AP - Michael Brown being removed from managing Katrina Relief

[VertigoGal]

notice, all, again, that NO ONE WAS FIRED.

and his reason for resigning was to take the media's heat off the president.

yep. isn't this how it always happens?

scapegoat, check.

not to say that it's unfair to blame him, only that this excuses many other people from blame unfairly.

 

[melon]

So what kind of unqualified boob is Bush going to replace him with?

Melon

 

[verte76]

The new head of FEMA is a career firefighter. At least it's not one of the guys from Bush's campaigns.

 

[Irvine511]

 

[U2Bama]

So what kind of unqualified boob is Bush going to replace him with?

Melon

Per MrsSpringsteen's post:

R. David Paulison, head of FEMA's emergency preparedness force, will lead the beleaguered agency, according to three administration sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not yet been made.

Paulison is a career firefighter from Miami who was among emergency workers responding to Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and the crash of ValuJet Flight 592 in the Florida Everglades in 1996, according to a biography posted on FEMA's Web site. He also has led the U.S. Fire Administration since December 2001, according to the site.

As chief of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department, Paulison led 1,900 personnel under a $200 million operating budget. He was also in charge of Dade County's emergency management office, according to his biography.

Although he appears to have much better qualifications than Brown, let's go ahead and pre-judge him anyway just so we can get it out of the way. That way we won't have to go through all of it on the spot the next time we have a crisis.

~U2Alabama

 

[BVS]

That's not real is it?

 

[U2Bama]

I find it hard to laugh at a photoshop pic with people walking through their hometown flooded waist-deep with toxic water. But, oh well.

~U2Alabama

 

[Iskra]

Good Job Brownie!
He'll probably get a medal.
My cats applied for the job. They are both more qualified for the position than he was but I don't really think they are up to the long hours.

 

[Irvine511]

Although he appears to have much better qualifications than Brown, let's go ahead and pre-judge him anyway just so we can get it out of the way. That way we won't have to go through all of it on the spot the next time we have a crisis.

he was the man who told us all to buy duct tape to seal off our houses.

as for the pic, a friend of mine sent it to me -- i know it's easy to get sanctimonious about it, but in light of the Bush family's obliviousness to those who suffer, i think it taps into something very real, very sad, and hopefully, as satire is intended to do, create some sort of reaction in the veiwer.

 

[U2Bama]

Then in light of the intention of satire, let's laugh away!

~U2Alabama

 

[Irvine511]

Then in light of the intention of satire, let's laugh away!

~U2Alabama

like at Washington Press Corps dinners when Bush gives a slideshow presentation about searching for WMDs in the White House whilst troops are dying for such fabrications in Iraq?

please.

this man has the death of Americans all over his hands, from the hundreds of signed death warrants in Texas to Iraq to New Orleans.

and all while on vacation.

 

[U2Bama]

like at Washington Press Corps dinners when Bush gives a slideshow presentation about searching for WMDs in the White House whilst troops are dying for such fabrications in Iraq?

please.

this man has the death of Americans all over his hands, from the hundreds of signed death warrants in Texas to Iraq to New Orleans.

and all while on vacation.

My point was more focused ont he NOLA residents in the background. The "blood on his hans" debate is obviously up for worthy discussion; that could said of any U.S. President or member of Congress at any time, for that matter.

And shame on Paulison for the duct tape advisory.

~U2Alabama

 

[BonosSaint]

he was the man who told us all to buy duct tape to seal off our houses.

My father is a huge Bush supporter . The day after the duct tape suggestion, I came home to see our entire downstairs wrapped in plastic and duct tape. Now my father is a smart man and I couldn't understand him listening to all that bullshit and I was cringing. Here it turns out, we were getting some work done on the house that was going to kick up a lot of dust. So the wrap was to protect the house from dust, not terrorist danger.



The timing couldn't have been more perfect. I mean, I know he trusts the President, but...

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I heard on the news that he was the "duct tape guy"

I remember I actually got upset and anxiety ridden when he said that. I couldn't believe I was living in a world like that, it was quite depressing.

 

[kellyahern]

Per MrsSpringsteen's post:



Although he appears to have much better qualifications than Brown, let's go ahead and pre-judge him anyway just so we can get it out of the way. That way we won't have to go through all of it on the spot the next time we have a crisis.

~U2Alabama

Well, he doesn't sound so bad .

he was the man who told us all to buy duct tape to seal off our houses.

oh

 

[nbcrusader]

he was the man who told us all to buy duct tape to seal off our houses.

And he has all the experience every critic on this board demanded from Brown.

 

[Irvine511]

And he has all the experience every critic on this board demanded from Brown.

so why wasn't he in charge of FEMA instead of a man who judged horses?

i'm not criticizing his experience, though i do think the whole duct tape thing was a fiasco, especially living in a city that's been on-edge since 2001.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I want it..

http://prodtn.cafepress.com/3/15499153_F_tn.jpg

 

[kellyahern]

And he has all the experience every critic on this board demanded from Brown.

Which is why I was happy, until I found out about the duct tape thing .

Are we sure it's this guy? Wasn't duct tape and plastic Ridge's idea?

 

[LadyRhia]

i think Bush should resign too.

he hired the guy.



i got that suggestion from Bill Maher last Friday night:



And finally, New Rule: America must recall the president. That's - that's what this country needs. A good, old-fashioned, California-style recall election! Complete with Gary Coleman, porno actresses and action film stars. And just like Schwarzenegger's predecessor here in California, George Bush is now so unpopular, he must defend his jog against ... Russell Crowe. Because at this point, I want a leader who will throw a phone at somebody. In fact, let's have only phone throwers. Naomi Campbell can be the vice-president!

Now, I kid, but seriously, Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you anymore. There's no more money to spend. You used up all of that. You can't start another war because you also used up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people.

Yeah, listen to your mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit card's maxed out, and no one is speaking to you: mission accomplished!

Now it's time to do what you've always done best: lose interest and walk away.

Like you did with your military service. And the oil company. And the baseball team. It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job. How about cowboy or spaceman?!

Now, I know what you're saying. You're saying that there's so many other things that you, as president, could involve yourself in ... Please don't. I know, I know, there's a lot left to do. There's a war with Venezuela, and eliminating the sales tax on yachts. Turning the space program over to the church. And Social Security to Fannie Mae. Giving embryos the vote. But, sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why? Because you govern like Billy Joel drives. You've performed so poorly I'm surprised you haven't given yourself a medal. You're a catastrophe that walks like a man.

Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire metropolis to rising water and snakes.

On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two Trade Centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the City of New Orleans...Maybe you're just not lucky!

I'm not saying you don't love this country. I'm just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side. So, yes, God does speak to you, and what he's saying is, "Take a hint."

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/15/n...00&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

Mr. Brown acknowledged that he had been criticized for not ordering a complete evacuation or calling in federal troops sooner. But he said the storm made it hard to communicate and assess the situation.

"Until you have been there," he said, "you don't realize it is the middle of a hurricane."

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Top Ten Questions For The FEMA Director Application

10. "Are you able to convey a false sense of security?"

9. "What percentage of your resume is fabricated?"

8. "In a crisis, which state or local officials would you blame?"

7. "What are your plans after you resign?"

6. "Do you mind if the last guy left the office smelling like Arabian horses?"

5. "Which is most serious: A disaster, a catastrophe, or a dis-astrophe?"

4. "Does Robert Blake dating again count as an emergency?"

3. "Can the president easily add '-ie' to your last name to form a nickname?"

2. "Can you screw up bad enough to take the heat off the president's mistakes?"

1. "Michael Brown...Idiot or moron?"

 

[Scarletwine]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy.../BL2005091501098.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns

But oh look who's in charge now.

Who's in Charge? Karl Rove!

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Thursday, September 15, 2005; 12:00 PM

All you really need to know about the White House's post-Katrina strategy -- and Bush's carefully choreographed address on national television tonight -- is this little tidbit from the ninth paragraph of Elisabeth Bumiller and Richard W. Stevenson's story in the New York Times this morning:

"Republicans said Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff and Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, was in charge of the reconstruction effort."

Rove's leadership role suggests quite strikingly that any and all White House decisions and pronouncements regarding the recovery from the storm are being made with their political consequences as the primary consideration. More specifically: With an eye toward increasing the likelihood of Republican political victories in the future, pursuing long-cherished conservative goals, and bolstering Bush's image.

That is Rove's hallmark.

Rove, Bush's long-time political adviser and the "architect" of Bush's ascendancy, was rewarded after the 2004 election with a position at the White House with overt policy responsibilities. But whereas in some previous White Houses, governance took precedence over campaigning once the election was safely over, Rove has shown no sign of ever putting policy goals above political ones. (See my Rove profile.)

Tonight's speech promises two classic features of the Rove approach.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Interesting^

I read this on the NY Daily News site

the only thing worse then the usual nasty Rove is nasty Rove w/ kidney stones

Never mind those planned congressional hearings on the hows and whys of government incompetence in the attempt to cope with Hurricane Katrina.

There were not only logistical and bureaucratic troubles but, astonishingly for the Bush White House, political snafus. Maybe there's a simple explanation: Karl Rove's kidney stones.

Washington insiders have been buzzing that President Bush's guru-in-chief - often called "Bush's Brain" - has been suffering from the painful urinary-tract malady for the past couple of weeks, causing him to miss some key Katrina strategy sessions.

I'm told that the 54-year-old deputy White House chief of staff - who apparently was feeling well enough yesterday to travel outside the nation's capital - visited the hospital, possibly twice, to relieve his agony since Labor Day.

White House officials declined to speak on the record about Rove's kidney stones, due to the extreme delicacy of discussions about internal organs of top presidential advisers.

But the National Institutes of Health define a kidney stone as "a hard mass developed from crystals that separate from the urine and build up on the inner surfaces of the kidney. ... Usually, the first symptom of a kidney stone is extreme pain, which occurs when a stone acutely blocks the flow of urine. ... Sometimes nausea and vomiting occur. Later, pain may spread to the groin."

 

[Scarletwine]

HeHe - He so deserves the pain in his

 

[Scarletwine]

This article makes it clear things haven't improved much at FEMA

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-09-15-katrina-miscommunication_x.htm
Help is on the way, but it's unclear where
By Mimi Hall, Kevin Johnson and Mike Linn, USA TODAY
More than 100 tractor-trailers packed with water, ice and other critical hurricane-relief supplies have been sitting at an Air Force base in Montgomery, Ala., for nearly a week while the federal government pays $600 a day for each truck.

...

Other FEMA problems:

• A convoy of 100 trucks full of supplies spent a week traveling to Meridian, Miss., and Selma, Ala., before being sent to Memphis last Saturday night.

The city's emergency chief, Claude Talford, was roused around midnight to find out that the trucks were lining up on one of his city's main streets. He didn't know they were coming, and neither did state officials. "They just showed up on our doorstep," he said.

• At a staging area north of New Orleans last week, 75 trucks from Arkansas, each laden with 35,000 pounds of water and medical supplies, sat for three days. FEMA had ordered the trucks but didn’t have anyone there to unload them, according to Lane Kidd of the Arkansas Trucking Association.

• In St. Louis, officials were asked by FEMA last week to prepare for up to 2,500 evacuees. After a small city was constructed in an airport hangar, FEMA called and said no evacuees were coming. The city has spent "hundreds of thousands of dollars," said Gary Christmann, chief of the city's emergency management department. "We considered that this was an outstanding drill."

• In Oregon, FEMA requests for assistance changed virtually daily. Holly Armstrong, spokeswoman for Gov. Ted Kulongoski, said FEMA called on Sept. 2 to request shelter in the Portland area for 1,000 evacuees. Officials scrambled, and Nike offered to donate clothes.

Two days later, FEMA said to "hold off." On Sept. 7, FEMA said 500 evacuees would show up Sept. 10. Then FEMA told the state no one was coming.

The governor is now reviewing his own state's readiness. Among the considerations, Armstrong said: "How much do you really want to count on FEMA?"

 

[Irvine511]

Top Ten Questions For The Fema Director Application


10. "Are you able to convey a false sense of security?"

9. "What percentage of your resume is fabricated?"

8. "In a crisis, which state or local officials would you blame?"

7. "What are your plans after you resign?"

6. "Do you mind if the last guy left the office smelling like Arabian horses?"

5. "Which is most serious: A disaster, a catastrophe, or a dis-astrophe?"

4. "Does Robert Blake dating again count as an emergency?"

3. "Can the president easily add '-ie' to your last name to form a nickname?"

2. "Can you screw up bad enough to take the heat off the president's mistakes?"

1. "Michael Brown...Idiot or moron?"

http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/top_ten/

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

great minds think and post alike Irvine

 

[Irvine511]

eep.

sorry.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

eep.

sorry.

Oh it's OK, no need to apologize..but I do enjoy that from a man once in a while since I never hear it