Katrina Response Mismanagement

[wendybeth]

File this one under "Surely they had better things to do?"

Looting Grandma released from jail

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Well, at least the one good thing to come out of this is that Bush has learned his lesson about cronyism.

Or maybe not...

The Bush administration is seeking to appoint a lawyer with little immigration or customs experience to head the troubled law enforcement agency that handles those issues, prompting sharp criticism from some employee groups, immigration advocates and homeland security experts.

The push to appoint Julie Myers to head the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, comes in the midst of intense debate over the qualifications of department political appointees involved in the sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina.

Concerns over Myers, 36, were acute enough at a Senate hearing last week that lawmakers asked the nominee to detail during her testimony her postings and to account for her management experience. Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio) went so far as to tell Myers that her résumé indicates she is not qualified for the job.

-snip-

Myers also was an associate under independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr for about 16 months and has most recently served as a special assistant to President Bush handling personnel issues.

It's not like it's an important agency or anything, right. It's not like we are having any problems controlling immigration.

Well, at least Bush didn't put someone like Karl Rove in charge of the Hurricane Katrina reconstruction effort. Oh wait...

[Gemini Cricket]

Originally Posted by wendybeth

Looting Grandma released from jail

If she were white, the press would have called her the "Just Looking for Food to Feed her Poor, Poor Family" Grandma.

[wendybeth]

I'm sure Barbara Bush is consoled by the idea that the Grandma's accomodations were an improvement on her former.

[lindyhop]

Originally Posted by alphabassettgrrl

I did hear New Orleans used to be above sea level until they built the heavy modern buildings and then it sank.

Las Vegas is also having some issues concerning heavy buildings. Their water table is rising from all the weight.

Sorry, I'm pulling this quote from the distance past (as I try to catch up on two weeks of new posts) but it's too weird.

I was supposed to attend a conference in New Orleans in mid-September which had to be cancelled for obvious reasons. The conference has been rescheduled for Las Vegas in late October.

Does this mean Las Vegas will be underwater soon?

[PanTheMan]

Originally Posted by Motorboat Cruiser

Well, at least the one good thing to come out of this is that Bush has learned his lesson about cronyism.

Or maybe not...

Well, at least Bush didn't put someone like Karl Rove in charge of the Hurricane Katrina reconstruction effort. Oh wait...

He will NEVER Learn. Great leaders LEAD. LEADING a nation is NOT doing favors for freinds at the cost of America.

[Gn2Dlnd]

From today's Washington Post -

For 16 critical hours, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials, including former director Michael D. Brown, dismissed urgent eyewitness accounts by FEMA's only staffer in New Orleans that Hurricane Katrina had broken the city's levee system the morning of Aug. 29 and was causing catastrophic flooding, the staffer told the Senate yesterday...

At 11:20 a.m. Aug. 31, Bahamonde e-mailed Brown, "Sir, I know that you know the situation is past critical . . . thousands gathering in the streets with no food or water . . . estimates are many will die within hours."

At 2:27 p.m., however, Brown press secretary Sharon Worthy wrote colleagues to schedule an interview for Brown on MSNBC's "Scarborough Country" and to give him more time to eat dinner because Baton Rouge restaurants were getting busy: "He needs much more that 20 or 30 minutes."

Bahamonde e-mailed a friend to "just tell [Worthy] that I just ate an MRE . . . along with 30,000 other close friends so I understand her concern."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...referrer=email

BTW, the actual quote, minus the ellipses, but still containing mysteriously replaced text is,

"OH MY GOD!!!!! Just tell her that I just ate an MRE and [went to the bathroom] in the hallway of the Superdome along with 30,000 other close friends, so I understand her concern about busy restaurants."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9756145/

I'm guessing he didn't write, "tinkled."

[lindyhop]

My goodness. The LA Times printed the entire quote including the apparently bad word.

The Times printed the text of a bunch of e-mails alongside the main story and reading them really made my day.

[Gn2Dlnd]

Crap!

[Gn2Dlnd]

'Can I quit now?' FEMA chief wrote as Katrina raged

"In the midst of the overwhelming damage caused by the hurricane and enormous problems faced by FEMA, Mr. Brown found time to exchange e-mails about superfluous topics," including "problems finding a dog-sitter," Melancon said.

Melancon said that on August 26, just days before Katrina made landfall, Brown e-mailed his press secretary, Sharon Worthy, about his attire, asking: "Tie or not for tonight? Button-down blue shirt?"

A few days later, Worthy advised Brown: "Please roll up the sleeves of your shirt, all shirts. Even the president rolled his sleeves to just below the elbow. In this [crisis] and on TV you just need to look more hard-working."

On August 29, the day of the storm, Brown exchanged e-mails about his attire with Taylor, Melancon said. She told him, "You look fabulous," and Brown replied, "I got it at Nordstroms. ... Are you proud of me?"

An hour later, Brown added: "If you'll look at my lovely FEMA attire, you'll really vomit. I am a fashion god," according to the congressman.