Well, the New Orleans Times-Picayune has no love for the director of FEMA, and they make that known here in this editorial.
Better question, though–how did a man that couldn’t even run Arabian Quarterhorse shows get this job?
This cat’s making me think the FEMA boys should be stoned. Not stoned like ’60s stoned. I mean stoned like something biblical, Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” sorta stoned.
(If you haven’t read that short story, check it later. The link directly before it is what’s most important right now.)
Look, for a while, I’d given some credence to the Bush apologists who let him slide for much of this disaster. I don’t think I can do that anymore. Between that smug attitude, his bungled appointments, and the general ineptitude of those under his command, he’s got a lot of explaining to do.
The levies breached. Can’t do anything about that. All that can be done no is to try to fix things. I’ll grant things have gotten much better, but as details come out about how things got so bad in the first place, this becomes more disturbing. If FEMA turned supplies away from the city the day before the storm hit, then all that talk about the mayor not asking for enough seems moot. He coulda asked for John Wayne, George C. Scott, and Jim Brown and the Dirty Dozen, and that wouldn’t have mattered, really.
The problems can be explicated in ways worse than saying George Bush doesn’t care about black people–which, really, was a great big “duh”. It’s that George Bush is wholly inept and unconcerned with domestic issues (you can talk about foreign ones on your own). Even if he cared about black folks, I’m not sure that would make things any better.
Is an indifferent fuckup any better than a passionate one? Tough call.
12 thoughts on “Learn to Loathe the Director of FEMA”
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>Fema boys should be stoned
The visual was needed for that.
Yeah they should be stoned.
The whole GW thing is right on point. We can blame him until we are blue in the face. He will still do what he was put in office to do (handle daddy’s business).
My money is on Mike Brown getting a promotion after all this. That’s the way of the W.
If he does get fired though, I’m gonna apply for the job. Apparently one need not have any qualifications or experience.
Hooray Canada!
For those of you who care, my uncle and now his brother are still missing. I am just praying that no news is good news. Mike Brown needs to be sent to the beautiful residents of the lower ninth ward and let them deal with him. Take that back the projects ain’t good enough for him. And btw, if you didn’t pay attention Tom Benson needs to be shot as well. He was looking for an excuse for to move the Saints, rob the state for cash, and possibly get a new stadium. He has the heart of Satan’s meaner just got out of jail cousin. Next, I don’t think anybody is prouder of “Ray-Ray” Nagin than I am. He should run for governor–that man will not hold his tongue and called a spade just that, I only hope he will continue to do so. Lastly, if you didn’t know it–the very first party that New Orleans has after this tradgedy is going to be the party of the century so you better get your money together. The peple of New Orleans survive on tourism so do your part. Come and have a great time and help your brothers and sisters get themselves together.
May your uncle and brother be blessed. As for Benson, I have a hard time knocking him. Before this, that area just wasn’t large enough to viably support an NFL team in this era. Now, Louisiana should not put forth the money it does to subsidize Saints. Without that, the team can’t survive. Seems that, in rebuilding, the Saints will have to be sacrificed.
Damn. After seeing Broussard break down on Meet The Press, what is there to say besides, damn. It’s never easy to see a grown man cry, and as I watch, I think to myself, “Stoning’s not good enough for Mike Brown”…
…and then I wonder if blaming a man for his obvious incompetence is nothing more than a way to assuage my own guilt for not doing more, not giving more, for continuing my own relatively uninterrupted life while watching news report after news report. Sometimes it’s easier to find a scapegoat, in this case Brown and FEMA, than to look critically at ourselves. Not that I’m apologizing for Brown or the bureaucracy (read: graft) that put him in the position he’s in. What I’m saying is that if we’re going to be throwing rocks, maybe we should all be stoned…
I was ranting about FEMA’s “director” in my blog yesterday. Never in my life have I wished for the ability to reach through my TV and kick somebody’s ass before…but I tell you, I wanted 10 minutes alone with that dude, seriously!
I read you ALL the time, (friend of Starkept’s) and I am a fan of both you and your sister. Talent runs in the family. Keep making us proud! Much Respect!
Oprah said today that we ALL owe a round of apologies…I believe she is right. We all let this happen. We are way too complacent here in America. Our behavior is inexcusable. We don’t participate and fight hard enough for what is right and fair. We all let this shit happen…This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of this problem…not even 2 years ago the problems New Orleans would face if hit by a hurricane made headlines. MANY people knew…the nation didn’t band together to make sure people were safe then. Media coverage wasn’t covering it around the clock then. Celebrities didn’t move to persuade change then. We all let it slide. We waited the death toll to add up to start talking. That’s shameful. We all let each other down. All of us. But we shouldn’t just oooh and ahhh at consequences of this natural disaster…just look at the position those people were in that caused them to be targeted as victims. How many tragedies go on everyday? How badly do we want to stop the dominoes…? One 62 year old man said that he would be ok, but cannot process the “blatant disregard”. I started crying again…I think I will be crying for awhile.
Elizabeth, Oprah is wrong. WE don’t owe any apologies. I didn’t let this happen. I’m just one black woman living in Houston. NO is a city below sea level and it’s the state’s responsibility to ensure they are prepared for a disaster. When the state becomes overwhelmed the feds must intervene. They dragged their feet while people died.
This WE business from Oprah sounds nice, but all it does is shift the blame. The buck doesn’t stop with us, it stops at the top.
That’s real. I have no idea how I’m accountable for that. How did we let down our fellow man? I have no idea why Oprah wants to spread that blame around instead of going dead at the jokers responsible. Or do I…
I’m not disagreeing with that. I know this is true. However we can agree to disagree. Believe it or not, I’m not a big Oprah fan, but I also understood her point and I do agree on some level. There are some that are more immediately responsible than others but I feel like there is a level of responsibility we all have for each other. I think it’s pretty clear. Many people knew about this and the likelihood of what could happen years before and we as a people did not act. Forget who’s an official. Do you really trust them anyway? All I’m saying is where was the noise then? Even if they didn’t listen, we didn’t make a lot of noise. Why weren’t we as a nation making any? We are all connected. Whether we want to believe it or not, there is some truth in her statement. I don’t see how it’s not evident. I ain’t write no letters, make no phone calls or send no letters. I don’t even think I posted no comments on nobody’s website either. I ain’t about to slit my wrists or anything to deal with insurmountable guilt thinking this is all my fault, but I’ll accept my little piece of blame…No matter how unimportant little old me is, I wish I would have done more then and that I could do more now…and whether I owe an apology or not, I would still wish the same.
You’ve confused me. So you’re saying that we’re responsible on a basic, love one another level? If so, yeah. But even with that, I’m not sure what any regular person could have done at that point.
what the fuck are you boiz complainin about you have your lives sho ly that beez enough get a life boiz
Why loathe FEMA if them dumb niggaz who I might add were robbing not looting should not have been there in the 1st place then every thing would have gone smoothly whay a pitty those theiving lying rapists werent blown away by the big wind instead of being blown away by some one’s shot gun.
Why loathe FEMA if them dumb niggaz who I might add were robbing not looting should not have been there in the 1st place then every thing would have gone smoothly whay a pitty those theiving lying rapists werent blown away by the big wind instead of being blown away by some one’s shot gun.
Perhaps I never mentioned this before, but punctuation is allowed in the comments of Virtual Bomaniland. It’s okay. Throw a dog in here and there. No one will mind.
Jayboi’s comment, and his apparent inability to use the English language, sounds like something a closeted gay white supremacist would come up with. Let’s just hope he’s in a different country than us. Or, preferably, a different continent.