mass exodus

So far nine House Republicans have announced they won't seek re-election next year. Now we start hearing the excuses for them not running:

Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), 61, one of those who announced he’s packing it in, said that the Democrats’ new five-day workweek made traveling back home that much more difficult.

“I do think the schedule and the flying is a huge pain for people, particularly those who are from the Midwest or even further West,” he said, adding that it’s “probably the worst part of the job.”

“I think that has played into these retirement announcements,” said the seven-term congressman from Peoria.

Wow I think the whole nation should listen to LaHood. If you work five days a week, quit. What would that do to our economy?

Think Progress reminds us that Jack Kingston (R-Ga) also blasted the Democrats five day work week last winter. He tried to say that Democrats don't care about families. This was only a month after Kingston said people need to work more hours or take second jobs instead of raising minimum wage.

The spin that the White House continues to catapults out of
its mists still amazes me. We continue to hear how the City of New Orleans
failed its people because it could not get them all out. We don’t hear about the
80% of the town that was evacuated, just the 20% that was not.

Within that 20% look at some who were not evacuated;
Ambulatory care patients, inmates, hospitals and nursing homes. Those are the
ones that complicated evacuation ten fold. They just don’t hope in a car or bus
and go. They require special care to get evacuated.

I write this, not as a blogger, but as someone who has a
vast deal of knowledge into emergency situations. I have received training from
FEMA and served on three separate fire departments. I can safely tell my readers
this; the evacuation level they did achieve was remarkable.

One image that continues to flow through the media is the
flooded school buses. People are asking why they were not used. One key thing
that comes into play when evacuating using school buses is who will drive them.
You can not throw anyone behind the wheel for risk of numerous accidents that
would have increased the casualty count. New Orleans streets were already grid
locked with a mass exodus from the town. You need competent drivers to operate
those buses, and then you still would be looking at the ambulatory care
patients.