I want Mike Brown fired from FEMA

[Vashner]

Get this friggin bozo out of here and put someone in that can handle the job properly.

[spurster]

Can I add Michael "know-nothing" Chertoff to your list?

[timvp]

The above two are a good place to start.

I'd prefer prison, actually.

[Dos]

I wonder why this never came up last year when florida got hit by like 5 hurricanes, the response was great... probably cause the gov. knew how to work with the fed's.

now we have a area as big as the UK destroyed and people want instant disaster relief with a gov. that I think lost it, everytime she is on TV it looks like she is basically shaking from fear or something.... apparently she wasn't prepared and made alot of mistakes...

remember we are talking about a disaster about the size of UK, 90,000 square miles no one can phantom a disaster that big, but that is what we have...

[Steve Perry]

people want instant disaster relief with a gov.


5 Days on a bridge begging for water is not asking for instant disaster relief

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

To be fair, I think for all intents and purposes Lt. Gen. Honore has already replaced Brown running the show.

[FromWayDowntown]

I'm still not willing to politicize this situation.

But it is disturbing to me that more than one of the many involved state and federal agencies appears to have had virtually no clue about what was going on in New Orleans, despite the widespread media coverage of the dire conditions.

I'm not generally a big fan of the media and thought as late as Monday that many in their group were in this more for the big show than anything else. But, I have to say, since Tuesday morning, the media has done a fantastic job of keeping people (except, apparently, the state and federal agencies that needed to respond) aware of what was happening. IMO, their continued efforts to sound the calls for relief -- to demonstrate how horrendous things were -- have been invaluable to finally getting things done.

[Steve Perry]

^ Amen

All Bs aside. This is not a Bush lovers vs the Kerry lovers debate.

This is just stupidity one many levels. And that's what makes it so frustrating to accept,


If FEMA ,Bush, and others would just say.."we fucked up" then folks could move on, But every chance they get when they are on tv is just them talking about what they are going to do, and what they have done, No one seems to want to take the blame, and that is whats so frustrating. I come in here and I see Bush lovers making one excuse after another, which makes me now bielive that it's true what they say, Bush can do no wrong............

[hussker]

1) Separation of Federal Govt and State Govt
2) State Govt assesses and determines need
3) State Govt petitions Fed Govt
4) Fed Govt acts.

#2 was the delay, not #4. Not to be a Bush-ite, but HE acted after HE saw what was happening overhead. Blame #2...And no, I am neither repub or dem. Like to think I am an independent THINKER! No labels needed.

[FromWayDowntown]

1) Separation of Federal Govt and State Govt
2) State Govt assesses and determines need
3) State Govt petitions Fed Govt
4) Fed Govt acts.

#2 was the delay, not #4. Not to be a Bush-ite, but HE acted after HE saw what was happening overhead. Blame #2...And no, I am neither repub or dem. Like to think I am an independent THINKER! No labels needed.

This isn't a federalism situation. President Bush declared the region a disaster area before the hurricane hit. When the President makes that kind of a declaration, it's no longer a state's rights question, since the declaration of emergency gets the federal government involved. To put it another way, by the time Katrina made landfall, the governments of LA, MS, and AL were already past #3.

[Nbadan]

If FEMA ,Bush, and others would just say.."we fucked up" then folks could move on, But every chance they get when they are on tv is just them talking about what they are going to do, and what they have done, No one seems to want to take the blame, and that is whats so frustrating. I come in here and I see Bush lovers making one excuse after another, which makes me now bielive that it's true what they say, Bush can do no wrong............

Umm, no. I don't think the families of the thousands of victims are just gonna forgive and forget and all those political gains that Republicans bragged about making with African-Americans before this tragedy, that's gone too.

[boutons]

shrub/Repug values ideology (actually, he doesn't know WTF that is) over competence, as seen in his political appointees who have run (down) his FEMA:

Killed by Contempt

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Each day since Katrina brings more evidence of the lethal ineptitude of federal officials. I'm not letting state and local officials off the hook, but federal officials had access to resources that could have made all the difference, but were never mobilized.

Here's one of many examples: The Chicago Tribune reports that the U.S.S. Bataan, equipped with six operating rooms, hundreds of hospital beds and the ability to produce 100,000 gallons of fresh water a day, has been sitting off the Gulf Coast since last Monday - without patients.

Experts say that the first 72 hours after a natural disaster are the crucial window during which prompt action can save many lives. Yet action after Katrina was anything but prompt. Newsweek reports that a "strange paralysis" set in among Bush administration officials, who debated lines of authority while thousands died.

What caused that paralysis? President Bush certainly failed his test. After 9/11, all the country really needed from him was a speech. This time it needed action - and he didn't deliver.

But the federal government's lethal ineptitude wasn't just a consequence of Mr. Bush's personal inadequacy; it was a consequence of ideological hostility to the very idea of using government to serve the public good. For 25 years the right has been denigrating the public sector, telling us that government is always the problem, not the solution. Why should we be surprised that when we needed a government solution, it wasn't forthcoming?

Does anyone remember the fight over federalizing airport security? Even after 9/11, the administration and conservative members of Congress tried to keep airport security in the hands of private companies. They were more worried about adding federal employees than about closing a deadly hole in national security.

Of course, the attempt to keep airport security private wasn't just about philosophy; it was also an attempt to protect private interests. But that's not really a contradiction. Ideological cynicism about government easily morphs into a readiness to treat government spending as a way to reward your friends. After all, if you don't believe government can do any good, why not?

Which brings us to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In my last column, I asked whether the Bush administration had destroyed FEMA's effectiveness. Now we know the answer.

Several recent news analyses on FEMA's sorry state have attributed the agency's decline to its inclusion in the Department of Homeland Security, whose prime concern is terrorism, not natural disasters. But that supposed change in focus misses a crucial part of the story.

For one thing, the undermining of FEMA began as soon as President Bush took office. Instead of choosing a professional with expertise in responses to disaster to head the agency, Mr. Bush appointed Joseph Allbaugh, a close political confidant. Mr. Allbaugh quickly began trying to scale back some of FEMA's preparedness programs.

You might have expected the administration to reconsider its hostility to emergency preparedness after 9/11 - after all, emergency management is as important in the aftermath of a terrorist attack as it is following a natural disaster. As many people have noticed, the failed response to Katrina shows that we are less ready to cope with a terrorist attack today than we were four years ago.

But the downgrading of FEMA continued, with the appointment of Michael Brown as Mr. Allbaugh's successor.

Mr. Brown had no obvious qualifications, other than having been Mr. Allbaugh's college roommate. But Mr. Brown was made deputy director of FEMA; The Boston Herald reports that he was forced out of his previous job, overseeing horse shows. And when Mr. Allbaugh left, Mr. Brown became the agency's director. The raw cronyism of that appointment showed the contempt the administration felt for the agency; one can only imagine the effects on staff morale.

That contempt, as I've said, reflects a general hostility to the role of government as a force for good. And Americans living along the Gulf Coast have now reaped the consequences of that hostility.

The administration has always tried to treat 9/11 purely as a lesson about good versus evil. But disasters must be coped with, even if they aren't caused by evildoers. Now we have another deadly lesson in why we need an effective government, and why dedicated public servants deserve our respect. Will we listen?

E-mail: [email protected]

[Steve Perry]

its about time you lefters start realizing this


I am not democrat. I just don't want Bush as president. Why does everyone think beacuse you don't like Bush, your a dremocrat? I really feel deep down inside many of you can't stand him also. Your just to embarassed to say so.

[The Ressurrected One]

I want Mike Brown fired from FEMA
Well, want in one hand and crap in the other...then, see which one fills up the fastest.

Brown has done a commendable job in the face of a local and state incompetence of such magnitude.

[hussker]

This isn't a federalism situation. President Bush declared the region a disaster area before the hurricane hit. When the President makes that kind of a declaration, it's no longer a state's rights question, since the declaration of emergency gets the federal government involved. To put it another way, by the time Katrina made landfall, the governments of LA, MS, and AL were already past #3.

That must explain why the Gov of LA did not want the Feds to take pver then, adding yet another delay in the process...

[The Ressurrected One]

The truth will out, folks. When it's all said and done, we will find out a couple of things:

1) New Orleans, Jefferson Parish, and the State of Louisiana made no preparation for the catastrophe they knew was possible, and;

2) New Orleans, Jefferson Parish, and the State of Louisiana resisted early federal attempts at assisting them manage a crisis that was quickly reeling out of their control.

This will all me made difficult because the Mayor of New Orleans happens to be black and, to criticize him, is being characterized as being racist.

[The Ressurrected One]

This isn't a federalism situation. President Bush declared the region a disaster area before the hurricane hit. When the President makes that kind of a declaration, it's no longer a state's rights question, since the declaration of emergency gets the federal government involved. To put it another way, by the time Katrina made landfall, the governments of LA, MS, and AL were already past #3.
Not true.

It merely make federal resources available to the states to use at THEIR discretion. It streamlines the bureaucratic processes so that aid can be mobilized faster when the state requests it.

[FromWayDowntown]

Not true.

It merely make federal resources available to the states to use at THEIR discretion. It streamlines the bureaucratic processes so that aid can be mobilized faster when the state requests it.

My bad. I'm didn't look for an answer before I posted, and shouldn't have done that. Apologies. :oops

In any event, I still think that the blame game that's in progress is a misplacement of priorities. Get the problem solved. Once the problem is solved and people are accounted for, then we can worry about assessing blame for the compounding that everyone is having to deal with.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

In any event, I still think that the blame game that's in progress is a misplacement of priorities. Get the problem solved. Once the problem is solved and people are accounted for, then we can worry about assessing blame for the compounding that everyone is having to deal with.

That's what Bush said earlier, but I'm sure that people will say he's just trying to deflect the blame until Rove can spin it away, or some bullshit like that.

Fuck, we are going to be dissecting this disaster for years.

Like Bush said - there's still people who need rescuing, when we're done with that, done with recovering the victims, then we can talk. Until then it's all about the people of La., Ms, and Alabama.

[FromWayDowntown]

^^ It's also what Bill Clinton has been saying for the last couple of days.

[SpursWoman]

^^ It's also what Bill Clinton has been saying for the last couple of days.


And Condi Rice. And I agree with all of them.

[Nbadan]

And Condi Rice. And I agree with all of them.

People needed rescueing last Tuesday. We already see the Rove spin machine hard at work attempting to shift any responsibility for this fiasco to the locals, and people like TRO are buying it up.

It's noble to talk about wanting to rescue the NO victims, but this is politics and politics doesn't just stop.

[SpursWoman]

It's noble to talk about wanting to rescue the NO victims, but this is politics and politics doesn't just stop.



Politics don't stop for you because you're twisted and have extremely fucked-up priorities. :)

[Nbadan]

Politics don't stop for you because you're twisted and have extremely fucked-up priorities. :)

Oh, you don't know me, so quit.

:spin

[The Ressurrected One]

People needed rescueing last Tuesday.
And the Coast Guard and National Guard were in the air and on the ground, beginning MONDAY, searching house-to-house. The problem occurred when it turned out that city shelters were not properly PREPARED to handle the evacuees they received. That was the responsibility of local, parish, and state officials to ensure. If the convention center and Superdome had had enough supplies and adequate backup generators with fuel to support the number of evacuees that could have been reasonably expected, there would have been no issue.

We already see the Rove spin machine hard at work attempting to shift any responsibility for this fiasco to the locals, and people like TRO are buying it up.
Again, I ask you, what did the local, parish, and state government do to prepare for this catastrophe? Why were there acres of sunken school and metro buses? Why were there no supplies at the Superdome or Convention Center? Hell, they even admitted that it was a call from the President of the United States, on Saturday, that prompted them to issue the emergency evacuation order that probably saved tens of thousands more lives.

You're an idiot Dan and, it's good to see most (damn near everyone), in this forum, recognize that.

You know, it's really sad that we've ended up talking about politics and blame while the disaster is still on-going however, with people like Dan and most of the mainstream media spreading lies and talking out their asses about things they no nothing about, it's become necessary in order for the proper process to keep going.

It's noble to talk about wanting to rescue the NO victims, but this is politics and politics doesn't just stop.
There are only so many helicopters and duece-n-a-halves that can be assembled in one place at one time without a major clusterfuck. In fact, had the City of New Orleans done what was appropriate, started the mandatory evacuation earlier and properly stocked and secured the designated shelters for a sufficient amount of time, what was available on Tuesday would have been sufficient to do the job.

And another thing I'd like to address in this post is the whole idea that this gives us an idea of how the federal government would respond to a terrorist attack. That's bullshit.

First, a terrorist attack is under the purview of the federal government and no state, parish, or local permission/authorization is necessary to respond. If we're invaded by a foreign enemy -- or attacked by a domestic one -- the federal government has the constitutional obligation and authority to move in and take over immediately, which -- I dare say -- is the plan.

Natural disasters are under the purview of the states for planning, mitigation, response, and recovery. The federal government has and, hopefully, always will act in a support role. Otherwise, you get the dreaded federalizing and martial law the people who are bitching now always bitch about.

[The Ressurrected One]

Oh, you don't know me, so quit.

:spin
We all know you Dan. People like you have been clamoring for their 15 minutes since time began.

Michael Moore, Alex Jones, etc...

All criticism, no ideas of their own.

[Jelly]

You want Mike Brown fired from FEMA...okay, fair enough.
But I want that useless Mother Goose Governor taken out and shot.

[FromWayDowntown]

Fire Brown, shoot the governor, Nagin is an ass, whatever.

Why is it that even moments that should (and once did) unite Americans in an important common cause are now nothing more than high-profile opportunities to engage in partisan bickering?

[Jelly]

Who says it's partisan? You're assuming a lot. I'm neither Republican nor Democrat. I think a lot of people here are likewise unattached to either party. But there are a few that are obvious extremists on both sides. People here are angry that bad management and gross incompetence at all levels of govt has costs the lives of thousands of Americans. And it's not like we're not doing anything useful. Many of us have donated time, money, clothes and more to these people. We are frustrated and extremely pissed off. We have every right to rake certain people over the coals right now. Get off our backs.

[The Ressurrected One]

Why is it that even moments that should (and once did) unite Americans in an important common cause are now nothing more than high-profile opportunities to engage in partisan bickering?
Because the Left's first reaction is to start trying to turn it into a "let's impeach Bush" movement.

[FromWayDowntown]

Because the Left's first reaction is to start trying to turn it into a "let's impeach Bush" movement.

And the right is wholly blameless when its representatives are busy pointing out, in partisan terms, that sort of reaction? Even if the Left is busy pointing fingers, it seems to me that the Right is culpable for furthering the partisan divide by that sort of allegation.

This is not -- this should not be -- a political circumstance. There should be no spin and no partisanship. This is a human circumstance and should be dealt with as such.

I've grown weary of the fact that people in my country can no longer address significant issues without having the discourse devolve into do-nothing finger-pointing. It's just plain disgusting.

At this moment, who cares who's at fault for the misery that exists in New Orleans? Rather than figuring out who's at fault, shouldn't we be devoting all of the intellectual energy to solving the problems that exist? Why is it that we've lost the focus to address immediate problems in the here and now, saving the bickering for a more appropriate time?

I just don't get it.

[/rant]

[boutons]

"important common cause"

... eg, 9/11. The US gave shrub/Repugs the benefit of the doubt, good will, and all the US got was a fuck job with this bogus Iraq war destroying Iraq and making the USA less secure, as the Repugs politicized 9/11 to start the Iraq war as 2004 election tactic.

Do you really expect intelligent people to get burned again by trusting shrub/Repugs again? Well, I guess you do, but it ain't gonna happen, and the polls show that shrub/Repugs are now totally fucked and lame duck, with their remaining congressional agenda in serious risk of being thwarted totally.

[timvp]

And the right is wholly blameless when its representatives are busy pointing out, in partisan terms, that sort of reaction? Even if the Left is busy pointing fingers, it seems to me that the Right is culpable for furthering the partisan divide by that sort of allegation.

This is not -- this should not be -- a political circumstance. There should be no spin and no partisanship. This is a human circumstance and should be dealt with as such.

I've grown weary of the fact that people in my country can no longer address significant issues without having the discourse devolve into do-nothing finger-pointing. It's just plain disgusting.

At this moment, who cares who's at fault for the misery that exists in New Orleans? Rather than figuring out who's at fault, shouldn't we be devoting all of the intellectual energy to solving the problems that exist? Why is it that we've lost the focus to address immediate problems in the here and now, saving the bickering for a more appropriate time?

I just don't get it.

[/rant]

:tu

[Nbadan]

At this moment, who cares who's at fault for the misery that exists in New Orleans? Rather than figuring out who's at fault, shouldn't we be devoting all of the intellectual energy to solving the problems that exist? Why is it that we've lost the focus to address immediate problems in the here and now, saving the bickering for a more appropriate time?

I just don't get it.

When is the appropriate time FWD? When you feel better? I don't want to be callious here, but the dead in NO are dead. The Red Cross and other relief agencies have raised millions of dollars in just a few days, and currently have more volunteers than it needs at its evacuation centers. People still left in NO are finally getting food, water, medicine and those willing to leave now have a way out.

Compared to a week ago the situation in NO has improved dramatically.

This is a great country, but as we witnessed in Rwanda, sometimes the country, the government and the people, need to be shamed to finally react. Thank God for stations like MSNBC that were finally willing to tell the truth about the dreadful living conditions in NO.

[FromWayDowntown]

When is the appropriate time FWD?

As I've said all along, the time is appropriate at some point after everyone has been accounted for, after the broken levees have been repaired, after the flood waters have subsided, after some degree of normalcy returns to New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Region. Those would be a few landmarks that I think need to be passed before we start playing the blame game for political gain. I hardly think that unreasonable, but then again dan I don't share your "strike while the iron's hot" bloodlust to seek marginal political gains from catastrophe.

Can't you political vultures wait until the immediate problems are resolved?

[whottt]

As I've said all along, the time is appropriate at some point after everyone has been accounted for, after the broken levees have been repaired, after the flood waters have subsided, after some degree of normalcy returns to New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Region. Those would be a few landmarks that I think need to be passed before we start playing the blame game for political gain. I hardly think that unreasonable, but then again dan I don't share your "strike while the iron's hot" bloodlust to seek marginal political gains from catastrophe.

Can't you political vultures wait until the immediate problems are resolved?

Go look at who started the finger pointing...when fingers start getting pointed...people start getting defensive and pointing back. Granted there are Republicans pointing fingers...idiots like Gingrich...

Just show me a Democrat toeing the same line you are...about the only ones I have seen doing it are Clinton and Blanco.

The other side OTOH is on the defensive but many of them are toeing the same line you are...Starting with the President...

Just sayin'.

[boutons]

Why is anyone surprised that a mental midget, a clown, an illiterate, a pure incompetent who regards federal government with utter contempt and disregard. as does his entire Repug party, value competence for critical govt positions?

=======================================

washingtonpost.com

FEMA Director Singled Out by Response Critics

By Spencer S. Hsu and Susan B. Glasser
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 6, 2005; A01

Michael D. Brown has been called the accidental director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, caricatured as the failed head of an Arabian horse sporting group who was plucked from obscurity to become President Bush's point man for the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.

Amid the swirl of human misery along the Gulf Coast, Brown admitted initially underestimating the impact of Hurricane Katrina, whose winds and water swamped the agency's preparations. As the nation reeled at images of the calamity, he appeared to blame storm victims by noting that the crisis was worsened by New Orleans residents who did not comply with a mandatory evacuation order.

By last weekend, facing mounting calls for his resignation, he told reporters: "People want to lash out at me, lash out at FEMA. I think that's fine. Just lash out, because my job is to continue to save lives." More broadly, the 50-year-old Oklahoma lawyer and the agency he leads have become the focus of a broad reappraisal of U.S. homeland security efforts four years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

In recent days, politicians and officials in both parties have derided Brown's qualifications to head the nation's chief disaster-response agency -- as well as the performance of the agency and its federal, state and local partners.

At a time when homeland security experts called for greater domestic focus on preparing for calamity, Brown faced years of funding cuts, personnel departures and FEMA's downgrading from an independent, Cabinet-level agency.

As recently as three weeks ago, state emergency managers urged Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and his deputy, Michael P. Jackson, to ease the department's focus on terrorism, warning that the shift away from traditional disaster management left FEMA a bureaucratic backwater less able to respond to natural events such as hurricanes and earthquakes.

The Times-Picayune, Louisiana's largest newspaper, published an open letter on Sunday to President Bush, calling for every FEMA official to be fired, "Director Michael Brown especially," joining critics in the state and Congress.

"We're angry, Mr. President, and we'll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry," the editorial said. "Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That's to the government's shame. . . . No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced."

Brown's defenders say he is the scapegoat of a cataclysmic storm and failure of New Orleans's levee system that, in the words of President Bush and Chertoff, could not be foreseen.

"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," Bush said Friday during a tour of the state, a day before Chertoff voiced his confidence.

"It's easy to play the blame game, find a scapegoat, but no one person could be responsible for the challenges we face and the lives lost," said W. Craig Fugate, emergency management director for Florida, where Bush's brother is governor, who worked with FEMA through four hurricanes in 2004. He said state and local authorities share responsibility for the death toll likely to emerge in coming days.

Joe M. Allbaugh -- a college friend, former Bush campaign manager and past FEMA director who hired Brown as FEMA general counsel in 2001 -- offered a qualified defense.

Allbaugh called the government's overall performance "unacceptable" but added: "Blaming one agency, you cannot do that." Still, he acknowledged that FEMA had lost independence and clout with the White House. "I had a unique relationship with the president, having been his chief of staff," Allbaugh said. "If you don't have that kind of relationship, it just makes things tougher."

If anything, Brown's political background has become a liability, leading to charges that he was given his job as patronage. He got his start in politics as an Oklahoma native with Allbaugh but ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1988, winning 27 percent of the vote. He has chaired the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority and served as a City Council member, examiner for the Oklahoma and Colorado supreme courts, and assistant city manager.

Allbaugh hired Brown after an acrimonious end to a nine-year stint as commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association. Former officials say he was forced out; a friend and lawyer of Brown's said he negotiated a settlement after withstanding numerous lawsuits against his enforcement of rules for judges and stewards.

Defending his qualifications, Brown said he has overseen responses to 164 presidential declared emergencies and disasters as FEMA counsel and general counsel, including the 2003 Columbia shuttle disaster and the California wildfires in 2003. "I have been through a few disasters," he said at a news conference yesterday.

Reviews of the government's response to Katrina are beginning. Already, members of Congress such as Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) are pushing to move FEMA out of its department and back to Cabinet-level status. Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Susan Collins (R-Maine) and ranking Democrat Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.) have launched an investigation, and committee members will meet with department officials tomorrow.

While Chertoff said the levee breach that flooded New Orleans "exceeded the foresight of planners," Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, said Brown and other top federal officials were briefed as much as 32 hours in advance of landfall that Hurricane Katrina's storm surge was likely to overtop levees and cause catastrophic flooding.

"They knew that this one was different," Mayfield said yesterday. "I don't think Mike Brown or anyone else in FEMA could have any reason to have any problem with our calls. . . . They were told. . . . We said the levees could be topped."

Louisiana officials have blamed FEMA and Brown for bureaucratic bottlenecks, accusing FEMA of ignoring pre-storm offers of aid from Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley (D), New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) and the American Ambulance Association.

In his last extended TV interview on CNN,Brown admitted Thursday that the federal government did not know that thousands of survivors without food or water had taken shelter at the city's convention center, despite a day of news reports.

Since then, Brown has been eclipsed by his boss, Chertoff -- who flew overnight Sunday to take charge of integrating military with civilian efforts -- and by a new deputy, U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen, whom Chertoff named yesterday to take charge of federal recovery efforts in New Orleans.

Bruce P. Baughman, Alabama emergency management director, head of the National Emergency Management Association and the official in charge of FEMA's response to the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks in 2001, said Katrina will leave its mark on federal disaster management. "It's time to realize, whoever is in charge of FEMA does need an emergency management background. . . . It's something you learn by experience, and a lot of that experience is gone," he said.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company

[mookie2001]

The dude got fired from his last job judging horse shows

[mookie2001]

thats how gop big gov works

I'm a crony, youre a crony
we're all cronies

-hey you want to be head of FEMA?
-sweet yo!

[Clandestino]

but like someone else said.. he handled all the other hurricanes fine... making it was because he was working with jeb in FL.. but then the NO guys were like fuck them... we won't work together

[boutons]

"Vice President Cheney .... defended putting political appointees in charge of organizations such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency."

political appointees = Allbaugh and Brown.

These Repugs NEVER do anything wrong, nor admit a fatal fuckup even when it's in full view of the entire world.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/08/AR2005090801081.html

[boutons]

Of course dickhead would defend Repug patronage appointees to FEMA.

Just more evidence of "starve the beast" strategy and shows the Repugs' profound, well-known contempt for govt. as nothing but a drain for budetary $$$ that would be better used as tax cuts for rich + corps. When shrub himself is an incompetent, cluelss dumbfuck euphemized/defended by the Repugs as "not a details/hands-on type, but a delegating big-picture MBA/CEO type", you know you're standing in deep shit, piled high by the Repugs.

FEMA IS YET ANOTHER HUGE FUCKUP by the Repugs.

=======================================

washingtonpost.com

Leaders Lacking Disaster Experience
'Brain Drain' At Agency Cited

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 9, 2005; A01

Five of eight top Federal Emergency Management Agency officials came to their posts with virtually no experience in handling disasters and now lead an agency whose ranks of seasoned crisis managers have thinned dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

FEMA's top three leaders -- Director Michael D. Brown, Chief of Staff Patrick J. Rhode and Deputy Chief of Staff Brooks D. Altshuler -- arrived with ties to President Bush's 2000 campaign or to the White House advance operation, according to the agency. Two other senior operational jobs are filled by a former Republican lieutenant governor of Nebraska anda U.S. Chamber of Commerce official who was once a political operative.

Meanwhile, veterans such as U.S. hurricane specialist Eric Tolbert and World Trade Center disaster managers Laurence W. Zensinger and Bruce P. Baughman -- who led FEMA's offices of response, recovery and preparedness, respectively -- have left since 2003, taking jobs as consultants or state emergency managers, according to current and former officials.

Because of the turnover, three of the five FEMA chiefs for natural-disaster-related operations and nine of 10 regional directors are working in an acting capacity, agency officials said.

Patronage appointments to the crisis-response agency are nothing new to Washington administrations. But inexperience in FEMA's top ranks is emerging as a key concern of local, state and federal leaders as investigators begin to sift through what the government has admitted was a bungled response to Hurricane Katrina.

"FEMA requires strong leadership and experience because state and local governments rely on them," said Trina Sheets, executive director of the National Emergency Management Association. "When you don't have trained, qualified people in those positions, the program suffers as a whole."

Last week's greatest foe was, of course, a storm of such magnitude that it "overwhelmed" all levels of government, according to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). And several top FEMA officials are well-regarded by state and private counterparts in disaster preparedness and response.

They include Edward G. Buikema, acting director of response since February, and Kenneth O. Burris, acting chief of operations, a career firefighter and former Marietta, Ga., fire chief.

But scorching criticism has been aimed at FEMA, and it starts at the top with Brown, who has admitted to errors in responding to Hurricane Katrina and the flooding in New Orleans. The Oklahoma native, 50, was hired to the agency after a rocky tenure as commissioner of a horse sporting group by former FEMA director Joe M. Allbaugh, the 2000 Bush campaign manager and a college friend of Brown's.

Rhode, Brown's chief of staff, is a former television reporter who came to Washington as advance deputy director for Bush's Austin-based 2000 campaign and then the White House. He joined FEMA in April 2003 after stints at the Commerce Department and the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Altshuler is a former presidential advance man. His predecessor, Scott Morris, was a media strategist for Bush with the Austin firm Maverick Media.

David I. Maurstad, who stepped down as Nebraska lieutenant governor in 2001 to join FEMA, has served asacting director for risk reduction and federal insurance administrator since June 2004. Daniel A. Craig, a onetime political fundraiser and campaign adviser, came to FEMA in 2001 from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he directed the eastern regional office, after working as a lobbyist for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said Brown has managed more than 160 natural disasters as FEMA general counsel and deputy director since 2001, "hands-on experience [that] cannot be understated. Other leadership at FEMA brings particular skill sets -- policy management leadership, for example."

The agency has a deep bench of career professionals, said FEMA spokeswoman Nicol Andrews, including two dozen senior field coordinators and Gil Jamieson, director of the National Incident Management System. "Simply because folks who have left the agency have a disagreement with how it's being run doesn't necessarily indicate that there is a lack of experience leading it," she said.

Andrews said the "acting" designation for regional officials is a designation that signifies that they are FEMA civil servants -- not political appointees.

Touring the wrecked Gulf Coast with Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff yesterday, Vice President Cheney also defended FEMA leaders, saying, "We're always trying to strike the right balance" between political appointees and "career professionals that fill the jobs underneath them."

But experts inside and out of government said a "brain drain" of experienced disaster hands throughout the agency, hastened in part by the appointment of leaders without backgrounds in emergency management, has weakened the agency's ability to respond to natural disasters. Some security experts and congressional critics say the exodus was fueled by a bureaucratic reshuffling in Washington in 2003, when FEMA was stripped of its independent Cabinet-level status and folded into the Department of Homeland Security.

Emergency preparedness has atrophied as a result, some analysts said, extending from Washington to localities.

FEMA "has gone downhill within the department, drained of resources and leadership," said I.M. "Mac" Destler, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. "The crippling of FEMA was one important reason why it failed."

Richard A. Andrews, former emergency services director for the state of California and a member of the president's Homeland Security Advisory Council, said state and local failures were critical in the Katrina response, but competence, funding and political will in Washington were also lacking.

"I do not think fundamentally this is an organizational issue," Andrews said. "You need people in there who have both experience and the confidence of the president, who are able to fight and articulate what FEMA's mission and role is, and who understand how emergency management works."

The agency's troubles are no secret. The Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit group that promotes careers in federal government, ranked FEMA last of 28 agencies studied in 2003.

In its list of best places to work in the government, a 2004 survey by the American Federation of Government Employees found that of 84 career FEMA professionals who responded, only 10 people ranked agency leaders excellent or good.

An additional 28 said the leadership was fair and 33 called it poor.

More than 50 said they would move to another agency if they could remain at the same pay grade, and 67 ranked the agency as poorer since its merger into the Department of Homeland Security.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company

[Nbadan]

Oh, oh, TIME is reporting that old Brownie may have fudged on his resume...


Before joining FEMA, his only previous stint in emergency management, according to his bio posted on FEMA's website, was "serving as an assistant city manager with emergency services oversight." The White House press release from 2001 stated that Brown worked for the city of Edmond, Okla., from 1975 to 1978 "overseeing the emergency services division." In fact, according to Claudia Deakins, head of public relations for the city of Edmond, Brown was an "assistant to the city manager" from 1977 to 1980, not a manager himself, and had no authority over other employees. "The assistant is more like an intern," she told TIME. "Department heads did not report to him." Brown did do a good job at his humble position, however, according to his boss. "Yes. Mike Brown worked for me. He was my administrative assistant. He was a student at Central State University," recalls former city manager Bill Dashner. "Mike used to handle a lot of details. Every now and again I'd ask him to write me a speech. He was very loyal. He was always on time. He always had on a suit and a starched white shirt."

In response, Nicol Andrews, deputy strategic director in FEMA's office of public affairs, insists that while Brown began as an intern, he became an "assistant city manager" with a distinguished record of service. "According to Mike Brown," she says, "a large portion is very inaccurate."

TIME (http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1103003,00.html)

Does any remember when the Army reprimanded and demoted the General in charge of Abu Gharib prison during the tortures for shoplifting, but never charged her with torture or dereliction of duty? Looks like they're going after Brownie this time. Fired on a technicality. That way, the Bush Administration doesn't have to admit failure.

[boutons]

The New York Times

September 9, 2005

Advance Men in Charge

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced this week that it didn't want the news media taking photographs of the dead in New Orleans. A FEMA spokeswoman talked unconvincingly about the dignity of the dead. But the bizarre demand, a creepy echo of the ban on news media coverage of the coffins returning from Iraq, is simply the latest spasm of a gutted federal agency.

It's not really all that surprising that the officials who run FEMA are stressing that all-important emergency response function: the public relations campaign. As it turns out, that's all they really have experience at doing.

Michael Brown was made the director after he was asked to resign from the International Arabian Horse Association, and the other top officials at FEMA don't exactly have impressive résumés in emergency management either. The Chicago Tribune reported on Wednesday that neither the acting deputy director, Patrick Rhode, nor the acting deputy chief of staff, Brooks Altshuler, came to FEMA with any previous experience in disaster management. Ditto for Scott Morris, the third in command until May.

Mr. Altshuler and Mr. Rhode had worked in the White House's Office of National Advance Operations. Those are the people who decide where the president will stand on stage and which loyal supporters will be permitted into the audience - and how many firefighters will be diverted from rescue duty to surround the president as he patrols the New Orleans airport trying to look busy. Mr. Morris was a press handler with the Bush presidential campaign. Previously, he worked for the company that produced Bush campaign commercials.

So when Mr. Brown finally got around to asking Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff for extra people for Katrina, it wasn't much of a departure for Mr. Brown to say that one of the things he wanted them to do was to "convey a positive image of disaster operations to government officials, community organizations and the general public." We'd like them to stay focused on conveying food, water and medical help to victims.

Political patronage has always been a hallmark of Washington life. But President Bill Clinton appointed political pals at FEMA who actually knew something about disaster management. The former FEMA director James Lee Witt, whose tenure is widely considered a major success, was a friend of Mr. Clinton's when he took office in 1993, but he had run the Arkansas Office of Emergency Services. His top staff came from regional FEMA offices.

Surely there are loyal Republicans among the 50 directors of state emergency services. But President Bush chose to make FEMA a dumping ground for unqualified cronies - a sure sign that he wanted to hasten the degradation of an agency that conservative Republicans have long considered an evil of big government. Katrina has proved that federal disaster help is vital, and that Mr. Brown and his team of advance men can't do the job. What America needs are federal disaster relief people who actually know something about disaster relief.

* Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

[spurster]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/09/opinion/09fri1.html

September 9, 2005
Advance Men in Charge

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced this week that it didn't want the news media taking photographs of the dead in New Orleans. A FEMA spokeswoman talked unconvincingly about the dignity of the dead. But the bizarre demand, a creepy echo of the ban on news media coverage of the coffins returning from Iraq, is simply the latest spasm of a gutted federal agency.

It's not really all that surprising that the officials who run FEMA are stressing that all-important emergency response function: the public relations campaign. As it turns out, that's all they really have experience at doing.

Michael Brown was made the director after he was asked to resign from the International Arabian Horse Association, and the other top officials at FEMA don't exactly have impressive résumés in emergency management either. The Chicago Tribune reported on Wednesday that neither the acting deputy director, Patrick Rhode, nor the acting deputy chief of staff, Brooks Altshuler, came to FEMA with any previous experience in disaster management. Ditto for Scott Morris, the third in command until May.

Mr. Altshuler and Mr. Rhode had worked in the White House's Office of National Advance Operations. Those are the people who decide where the president will stand on stage and which loyal supporters will be permitted into the audience - and how many firefighters will be diverted from rescue duty to surround the president as he patrols the New Orleans airport trying to look busy. Mr. Morris was a press handler with the Bush presidential campaign. Previously, he worked for the company that produced Bush campaign commercials.

So when Mr. Brown finally got around to asking Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff for extra people for Katrina, it wasn't much of a departure for Mr. Brown to say that one of the things he wanted them to do was to "convey a positive image of disaster operations to government officials, community organizations and the general public." We'd like them to stay focused on conveying food, water and medical help to victims.

Political patronage has always been a hallmark of Washington life. But President Bill Clinton appointed political pals at FEMA who actually knew something about disaster management. The former FEMA director James Lee Witt, whose tenure is widely considered a major success, was a friend of Mr. Clinton's when he took office in 1993, but he had run the Arkansas Office of Emergency Services. His top staff came from regional FEMA offices.

Surely there are loyal Republicans among the 50 directors of state emergency services. But President Bush chose to make FEMA a dumping ground for unqualified cronies - a sure sign that he wanted to hasten the degradation of an agency that conservative Republicans have long considered an evil of big government. Katrina has proved that federal disaster help is vital, and that Mr. Brown and his team of advance men can't do the job. What America needs are federal disaster relief people who actually know something about disaster relief.

* Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

[Larry Dallas]

These Repugs NEVER do anything wrong, nor admit a fatal fuckup even when it's in full view of the entire world.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/08/AR2005090801081.html


This is the quote of the day,

If only someone would man up and take some blame folks could move on. When a parent gets home and there is flour all over the kitchen and paint all over the carpet, They want to know what went wrong, and who was responsible, It's only human nature to ask those questions,

The parents that say, and do nothing, and get the maid to clean up the mess? wind up with some messed up clueless kids later, and they wonder why?

[SpursWoman]

This is the quote of the day,

If only someone would man up and take some blame folks could move on. When a parent gets home and there is flour all over the kitchen and paint all over the carpet, They want to know what went wrong, and who was responsible, It's only human nature to ask those questions,

The parents that say, and do nothing, and get the maid to clean up the mess? wind up with some messed up clueless kids later, and they wonder why?


When Mother Nature shows up, can you get her on film?



Sorry, but the blame game NEVER stops. I'm assuming you were good friends with the maid?

[boutons]

That fucking Commie liberal socialist Powell is now also playing the blame game. What the fuck does he know about the movement of 100's of 1000's of people and the supporting logistics, and benefits of careful planning and execution before/during/after?

Or, maybe he's just pissed that the Repugs give him a pile of politicized, "fixed up" "intelligence" to take before the UN so he could shit on his otherwise impeccable career. Sorry, Colin, playing with the pigs always gets you covered in shit.

==============================

BBC NEWS

Powell criticises storm response

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell has added his voice to criticism of the hurricane rescue effort.

Mr Powell said he could not understand why more preparations had not been made, in an interview to be broadcast on US television on Friday.

A new opinion poll by the Pew Research Center suggests two-thirds of Americans think President George Bush could have done more in the disaster aftermath.

US Under-Secretary of State Karen Hughes backed the president's response.

She said allegations that he was not doing all he could to help were heartbreaking to him.

'Blinding obvious'

American political figures in both the Republican and Democrat parties have criticised the slow response to the disaster.

The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says Mr Powell's views will be listened to with particular interest - as a highly respected figure and a prominent black American.

Mr Powell told ABC there had been "a lot of failures at a lot of levels - local, state and federal".

"There was more than enough warning over time about the dangers to New Orleans. Not enough was done," he said.

The Pew Research Center poll indicated that two-thirds of the African-Americans questioned believed the government reaction would have been faster if most of those affected had been white.

But Mr Powell said so many African-Americans were left unprotected because they were poor, rather than because they were black.

It "should have been a blinding flash of the obvious... that when you order a mandatory evacuation, you can't expect everybody to evacuate on their own", he said.

Mr Powell's interview comes amid a growing partisan rift over the form of an inquiry into the government response.

Democratic leaders said they would refuse to appoint members to a committee that Republican leaders plan to create.

Republicans said they would aim to go ahead, despite the threatened boycott. One accused the Democrats of seeking to score political points in the aftermath of the disaster.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/4229238.stm

Published: 2005/09/09 11:55:56 GMT

© BBC MMV


======================================

"(Dems) seeking to score political points in the aftermath of the disaster.

damn, it's the 9/11-justifies-entire-Repug-agenda kettle calling the pot black.

When will those mofo Repugs learn that the dirty, shitty, exploitative, politicizing games they play are not their exclusive property?

[Vashner]

He's gone!

[The Ressurrected One]

He's gone!
Now, if we can just get the Mayor of New Orleans, the Governor of Louisiana, and all the politicians, that pork-barrelled the funds intended for levee and flood control projects in Louisiana, to resign we will have gotten rid of everyone that is to blame for this debacle.

[mouse]

He's gone!

Dude! you got rid of him, congrats.
now can you do something about Sports radio In San Antonio?

Thanks

[mouse]

Sorry, but the blame game NEVER stops.

And it never should, And ask yourself if your kids were on that bridge with Geraldo and had not eaten in 3 days would you not be pissed?

[Vashner]

Yea when diehard Bush supporters like me start crying and Bush is involved you KNOW it's bad poo poo.

I been on Bush's tailcoat since WAY before he was gonna run for POTUS.

[SpursWoman]

And it never should, And ask yourself if your kids were on that bridge with Geraldo and had not eaten in 3 days would you not be pissed?



I'd kill Geraldo and fire up the grill. :drunk

[mouse]

I'd kill Geraldo and fire up the grill. :drunk

^ :lmao

I can smell the ham already.

[Vashner]

Argh they are trying to sugar coat it...

[SpursWoman]

And it never should


Why do you say that? That's the way it's always been and where, exactly, has it gotten us?

Everyone spends so much time looking backwards, blaming everyone else for everything bad that's ever happened...creating so much contention and pissing each other off to the point where working together no longer is an option.

How can shit get done to FIX anything if we're stuck pointing fingers and bitching about the past and hating each others guts?

[mookie2001]

^translation

quit playing the blame game?

[Suns Fan]

Why do you say that? That's the way it's always been and where, exactly, has it gotten us?

Everyone spends so much time looking backwards, blaming everyone else for everything bad that's ever happened...creating so much contention and pissing each other off to the point where working together no longer is an option.

How can shit get done to FIX anything if we're stuck pointing fingers and bitching about the past and hating each others guts?


When you stop blaming then you stop caring, Why just sweep everything under the rug?

Look I am with you, It would be nice in a perfect world to never blame anyone for anything,, but that will never happen, If you don't believe me? then ask a Jew why Jesus was killed.

[j-6]

How can shit get done to FIX anything if we're stuck pointing fingers and bitching about the past and hating each others guts?

That right there is the million dollar question. And the reason that Bush and Chertoff are going to get beaten to death by the left, and Blanco and Nagin are going to be crucified by the right, whenever they could be helping each other out instead.

Sad, yet true. By the way, I still believe that NBADan and Yoni/TRO are the same person.

[Suns Fan]

How can shit get done to FIX anything if we're stuck pointing fingers and bitching about the past and hating each others guts?

Psssssst! I hate to break the news to you but, nothing was getting done anyway,

[Vashner]

It's a matter of the guy not having the BALLS and the Arnold carring a M60 machine gun like attack on the disaster..

He was like some guy standing there "well"... all boring..

You need someone with some nad.

[SpursWoman]

Psssssst! I hate to break the news to you but, nothing was getting done anyway,


Really? No shit.

[JoeChalupa]

Good move by Cheney..err..Rove, errr...Bush.

[SpursWoman]

Sad, yet true. By the way, I still believe that NBADan and Yoni/TRO are the same person.



God, wouldn't that be a trip. :wow :lol

[Spurminator]

Both sides believe that a divided nation benefits them.

[Suns Fan]

God, wouldn't that be a trip. :wow :lol


what if SpursWoman was lakerGod ? :wow

[The Ressurrected One]

God, wouldn't that be a trip. :wow :lol
No shit! :drunk

[mouse]

Both sides believe that a divided nation benefits them.


when was the nation never devided?

[SpursWoman]

what if SpursWoman was lakerGod ? :wow



Who says I'm not? :spin

[mouse]

Who says I'm not? :spin


Find out who HerbAsnorefemale is, that's what I want to know.

[Vashner]

I found the new guys Bio..

http://www.rh.edu/news/news03/commencement03/vadmbio.html


Vice Admiral Thad W. Allen assumed duties as Chief of Staff, U.S. Coast Guard and Commanding Officer, Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, DC in May 2002. Vice Admiral Allen is third in command of the Coast Guard and is responsible for all planning, budget, and personnel functions of the service.

Prior to this assignment he served as Commander, Coast Guard Atlantic Area, Fifth Coast Guard District; and U.S. maritime Defense Zone, Atlantic where he was the operational commander for all Coast Guard activities in an area of responsibility spanning five Coast Guard Districts, over 14 million square miles, involving 26,000 military and civilian employees, and 27,900 auxiliarists. He served concurrently as Commander, Fifth Coast Guard District, and Commander U.S. Maritime Defense Zone Atlantic. In response to terrorist events in September 2001, VADM Allen lead the effort to divert numerous assets to support local port commanders and establish critical command and control capability through the Atlantic Area. He served as the Executive agent for the Coast Guard in operations in support of Commander Fleet Forces Command, Joint Forces Command and NORAD; developing the interim Homeland Security campaign plan and joint Anti-terrorism and Force Protection procedures.

In his previous assignment as the Commander of the Seventh Coast Guard District, Vice Admiral Allen directed all Coast Guard operations in South Carolina, Georgia, most of Florida and throughout the Caribbean. These operations included cocaine seizures exceeding 50 tons, 15,000 search and rescue cases, the salvage of Russian cement carrier SERGO ZAKARIADZE and extensive alien migrant interdiction operations. Prior to 1997, Vice Admiral Allen was the Coast Guard's Director of Resources, where he was responsible for formulating the Coast Guard's budget, developing long range plans, and managing the Coast Guard's performance plan.

A specialist in operations both in the coastal and offshore environments, Vice Admiral Allen has served in three Coast Guard cutters ANDROSCOGGIN and GALLATIN, and command of the medium endurance cutter CITRUS. His coastal operations command assignments include Captain of the Port / Group Long Island Sound, CT; Group Atlantic City, NJ, and LORAN Station Lampang, Thailand. Vice Admiral Allen's other assignments included a tour as search and rescue controller in the Greater Antilles Section, San Juan, Puerto Rico; Intelligence Watch Officer at DEA/INS El Paso Intelligence Center, El Paso, TX; Chief Budget Officer, Maintenance and Logistics Command, Atlantic, Governors Island, NY; Deputy Project Manager, Fleet Modernization and Rehabilitation (FRAM) Project, and Assistant Division Chief, Programs Division, Office of the Chief of Staff, Coast Guard Headquarters.

Vice Admiral Allen is a native of Tucson, AZ. He graduated from the U. S. Coast Guard Academy in 1971. He holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the George Washington University and received the 2000 Distinguished Alumni Award. He also holds a Master of Science degree from the Sloan School of Management of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Vice Admiral Allen is married to the former Pamela A. Hess of Champaign, IL. She is a college academic advisor. They have three grown children, Amanda, Meghan and Lucas. Vice Admiral Allen is the son of Clyde and Wilma Allen. Clyde Allen is a retired Coast Guard Chief Damage Controlman and World War II veteran.

[Shelly]

I'd kill Geraldo and fire up the grill. :drunk

:lmao

[Nbadan]

That would blow my mind if TRO and NBADAN were the same person.

Did you see the latest excuse from FEMA defending their slow response in NO? Believe it or not it's a rap song...


This comes right out of a posting on the FEMA web site. "Rap for Kids" Just shows what our tax dollars are funding:

Disaster . . . it can happen anywhere,
But we've got a few tips, so you can be prepared
For floods, tornadoes, or even a 'quake,
You've got to be ready - so your heart don't break.

Disaster prep is your responsibility
And mitigation is important to our agency.

People helping people is what we do
And FEMA is there to help see you through
When disaster strikes, we are at our best
But we're ready all the time, 'cause disasters don't rest. (apparently Michael Brown does though.....)

FEMA (http://www.fema.gov/kids/femarap.htm)

Your tax dollars at work.

:lol