During a GOP presidential primary debate, Mitt Romney said the Federal Emergency Management Agency, America’s chief defense against natural disasters, “absolutely” should be abolished. He said responsibility for rescuing Americans from hurricanes, earthquakes, twisters, floods and the like should be turned over to states — “and if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better.”

Good grief. This is lunacy. Imagine what would happen if coping with the nightmare of Hurricane Sandy were left to for-profit corporations. Families losing their homes and jobs would be forced to hire private contractors — with what? Hospitals without power would need to call profit-seeking contractors to relocate patients.

The recent superstorm shows the irrationality of Romney’s prescription. Would pumping out New York’s flooded subways be left to the state Legislature or corporations?

Republicans in Congress try endlessly to slash FEMA’s budget. During the past two years, they forced a 43 percent cut in FEMA grants for disaster preparations. The Paul Ryan budget passed by House Republicans would slash FEMA further. Romney called the Ryan budget “an excellent piece of work.”

At an Ohio campaign stop, the GOP nominee repeatedly refused to answer reporter questions asking whether he still would eliminate FEMA.

As the Northeast struggles to restore life after the monster storm, Romney and Ryan look like fools.

Online:

http://www.wvgazette.com

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Nov. 4

The Herald-Dispatch, Huntington, W. Va., on the American Foundation for the Blind:

For the 25 million Americans with vision impairment, West Virginia has become a very important place.

From an office in downtown Huntington, a team of researchers spends each day working to make the products and gadgets in our technology-driven world function a little better for those with vision problems, and in some cases, for all of us.

The American Foundation for the Blind opened the office 10 years ago with local funding from the Teubert Charitable Trust and a staff of two.

Today, the operation has expanded to 24 people, and the impact of the work done in Huntington is felt around the world.

For example, the office has worked with Apple to make the iPod Nano, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch usable for people with vision loss.

Other projects have included making all-in-one printers more accessible and voting machines easier to use for visually impaired citizens.

Most of the research work is done in a unique product evaluation and optics lab, located in a 6,000-square-foot space in the Chase Bank building on 5th Avenue.

In particular, the lab has equipment to measure the contrast, reflection properties and image quality of small visual display screens used with smartphones and other electronic devices. …

The Huntington office also is home to CareerConnect, an online database that helps individuals with vision loss seek employment nationwide.

The AFB also has had a big impact locally.

The office has consulted with a number of organizations in the state from the National Parks Service at New River Gorge to the Huntington Museum of Art to help them make their facilities more accessible for the visually impaired.

The office also has worked closely with Marshall University, including providing internships for more than 30 students.

The goal of the AFB is to “remove barriers, create solutions and expand possibilities.”

The Tri-State can be proud of the contributions the Huntington office has made to that effort over the past 10 years and excited about the breakthroughs coming in the years ahead.

Online:

http://www.herald-dispatch.com

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Nov. 1

Times West Virginian, Fairmont, on Superstorm Sandy:

Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

That was the outlook many people in the Eastern U.S. had as dire weather forecasts predicted a “superstorm” of historic magnitude barreling toward the coast. As many as 50 million people were predicted to be affected.

And when Sandy washed ashore, striking the country’s most densely populated region, she packed a powerful punch with hurricane-force winds blowing upward of 80 mph.

In the light of day, the true devastation was visible: Entire neighborhoods were under water. Those living in higher elevations were being buried under a blanket of deep snow. Millions of people from Maine to the Carolinas were without electricity.

Here in Marion County, residents were luckier.

Although we didn’t escape the storm completely unscathed… we counted our blessings that we were among the few areas in this part of the state that seemed to miss the brunt of Sandy’s wrath. …

Sadly, that wasn’t the case for other parts of the Mountain State, nor in New York and New Jersey.

The superstorm dumped 2 feet of snow in parts of West Virginia, caused several buildings to collapse, cut electricity to thousands and left others stranded by impassible roads. State officials have blamed the storm for five deaths, including a legislative candidate from Barbour County.

In New York, large swaths of lower Manhattan lost electricity and entire streets ended up under water, as did seven subway tunnels between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Mass transit was shut down, and the New York Stock Exchange was closed for two days due to weather, the first time that had happened since a blizzard in 1888. In a flooded beachfront neighborhood in Queens, a huge fire had destroyed more than 100 houses.

And in New Jersey, search and rescue crews were out in force. The devastation on the Jersey Shore was, as Gov. Chris Christie said, “some of the worst we’ve ever seen.” …

But when natural disasters of this magnitude happen, Americans rally. …

After all, that’s one of the best things about this country. We pick each other up and carry on. The paths are sometimes bumpy, but we don’t give up. We are resilient.

And that resilient spirit will prevail.

Online:

http://www.timeswv.com