julie myers is number 1 in closing down korean message parlors. these places are her number one threat to the united states. let promote her again.

PNAMARBLE on July 30, 2008 at 6:53 pm

I love the artwork “Scaredy Cats”! That is seriously funny stuff.
The ICE Emergency Preparedness Unit was created under Julie Myers and has continued to grow, that the LA office doesn’t have a clear mission, yet, in an emergency is not her fault.
I fought traffic for two hours to get to work on 9/11 just to get told to go home for two days under the old INS, now THAT was upsetting!
What exactly was the LA ICE supposed to do concerning a small tremor like 5.4 anyway?
It is easy to become part of the problem when you are not equipped and trained properly. The LA ICE Office will get plenty of practice with earthquakes, it’s just a matter of when.
[B: YOU ASK, “WHAT EXACTLY WAS LA ICE SUPPOSED TO DO CONCERNING A SMALL TREMOR?” MY ANSWER: CONTINUE THE WORK DAY. IF IT WAS THAT SMALL, WHY DID THEY ALL GET THE DAY OFF? DS]

Baked on July 30, 2008 at 8:05 pm

>>>>>>
Probably nothing…but really?! Did they have to go home?? The appearance (of everyone going home) sucks!!!!
But then again, the management of ICE/SAC LA is very young and relatively inexperienced. Its no wonder these types of decisions come out of there. Its really too bad that Julie Myers and company places such inexperience in such a high profile office.

NoWayJose on July 30, 2008 at 8:17 pm

If this was USDA, Post Office, Anti-Social Security, then it wouldn’t be a big deal. This was a branch of Homeland Security – the very branch that is supposed to deal with all sorts of security and emergencies.
ICE should’ve stayed put and done their duty. And SAC LA being a young office is no excuse. The best way to gain experience and skills is trial-by-fire; not wussing out. Adversity is a brutal schoolmaster!
And remember: There is not much governemnt can do for you in an emergency but act like socialists: confinement/confiscation/coersion/confusion/cussing. Make preparations yourself and live better for it. See my blog for basic preparation lists.

bhparkman on July 30, 2008 at 9:33 pm

Just what exactly are Federal Criminal Investigators supposed to do with a small 5.4 quake? I mean really…the responsibility for public safety is first and foremost with the local entities, and the Federal government should only assist as necessary and when the locals are overwhelmed with tragedy. Hell, the local PD doesn’t call out it’s detectives in these instances, so, what exactly are federal criminal investigators supposed to do???
Should the SAC have directed 1811’s to start answering calls for service with the LAPD or with EMS???

CapitalistPig on July 30, 2008 at 10:46 pm

I wouldn’t mind staying at work if I still lived in LA because my place had seismic sensors that shut off the natural gas, a stack of five gallon water bottles that can serve to flush the toilet, shower, drink and cook with for weeks. I took Homeland Security courses with my own annual leave, while not a boy scout, I have a portable water purification system designed by an MIT friend and canned food enough to take care of myself and many others while the government figures out how to take care of legions of big babies that can’t balance their checkbooks let alone survive on their own.

Baked on July 31, 2008 at 1:16 am

The LA ICE office of the special agent in charge is actually in Long Beach, so next time you decide to make for the door think about how these people lost their lives (from the 70th Anniversary of the Long Beach Earthquake website):
_____________________________________________________________
Seventy years ago, at 5:54 p.m. on March 10, 1933, southern California experienced its deadliest seismic disaster in recorded history when a magnitude (MW) 6.4 earthquake struck the Long Beach area.
The actual earthquake rupture lasted only 5 seconds, though ground shaking (as is typical) lasted at least twice as long. The maximum recorded ground acceleration was 0.22g, or 22% the force of gravity (though the nearest recording site for this data was 27 kilometers from the epicenter). Despite these rather modest seismological numbers, the earthquake killed over 120 people and caused property losses estimated at $50 million (1933) dollars.
More than two-thirds of the 120 deaths occurred when people ran outside and were struck by falling bricks, cornices, parapets, and building ornaments. Among the buildings severely damaged or destroyed in the earthquake were many schools in and around Long Beach. Had the quake occurred a few hours earlier, while children were still in these schools, the deaths might have numbered in the thousands. The poor performance of school buildings in withstanding the shaking led to the passage, just one month later, of the Field Act (named for California Assembly Member Charles Field). This new state law mandated improved building codes for new public school construction, and direct state review of public school design.
Thousands of chimneys toppled, porches collapsed and walls fell. Unreinforced masonry (brick-and-mortar) construction fared the worst, while wood-frame and concrete buildings generally survived intact. Long Beach experienced 127 breaks in water distribution mains. Seal Beach was without water for several days.
Six million gallons of water poured out of the Los Angeles Water Department’s Western Avenue tank. Nineteen fires were reported in Long Beach during the night of the earthquake, seven due to broken gas lines. Liquefaction occurred along much of the sparsely-populated coast between Newport Beach and Long Beach. That same area experienced aftershocks for many months after March 10.
Breakfast served in Lincoln Park on the morning of March 11, 1933. Note the members of the U.S. military assisting (at lower right).
Fortunately, part of the Pacific Fleet had just returned to their home base in Long Beach Harbor after a six-month cruise, and the U.S. Navy sent ashore emergency supplies and about 2,000 sailors and Marines. The Army also sent men and supplies from Fort McArthur in San Pedro. The presence of soldiers on their streets led many Long Beach residents to think the city was under martial law (it wasn’t; the troops took orders from the City Manager’s Office). The National Guard set up food kitchens, and by 6:00 a.m. the next morning, people were served breakfast in every park in the city. Water was also trucked in for those in areas where water mains had broken.
The Long Beach earthquake was the first significant earthquake and aftershock sequence to be recorded and analyzed in detail by the Seismological Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. (The catalog of the Southern California Seismic Network, available here, goes back only to 1932.) Relatively speaking, however, seismologists do not consider the 1933 event along the Newport-Inglewood fault zone to have been a very large earthquake. Much of what occurred in 1933 would not happen today due to improved construction practices. Most of these practices owe their existence to disasters like the Long Beach earthquake, which, though tragic, have provided building designers with invaluable information on the performance of different building materials and designs when subjected to shaking. This information, when put into practice, can help avert tragedy when the next earthquake inevitably strikes.
____________________________________________________________
I had to add this little bit of history because the same people who can’t balance their checkbooks rarely have any idea what I’m talking about.

Baked on July 31, 2008 at 2:01 am

Obviously we need better people running departments like ICE. However, I am wondering if we made a mistake by creating such a large bureaucracy in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). I think if they did not have so many responsibilities that are are extremely important and necessary for our security Chertoff and his assistants might be able to better police what goes on in some of its constituent agencies.
Katrina was a disaster, but i am not sure if any lessons were learned and being implemented that would make things better.
I originally supported the creation of DHS but now I think I may have been wrong.

I_am_me on July 31, 2008 at 10:06 am