IMHO, it was a mistake to put FEMA under Homeland Security. I think it's perfectly understandable why it was done, but some of the more experienced people in the White House should have remembered one of Reagan's biggest mistakes. He tried to essentially turn FEMA into the Federal Nuclear Emergency Agency and it was a big mistake. Ollie North was in charge of screwing the whole thing up and it became involved in the Iran Contra mess and had all sorts of plans which became public for suspending the constitution. You think they'd have learned from their mistakes. FEMA isn't and shouldn't be an anti-terrorism organization. It was created as a natural disaster organization, but people see it as an easy way to pork up military budgets.
Apparently he made a similar impression on his past employees: Brown pushed from last job: Horse group: FEMA chief had to be `asked to resign' By Brett Arends Saturday, September 3, 2005 - Updated: 02:01 PM EST The federal official in charge of the bungled New Orleans rescue was fired from his last private-sector job overseeing horse shows. And before joining the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a deputy director in 2001, GOP activist Mike Brown had no significant experience that would have qualified him for the position. The Oklahoman got the job through an old college friend who at the time was heading up FEMA. The agency, run by Brown since 2003, is now at the center of a growing fury over the handling of the New Orleans disaster. ``I look at FEMA and I shake my head,'' said a furious Gov. Mitt Romney yesterday, calling the response ``an embarrassment.'' President Bush, after touring the Big Easy, said he was ``not satisfied'' with the emergency response to Hurricane Katrina's devastation. And U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch predicted there would be hearings on Capitol Hill over the mishandled operation. Brown - formerly an estates and family lawyer - this week has has made several shocking public admissions, including interviews where he suggested FEMA was unaware of the misery and desperation of refugees stranded at the New Orleans convention center. Before joining the Bush administration in 2001, Brown spent 11 years as the commissioner of judges and stewards for the International Arabian Horse Association, a breeders' and horse-show organization based in Colorado. ``We do disciplinary actions, certification of (show trial) judges. We hold classes to train people to become judges and stewards. And we keep records,'' explained a spokeswoman for the IAHA commissioner's office. ``This was his full-time job . . . for 11 years,'' she added. Brown was forced out of the position after a spate of lawsuits over alleged supervision failures. ``He was asked to resign,'' Bill Pennington, president of the IAHA at the time, confirmed last night. Soon after, Brown was invited to join the administration by his old Oklahoma college roommate Joseph Allbaugh, the previous head of FEMA until he quit in 2003 to work for the president's re-election campaign. The White House last night defended Brown's appointment. A spokesman noted Brown served as FEMA deputy director and general counsel before taking the top job, and that he has now overseen the response to ``more than 164 declared disasters and emergencies,'' including last year's record-setting hurricane season.
I would say, "unbelievable," except that I'm not surprised. The "old boy" network of getting plum patronage positions in government is as old as the Roman Republic. What is usually the case, however, is that critical jobs in government, the ones where you must know what you are doing, because it's too important to have your staff responsible for everything, are usually given to people who know what they are doing. That is not the case here. One of the reasons I'm so angry with Bush about his handling of this, and I freely admit to believing that Bush is the finest example of the Peter Principal I have seen in my lifetime, is that he praised "Brownie" while the bodies are still floating in the water, the people were, literally, dying of dehydration and abysmal conditions in places where they were told to go for help, and Brownie was exposed as so over his head he should have drowned himself. What kind of leadership is that? It is a "leader" without a clue, a leader out of touch America, unless you are "one of his people," the affluent contributors and the big corporations of America... that, and the far right fundamentalists who are a minority, but the backbone of his support. Yet he has continued to get a free pass from his average supporters. How long can they morally support a man who, like Brownie, is so over his head? When do the supporters of Bush begin to realize what a terrible mistake they have made? I will tell them this... if they ever wake up to what an empty suit they've managed to get into the oval office, they will never get a ribbing from me about finally seeing the light. I will just be grateful. Keep D&D Civil!!
if it was just 1 or 2 reports of FEMA doing this than you could probably dismiss it, but the fact that there are all these reports from different news sources is very disturbing. what the hell is going on? sabotage: 1. Destruction of property or obstruction of normal operations, as by civilians or enemy agents in time of war. 2. Treacherous action to defeat or hinder a cause or an endeavor; deliberate subversion.
Have You No Shame? Katrina vanden Heuvel Tue Sep 6, 9:17 PM ET The Nation -- As Republicans desperately cry out of one corner of their mouths to stop the blame game, they have been blaming everyone but themselves since this catastrophe. Let's look at their ever-evolving buck-passing strategies. Blame the Victims: Both FEMA's Michael Brown and Homeland Security's Michael Chertoff, the Mutt and Jeff of this calamity, have blamed careless, destitute New Orleaners for not evacuating. "Those who got out are fine," Chertoff told NBC's Tim Russert. FEMA sought to excuse its delays in entering the city by blaming the looters. Blame the Locals: In a stroke of political luck, both the New Orleans mayor and Louisiana's Governor are Democrats. As the New York Times reported, Karl Rove's PR strategy is to shift the blame to the state and city officials. All Sunday, White House officials and Fox News played this card. Expect more of this line of attack. Blame the City: In perhaps the most bizarre excuse, Chertoff pointed the finger the city of New Orleans itself, saying, "It is a soup bowl. People have talked for years about whether it makes sense to have a city like that." Blame the Media: Last week, Brown blamed media coverage for the perception that New Orleans had descended into lawlessness. "I actually think security is darn good.... It seems to me that every time a bad person wants to cause a problem, there's somebody with a camera to stick in their face." Look on the Bright Side: As Americans continued to drown, Chertoff came up with this gem about the rescue efforts: "There were some things that actually worked very well. There were some things that didn't." Ignoramus Defense: When FEMA's Brown, who was fired from his last job overseeing Arabian horse shows, said he was as "surprised as everybody else" to discover there were desperate people in the New Orleans convention center, CNN Soledad O'Brien asked, "How is it possible that we're getting better intel than you're getting?" But it was left up to our physically fit President for the whopper of the week: "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." It is likely this last defense will be scrapped for obvious reasons. If only we could do the same to this Administration for painfully obvious reasons. http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/2...gT9wxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
According to Broussard, a lot of the help they are getting is because the LA gov. is in control of the national guard. She is the one who has been sending whatever help is under her control to the people who need it.
Frustrated: Fire crews to hand out fliers for FEMA By Lisa Rosetta The Salt Lake Tribune http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3004197 Frustrated: Fire crews to hand out fliers for FEMA By Lisa Rosetta The Salt Lake Tribune Salt Lake Tribune ATLANTA - Not long after some 1,000 firefighters sat down for eight hours of training, the whispering began: "What are we doing here?" As New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin pleaded on national television for firefighters - his own are exhausted after working around the clock for a week - a battalion of highly trained men and women sat idle Sunday in a muggy Sheraton Hotel conference room in Atlanta. Many of the firefighters, assembled from Utah and throughout the United States by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, thought they were going to be deployed as emergency workers. Instead, they have learned they are going to be community-relations officers for FEMA, shuffled throughout the Gulf Coast region to disseminate fliers and a phone number: 1-800-621-FEMA. On Monday, some firefighters stuck in the staging area at the Sheraton peeled off their FEMA-issued shirts and stuffed them in backpacks, saying they refuse to represent the federal agency. Federal officials are unapologetic. "I would go back and ask the firefighter to revisit his commitment to FEMA, to firefighting and to the citizens of this country," said FEMA spokeswoman Mary Hudak. The firefighters - or at least the fire chiefs who assigned them to come to Atlanta - knew what the assignment would be, Hudak said. "The initial call to action very specifically says we're looking for two-person fire teams to do community relations," she said. "So if there is a breakdown [in communication], it was likely in their own departments." One fire chief from Texas agreed that the call was clear to work as community-relations officers. But he wonders why the 1,400 firefighters FEMA attracted to Atlanta aren't being put to better use. He also questioned why the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - of which FEMA is a part - has not responded better to the disaster. The firefighters, several of whom are from Utah, were told to bring backpacks, sleeping bags, first-aid kits and Meals Ready to Eat. They were told to prepare for "austere conditions." Many of them came with awkward fire gear and expected to wade in floodwaters, sift through rubble and save lives. "They've got people here who are search-and-rescue certified paramedics, haz-mat certified," said a Texas firefighter. "We're sitting in here having a sexual-harassment class while there are still [victims] in Louisiana who haven't been contacted yet." The firefighter, who has encouraged his superiors back home not to send any more volunteers for now, declined to give his name because FEMA has warned them not to talk to reporters. On Monday, two firefighters from South Jordan and two from Layton headed for San Antonio to help hurricane evacuees there. Four firefighters from Roy awaited their marching orders, crossing their fingers that they would get to do rescue and recovery work, rather than paperwork . "A lot of people are bickering because there are rumors they'll just be handing out fliers," said Roy firefighter Logan Layne, adding that his squad hopes to be in the thick of the action. "But we'll do anything. We'll do whatever they need us to do." While FEMA's community-relations job may be an important one - displaced hurricane victims need basic services and a variety of resources - it may be a job best suited for someone else, say firefighters assembled at the Sheraton. "It's a misallocation of resources. Completely," said the Texas firefighter. "It's just an under-utilization of very talented people," said South Salt Lake Fire Chief Steve Foote, who sent a team of firefighters to Atlanta. "I was hoping once they saw the level of people . . . they would shift gears a little bit." Foote said his crews would be better used doing the jobs they are trained to do. But Louis H. Botta, a coordinating officer for FEMA, said sending out firefighters on community relations makes sense. They already have had background checks and meet the qualifications to be sworn as a federal employee. They have medical training that will prove invaluable as they come across hurricane victims in the field. A firefighter from California said he feels ill prepared to even carry out the job FEMA has assigned him. In the field, Hurricane Katrina victims will approach him with questions about everything from insurance claims to financial assistance. "My only answer to them is, '1-800-621-FEMA,' " he said. "I'm not used to not being in the know." Roy Fire Chief Jon Ritchie said his crews would be a "little frustrated" if they were assigned to hand out phone numbers at an evacuee center in Texas rather than find and treat victims of the disaster. Also of concern to some of the firefighters is the cost borne by their municipalities in the wake of their absence. Cities are picking up the tab to fill the firefighters' vacancies while they work 30 days for the federal government. "There are all of these guys with all of this training and we're sending them out to hand out a phone number," an Oregon firefighter said. "They [the hurricane victims] are screaming for help and this day [of FEMA training] was a waste." Firefighters say they want to brave the heat, the debris-littered roads, the poisonous cottonmouth snakes and fire ants and travel into pockets of Louisiana where many people have yet to receive emergency aid. But as specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew's first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas.
I wonder just how much hell was raised behind the scenes in an attempt to get things done? Sept. 8, 2005, 11:25PM Med Center leaders sent SOS to Bush The memories of Allison led to a plea of help for New Orleans By LEIGH HOPPER Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Less than 36 hours after floodwaters isolated medically fragile patients in New Orleans hospitals, two of Houston's most prominent leaders in medicine sent the White House an SOS on behalf of the drowning city. "We were trying to help the government respond," Dan Wolterman, president and CEO of Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, said in an interview this week. "That was the sole intent of the letter." The "private letter" went directly to President Bush, said a Texas Medical Center official who didn't want to be named. "We have a number of contacts. Yes, we got a response." The White House could not confirm receiving the the letter Thursday, and it is unknown whether Houston's plea for New Orleans led to the dramatic turnaround doctors saw last Friday when the National Guard evacuated hospitals. The timing of the the military's response to Katrina victims has prompted harsh criticism of the Bush administration and is the subject of a federal probe. Wolterman was impressed by the effectiveness of the government's response that day: "It was clear who was in charge. (But) there was a vacuum of 48, 72 hours." There are no estimates yet of how many hospital patients died after facilities lost electricity for ventilators and clean water for kidney dialysis. Remains were being recovered in at least one New Orleans hospital, Memorial Hospital, on Thursday, a Tenet Hospitals' spokesman said. Wolterman and Texas Medical Center President Richard Wainerdi sent the letter because they saw first-hand the devastation wrought by nature when 2001's Tropical Storm Allison wreaked $2 billion in damage to Houston's hospitals and research institutions. When flooding shut down Memorial Hermann's power, staff had to evacuate more than 540 patients over two days, some of them unable to breathe on their own, requiring manual, mechanical ventilation. Newborns were taped down to backboards and carried, five at a time, down darkened stairwells. So on Tuesday, with watering pouring over the levees in New Orleans, Wolterman and Wainerdi quickly realized patients in the city's hospitals were in danger. "There's a crisis brewing and we really need to share our learning with the government," Wolterman recalled saying. There was reason to think the president might listen. The Texas Medical Center not only has experience with disaster, but the Bush family has strong ties to the center. Dr. Mike McKinney, CEO of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, was chief of staff to George W. Bush when he was governor of Texas. Last year, UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center named a pediatric clinic after the daughter of former President George and Barbara Bush, who died of leukemia at age 3. Wainerdi called the White House on Tuesday, Wolterman said. Then the men sent a letter to Bush recommending that immediate steps be taken: 1) Get the hospitals a communication system from the military as soon as possible, 2) Deploy portable clinics and hospitals in the area, and 3) Use military helicopters to get patients out. Approximately 72 hours after the levee breech, the government activated its National Medical Disaster System, a division of Homeland Security, the step necessary to bring in the full resources of the government for hospital rescues. The next morning, the vigorous federal response was immediately evident, with Black Hawk helicopters evacuating six or more people at a time. Prior to that time, smaller helicopters such as those operated by Memorial Hermann Life Flight could only rescue two people at a time. Dr. Fred Lopez, one of the last doctors out of the state-run Charity Hospital in New Orleans, said Thursday he was amazed that the National Guard was able to fully evacuate the hospital in one day. "The last day was nothing short of miraculous," he said. Even so, a number of ICU patients died, he said, while waiting on helipads for hours as nurses helped them breathe with manually operated ventilators. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3345994 Keep D&D Civil!!
