UPDATED: My father works for FEMA. He is 75 years old and, like many men of his generation,
Last edited Thu Nov 1, 2012, 09:00 AM - Edit history (1)
he doesn't handle not working very well. Also, my parents lost over half of their retirement investments in the crash, so it's not completely by choice that he works.
Also, like many white Catholic men of his generation, he retains vestiges of the racist culture in which he grew up. He balked at voting for Obama in 2008. He said things about how the races were never intended to mix and some other weird race-related negative things about the candidate. Also, he really wanted Hillary.
But my mom and I called him on that racist crap and worked on him leading up to the election. He is a curmudgeonly, generally difficult man, so it wasn't easy. However, as we suspected he would in the end, he did vote for the black man who would become our president.
He has, over the past 4 years, become an ardent supporter. And, he despises Romney with a vehemence that may, however unlikely, surpass my own.
Yet, he still will not answer back to all the RW emails he gets from the Republicans he and my mom play bridge with. He gets mad when my mom does. He will not tell the Rs who start trashing Obama at the bridge table that he disagrees. He hates it when my mom does. Even though she generally just says, "We all don't agree, so let's not discuss politics here."
So, it is with great surprise and pride that I read these recent posts he made on facebook:
1. I came to FEMA in Sept 2011 to assist in the disasters Tropical Storm Lee and Hurricane Irene. My work is with the municipalities - townships, school districts, waste water treatment plants roads and bridges. Tears came to my eyes when the oath of office -- to defend the constitution etc -- was administered. Helping to restore these entities to pre-disaster or better condition has been a high point in my life's work.
I am very much convinced that this work could never, never be done by anything but a national government entity.
Update -- Yesterday, our FCO in Harrisburg, PA exhorted us to extend the same effort in responding to Sandy. Today too, I was very much heartened to see the Governor of New Jersey praise FEMA and to hear an NY congressperson look directly into a TV camera and say "Thank You FEMA". i am very proud to be able to help!
2. I find it utterly reprehensible that a man who has never held a position in the federal Government would stick his nose in the response to the event, and would do so by using it as a way to pretend that he cares. Care Sir, BY DONATING $30,000,000 of your wealth to the relief effort. send several of the Caddys lying around in your closed mansions. Put people in those homes. Stay out of the way of the Federal Government now and on election day.
3. It is slowly coming to me that anyone who buys Romney's BS can only be doing so out of racial bigotry.
Update: It's kind of late to add this, but I just remembered that my dad is on twitter: http://twitter.com/donhennigan
He doesn't post much, but if you want to encourage him with a follow, maybe he will start. (Please don't be misled by the "wealth management" tweet. As I said, he's still working not just because he likes it. And if Iggy tweets his ageist crap at him, my dad will probably tell him to go f*#k himself.) Here are a few of his old ones:
Chuckling at all R's antics to no avail ..POTUS will still be POTUS in Dec 2012 to 16.
@EricCantor Your tactics are BLACKMAIL. Be a man and address spending/revenue issue separately Don't ruin the [Republic] with mafia tactics.
If the R's have, as they say that they do, a plan to create jobs, they must disclose it to POTUS. Otherwise Criminal & reprehensible
= new reply since forum marked as read
Welcome to DU.
Here's to your father!
to you and your lovely dad! 
Thank him for all his work with the storms, Dark 
Mine sends birther e-mails and pretends to care about Benghazi. Count your blessings. By the tone of your message, I think you already do.
My impression is that most Reservists are hesitant to speak out in public at all -- it seems to be a much more political agency with fear of blow-back than other agencies. I am putting out feelers in several places to see if any family members or current Reservists are willing to chime in.
The change.org people want to help promote the petition but feel either current or former employees, and/or their family members being involved with the petition in some way (writing comments?), would help the process of promotion. The successful petition regarding federal firefighters getting healthcare coverage was created by a firefighter: http://www.change.org/firefighters
Personally, I think we simply need to be their advocates and speak on their behalf, especially since this is obviously a busy time for the agency, but also the time to bring attention to this issue.
Thanks.
volunteers that get on the ground around the country projecting this countries resources to where and when they are needed. There are many out there like your dad and thousand more retired professionals from all walks of life giving back to those in time of need. 
People helping people a concept Mitt just doesn't get.
Great Dad!
Bashir and mitttflop just issued a statement, he will as POTUS make sure FEMA has all the funding it needs.
thank you, and I thank you.
(Dad's a big George m Cohan fan. )
How great does it feel to be so proud of a parent!
I almost got tears in my eyes reading this. OK, I did. Must show this to my husband when he returns. We are also retirees and we're going to "poll watch" on election day (NC). Although we get low on energy, at times, it hasn't taken much to get us fired up again for Obama and the Democrats. A warm hug for your Dad.
And that's not easy at his age. He deserves a lot of credit for that!
with all due respect... does he think he's still going to be driving a car when he's 85??
the guy is 75 and still working.. why is he not retired?
I can understand working until you're 70 due to being in denial... but 75?
so my point is, when is this guy going to face reality? How many more times do we need to
read the Headline: "Confused elderly man drives car into gas station/liquor store, kills three" ??
open about his feelings unless it's anger or frustration. I do know he despises right wingers, supports Obama, loves opera and bridge, and is a devout Catholic. Oh, and now I know he loves helping restore communities though his FEMA work.
This, is why we must never write off anyone as a lost cause. This, is why we must never give up.
THANK YOU! 
The agency has been a political football, loathed by Republicans since its inception.
With natural disasters growing in scope, it's apparent to any rational person that we need the large-scale, federal assistance such as FEMA can provide (if funded properly and set up efficiently), not Romney-esque canned good drives and being dependent upon charity and private business.
We need to re-evaluate our priorities as individuals, as communities and as a nation!
Give your dad a huge thank you for his service and for his ability to see the big picture and state it so eloquently.
We will always have hope as long as we have people like him.
