On some other list I'm on (one full of mostly stupid people, unlike
this bastion of higher reasoning), the topic of the New Orleans
disaster came up. There was the usual sparring, and then somebody
said "nobody can say they could have done any better."
I immediately posted that I in fact KNEW that I could of and would
have done better. Jeez, you would have thought I was claiming to be
Buckaroo Banzai or something. The flaming was just crazy, and the
usual invitations to leave the country, declarations that I was a
non-citizen, etc.
I tell ya what, anybody who doesn't think that they could do better
that that crowd of profoundly stupid and corrupt pirates and thugs
currently in power either has some profound self-esteem issues,
perhaps even mental illness.
And the evidence just keeps rolling in...
FEMA Scandal Widens as Internal E-mails Are Made Public
More details have emerged depicting the extent of the neglect and
irresponsibility of former FEMA Director Michael Brown in his roll in
the scandal of the government's handling of Hurricane Katrina. On
Thursday, FEMA official Marty Bahamonde testified in front of the
Senate Homeland Security Committee. He was the first official from the
agency to arrive in New Orleans ahead of Katrina. In the midst of the
chaos and horror of the hurricane's aftermath, Bahamonde sent a dire
e-mail to Michael Brown saying victims had no food and were dying. No
response came from Brown. Instead, less than three hours later, an
aide to Brown sent an e-mail saying her boss wanted to go on a
television program that night. But first, the aide said, Brown needed
at least an hour to eat dinner at a Baton Rouge restaurant, writing,
"He needs much more than 20 or 30 minutes." Some 19 pages of internal
FEMA e-mails revealed Thursday show Bahamonde gave regular updates to
people in contact with Brown as early as August 28, the day before
Katrina hit. They appear to contradict Brown, who has said he was not
fully aware of the conditions until days after the storm hit.
Bahamonde arrived on Aug. 27 and was the only FEMA official at the
scene until August 30. Subsequent e-mails told of an increasingly
desperate situation at the New Orleans Superdome, where tens of
thousands of evacuees were piled in. Bahamonde spent two nights there
with the evacuees. On August 31, he e-mailed Brown saying, "estimates
are many will die within hours." He described the situation as "past
critical." It was just moments after that email that Michael Brown's
press secretary, Sharon Worthy, wrote colleagues to complain that the
FEMA director needed more time to eat dinner. Worthy wrote,
"Restaurants are getting busy...We now have traffic to encounter to go
to and from a location of his choise (sic), followed by wait service
from the restaurant staff, eating, etc. Thank you."
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page
http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/9rHolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CanYoAssDigIt/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
CanYoAssDigIt-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
No comments:
Post a Comment