Lights, Camera, Inaction!

The Bush administration expects the American people, known to be intelligent folks, to believe it was shocked by FEMA's fakery during the California wildfires.

Contrary to what The Decider believes, we're not all dumb as dirt. We're not all Ann Coulter; we can wear 6-inch heels and recite the Bill of Rights at the same time. We walk upright when not in wide stances.

We know the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. We know Earth is round. We know the Iraqi intervention was about commerce, not terrorism, and that whether the world is better off without Saddam Hussein is beside the point.

We know the immigration debate is a distraction. Just like "defense of marriage.'' We know that if the media really dug deeper into that Blackwater cesspool, it would strike oil.

We know FEMA fiddled while San Diego burned.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency hasn't been worth the upkeep since George W. Bush put it under Homeland Security. FEMA, like this president, has been as useless as a brick for a cell phone ever since.

Despite apologies and high-level condemnation, FEMA's fakery was intentional. The charade, while not overtly sanctioned by the White House, follows a pattern of media manipulation by and within this two-term administration. By practice, it established an atmosphere and set a tone for hype, spin and fantasy.

Like all the others in this administration, FEMA's mistake was stupid and hurt people. It shows no sense of right and wrong by the people behind the idiotic scheme.

Something doesn't need to be illegal to be morally repugnant. FEMA's one-act play was a mockery. While thousands of Californians took cover from the flames, while state officials and rescuers showed what happens when cool heads and leadership prevail, FEMA was getting ready for its close-up.

By trying to fool the media, a publicly funded federal agency tried to fool the people.

Money meant to help people in emergencies was spent on public relations.

But this administration is used to trying to fool all the people all the time. It likes to dip into the public trust to gain public trust through fraud. Under this administration, federal agencies contracted with unethical professional journalists (three that we know of) to write positive stories and promote domestic policies. For two years, an operative from GOPUSA posed as a journalist at White House press briefings until he was exposed in 2005. Where do you suppose FEMA got the bright idea to fake it?

Media manipulation has taken many forms. Our "war president'' has used our troops repeatedly as product placement during speeches about the war. At town halls and other public meetings, he surrounds himself with a preselected audience of friendly faces, people who won't appear hostile on camera. Occasionally, he performs in military costume. Actually, the Iraq war is one giant farce. Instead of a medal from the president, George Tenet should have received an Oscar.

While the White House chided fakers at FEMA, it forgot its place in history. Earlier this year, Pvt. Jessica Lynch testified on Capitol Hill. She told lawmakers the truth about her injuries and rescue and how the government manipulated the public and media with a cover story about things that didn't happen.

Donald Rumsfeld was so good at being bad.

FEMA deserves criticism, but not from Michael Chertoff. He was director of Homeland Security during FEMA's tardy response to Katrina victims and when toxic trailers went to hurricane survivors in the Gulf states. He was there when Bush gave his post-Katrina speech in an empty Jackson Square and afterward packed up the portable generators leaving New Orleans again in the dark. If anyone needs to shut up about smoke and mirrors over California, it's Chertoff.

Rhonda Chriss Lokeman (lokeman@kcstar.com) is a columnist for The Kansas City Star. To find out more about Rhonda Chriss Lokeman and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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