Hurricane Katrina: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

What a fucking mess along the US Gulf Coast. This natural disaster has turned into a political disaster for George Bush and his appointed friends. Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has dropped the ball from day one. This bureaucratic piece of waste became a figurehead for FEMA and decided to start his job as director, the day after Katrina made landfall along the Gulf Coast. (He's been on the job at FEMA since 2001!!) He had the same look on his face that George Bush had after 9/11, a deer in the headlights look.

Ole "Brownie", as George Bush calls him, had no disaster relief experience prior to his appointment as Director of FEMA. He was fired from his last private sector job overseeing horse shows. He was formerly an estates and family lawyer. This week he 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 commissioners 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. And the Bush administration continues to publicly defend this loser.

The media are having a field day with the political debacle. Mind you, they need to stop slapping themselves on the back for pointing out the obvious. It's incredible to see Ted Koppel show video from New Orleans and then broadcasting Georgie Boy and his "executive staff" being interviewed about conditions in the city. They paint a picture of people being rescued and downplaying the conditions, meanwhile live video of the area shows a completely different story. Do they think people are stupid?

George Bush has declared September 16 as a "national day of prayer" for Katrina victims. Good one Georgie, that will help the dying folks still trapped. Save your "day of prayer" for the Republicans in 2008.

I tried to find some good in this whole mess and can't see any. Sure, there are some real instances of heroism, this however is nothing new. Americans have historically stepped up to the plate during disasters and showed true integrity, too bad we can't say the same for the US Federal Government.



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