Peter May
FameRank: 6

"Peter Barker Howard May", Order of the British Empire/CBE was an English Amateur status in first-class cricket/amateur cricketer, who played for Surrey County Cricket Club/Surrey, Cambridge University Cricket Club/Cambridge University and England cricket team/England. On 9 July 2009, May was posthumously inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

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Centralized sounds good ... but the reality is that the National Guard and Army don't have the kind of ties with local organizations that ultimately deliver lots of service, your nonprofits, churches, humanitarian organizations. Those types of linkages get built up over time, in local communities.

You do not get groups of people marching on city hall saying 'protect me from the earthquake.'

The political dilemma in attempting to invest funds, create regulatory programs, or other efforts to avert losses in the first place stems from the fact that the costs [or burdens] are up front, while the benefits are longer term and uncertain.

Disasters -- flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes, and so on -- have a schizophrenic political life, ... Before, or between, events you don't have people marching on city hall or state capitol steps saying, 'Save us from the hurricane, earthquake etc.'

How far should public officials go in protecting somewhat indifferent citizens who have other concerns?

The federal role is being called on in ways that certainly the Republican Party has not traditionally endorsed.

What Bush is talking about is a massive economic development effort which speaks as much to the issues of declining industry and declining populations. That raises a whole different set of questions.

You don't want it to be an open-ended handout. You want to create incentives for people to act wisely.

You can't take the politics out of disasters. That's what politicians are supposed to do: serve their constituents.