It all changes so quickly, but sometimes just to circle back to the same place again.

It all changes so quickly, but sometimes just to circle back to the same place again also. The piece I want to point out is more historical now than timely, but still very good

Reporters Give Voice to Post-Katrina Desperation

NPR.org, September 2, 2005 · You don't have to listen very closely to the news to register the striking tone coming from many of the journalists involved in covering the floods along the Gulf Coast. They're passing along public anger.

They are slicing through talking points, reflecting instead -read more-

For some brilliant and brief insight into the current situation try

The Brown Maneuver

The Daily Blague, September 10, 2005 · Anybody who's wondering how Michael D Brown can be relieved of his "Gulf Coast duties" while remaining head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency hasn't been paying attention. The White House has been so profoundly reconceived that the President, while remaining the Chatterbox-In-Chief, was relieved of his duties from the start. This arrangement allows -read more-

And, finally another friend writes from Austin, Texas recently

CNN just reported that Michael Brown, the acting head(ache) of FEMA has just been removed from his post in charge of the Katrina Gulf coast relief (disaster) efforts. A multiple choice question is appropriate here. Check to see how politically you savvy are...

Question:

Was Michael Brown removed from his FEMA charge as head of the Katrina disaster relief efforts because?

a. he was incompetent

b. he was a little "light in the loafers" , if you know what I mean

c. he was the "throwdown" scapegoat for "W" and his clan (could this be true?)

d. all of the above

The answer of course is D. all of the above. If you answered it correctly, you win a prize. I will buy a free beer for all winners on the second Tuesday of next week at 10pm. See you there...

*********

Don’t get whinny. I just checked the FEMA website, there are 2 Tuesdays next week... don’t believe me...

Go to the following site: FEMACAN’TFINDITSASSWITHBOTHHANDS.COM

See, I'm not alone in thinking this is a mess. Unfortunately, the FEMACan'tFindItsAssWithBothHands.com URL doesn't exist but it should. From what I hear, and painfully know from decades back, the bozos at FEMA could cook an agenda with two Tuesdays in next week, if it suits their purposes. If you want some truly enlightening reading try the enabling legislation for FEMA. The link I've just given is hardly complete but it does point up how things have and have not changed in some ways.

FEMA's enabling legislation, the Stafford Act, provided FEMA officials with powers that the bureaucrats didn't exercise. "We found that without state requests, FEMA could assess the catastrophic area, assess what assistance the state needed, start mobilizing that relief, present its recommendations to the governor, and, if necessary--as Andrew Card did--get in the governor's face to force the issue of accepting federal help. Before Hurricane Andrew, FEMA officials took almost none of these steps. Consequently, when a disaster occurred, FEMA's relief efforts were inevitably too little, too late." -read more-

I will try to follow up this week or next with more complete references to the actual bills and laws that are available online. From my experience nearly forty years ago with early bureaucratic and administrative structures that would coordinate government post disaster actions among military and civilian agencies FEMA is connected at the highest levels to government apparatus with the most frightening powers. FEMA can if necessary rule the USA under the right conditions, the conditions being a simple declaration by whatever authority survives a civil emergency to make such a declaration. That an agency which is vested with power and supposedly resources beyond the comprehension of the average American could perform so poorly in the current situation is simply appalling. No face saving weasel like recall of some department head from the field to Washington, D.C. will fade the heat on this one. You would think that the nutless bean counters, silver tongued spin masters and Machiavellian Mother Rapers that stand behind Bush would have had enough sense to at least fire Michael Brown. What a bunch of spineless weenies, or are they? Perhaps they have bigger plans, eh? Tune in! Turn on if you like, but I think at this advanced age it's counter productive. Do not drop out, tune in and stayed tuned in, the next few months up to November 2006 are very important.