Community | January 02, 2013 | 74 comments

Governor Christie News Conference On House Inaction On Hurricane Sandy Aid: It's "Inexcusable"

JanforGore

http://current.com/community/94007953_governor-christie-news-conferen...

I never thought I would say this, but I truly respect Governor Christie. He has led well during the aftermath of Sandy. He has shown he cares for all residents regardless of politics. That is real leadership. Take note, Rep Boehner and the rest of you who think you are 'Gods' on Capitol Hill. There is another storm coming and it is aiming right at all of you.

"We've got people down there who use the citizens of this country like pawns on a chessboard. That's the way the people of NY and NJ were treated last night. On a political chessboard of internal palace intrigue politics our people were played last night as a pawn."

Thank you for speaking truth!
____
Observation about certain postings here: How sad that supposedly grown men had to spend their time on a site they claim to hate waiting to gang up and distract this thread.

Oh, and when you vote down a post that shows the devastation of this disaster you can bet your a&&* I will repost it.
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74 comments // Governor Christie News Conference On House Inaction On Hurricane Sandy Aid: It's "Inexcusable" // Video

  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  
    • Image

    • http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/storm-ravaged-rockaways-mold-remediation-art...

      Christmas, the most joyous of times, is around the corner. But thousands of Far Rockaway residents will have little to celebrate. Seven weeks after Hurricane Sandy ravaged New York, 11,000 of them still lack heat, hot water, electricity and effective public assistance.

      Nothing has changed for Far Rockaway residents Jorge Gonzalo, 66, an Army veteran, and his mother, Pura Gonzalo, 89, one week after we first told their story: they are still enduring darkness, cold weather and official indifference. Their main concern is not that they have to light candles at night or turn on the stove to fight the cold, but that their basement has become infested with mold.

      “I am worried we are coughing,” Pura said. “Jorge tried to clean as much as he could with Clorox, but the mold is now all over the house. He is not in good health and I am afraid he will get worse.”

      And that is a real possibility for the Gonzalos and thousands of others whose homes are mold infested and who can neither afford to pay for its removal or get assistance from the city.

      In fact, mold has become one of the biggest health hazards after Sandy.

      Volunteers working with the Met Council, a social service agency, found that only one in five families is hiring professional mold cleaning services, not surprising given that mold remediation can cost several thousands of dollars.

      The rest are either painting over the mold or purchasing cheap and ineffective cleanup kits. Until local and federal relief agencies come up with a solution, people who, like the Gonzalos, can’t afford to have the mold removed are being left to live in toxic homes.

      Religious leaders and elected officials are calling on Mayor Bloomberg to add mold remediation to the city’s Rapid Repairs program, which was established to help residential property owners affected by Sandy make emergency repairs including restoration of heat, power and hot water.

      “Faith leaders are calling on Mayor Bloomberg to commit to a series of action steps to make his Rapid Repairs program live up to its name,” said Joseph McKellar, executive director of Queens Congregations United for Action, an advocacy group.

      A report put out by QCUA says the administration’s relief response has been “slow and inadequate” in Queens:

      Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/storm-ravaged-rockaways-mold-remediation-art...

    • 4 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  
    • Image

    • http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/suffering-rockaways-residents-pack-community...

      More than 750 Queens residents and 50 clergy, brought together by the Queens Congregations United for Action, held a community meeting last Monday during which they urged local elected officials to call on Mayor Bloomberg to improve cleanup efforts in Rockaway Beach, Far Rockaway and Inwood.

      Far too many residents of those areas are still struggling to rebuild their lives after Hurricane Sandy, with limited public assistance, they said.

      One of those residents is Jorge Gonzalo.

      “It is like we are in a war,” said Gonzalo, a proud Army veteran who is sick and does not have the strength to clean his mold-infested basement. “We need help fixing the mold. We’re not interested in money; we need help.”

      Gonzalo and his 86-year-old mother have endured six weeks of darkness, cold weather and official indifference in his Far Rockaway home. “We have been fighting for survival,” he says.

      Gonzalo, 66, retired from the Board of Ed after 22 years. He came from Cuba 54 years ago and says he never thought he and his family would find themselves without heat, hot water or power for such a long time in one of the richest cities in the world.

      “We are struggling to get some help from FEMA, the city’s Rapid Repairs unit or whomever,” he said with a tinge of bitterness in his voice. His daughter, her husband and his two grandchildren, aged 1 and 2, moved out, fearful that the children would get sick.

      Rapid Repairs is a program established by the city to help residential property owners affected by Hurricane Sandy make emergency repairs so they can stay in their homes. The repairs were supposed to include restoration of heat, power and hot water. Its results, as the Gonzalo family can attest, have been mixed at best.

      “This is not working,” Gonzalo said.

      Pura, Gonzalo’s mother, 89, lives with him. They light candles at night and turn on the stove to try to warm up their home.

      “I am worried that we are coughing,” Pura said.

      “The worst part is that no one tells you anything,” Gonzalo said with frustration.

      “People from FEMA came by, a Rapid Response team also showed up and said they would help but have never returned. Now Rapid Response called again and said they were coming to inspect the house in the next few days. But who knows if they will show up?”

      The Gonzalo family’s situation, terrible as it is, is just one among hundreds of families that are in a similar predicament.

      “Six weeks after Sandy we have an assessment of the system that says it isn’t working, and hundreds of people from 50 congregations are saying unanimously that the city has failed in the Rockaways,” said Joseph McKellar, QCUA executive director.

      Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/suffering-rockaways-residents-pack-community...

    • 4 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  

    • Members of Congress need to take a trip to see the devastation... maybe even live in the same conditions for a month. Then go back to their little hidey holes in DC and tell us this isn't worth being addressed now. Oh, and wait until the next Sandy hits us, and it will. The burying of heads in the sand about climate change in this country is an absolute immoral disgrace.

    • 4 months ago
  • trut
    • -1
      trut  

    • Maybe the federal gov't should introduce a tax to pay for some reconstruction and see what the citizens have to say. In my opinion it is the states responsibility and further more where is the money supposed to come from? The country is bankrupt already and nobody wants a tax increase. People who choose to live in paradise next to the ocean are going to have to do the repairs themselves.

    • 4 months ago
  • lightningthunderfox
    • -2
      lightningthunderfox  
    • trut:

      yea i was trying to figure out where the money will go. houses and private businesses should take their own responsibility, schools are built strong, roads should already have plans in the budget. So 60 billion for what?

    • 4 months ago
  • lightningthunderfox
  • trut
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  

    • And where is the Mayor of NYC? Last night he was sitting courtside at a Knicks game. Is that all politicians know how to do? Golf and go to basketballl games while their people are in need?

    • 4 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
  • KSirys
    • KSirys  
    • This comment has been hidden for review.
  • JanforGore
    • +2
      JanforGore  
    • KSirys:

      This thread is about aid to people who have had everything taken from them and all you can do is b9tch about your off topic response on the board? You care more about your tacky comment being "hidden" than the House refusing to give these people in NJ and NY aid? You live in NJ don't you? Do you care about the people wiithout homes or heat ?

      I don't want to get upset here under the circumstances, but there are some really whiny people on this site! I am so sick of coming here every day and reading nothing but petty whining tit for tat bs here when there is REAL LIFE going on! Over FOUR HUNDRED comments in a thread b^tching about "trolls" but hardly anything discussing real issues. Is it any wonder why people have left? Where's the substance?

      I also didn't post this because I am in LOVE with Governor Christie. But at least I have the capacity to understand the enormity of the anvil that has now come down and smacked us right in the head. No wonder this country is going in the cra**er.

    • 4 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  
    • KSirys:

      I don't really care WHAT you think regarding that, Al Gore, or anything I may have posted previously which has NO relevance to this thread. If you are so incensed take it to your own thread or somewhere else where you can spew your guts out.

    • 4 months ago
  • IceKat
  • KSirys
  • KSirys
  • bike10
  • 2warsoffbooks
  • keithponder
    • +6
      keithponder  

    • Crossover Christie. I'll follow you. John Boehner should be forced to resign. This is a simple case of payback. The GOP is still angry at Governor Christie for his praise of President Obama after hurricane Sandy.

    • 5 months ago
  • KSirys
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  
    • keithponder:

      I don't know. Perhaps it's because by them giving the aid they think they would be admitting anthropogenic climate change is now real and affecting us because scientists have connected Arctic melting, sea surface temperatures and sea level rise to the ferocity of this storm and how it was pulled towards the East Coast. They would rather people suffer because their oil contributions mean more to them.

    • 5 months ago
  • wolfess
    • +3
      wolfess  
    • JanforGore:

      I think both of you are right -- if they rescue the people who have gone thru this horrific storm they won't be able to ignore the truth about which you so eloquently speak. But I also think they're angry at Christie for supporting Obama -- how does it feel to be 'governed' by a rightwing congress that are nothing more than junior high children? As Gov Christie said, this is disgusting!
      There is another storm coming and it is aiming right at all of you. -- This is a great statement, and in my opinion that storm can't come soon enough! GUILLOTINE :-)????

      Pwr 2 the RESOLUTE peons!
      GUILLOTINE ALL MEDIOCRE POLITICIANS!

    • 5 months ago
  • Blueshound9
  • bulraybet
  • WalmartRamen
  • wolfess
  • Ricky84
    • +1
      Ricky84  

    • I haven't followed Christie that closely, mainly because I don't live in his state and he doesn't get that much coverage at the national level but a lot of the critiques leveled against him come from a hyper partisan atmosphere. I'm not really surprised he doesn't always come off as the devil incarnate.

    • 5 months ago
  • KSirys
    • -1
      KSirys  
    • Ricky84:

      We know he is and he's the devil! He knows how to play the popularity card very well. Most people outside of the state only hear the good news, we on the other hand get the bad and feel it!

    • 5 months ago
  • Leen61
    • +5
      Leen61  

    • At least Christie sticks up for the people of his state. Welcome to compassionate conservatism, Chris. As I said on another thread:

      When a group of lawmakers are this cruel, heartless and soulless, they will do anything to hurt this country in the name of padding their own pockets with campaign donations. This is getting scarier by the minute because as each day goes by, the idea of these tea baggers being capable of anything becomes more evident. They are so detached from any humanity they don't feel compelled to help anyone but the ultra rich and the people who pay their way into power.

    • 5 months ago
  • onemale
    • +4
      onemale  

    • I have railed against partisan rhetoric my whole life. I fear it has already destroyed our country. The hate form both sides is over whelming and disgusting.

    • 5 months ago
  • cmc101
  • kayopunk
  • lightningthunderfox
  • jim_b
  • CreditFigaro
  • lightningthunderfox
  • CreditFigaro
  • lightningthunderfox
  • coolplanet
    • +2
      coolplanet  

    • I know exactly why congressional tea partiers won't support Sandy relief.
      Sandy slammed home the fact that global warming is very real and they want to punish its victims for being a part of showing what F'in A-holes they have been in denying science and climate reality.

    • 5 months ago
  • lightningthunderfox
  • lightningthunderfox
    • -4
      lightningthunderfox  
    • lightningthunderfox:

      and on the whole climate thing.
      I believe something much grander then just human co2 global warming is going on, an electromagnetic event that is effecting our whole solar system. So why would I support or believe in a government that does not tell the truth, says you are to blame, and will not tell you the about the ways it is trying to control or manipulate the outcome of the planet?

    • 5 months ago
  • coolplanet
    • +2
      coolplanet  
    • lightningthunderfox:

      I'm as disappointed as you that Planet X didn't show up to save us.
      But seriously the rest of our solar system is NOT experiencing warming.
      We Earthlings have known for 150 years what causes a planet to warm - greenhouse gasses. It's such basic science that my head wants to explode when I hear people blame the Sun, cosmic rays, photon belts and wayward planets for what's occurring on Earth.
      I'm an old hippy who believes in a New Age but I figured out decades ago that it has to be grounded in science.
      Sorry I'm so blunt about this. I just see it as a matter of life and death.
      Please don't 'unfriend' me. ;)

    • 5 months ago
  • lightningthunderfox
  • ThirdSection
  • coolplanet
    • +1
      coolplanet  
    • lightningthunderfox:

      Okay I agree that Earth's magnetic field is weakening, and this current solar maximum is the weakest in many decades as NASA confirms.
      Regarding chemtrails, IF they are happening they should be cooling the planet with sulfur aerosols, as climatologists have noted for decades from observing volcanoes.
      Honestly this guy doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. It's complete conspiracy theory and pseudo science.
      Denial of global warming from the religious right is bad enough. But this denial from the far left is even worse.
      Am I the only one who thinks the Maya were referring to human-induced climate change?

    • 5 months ago
  • lightningthunderfox
  • cmc101
    • +2
      cmc101  
    • lightningthunderfox:

      the only people that are broke are the working class
      wall street is making money hands over fist

      The "fiscal cliff" law is full of special interest tax breaks, which add $74 billion in spending
      and we can't take care of our citizens

    • 5 months ago
  • coolplanet
    • +2
      coolplanet  
    • lightningthunderfox:

      I am fully aware of this enormous 2005 solar flare during solar minimum.
      It, and another in 2003, were the largest flares in 100 years.
      But this doesn't prove anything.
      And it certainly has nothing to do with global warming as NASA explains.
      I personally wish some cosmic event would enlighten us pathetic humans.
      Yet the fact remains that we are changing our climate with our pollution and we want to blame it on the Sun because our shit don't stink.

    • 5 months ago
  • lightningthunderfox
    • -3
      lightningthunderfox  
    • coolplanet:

      this video had nothing to do with the size of the solar flare but how fast it got to earth, it proved that space isnt empty and there is an electromagnetic connection between bodies. just listen more closely to your global warming scientist nearly all will say there is something more than just c02 going on. C02 is just the poster boy for the movement its meant to wake people up and get them interested.
      concerning the sun i believe you have a completely different idea what i think is going on, I dont think we are getting hotter because of more solar flares i think the opposite look up solar minimums and atmosphere collapse. this along with our weakening electric shields let more energy in along with alot of water (starwater and noctilucent clounds) this results in a warming much more extreme in both directions climate.

    • 5 months ago
  • 2warsoffbooks
  • JanforGore
  • treewolf39
    • +2
      treewolf39  

    • Watch him closely! Frankly though, if a politician can not be at least this decent he/she should be thrown out of their position. Some really should go to prison for really causing pain and death by ignoring or denying ongoing problems. Thumbs up to this republican. Stay strong Jan and thank you for speaking from a local perspective of on going events.

    • 5 months ago
  • northernexpat
    • +7
      northernexpat  

    • I not usually a big Christie fan, but I have to say that he has shown real leadership in this disaster. He has also been honest about the political discourse in Congress. The country needs more rational GOP leaders to stand up to the extreme right in their party and say 'Enough, it's time to work for the good of the country'.

    • 5 months ago
  • KSirys
  • northernexpat
    • +4
      northernexpat  
    • KSirys:

      My biggest beef with Christie is his complete disrespect for civil servants and teachers. But until more on the right speak out about the direction the GOP is trying to take the country, nothing will improve. So even if he is doing this for political gain, it is making national headlines and showing the complete dysfunction in their party.

    • 5 months ago
  • Hardytoo
    • +6
      Hardytoo  

    • What the GOP has done is inexcusable - Governor Christie says it best.
      He's truly representing all the people of New Jersey, as well as NY and Connecticut. He's emerging as a very strong figure, a true LEADER. Will stay tuned.

    • 5 months ago
  • bailey78
    • +4
      bailey78  

    • After seeing him in action both now and right after the storm I believe he could be the next POTUS ? after seeing this I could almost vote for him. If he was anything other than republican I would without a doubt.

    • 5 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • bulraybet
  • 2warsoffbooks
  • JanforGore
  • cmc101
  • northernexpat
    • +1
      northernexpat  
    • cmc101:

      ROFL. Remember the Congressional Chaplain also did that with the GOP before they voted on Tuesday. I guess the GOP in Congress forgot they aren't in the Corporate World anymore.

    • 5 months ago
  • 2warsoffbooks
    • 0
      2warsoffbooks  
    • JanforGore:

      Its certainly not in the toilet paper crowd that coincidentally come from such storm damaged areas such as FL, SC, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, OK, MO, etc mostly red states. FEMA for red states is just fine but no way in hell for blue states.

    • 4 months ago
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