Does this sound familiar? Maybe not if thought about as just a local issue, but this is a sympton of a bigger problem in this country. Georgia is a Red State, and the fact that they cut costs by ridding programs like this should send out a huge siren to all people.

This is the result of Government being slashed and gutted, with the lack of oversight, the lack of emergency management and the lack of regulation.

Departments like the FDC have been gutted, and the results we have seen could have been prevented by sounding the sirens that they once had available to them. People and pets may not be dead today. The FDC says it has neither the money nor the resources to do it job. In the meantime we have more medicine recalls than at any time in modern history, and the cost of precription drugs are skyrocketing. Regulation and government oversight used to prevent this.

The USDA has experienced the same. Their job is to sound the Siren when our food is contaminated. That no longer happens. How many food recalls have happened AFTER someone died?

What about the banking industry? Because of deregulation, we are in a national Mortgage Crisis. The Dollar is tanking. Regulation is meant to be our financial siren.

Same can be said for the deregulation of the Airline industry. There is no regulation, only a constant presence of the government more concerned with terror, than making sure those planes are safe. (Google Northwest Airline)

How about the Electric Industry? That was deregulated as well. How many of us over the years have seen our electric bills skyrocket? How many have experienced more frequent power outages? Slow service repairs?

Do I need to mention the Oil industry? Oil at over 110 dollars a barrel. The government says let the market handle it while Americans are more frequently forced to choose between heat and food or medicine, or a combination of them.

The Consumer Products Safety board is guilty as well, they do not issue warnings until they are forced to... and that is usually AFTER someone has died.

We already Know about FEMA..... then there is the mining industry. I could go on. The list is so deep and so wide.

The idea of Government oversite and regulation of these industries was put in place to ensure that Americans are safe and secure in their houses and homes and persons. That is a constitutional right. Republican policies of the free market and deregulation have done the opposite.

It is time for us to listen to the warning sirens we can hear and make sure come November we change this course. America so far - like Atlanta - actually has been very lucky. We still have a chance to prevent the worst from happening. We have a chance to REMANTLE that which has been dismantled.

:peace: and
Raine