FEMA Directorship!?

[psychoman]

FEMA Directorship Is
A Political Patronage Position

And GOP Donors Will Make A Killing

By Josh Marshall
9-6-5

There's going to be so much money flowing that Joe Allbaugh might even be convinced to bring his influence-peddling operation stateside again. In fact, if you were ever planning to become a Republican or give money to Republicans, by all means, do it now. Because all of the GOP patronage and pay-for-play operation that we've seen up till this point was probably just a prelude to what's coming.

Just set together a few pieces of the puzzle.

FEMA Director Michael Brown got his job as a political patronage position, with no relevant experience and the last item on his resume getting fired from a job as a manager of horse shows. Last year he was caught giving out FEMA money as political pork with an eye to the 2004 elections. But that shouldn't surprise since people who get hired as part of patronage operations do their jobs as part of the patronage operation. That's the idea.

Now, look at this article from Tuesday's Times about the boom town atmosphere in Houston as people and business from New Orleans flood into the city ...

Oil services companies based here are racing to carry out repairs to damaged offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico; the promise of plenty of work to do sent shares in two large companies, Halliburton and Baker Hughes, soaring to 52-week highs last week. The Port of Houston is preparing for an increase in traffic as shippers divert cargoes away from the damaged ports of Pascagoula, Miss., and New Orleans. Some of this is just the grim irony of politics and geography. Houston is a nearby port town deep into the oil business. It's also the capital of Bushland.

But see where we're going here. We have a thoroughly politicized FEMA, encased within an administration that ran the Iraqi reconstruction in such a way that they managed to give graft and cronyism a bad name. $10.5 billion is just a small down payment on the money that's going to go into draining and rebuilding New Orleans, constructing a much more durable and comprehensive system of pumps and levees around the city, patching up the coastlines of Mississippi and Alabama. And did we mention the important Senate race next year in Florida? And then there's the Port of New Orleans. And the oil facilities in the Gulf.

Of course, if you want to get down into the minutiae, remember it was Joe Allbaugh who got his college buddy Michael Brown the patronage job at FEMA; when Allbaugh got into the Iraqi contracts racket he handed FEMA over to Brown. And the guy that helped Allbaugh set up his new influence-peddling shop out of a wing of his DC office? Right, Haley Barbour, who's now Governor of Mississippi.

Like I said, I bet we see Allbaugh pretty soon deciding that his services are required closer to home.

The White House is already laying the groundwork for centralizing all authority over contracting within the executive branch, which for all intents and purposes means the White House. No oversight. No transparency. Halliburton ready at the trough.

Like a friend of mine said earlier this evening, it really is going to be the biggest slush fund of all time.

[sadie999]

From Horsesass.org:

FEMA director Mike Brown, a “total fucking disaster”
by Goldy, 09/02/2005, 12:34 AM

“An unmitigated, total fucking disaster.” That’s not a quote from Mike Brown, but rather, a quote describing him. And most disturbingly, it’s not even a reference to his dismal performance as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This blunt critique was emailed to me from a regular reader who was apparently attracted to HorsesAss.org by her passion for politics and her love of Arabian horses.

I think I’ve told you that I’m into Arab horses. Well, for 3 years Michael Brown was hired and then fired by our IAHA, the International Arabian Horse Assoc. He was an unmitigated, total fucking disaster. I was shocked as hell when captain clueless put him in charge of FEMA a couple of years ago. He or the WH lied on the WH presser announcing him to FEMA. IAHA was never connected to the Olympic Comm, only the half Arab registry then and the governing body to the state and local Arabian horse clubs. He ruined IAHA financially so badly that we had to change the name and combine it with the Purebred registry.

I am telling you this after watching the fucking shipwreck in the Gulf. His incompetence is KILLING people.

Yes, that’s right… the man responsible for directing federal relief operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, sharpened his emergency management skills as the “Judges and Stewards Commissioner” for the International Arabian Horses Association… a position from which he was forced to resign in the face of mounting litigation and financial disarray.

And what of that misleading White House press release?

From 1991 to 2001, Brown was the Commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association, an international subsidiary of the national governing organization of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

I can’t even begin to fact check the dates or IAHA’s alleged relationship to the US Olympic Committee, because of course, the IAHA doesn’t exist anymore, so there’s nothing to Google. But it begs the question… how the hell did his prior job experience prepare Brown to head FEMA?

Well, judging by his agency’s performance over the past few days… it didn’t.

Horsesass.org (www.horsesass.org/index.php?p=965)

You're doing a great job, Brownie! - The Global Village Idiot :1bradquac

[Buffalo]

Stubbornness and stupidity are two traits that make for a dangerous person.

We have both of those traits in large quantities with our commander-in-chief,
THE MOUTHBREATHING IDIOT(tm).

Check out what's happening to countries who have tried to help:

Foreign offers of help ready, waiting (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2002477012&zsection_id=2002462336&slug=kataid07&date=20050907)

By Elizabeth Williamson
The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Offers of foreign aid worth tens of millions of dollars — including a Swedish water-purification system, a German cellular-telephone network and two Canadian rescue ships — have been delayed for days awaiting review by backlogged federal agencies, according to European diplomats and information collected by the State Department.

Since Hurricane Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast, more than 90 countries and international organizations have offered to assist in recovery efforts for the flood-stricken region, but nearly all endeavors remained mired yesterday in bureaucratic entanglements — in most cases, at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

In Germany, a massive telecommunication system and two technicians await the green light to fly to Louisiana, after its donors spent four days searching for someone willing to accept the gift.

"FEMA? That was a lost cause," said Mirit Hemy, an executive with the Netherlands-based New Skies Satellite, who made the phone calls. "We got zero help, and we lost one week trying to get hold of them."

In Sweden, a transport plane loaded with a water-purification system and a cellular network has been ready to take off for four days, while Swedish officials wait for flight clearance. Nearly a week after they were offered, four Canadian rescue vessels and two helicopters have been accepted but probably won't arrive from Halifax, Nova Scotia, until Saturday. The Canadians' offer of search-and-rescue divers has gone begging.

Matching offers of aid — from Panamanian bananas to British engineers — with needs in the devastated Gulf region is difficult in a disaster whose scope is unheard-of in recent U.S. history, especially for a country that is more accustomed to giving than receiving aid.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday that to his knowledge, all offers of foreign aid have been accepted but must be vetted by emergency-relief specialists.

"I think the experts will take a look at exactly what is needed now," he said.

FEMA spokeswoman Natalie Rule said the foreign complaints echo those from governors and officials across the nation.

"There has been that common thought that because [offers of aid] are not tapped immediately, they're not prudently used," Rule said. "We are pulling everything into a centralized database. We are trying not to suck everything in all at once, whether we need it or not."

Soon after the flooding, the government of Sweden offered a C-130 Hercules transport plane, loaded with water-purification equipment, and a cellular network donated by Ericsson.

"As far as I know, it's still on the ground," said Claes Thorson, press counselor at the Swedish Embassy in Washington. He said that along with 20 other European Union nations that have pledged money and goods, "We are ready to send our things. We know they are needed, but what seems to be a problem is getting all these offers into the country."

So far, Thorson said, the State Department has denied Sweden's request for flight clearance.

German telecommunications company KB Impuls contacted another company, Unisat, based in Rhode Island, with the idea of contributing an integrated satellite and cellular-telephone system.

The $3 million system could handle 5,000 calls at once, routing them, if necessary, through Germany.

The donor, KB Impuls, would contribute the equipment and two engineers, supplied with their own food, water and generator fuel, to set it up. Unisat contacted another firm, New Skies Satellite, based in the Netherlands with offices in Washington, which agreed to contribute satellite capacity.

New Skies arranged transport, securing a C-130 cargo plane from the Israeli Air Force, to pick up the equipment and technicians from Germany and bring them to Louisiana.

"With one call, I got an airplane," Hemy said. For four days, she and the owner of Unisat, Uri Bar-Zemer, called contacts at FEMA, the American Red Cross, the State Department and members of Congress, trying to find someone to accept the gift.

Finally, the State Department told them that to receive flight clearance, the gift must have a specific recipient.

"I was ringing, ringing, ringing — and nothing," Hemy said. Finally, yesterday, she got a call from the U.S. Air Force Joint Task Force Katrina Communication Operations division, thanking the companies for the gift and inquiring about the system's technical specifications.

As of late yesterday the companies were waiting for a written order from the Northern Command to begin the mission.

Staff writers Robin Wright and Nelson Hernandez contributed to this report.