FEMA's Mike Brown

[Guest guest]

S

Fri, 2 Sep 2005 16:37:51 -0700 (PDT)

FEMA's Mike Brown

 

 

 

FEMA's Mike Brown

 

There was a time, just five years ago, that Bush saw the benefit of an effective

FEMA. A month before the 2000 presidential election, then-Gov. Bush said, " I've

got to pay the administration a compliment. James Lee Witt of FEMA has done a

really good job of working with governors during times of crisis. But that's the

time when you're tested, not only — it's the time you test your mettle. It's the

time to test your heart, when you see people whose lives have been turned upside

down. "

 

Unfortunately, Bush didn't think to replace Witt with someone of equal caliber.

 

Mike Brown was an estate planning lawyer in Colorado before taking over the

agency. He, of course, has no experience in disaster management. Maybe he'd rise

to the occasion? Surprise everyone with his intuitive understanding of what

needs to be done in this crisis? Not so much.

 

Last night on CNN, for example, Brown admitted that FEMA had no idea that the

New Orleans Convention Center was a hurricane shelter.

 

Brown: I will tell you this, though, every person in that convention center,

we just learned about that today and so I have directed that we have all the

available resources to get to that convention center to make sure that they have

the food and water, the medical care that they need.

 

Paula Zahn: Sir, you're not telling me — you're not telling me that you just

learned that the folks at the convention center didn't have food and water until

today, are you? You had no idea that they were completely cut off?

 

Brown: Paula, the federal government did not even know about the convention

center people until today.

 

FEMA, in other words, knows less about this emergency than anyone with access to

a television or the internet.

 

Brown wasn't done. He later described those stuck in New Orleans as those " who

chose not to evacuate, who chose not to leave the city. " It apparently never

occurred to him that low-income families couldn't leave — because they couldn't

afford it. They simply cannot afford a car, or now even the gas it takes to run

it.

 

FEMA's excuses really begin to evaporate when one considers the fact that the

agency practiced for precisely this scenario in a simulation just over a year

ago. If recent patterns hold true, Mike Brown can now expect a promotion.

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/2/34622/68348

 

FEMA Dir. Mike Brown fired from prior job at Horse Assoc.

by Goldy at HorsesAss

Fri Sep 2nd, 2005 at 00:46:22 PDT

 

[editor's note, by Goldy at HorsesAss] Revised title

 

" An unmitigated, total fucking disaster. " That's not a quote from

Mike Brown, but rather, a quote describing him. And most

disturbingly, it's not even a reference to his dismal performance as

director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This

blunt critique was emailed to me from a regular reader who was

apparently attracted to HorsesAss.org by her passion for politics and

her love of Arabian horses.

 

I think I've told you that I'm into Arab horses. Well, for 3

years Michael Brown was hired and then fired by our IAHA, the

International Arabian Horse Assoc. He was an unmitigated, total

fucking disaster. I was shocked as hell when captain clueless put him

in charge of FEMA a couple of years ago.

 

* Goldy at HorsesAss's diary :: ::

*

 

He or the WH lied on the WH presser announcing him to FEMA. IAHA

was never connected to the Olympic Comm, only the half Arab registry

then and the governing body to the state and local Arabian horse

clubs. He ruined IAHA financially so badly that we had to change the

name and combine it with the Purebred registry.

 

I am telling you this after watching the fucking shipwreck in the

Gulf. His incompetence is KILLING people.

 

Yes, that's right... the man responsible for directing federal relief

operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, sharpened his

emergency management skills as the " Judges and Stewards Commissioner "

for the International Arabian Horses Association... a position from

which he was forced to resign in the face of mounting litigation and

financial disarray.

 

And what of that misleading White House press release?

 

From 1991 to 2001, Brown was the Commissioner of the International

Arabian Horse Association, an international subsidiary of the national

governing organization of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

 

I can't even begin to fact check the dates or IAHA's alleged

relationship to the US Olympic Committee, because of course, the IAHA

doesn't exist anymore, so there's nothing to Google. But it begs the

question... how the hell did his prior job experience prepare Brown to

head FEMA?

 

Well, judging by his agency's performance over the past few days... it

didn't.

 

[Cross-posted at HorsesAss.org]

 

 

Goldy is 100% correct. (4.00 / 17)

 

I have been a member of AHA (Arabian Horse Association) for over 30

years. The IAHA was a registry set up for horses that were part

Arabian, rather than purebreds. It, in fact, was larger than AHA.

 

This man, in 3 years, decimated the finances of this organization.

Ask any Arabian breeder, of which there are many in this country. No

need to Google. It cost us a fortune. Dues and fees were

dramatically increased because of it.

 

Also, the IAHA and AHA have NEVER been associated with the Olympics.

In any capacity. This is a bald-faced lie.

 

" But your flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore " --Prine Pay

attention Georgie - 1880+ dead Americans, 100,000+ dead Iraqis, all on

your head. WWJS?

 

by Miss Blue on Fri Sep 2nd, 2005 at 05:44:47 PDT

 

 

 

S

Fri, 2 Sep 2005 12:01:37 -0700 (PDT)

McClellan Said This w/ a Straight Face?

 

 

(hope you're sitting down...)

 

MCCLELLAN: " Flood control has been a priority of this administration from day

one. "

 

 

 

 

From today’s White House briefing:

 

 

REPORTER: There’s a lot of discussion going on about the funding of projects

prior to this, whether projects in New Orleans in particular were underfunded

because of the Iraq war or for other reasons. Do you find any of this criticism

legitimate? Do you think there is any second guessing to be done now about

priorities given that [a disaster in] New Orleans was sort of obvious to a lot

of the experts?

 

MCCLELLAN: As I have indicated, this is not a time for politics. This is a time

for the nation to come together for those in the Gulf Coast region and that’s

where our focus is. This is not a time for finger-pointing or politics. And I

think the last thing that the people who have been displaced or the people who

have been affected need is people seeking partisan gain in Washington. So if

that’s what you’re talking about, that’s one thing. Now, if you’re talking

about specific areas, I would be glad to talk about some of those, if that’s

what you want.

 

REPORTER: I’m talking about policy

 

REPORTER: One project, for instance, is the one where people felt they needed

$60 million in the current ‘06 fiscal year, and they were given $10 million.

Those types of projects. And a lot —

 

MCCLELLAN: Which project is this?

 

REPORTER: Southeast Louisiana Flood Control.

 

(hope you're sitting down...)

 

MCCLELLAN: Flood control has been a priority of this administration from day

one.

 

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/09/01/mcclellan-refuses/

 

 

 

S

Fri, 2 Sep 2005 12:09:11 -0700 (PDT)

FEMA chief: Victims bear some responsibility

 

 

FEMA chief: Victims bear some responsibility

Brown pleased with effort: 'Things are going

relatively well'

 

Programming Note: CNN looks at the disaster and chaos

crippling Louisiana, " NewsNight, " Thursday, 10 p.m.

ET.

 

(CNN) -- The director of the Federal Emergency

Management Agency said Thursday those New Orleans

residents who chose not to heed warnings to evacuate

before Hurricane Katrina bear some responsibility for

their fates.

 

Michael Brown also agreed with other public officials

that the death toll in the city could reach into the

thousands.

 

" Unfortunately, that's going to be attributable a lot

to people who did not heed the advance warnings, "

Brown told CNN.

 

" I don't make judgments about why people chose not to

leave but, you know, there was a mandatory evacuation

of New Orleans, " he said.

 

" And to find people still there is just

heart-wrenching to me because, you know, the mayor did

everything he could to get them out of there.

 

" So, we've got to figure out some way to convince

people that whenever warnings go out it's for their

own good, " Brown said. " Now, I don't want to second

guess why they did that. My job now is to get relief

to them. "

 

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco and New

Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin have both predicted the death

toll could be in the thousands.

 

Nagin issued a " desperate SOS " Thursday as violence

disrupted efforts to rescue people still trapped in

the flooded city and evacuate thousands of displaced

residents living amid corpses and human waste. (Full

story)

 

Residents expressed growing frustration with the

disorder evident on the streets, raising questions

about the coordination and timeliness of relief

efforts. (See video on the desperate conditions --

4:36 )

 

Sniper fire prevented Charity Hospital from evacuating

its patients Thursday. The hospital has no electricity

or water, food consists of a few cans of vegetables,

and the patients had to be moved to upper floors

because of looters. (Full story) (See video of a city

sinking in chaos -- 2:54)

 

Brown was upbeat in his assessment of the relief

effort so far, ticking off a list of accomplishments:

more than 30,000 National Guard troops will be in the

city within three days, the hospitals are being

evacuated and search and rescue missions are

continuing. (See video of National Guard efforts to

rein in violence -- 3:14)

 

" Considering the dire circumstances that we have in

New Orleans -- virtually a city that has been

destroyed -- that things are going relatively well, "

Brown said.

 

Nevertheless, he said he could " empathize with those

in miserable conditions. "

 

Asked later on CNN how he could blame the victims,

many of whom could not flee the storm because they had

no transportation or were too frail to evacuate on

their own, Brown said he was not blaming anyone.

 

" Now is not the time to be blaming, " Brown said. " Now

is the time to recognize that whether they chose to

evacuate or chose not to evacuate, we have to help

them. "

 

Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, whose

father was a longtime New Orleans mayor, said there

was " plenty of blame to go around, " citing

underinvestement by federal authorities over many

years " despite pleas and warnings by officials. "

 

Earlier on CNN, Brown was asked why authorities had

not prepared for just such a catastrophe -- given that

the levees were designed to withstand only a Category

3 hurricane and Katrina was stronger than that.

 

" Government officials and engineers will debate that

and figure that out, " he replied. " Right now, I'm

trying to focus on saving lives. I think we should

have that debate, but at an appropriate time. "

 

Brown said Katrina was unlike other hurricanes in

which the magnitude of the disaster typically subsides

after the initial blow. That was not the case Monday,

when the Category 4 storm blew ashore.

 

" What we had in New Orleans is a growing disaster: The

hurricane hit, that was one disaster; then the levees

broke, that was another disaster; then the floods

came; that became a third disaster. "

 

Brown said he had to be careful about getting rescue

teams to the site earlier.

 

" Otherwise, we would have faced an even higher death

toll, " he said.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/01/katrina.fema.brown/index.html