Timeline of FEMA deterioration under Bush administration
There's not one beautiful city in the US these guys can't destroy if they get their minds together, is there?
In January of 2001, George W. Bush appointed Texas crony Joe Allbaugh to head FEMA, despite the fact that Allbaugh had exactly zero experience in disaster management.
By April of 2001, the Bush administration announced that much of FEMA's work would be privatized and downsized. Allbaugh that month described FEMA as, "an oversized entitlement program."
2001: FEMA designates a major hurricane hitting New Orleans as one of the three "likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country."
In December 2002, Allbaugh quit as head of FEMA to create a consulting firm that advised and assisted companies doing business in occupied Iraq. He was replaced by Michael D. Brown, whose disaster management experience was earned while working as an estate planning lawyer in Colorado, and as counsel for the International Arabian Horse Association legal department. So - to be crystal clear: Bush chose back-to-back FEMA heads whose collective ability to work that position could fit inside a thimble with room to spare.
By March of 2003, FEMA was no longer a Cabinet-level position, and was folded into the Department of Homeland Security. Its primary mission was recast towards fighting acts of terrorism.
In June of 2004, the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for levee construction in New Orleans was cut by a record $71.2 million. Jefferson Parish emergency management chief Walter Maestri said at the time, "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."
From 2004 to 2005 nine Times-Picayune articles cited "the cost of Iraq" as the number one reason for cuts in programs that would have clearly reduced the death toll of this hurricane and flood.
August 2005: While New Orleans is drowning, Bush poses for cameras, eats cake with John McCain, plays the guitar for Mark Wills, delivers an address about V-J day, and continues with his record-holding vacation. When he can finally be bothered to address the disaster, he gives the millions of homless a photo from Air Force One and a typically awful speech in the Rose Garden.
September 2005:? Tens of thousands die from Dysentery and West Nile?
What happens when we get another Cat5, maybe across Florida?
In January of 2001, George W. Bush appointed Texas crony Joe Allbaugh to head FEMA, despite the fact that Allbaugh had exactly zero experience in disaster management.
By April of 2001, the Bush administration announced that much of FEMA's work would be privatized and downsized. Allbaugh that month described FEMA as, "an oversized entitlement program."
2001: FEMA designates a major hurricane hitting New Orleans as one of the three "likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country."
In December 2002, Allbaugh quit as head of FEMA to create a consulting firm that advised and assisted companies doing business in occupied Iraq. He was replaced by Michael D. Brown, whose disaster management experience was earned while working as an estate planning lawyer in Colorado, and as counsel for the International Arabian Horse Association legal department. So - to be crystal clear: Bush chose back-to-back FEMA heads whose collective ability to work that position could fit inside a thimble with room to spare.
By March of 2003, FEMA was no longer a Cabinet-level position, and was folded into the Department of Homeland Security. Its primary mission was recast towards fighting acts of terrorism.
In June of 2004, the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for levee construction in New Orleans was cut by a record $71.2 million. Jefferson Parish emergency management chief Walter Maestri said at the time, "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."
From 2004 to 2005 nine Times-Picayune articles cited "the cost of Iraq" as the number one reason for cuts in programs that would have clearly reduced the death toll of this hurricane and flood.
August 2005: While New Orleans is drowning, Bush poses for cameras, eats cake with John McCain, plays the guitar for Mark Wills, delivers an address about V-J day, and continues with his record-holding vacation. When he can finally be bothered to address the disaster, he gives the millions of homless a photo from Air Force One and a typically awful speech in the Rose Garden.
September 2005:? Tens of thousands die from Dysentery and West Nile?
What happens when we get another Cat5, maybe across Florida?
5 Comments:
Wonkette has heard from a tipster at the EPA that they're calling the flood waters that have invaded New Orleans "Lake George."
http://www.wonkette.com/politics//a-tragedy-by-any-other-name-123456.php
Also, that the Army Corps of Engineers will fall on its sword (their swords).... kinda sorta.... be the scapegoat / fall guy.
http://www.wonkette.com/politics//the-army-corps-of-engineers-vs-lake-george-123839.php
While you're at it, maybe you can explain to us how being a county judge and a Clinton crony qualified James Witt to be the head of FEMA.
Further, you failed to mention that portions of the levee that broke "were complete, and had no modifications or improvements...pending, proposed, or remain unfunded."
You also fail to mention that Bush declared a state of emergency on 27 August. Nor do you mention that supplies and National Guard were prepositioned before Katrina hit.
But then none of that would fit with your Bush bash fest, would it?
Re James Witt - from the Chicago Tribune:
The credentials of top FEMA managers stand in contrast to the backgrounds of leaders of the agency during the last years of the Clinton administration.
Clinton-era FEMA Director James Lee Witt headed the Arkansas office of emergency services before he was tapped by Clinton in 1993 to run the federal disaster relief agency.
Witt's top aides in 2000, Lynn Canton and Michael Armstrong, ran regional FEMA offices for at least three years before assuming senior positions in Washington.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said the lack of experience in FEMA's top ranks was evident in the sluggish response to the hurricane.
Before joining FEMA in 2001, Brown, a protege of longtime Bush aide Joseph Allbaugh, was commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association and had virtually no experience in disaster management.
An official biography of Brown's top aide, acting deputy director Patrick Rhode, doesn't list disaster relief experience.
The department's No. 3 official, acting deputy chief of staff Brooks Altshuler, also does not have emergency management experience, according to FEMA spokeswoman Natalie Rule.
Rhode and Altshuler worked in the White House's Office of National Advance Operations, which arranges Bush's travel and scripts his appearances.
Sorry for the long url:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0509070232sep07,1,1654452.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
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