From the Chicago Sun-Times, Say that again? ‘Things are going relatively well’ is Richard Roeper’s hall-of-shame article on the worst quotes from famous people, especially government officials, regarding the Katrina disaster.
It would be very funny if it weren’t so desperately sad.
Indeed.
Newsday and Time magazine are both doing investigations into FEMA (Fucking Everything More than it is Already) Director Michael Brown’s background, and discovering a bit of resume padding. To put it lightly.
They’re checking each bullet point on his FEMA bio and contacting the businesses, universities and associations he claimed to work for and asking them what he really did for them. The answers are quite a bit different than what’s on his bio.
Among the findings:
Under the “honors and awards” section of his profile at FindLaw.com — which is information on the legal website provided by lawyers or their offices—he lists “Outstanding Political Science Professor, Central State University”. However, Brown “wasn’t a professor here, he was only a student here,” says Charles Johnson, News Bureau Director in the University Relations office at the University of Central Oklahoma (formerly named Central State University). “He may have been an adjunct instructor,” says Johnson, but that title is very different from that of “professor.” Carl Reherman, a former political science professor at the University through the ’70s and ’80s, says that Brown “was not on the faculty.” As for the honor of “Outstanding Political Science Professor,” Johnson says, “I spoke with the department chair yesterday and he’s not aware of it.” Johnson could not confirm that Brown made the Dean’s list or was an “Outstanding Political Science Senior,” as is stated on his online profile.
Hell, look at his entire bio, and I’M more qualified to run FEMA than he is. And I don’t know the first thing about Emergency Management. That might have something to do with the fact that I actually have an I.Q.
It’s an old business myth that the Chinese character for “crisis” combines the characters for “danger” and “opportunity.” It doesn’t. But I’m not sure anyone’s told the Bush administration, judging from this little tidbit in CongressDaily today: “[White House spokesman Trent] Duffy asserted that the vast spending that would be required to address the hurricane’s impact adds to the need to change Social Security, which threatens to strain the budget in coming years.” Ah yes, despite the fact that privatization that would add trillions to the deficit in the short term, at a time when Katrina will already add $100 billion or more to the deficit this year, the time for privatization is now, obviously, in the wake of disaster. Um, no.
Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard said:
“Whoever is at the top of this totem pole, that totem pole needs to be chainsawed off and we’ve got to start with some new leadership. It’s not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in New Orleans here. Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now.”
I think the White House doesn’t realize it’s at the top of the totem pole — the part we’ll be cutting off.
Media Matters examines the facts surrounding each of these bogus Republican claims.
1. Bush: “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees”
2. Chertoff strained credulity in defense of Bush, claimed levee breaks and massive flooding came as a surprise — more than 12 hours after local media reported them
3. Brown: “We’ve provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day”
4. Chertoff: “Apparently, some time on Wednesday, people started to go to the convention center spontaneously”
5. Chertoff pointed fingers: “New Orleans officials and the state officials … called for the Superdome to be the refuge of last resort”
6. Chertoff falsely minimized federal government’s role in Katrina response as subordinate to states
7. Wash. Post, Newsweek, Gingrich falsely claimed that Blanco did not declare a state of emergency
8. Gingrich falsely claimed that Nagin could “have kept water pumped out” of city had he ensured that pumps worked
New York Times Article: “White House Enacts a Plan to Ease Political Damage”
Under the command of President Bush’s two senior political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan this weekend to contain the political damage from the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina.
It orchestrated visits by cabinet members to the region, leading up to an extraordinary return visit by Mr. Bush planned for Monday, directed administration officials not to respond to attacks from Democrats on the relief efforts, and sought to move the blame for the slow response to Louisiana state officials, according to Republicans familiar with the White House plan.
The effort is being directed by Mr. Bush’s chief political adviser, Karl Rove, and his communications director, Dan Bartlett. It began late last week after Congressional Republicans called White House officials to register alarm about what they saw as a feeble response by Mr. Bush to the hurricane, according to Republican Congressional aides.
I’m thinking Senator Landrieu must be very tired right now, because she’s been awake for 7 days. So I’d like to personally volunteer to punch ANYONE she would like me to. I’m not kidding, Mary, I’ll do it for you. I’ll haul off and hit anyone you want me to hit. Name the guy!!
Sen. Landrieu Threatens to ‘Punch’ President if He Keeps Hitting Local Response to Katrina
Senator Mary Landrieu, the Democrat of Louisiana (whose father was a mayor of New Orleans), appears to have finally found her voice after offering only cautious criticism of the federal relief effort in the hurricane catastrophe earlier in the week. Today she promised to literally “punch” anyone, “including the president,” who continued to question the local response to the tragedy, considering the gross federal misconduct.
Appearing on ABC’s “The Week” TV program this morning, Senator Landrieu still appeared to be smarting from President Bush’s comments, during his national radio address, that state and local bore a fair share of blame for the slow response. On a copter tour of the area, Landrieu said that if she heard any more criticism from federal officials, particularly about the evacuation of New Orleans, she might lose control.
“If one person criticizes them or says one more thing – including the president of the United States – he will hear from me,” she said on the ABC program. “One more word about it after this show airs and I might likely have to punch him. Literally.”
She burst into tears as she looked at a broken levee. “The President could have funded it,” she said. “He cut it out of the budget. Is that the most pitiful sight you have ever seen in your life? One little crane.”
She also referred angrily to comments Bush had made Friday at the New Orleans airport about the fun he had in her city in his younger days.
“Our infrastructure is devastated, lives have been shattered,” Landrieu said. “Would the president please stop taking photo-ops?”
Before the hurricane struck, the Mayor and Governor were begging for federal help to put sandbags at the levees and to get rescue trucks in to evacuate people; they weren’t just asking people to leave, they were asking for federal help to get people who didn’t have transportation out.
See the letter asking for help here… the letter the president ignored for 4 days.
Fox News and the Bush administration are now blaming the Governor and the Mayor, saying the didn’t ask for help, and didn’t explain what they needed. It’s not true; the white house are liars.
From the National Post: Bill Moyer, 73, wears a “Bullshit Protector” flap over his ear while President George W. Bush addresses the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
** EDS NOTE OBSCENITY – CORRECTS MOYER’S SERVICE IN WWII AS POST-WAR OCCUPATION OF GERMANY, NOT IN THE WAR ITSELF ** Bill Moyer, 73, wears a “Bullshit Protector” flap over his ear while President George W. Bush, on screen at rear, addresses the Veterans of Foreign Wars at their 106th convention Monday, Aug. 22, 2005, in Salt Lake City. Moyer served in Korea and Vietnam, and in the post- WWII occupation of Germany. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)
That’s the coolest thing ever, no doubt. And kudos to the the dude wearing them, too. Although, if I were making them, I’d call them a “Bullshit Deflector.”