Don’t Believe Everything You Hear…

Once again the MSM has blown stuff ALL out of proportion… CNN (HERE) is, as usual, taking ONE little piece of information and going down the rabbit hole with it…


The military EVERYWHERE has contingency plans for all kinds of situations, and they are brought out when the particular situation calls for possible action, or when training is being conducted (at least a couple of times a year). I find it really interesting that the article focuses ONLY on Yokosuka, and not Yokota or Atsugi air bases which have the same kinds of plans and are miles closer to the Fukishima plant. If one thinks about it, it only makes sense to be prepared, in case things go from bad to worse and rather than wait for that to happen, the military plans ahead (which then sets off the MSM).

When we deployed to WESTPAC even back in the 70s, the first thing done on arrival at the deployment sites was to review the contingency plans for any/all types of actions (and we did quite a few HURRIVAC contingencies over the years).

The 7th Fleet ships are underway, and are standing off a safe distance from Sendai. They are providing relief support and platforms for helicopters to fly from with food/water/medical supplies as required and supporting the JMSDF personnel when/where directed. The GW did get underway with available crew and is not participating, since she is not fully manned. The other reason is, she needed to be clear of any possible radiation to be able to self-monitor since she is nuclear powered.

Also, the Non-Combat Evacuation Operation (NEO) currently underway for military dependents is strictly voluntary and pointed toward pregnant women and women with babies and small children. Unlike the Embassy evac, the military is paying for tickets and will be putting those folks up in lodging on the other end (mostly on the West Coast).

Our military folks continue to support operations in the vicinity of Sendai with all available resources, from all services, because (unlike what the media says), Humanitarian Assistance (HA) IS a part of what the US military considers it’s job…

One last thing- This IS a terrible tragedy for the Japanese people, and sadly I believe the MSM has purposefully blown the Nuke plant problems way out of proportion to sensationalize the coverage and the huge loss of life and attendant issues is NOT being covered in any fair and equitable way.

You don’t see the crying/screaming/pleading for help like you did with the Haiti coverage, because the Japanese, like our Midwesterners, are just hitching up their big boy pants and getting on with the tasks at hand. If they get assistance, they are very politely thanking those who help, and going right back to cleaning up, burying their dead and getting on with life, because they KNOW they are the ones responsible for their own futures…

I can’t help but wonder if we would do as well…

Comments

Don’t Believe Everything You Hear… — 32 Comments

  1. Very well put.
    Too many people have been on the government dole for too long here to be able to do anything but wait for somebody to come “save” them. The government school system has dumbed down our children to the point that they don’t even realize that one’s first duty is to take care of themselves, and then take care of their own families. If you can’t take care of yourself, you’re in no condition to take care of your family, let alone friends or neighbors. The government has convinced far too many people that they must depend on the government, and not rely on themselves.
    And the things that’s absolutely CRIMINAL about it, is that those who ARE prepared, and CAN take care of themselves and their families, are treated as an aberration.

  2. I’m slightly inebriated when posting this, but i’ll be using spell check đŸ˜›

    It’s a shame that the Japanese have not embraced the same attitude of self sufficiency and self empowerment with the ownership of weapons. Perhaps this is because the individuals there are more nationalized than us are more group oriented than us. I think their national pride is keeping together in this disaster rather than the individual desire to be self reliant, otherwise there would be a larger gun movement among the Japanese.

    – The pondering of a drunk man

  3. It’s like Katrina. Most of the Gulf got pounded, but the majority of those affected rebuilt their homes and businesses and moved on, but the media focused for months on the whining residents of New Orleans exclusively, most of whom where on welfare and living in public housing and who didn’t actually lose anything significant other than having to move to new public housing in other areas. Hell, we’re still hearing about how they all have PTSD now…and nothing about the majority of the more self-reliant people around them on all sides who just sighed and began cleaning up with little help asked for or given.

    Granted, a lot of that was hyped to embarrass a particular president, but still…

  4. We have DISASTERS in the United States, big ones – Chicago Fire? an idea whose time has come, just kidding. But you are correct about who would whine, and who would work. The diffference between showing up in front of MSM for their fifteen minutes, or digging a little harder in the BS covering the landscape and getting in the way.

    wv inchan

  5. When I was working in Seoul I learned that the military had a dependent evacuation plan that they drilled at least once a year. I decided that if we had to bug out due to NKs swarming across the DMZ, I was going to tap into that evac plan. Nobody was alarmed that such a plan existed – but then maybe the MSM didn’t know about it.

  6. A welfare mother wailing about no-one helping her makes for good, dramatic footage repeated on every channel until she becomes a symbol of everything the media thinks is evil. A Japanese couple digging out their home, cleaning everything, and helping out their neighbors made for maybe 10 seconds of “Isn’t that cute?” programming.

    The news media, of all stripes, has learned that scaring us or offending us gets our attention better than informing us.

  7. The post, and all the previous comments speak the truth! I suspect there are some of us who would survive. But part of the survival may include ‘repelling boarders’, as Col. Cooper so aptly put it.

  8. “You don’t see the crying/screaming/pleading for help like you did with the Haiti coverage.”

    Perhaps that is because unlike Haiti, Japan is a much wealthier nation with the capacity to rebuild.

    Or maybe it’s because the Haitian earthquake killed 10 to 30 times as many people.

    also, nearly 2,000 people died in Hurricane Katrina so lets not talk about how nothing significant was lost.

  9. Hiro- Interesting take… I think nationalism is a part, but also the individuals ARE taking care of themselves where they can. Guns? THAT is a different issue over there…

    Murph- Point… ALL the negatives were stressed in NOLA, including the deaths ‘blamed’ on the administration…

    Earl- Good points!

    WSF- That would contradict their ‘hype’ with truth…

    PE- ignore it is more like it…

    DB- Agreed!

    Guffaw- I think you’re correct.

    NE- The Haitian government folded… The Japanese did not. Also, I think it’s more about the people of the country… When you have a TOTAL failure like Haiti, the MSM plays that part with the poor people in the streets, in Japan, it’s NOT been about the people, but about the power plants. TOTALLY different focus (IMHO).

    I never said anything about Katrina, and ANY loss of life that is unnecessary is sad, especially when it could have been prevented by actually DOING the evac that was on the books for NOLA…

  10. I agree. The events have been covered differently, but that is because they are very different events. It is being covered differently by all networks.

    And the Katrina comment was a response to Murph. Sorry I should have been clearer.

  11. @NE-
    Could you please address Murph’s “different President, different MSM respone” comment, which I agree with wholeheartedly?

  12. In Katrina, many media sources put blame on the government because there were serious failures in the government’s disaster response. The congressional investigation into Katrina confirmed this. From what I remember, certain pundits went after Bush because he kept praising FEMA Director Micheal Brown (Brownie) who bungled up the relief effort so much he got sacked a week later. Fox was quite supportive of the President during the whole thing so I don’t we can talk about the mainstream media as having a single political will in this situation other than to increase ratings.

  13. NE- understood, but the Katrina situation was compounded by incompetence in Louisiana at the local and state levels, which is why the military was late arriving… Re Brown/Fema- Point of fact, FEMA response is (even today) based on THREE days to get in place, not 12 hours. My cousin was LANG in 1969 when Camille hit NOLA, he was mobilized 12 hours ahead of Camille coming ashore, and was in NOLA within three hours of the eye passing over (and was Federalized before he got there. That didn’t happen with Katrina, in fact it was almost 2 days before LANG was onsite, and a week before they were Federalized. Re the MSM coverage, everyone but Fox went after Bush in the first 24 hours, and stayed on him, never reporting the ‘rest of the story’ about the issues with both local and state govt.

  14. Careful Navy…
    Methinks NE doesn’t need to be confused with facts as he/she already has their mind made up.

  15. Oh, I totally agree. It was failure on all levels of government. If people in the media blamed Bush it was probably because of things like the relief effort not being federalized quick enough like in Camille. I don’t exactly remember what coverage was like in the 24 hours, but in the end my opinion is that Bush and the federal government deserve more blame than most. I agree with the House Republican report that found the federal government’s “blinding lack of situational awareness and disjointed decision making needlessly compounded and prolonged Katrina’s horror.”

    Also,

    Careful Greybeard…
    Methinks you don’t know me.

  16. And I’m old enough to know who I want at my back when this economy collapses, NE, so the two of us not seeing eye-to-eye is no loss to either of us.
    Still, I’ll remind you of the photo of the school buses underwater, and end it at that. The Federal govt. COULD NOT provide assistance without being asked.
    They weren’t asked.
    Fact.
    Simple as that.

  17. Gulf Coast states asked for troops from the Pentagon on Friday August 26th according to Russel Honoré, commander of joint Strike Force Katrina. Also, Gov. Blanco declares a state of emergency in LA and FEMA starts moving into position.

    The next day Gov. Blanco directly asked President Bush to declare a national state of emergency to free up federal emergency funds. He did so and by law FEMA is put in charge of the whole operation from that point on.

    The levees break two days later on Monday.

    Sorry, sir. You are wrong.

  18. Smoke and mirrors…
    “Gulf Coast States”!??
    We’re not talking about Haley Barbour here. Don’t be disingenuous!

    “Blanco later acknowledged that she should have called for more troops sooner,[57] and that she should have activated a compact with other states that would have allowed her to bypass the requirement to route the request through the National Guard Bureau.”

    As I stated, help was not requested in time to provide it from the Federal Government.
    That quote comes from Wikipedia here, but if you don’t like Wikipedia I can find another source.

    And please…
    Not that I think you’re a complete liar, (but you obviously ARE perfectly willing to twist the truth),
    But from now on, provide a solid citation for your commments, please.

    (And respond to my underwater school bus comment too. Almost 2000 dead, INDEED!)

  19. Sorry I’m used to debating with Murph who censors my comments if I link citations.

    We agree that state and local governments did poor planning for Katrina (i. e. the sunken school buses), but the true crisis happened with the federal relief efforts that followed after FEMA had taken over.

    But you don’t have to take my word for it, just read the House report on Katrina:

    http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/creports/katrina.html

    They list the Katrina failures as:

    1. Tardy and ineffective execution of the National Response Plan.

    2. An under-trained and under-staffed Federal Emergency Management Agency.

    3. A Catastrophic Incident Annex that was never invoked, and doubt that it would have done the job anyway.

    4. A perplexing inability to learn from Hurricane Pam and other exercises.

    5. Levees not built to withstand the most severe hurricanes.

    6. An incomplete evacuation that led to deaths and tremendous suffering.

    7. A complete breakdown in communications that paralyzed command and control and made situational awareness murky at best.

    8. The failure of state and local officials to maintain law and order.

    9. Haphazard and incomplete emergency shelter and housing plans.

    10. An overwhelmed FEMA logistics and contracting system that could not support the effective provision of urgently needed supplies.

    The way I see it, points 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9 and 10 can be directly attributed to the federal governments poor response. If you would like to make a case for FEMA preforming exelently or that if state and local services had been better prepared FEMA wouldn’t be needed, I’d be open to hearing it.

  20. Not the point in question.
    And the question isn’t really even whether or not Bush II performed well…
    This was a “worst case” scenario and no one wanted to believe it could happen, so no one planned well. No one performed well.
    But to make the statement the Federal Government’s poor performance was not related to the failure of the city of New Orleans, the county, and the State of Louisiana to do their jobs even tolerably is just silly. And the major difference between the recovery in Mississippi and Louisiana is your aforementioned “Gulf States” request…
    Haley Barbour served his constituency much, much better than did Nagin and Blanco.

    To me, your laundry list basically says:
    “Wow. This was a helluva storm that occurred to a city that was below sea-level and was pretty much doomed no matter what anyone did.”

    NFO’s comment stands…
    The MSM has not done their job well for years. They continue to drop the ball with what is happening vis-a-vis Japan.
    Bush could do nothing right. Obama can do no wrong. Finally, someone (Donald Trump) is beginning to ask the question that should have been answered before this incompetent on-the-job trainee was installed in the White House:
    Is he a “Natural Born Citizen”?
    Our media should have been all over this three years ago.

    Thank God for the internet and blogs.

  21. Aw, man.

    Why do you have to ruin a nice, rational discussion on Katrina by going all birther on me?

    Obama is an American citizen.

    Get over it.

    Yeah, good luck with Donald Trump.

  22. Here’s the ignorance on this issue, NE…
    Being born in Hawaii and being a citizen has NOTHING to do with it.
    If his father was, in fact, Barack Sr., many constitutional scholars say he is not a “Natural Born Citizen” required by the constitution, and therefore is INeligible for the office of POTUS.
    How do you feel about the constitution? I swore to support and defend it, and I fully intend to keep doing that.
    Are you familiar with LTC Allen West?

  23. This video discusses the issue but, I think, comes to the wrong conclusion.
    I think it’s entirely possible the reason he (Obama) is not producing a birth certificate is because it either:
    1. Lists his father as someone OTHER than Barack Sr. or,
    2. Lists his religion as Muslim, which would make him apostate and subject to death in the eyes of Muslims.

    I believe this next election is gonna be REALLY interesting, because Trump and others have now opened the question to the public,
    (did you hear the audience respond to Trump on “The View”?),
    and several States are now working to require the registration of B.C.’s in order to appear on the ballot.
    Birther?
    YOU BET I AM!!

  24. Well that video provides an interesting new argument. I don’t think it would hold up in court, but the “naturalization question” is certainly an interesting argument. However, you seem to discredit yourself (and that video) by claiming that Obama is hasn’t shown his birth certificate. If you truly believe that Obama is ineligible to be president solely because of his father then you are a “dader” or “naturalizer” or something, not a “birther” because you don’t challenge his citizenship or place of birth.

    Thank you, this is something I’d like to research when I have the time.

    We are in bizarre legalese territory here, but I agree with most judges interpretation of “natural-born citizen”:

    1. Is Obama a United States Citizen?

    yes.

    2. Was Obama solely a citizen of the US at the time of taking the office of the presidency?

    Yes.

    2. Was he born on United States territory?

    yes.

    Therefore, eligible.

    I think it is silly to try an discredit him on the eligability question rather than focusing on more serious political issues.

  25. And therefore we’ll disagree on this issue. The constitution is being dismantled because no one cares.
    The country is circling the drain.

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