Some of us consider the election of President Obama to be an impending disaster for this country. But that's not what I'm talking about here.Apparently several days before the Inauguration, under the outgoing Bush Administration, Washington DC was declared a disaster area.
Why? In order to free up Federal funds in order to pay for the extravaganza.
In my current position within Washington State's Emergency Management, declaring a disaster is a very big deal. This allows a municipality (city, county, state) break normal budgetary constraints and tap into higher echelon funds in order to cope with the crisis.
The intent of this procedure was to help communities recover from natural disasters or attacks--not for getting "knee-deep in the hoopla."
I'm all for celebrating our nation's peaceful transition of power. Especially since it's becoming rarer occurrence among the other nations of the world. But bending the rules to the level of a Cirque do Soleil contortionist is taking it a bit too far.
Mark Steyn rolled-in on this a couple of days ago:http://www.steynonline.com/content/view/1675/26/
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