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megawill
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 Posted: 09/05/05 - 22:24 Post subject: Michael Brown
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megawill
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Posted: 09/05/05 - 23:25 Post subject:
By Maureen Dowd, NY Times
| Quote: |
Stuff happens.
And when you combine limited government with incompetent government, lethal stuff happens.
America is once more plunged into a snake pit of anarchy, death, looting, raping, marauding thugs, suffering innocents, a shattered infrastructure, a gutted police force, insufficient troop levels and criminally negligent government planning. But this time it's happening in America.
W. drove his budget-cutting Chevy to the levee, and it wasn't dry. Bye, bye, American lives. "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees," he told Diane Sawyer.
Shirt-sleeves rolled up, W. finally landed in Hell yesterday and chuckled about his wild boozing days in "the great city" of N'Awlins. He was clearly moved. "You know, I'm going to fly out of here in a minute," he said on the runway at the New Orleans International Airport, "but I want you to know that I'm not going to forget what I've seen." Out of the cameras' range, and avoided by W., was a convoy of thousands of sick and dying people, some sprawled on the floor or dumped on baggage carousels at a makeshift M*A*S*H unit inside the terminal.
Why does this self-styled "can do" president always lapse into such lame "who could have known?" excuses.
Who on earth could have known that Osama bin Laden wanted to attack us by flying planes into buildings? Any official who bothered to read the trellis of pre-9/11 intelligence briefs.
Who on earth could have known that an American invasion of Iraq would spawn a brutal insurgency, terrorist recruiting boom and possible civil war? Any official who bothered to read the C.I.A.'s prewar reports.
Who on earth could have known that New Orleans's sinking levees were at risk from a strong hurricane? Anybody who bothered to read the endless warnings over the years about the Big Easy's uneasy fishbowl.
In June 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, fretted to The Times-Picayune in New Orleans: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."
Not only was the money depleted by the Bush folly in Iraq; 30 percent of the National Guard and about half its equipment are in Iraq.
Ron Fournier of The Associated Press reported that the Army Corps of Engineers asked for $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans last year. The White House carved it to about $40 million. But President Bush and Congress agreed to a $286.4 billion pork-filled highway bill with 6,000 pet projects, including a $231 million bridge for a small, uninhabited Alaskan island.
Just last year, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials practiced how they would respond to a fake hurricane that caused floods and stranded New Orleans residents. Imagine the feeble FEMA's response to Katrina if they had not prepared.
Michael Brown, the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA - a job he trained for by running something called the International Arabian Horse Association - admitted he didn't know until Thursday that there were 15,000 desperate, dehydrated, hungry, angry, dying victims of Katrina in the New Orleans Convention Center.
Was he sacked instantly? No, our tone-deaf president hailed him in Mobile, Ala., yesterday: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
It would be one thing if President Bush and his inner circle - Dick Cheney was vacationing in Wyoming; Condi Rice was shoe shopping at Ferragamo's on Fifth Avenue and attended "Spamalot" before bloggers chased her back to Washington; and Andy Card was off in Maine - lacked empathy but could get the job done. But it is a chilling lack of empathy combined with a stunning lack of efficiency that could make this administration implode.
When the president and vice president rashly shook off our allies and our respect for international law to pursue a war built on lies, when they sanctioned torture, they shook the faith of the world in American ideals.
When they were deaf for so long to the horrific misery and cries for help of the victims in New Orleans - most of them poor and black, like those stuck at the back of the evacuation line yesterday while 700 guests and employees of the Hyatt Hotel were bused out first - they shook the faith of all Americans in American ideals. And made us ashamed.
Who are we if we can't take care of our own? |
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megawill
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Posted: 09/05/05 - 23:29 Post subject:
| Quote: | An Angry 'Times-Picayune' Calls for Firing of FEMA Chief, and Others, in Open Letter to President Bush
By E&P Staff
Published: September 04, 2005 10:40 AM ET
NEW YORK The Times-Picayune of New Orleans on Sunday published its third print edition since the hurricane disaster struck, chronicling the arrival, finally, of some relief but also taking President Bush to task for his handling of the crisis, and calling for the firing of FEMA director Michael Brown and others.
In an "open letter" to the president, published on page 15 of the 16-page edition, the paper said it still had grounds for "skepticism" that he would follow through on saving the city and its residents. It pointed out that while the government could not get supplies to the city numerous TV reporters, singer Harry Connick and Times-Picayune staffers managed to find a way in.
It also cited "bald-faced" lies by Michael Brown. "Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach," the staffers pointed out. "We’re angry, Mr. President, and we’ll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry."
Here is the text.
***
We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not working, we’re going to make it right."
Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism.
Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one main reason: It’s accessible. The city between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718.
How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships, barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks.
Despite the city’s multiple points of entry, our nation’s bureaucrats spent days after last week’s hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city’s stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies.
Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city.
Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning.
Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent.Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach.
We’re angry, Mr. President, and we’ll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That’s to the government’s shame.
Mayor Ray Nagin did the right thing Sunday when he allowed those with no other alternative to seek shelter from the storm inside the Louisiana Superdome. We still don’t know what the death toll is, but one thing is certain: Had the Superdome not been opened, the city’s death toll would have been higher. The toll may even have been exponentially higher.
It was clear to us by late morning Monday that many people inside the Superdome would not be returning home. It should have been clear to our government, Mr. President. So why weren’t they evacuated out of the city immediately? We learned seven years ago, when Hurricane Georges threatened, that the Dome isn’t suitable as a long-term shelter. So what did state and national officials think would happen to tens of thousands of people trapped inside with no air conditioning, overflowing toilets and dwindling amounts of food, water and other essentials?
State Rep. Karen Carter was right Friday when she said the city didn’t have but two urgent needs: "Buses! And gas!" Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially.
In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn’t known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, "We’ve provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day."
Lies don’t get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.
Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told him, "You’re doing a heck of a job."
That’s unbelievable.
There were thousands of people at the Convention Center because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles could have gotten there, too.
We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic Seaboard. We’re no less important than those from the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued.
No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous as the claim that New Orleans couldn’t be reached.
Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise to make our beloved communities work right once again.
When you do, we will be the first to applaud. |
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megawill
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Posted: 09/05/05 - 23:33 Post subject:
| Quote: | From www.wikipedia.org
FEMA controversies
In January 2005, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler publicly urged President Bush to fire Brown, citing reports that FEMA disbursed $30 million in disaster relief funds for Hurricane Frances to residents of Miami, Florida, a city which was not affected by the hurricane. Brown admitted to $12 million in overpayments, but denied any serious mistakes, blaming a computer glitch. [9] Wexler repeated his call in April to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, citing new reports that FEMA sent inspectors with criminal records of robbery and embezzlement to do damage assessments. [10] |
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prohemp
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Posted: 09/06/05 - 07:14 Post subject:
You want Michael Brown fired? I agree. But do you honestly believe it's all because of Mike Brown? It's evident that the mayor of New Orleans didn't have a proper evacuation plan set up ahead of time Or he did but did not execute it. It's evident that the Governor didn't prepare the forces to secure the city so that aid could get in to the city (She's responsible for calling up the national guard).
It's also evident that FEMA is a lumbering bureaucracy that can't handle a disaster of this magnitude in a quick and orderly fashion. The fact that FEMA is a lumbering bureaucracy isn't because of Mike Brown. It was a lumbering bureaucracy long before he got there and it's just typical of how large federal organizations are hampered by red tape. Large federal governments do not work. Changing the face of the person who sits at the head of FEMA isn't going to change the problems with it. That change needs to come from every level of the federal government.
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robp
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Posted: 09/06/05 - 07:59 Post subject:
| prohemp wrote: | You want Michael Brown fired? I agree. But do you honestly believe it's all because of Mike Brown? It's evident that the mayor of New Orleans didn't have a proper evacuation plan set up ahead of time Or he did but did not execute it. It's evident that the Governor didn't prepare the forces to secure the city so that aid could get in to the city (She's responsible for calling up the national guard).
It's also evident that FEMA is a lumbering bureaucracy that can't handle a disaster of this magnitude in a quick and orderly fashion. The fact that FEMA is a lumbering bureaucracy isn't because of Mike Brown. It was a lumbering bureaucracy long before he got there and it's just typical of how large federal organizations are hampered by red tape. Large federal governments do not work. Changing the face of the person who sits at the head of FEMA isn't going to change the problems with it. That change needs to come from every level of the federal government. |
I agree with Prohemp 100% on this one.
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rolling rock
The Pinball
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Posted: 09/06/05 - 08:25 Post subject:
| prohemp wrote: | You want Michael Brown fired? I agree. But do you honestly believe it's all because of Mike Brown? It's evident that the mayor of New Orleans didn't have a proper evacuation plan set up ahead of time Or he did but did not execute it. It's evident that the Governor didn't prepare the forces to secure the city so that aid could get in to the city (She's responsible for calling up the national guard).
It's also evident that FEMA is a lumbering bureaucracy that can't handle a disaster of this magnitude in a quick and orderly fashion. The fact that FEMA is a lumbering bureaucracy isn't because of Mike Brown. It was a lumbering bureaucracy long before he got there and it's just typical of how large federal organizations are hampered by red tape. Large federal governments do not work. Changing the face of the person who sits at the head of FEMA isn't going to change the problems with it. That change needs to come from every level of the federal government. |
thank you. 
prohemp for president.
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gretriever
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Posted: 09/06/05 - 10:28 Post subject:
| prohemp wrote: | | It's evident that the mayor of New Orleans didn't have a proper evacuation plan set up ahead of time. Or he did but did not execute it. |
The footage of the freeways should have told us this. The outbound lanes are a parking lot, yet the inbound are empty. They couldn't make both to head out of the city? (Maybe they did later).
On a government level, there is plenty of responsibilty at all levels.
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AlaninTX
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Posted: 09/06/05 - 10:30 Post subject:
The mayor ordered an immediate evacuation of the city in time for 80 per cent of the population to escape. No metro mayor in America has the resouces or plans to evacuate everyone within 36 hours. They did, however, have plans for shelter anyone who couldn't leave. I do think he is at fault for not insuring the hospital patients were evacuated.
I think the Governor called up the Louisiana guard prior to landfall...then, 2800 of the LA guard was on deployment overseas. I can't see right now what Gov. Blanco did wrong.
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AlaninTX
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Posted: 09/06/05 - 10:31 Post subject:
| gretriever wrote: | | prohemp wrote: | | It's evident that the mayor of New Orleans didn't have a proper evacuation plan set up ahead of time. Or he did but did not execute it. |
The footage of the freeways should have told us this. The outbound lanes are a parking lot, yet the inbound are empty. They couldn't make both to head out of the city? (Maybe they did later).
On a government level, there is plenty of responsibilty at all levels. |
They set I-10 up on contraflow on saturday a full day prior to landfall. That is, all lanes headed west. I think everyone who could leave, or choose to leave, made it out. No one drowned on I-10 headed west prior to landfall that I know of.
Last edited by AlaninTX on 09/06/05 - 10:48; edited 1 time in total
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gretriever
Hipster Doofus
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Posted: 09/06/05 - 10:42 Post subject:
| AlaninTX wrote: | | gretriever wrote: | | prohemp wrote: | | It's evident that the mayor of New Orleans didn't have a proper evacuation plan set up ahead of time. Or he did but did not execute it. |
The footage of the freeways should have told us this. The outbound lanes are a parking lot, yet the inbound are empty. They couldn't make both to head out of the city? (Maybe they did later).
On a government level, there is plenty of responsibilty at all levels. |
They set I-10 up on contraflow, that is, all lanes headed west. I think everyone who could leave, or choose to leave, made it out. No one drowned on I-10 headed west prior to landfall that I know of. |
I'll take your word for it, but that had to have happened after the footage I saw. There were maybe a half dozen cars or so going into the city.
Question I thought of - did the city/parish/state use, or give thought to use, school buses to get out some of those with no means of getting out?
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prohemp
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Posted: 09/06/05 - 11:16 Post subject:
| AlaninTX wrote: | The mayor ordered an immediate evacuation of the city in time for 80 per cent of the population to escape. No metro mayor in America has the resouces or plans to evacuate everyone within 36 hours. They did, however, have plans for shelter anyone who couldn't leave. I do think he is at fault for not insuring the hospital patients were evacuated.
I think the Governor called up the Louisiana guard prior to landfall...then, 2800 of the LA guard was on deployment overseas. I can't see right now what Gov. Blanco did wrong. |
The shelters - the superdome and civic center?? those places were shelters from the elements yes,(until the superdome's room was compromised) but these places had no resources to be a shelter (food, any water or any medical supplies)So the mayor sent those left behind to designated areas but they did not plan ahead to actually care for those seeking shelter.
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camelia bedelia
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Posted: 09/06/05 - 11:42 Post subject:
| AlaninTX wrote: | | gretriever wrote: | | prohemp wrote: | | It's evident that the mayor of New Orleans didn't have a proper evacuation plan set up ahead of time. Or he did but did not execute it. |
The footage of the freeways should have told us this. The outbound lanes are a parking lot, yet the inbound are empty. They couldn't make both to head out of the city? (Maybe they did later).
On a government level, there is plenty of responsibilty at all levels. |
They set I-10 up on contraflow on saturday a full day prior to landfall. That is, all lanes headed west. I think everyone who could leave, or choose to leave, made it out. No one drowned on I-10 headed west prior to landfall that I know of. |
I agree that getting 80% of the people out is quite an achievement, but it seems to me someone should have known that there would be many people without the means to get out. If they had a plan to get them out, I haven’t heard about it, and if they didn’t, it is a crime.
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AlaninTX
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Posted: 09/06/05 - 11:51 Post subject:
| prohemp wrote: | | AlaninTX wrote: | The mayor ordered an immediate evacuation of the city in time for 80 per cent of the population to escape. No metro mayor in America has the resouces or plans to evacuate everyone within 36 hours. They did, however, have plans for shelter anyone who couldn't leave. I do think he is at fault for not insuring the hospital patients were evacuated.
I think the Governor called up the Louisiana guard prior to landfall...then, 2800 of the LA guard was on deployment overseas. I can't see right now what Gov. Blanco did wrong. |
The shelters - the superdome and civic center?? those places were shelters from the elements yes,(until the superdome's room was compromised) but these places had no resources to be a shelter (food, any water or any medical supplies)So the mayor sent those left behind to designated areas but they did not plan ahead to actually care for those seeking shelter. |
Hence why there were called "shelters of last resort." They were places to ride out the hurricane itself.
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Ms. Jenn
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Posted: 09/06/05 - 11:58 Post subject:
A lot of the people at the convention center were those who CHOSE to stay and were rescued by the coast guard and dropped off there because it was dry.
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