more about why Big Government sucks

http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=2043db0e-6342-4299-b75a-08662567f4f6

This Katrina Clusterfuck just keeps getting better. Get this:

> An apparent breakdown in communications between federal emergency
> officials and the crew of Canadian navy ships en route to help victims
> of Hurricane Katrina left sailors scrambling to buy $1-million in
> relief supplies in Halifax stores rather than dipping into stockpiles
> of emergency gear.
>
> Navy supply officers went on a shopping spree for everything from
> chainsaws to diaper cream in the four days before a Canadian task
> force sailed for the disaster area this week.
>
> Navy personnel told the National Post that repeated calls to Public
> Security and Emergency Preparedness Canada went unanswered over the
> long weekend, meaning government supplies could not be accessed before
> the ship's departure.
>
> When supply officers called emergency officials in Ottawa, the
> officials were not available, said a senior officer who spoke on
> condition of anonymity.
>
> "We were calling them all weekend," the officer said. "All we got was
> voice mail ... [and] they never called back."
>
> Approval from Ottawa was needed before emergency preparedness
> officials in Halifax would relinquish any of their stockpiled
> supplies, another senior officer said.
>
> "They told us they couldn't get the supplies together on the long
> weekend and that they needed approval from Ottawa."
>
That's pretty funny right there. But here's the funniest part:

> Officials in Ottawa, however, said the sailors must simply have been
> calling the wrong number.
>
<snippy>

> The Government of Canada Operations Centre staff includes three
> full-time Department of National Defence officers who were available,
> working and in "constant discussions" with Emergency Preparedness
> officials that weekend, said Major Luc Gaudet, a DND spokesman.

The stuff is in a Halifax warehouse, but they can't get it on the ship
because they don't have the right phone number. So they spend a MILLION
DOLLARS buying stuff at retail prices, and take that instead. They
could have driven to Ottawa and kicked the goddamn Minister of Defence
out of bed for a million bucks, you'd think, and have gotten it done
faster to boot.

And that, in a nutshell, is what makes Big Government incapable of
responding to emergencies. There's always some IMBECILE who won't
release goods and services without the right paperwork, so it sits in a
warehouse while people suffer and die in the disaster zone.

Which is why socialism always fails, and individual freedom always succeeds.

By the way, Katrina landed two weeks ago and the Canadian Relief
Flotilla (four small ships) hasn't got to Florida yet. Also, there's
government trucks full of aid sitting on the Trans Canada Highway
because of a trucker's strike due to fuel prices. Nice, eh?

The Private Enterprize Phantom