BlowHardOnKatrina

The real disaster was not the hurricane. It is the government's - FEMA, Homeland Security, Congress, George Bush, the New Orleans' Police Department - failure to lead and to act that is the true disaster. Here are my thoughts, opinions, and insight on the problem.

Saturday, September 10, 2005

Bartleby Brown?

Apparently Bush reads my blog. He fired the head of FEMA though, like most fired or dead federal employees, Brown won't actually be required to leave. As long as he doesn't actually leave or fall over, he still gets his check. Shades of Bartleby.

Can Chertov be next? Please?

posted by BlowHard @ 9/10/2005 07:31:00 AM  

4 Comments:

  • At 2:27 PM, Blogger Tim said…

    Blowhard,

    Good blog--you don't pull many punches.

    I hate to say it (actually, that's a lie...I don't hate to say it) but it looks like the feds might not have been as inept as they originally looked.

    Inept, yes, but not alone.

    Hundreds of parked school buses, food and water that was indeed prepositioned, and response teams that hit local bureaucratic hurdles--it smells like there were some big-time local problems to me.

    The mayor does have one thing going for him, though: Jesse Jackson likes him.

    Is that a good sign?

    Hmmm

     

  • At 2:29 PM, Blogger Tim said…

    One other thing: even the New York Times is backing off of Bush.

    Whoa.

    Since they've all but accused him of stirring up the hurricane to start with, the fact that they're letting up is pretty serious.

    Hmmm

     

  • At 2:31 PM, Blogger Tim said…

    One last thing:

    I haven't seen the movie, but the story was pretty good.

    "I'd prefer not to..." Classic!

     

  • At 3:31 PM, Blogger BlowHard said…

    Well, there is certainly enough blame to go around but, as President Truman said, "The buck stops here."

    Or like the mayor of Biloxi said. "We've been stuck on stupid long enough."

    The one common point across all states, cities, governors, and mayors, is FEMA. The mayor of Biloxi said that, yes, there were generators, food, supplies, all lined up to come into the city and FEMA wouldn't allow them to enter. The generators, it seems, didn't meet FEMA regulations.

    The mayor of New Orleans, at whom everyone is beginning to point the finger of blame, was screaming, cussing, ranting and raging for help from day two. Perhaps he was supposed to say some magic words or fill out some form and didn't know it or do it, so that makes it okay for the ones who held the food and supplies (FEMA) to ignore his requests and watch people die?

    The governor of Louisiana gets blamed for not requesting help but she did. The only thing is, FEMA said no help unless she agrees to federalize the emergency - to give up states rights. FEMA refused to partner with the state in a state run response. FEMA held the lives of thousands as hostage for federalization of the state of Louisiana.

    This was a simple case of a power struggle between the federal government and three states. And thousands could be dead as a result. Since the ones holding the food and water was the feds, then the buck stops there. They should have saved lives first and worried about who paid the bill later.

    Bush was ill-advised by incompetent advisors. That fact has been proven out. Brown's entire career has been based on lies. And Brown's boss, Chertov, is responsible for his underling's failure. And Bush is responsible for Chertov's failure.

    Maybe Bush is taking the Clinton stand on this: "The buck never got here."

     

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