seemed to work. I had a visit from a inspector, but she was just a contractor and I was told a real inspector might come to check up on her findings. I was feeling pretty good about the process.
Then came the letter in the mail—I was to open an online account. What? I thought I had done that. I went to the site and tried to log in. That took the User name, password and 12 digit PIN. Failed. "Your password has expired." What on earth? It had only been a week. How could my password have expired? I tried to reset it. No. Something went wrong. I sent an email to FEMA help. Standard form response said to reset my password. Seriously? I explained I had tried that. Tried to open a new account. No, already have an account. Call the 800 number and wait on hold for a week. No thanks. I gave up. I need to get outside and work on cleaning up the mess.
Its not political, its incompetence on a colossal scale. Why should I need higher security on a FEMA claim than I have on my bank account? Incompetence. How can a password expire in a week? Incompetence. Why can't Miranda, Agent 70005 actually read my email and answer? Incompetence.
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