The Full Spin Zone
As the Republican media spin machine is in full force, congratulating each other on the superb response from FEMA and other branches of the federal government to the disaster down south, I thought I should post a blog that gives you a little insight into the guy running the organization itself.
The head of FEMA is Mike Brown, a GOP loyalist who was appointed to head FEMA after joining the organization through an open door provided by Oklahoma college roommate and former Bush campaign manager Joseph Allbaugh.
Brown's experience in heading agencies such as FEMA? None.
Before joining the Bush administration in 2001, Brown spent 11 years as the commissioner of judges and stewards for the International Arabian Horse Association, a breeders' and horse-show organization based in Colorado, so I suppose if we needed to create a cabinet position that was in charge of cleaning up America's horse shit, Brown just may be your perfect choice.
Or...maybe not. Brown actually didn't do a very good job with the horses. He was actually fired for...ready for this.. lacking supervisory skills.
According to the Boston Herald, Brown was forced out of the position after a spate of lawsuits over alleged supervision failures. Bill Pennington, president of the IAHA at the time, has now confirmed, that Brown was "asked to resign.'' In other words, Brown couldn't even oversee fucking horses (that's fucking as a verb, not an adjective).
In addition to all this, recent reports indicate Brown is actually more incompetent than once thought because...he's actually been lying on his resume.
- Brown's official government resume claims that he was an assistant city manager with emergency services oversight, in Oklahoma. Claudia Deakins, head of public relations for the city of Edmond, OK revealed that Brown "was an 'assistant to the city manager' from 1977 to 1980, not a manager himself, and had no authority over other employees. 'The assistant is more like an intern,'" she told Time Magazine.
- In a profile on Findlaw.com, Brown claims he was named "Outstanding Political Science Professor, Central State University." Charles Johnson, a member of the university's public relations office, said Brown "wasn't a professor here, he was only a student here." Johnson also added the chair of the Political Science Department at CSU was not aware of the "Outstanding Political Science Professor" award.
- Brown's resume also "from 1983 to the present he has been director of the Oklahoma Christian Home, a nursing home in Edmond." An administrator at the home told Time that Brown is "not a person that anyone here is familiar with." The nursing home doesn't have a board of directors anymore and when it did, no one remembers Brown being on it. According to a veteran employee Brown "was never director here, was never on the board of directors, was never executive director. He was never here in any capacity. I never heard his name mentioned here." (It should be noted that Brown isn't the only official at FEMA worth picking on...The Washington Post reports that "[f]ive of eight top Federal Emergency Management Agency officials came to their posts with virtually no experience in handling disasters.")
Considering all of this, you may discover why, despite dozens and dozens of warnings and
articles in local New Orleans newspapers warning of this very catastrophe - Mike Brown probably sees this situation with the same exact lack of planning and lack of action Bush has used in every other event that has occurred throughout his presidency, summed up with the following quote:
"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." - President Bush, Sept 1, 2005 on Good Morning America.
Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, said Brown and other top federal officials were briefed as much as 32 hours in advance of landfall that Hurricane Katrina's storm surge was likely to overtop levees and cause catastrophic flooding.
Mayfield was quoted as saying, "They knew that this one was different...I don't think Mike Brown or anyone else in FEMA could have any reason to have any problem with our calls. . . . They were told. . . . We said the levees could be topped."
Bush's take on how Brown handled all of this? "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," Bush said Friday during a tour of the Louisiana, a day before Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff voiced similar confidence.
Mike Brown, like so many failures before him who have been promoted or rewarded with medals (see Condi Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, John Bolton and George Tennant), is expecting to be Bush's new pick for supreme court Chief Justice.
(I'm not so sure the people at New Orleans's largest newspaper, the Times-Picayune would support such an appointment...read their well written open letter to Bush in the Sunday edition here).
The head of FEMA is Mike Brown, a GOP loyalist who was appointed to head FEMA after joining the organization through an open door provided by Oklahoma college roommate and former Bush campaign manager Joseph Allbaugh.
Brown's experience in heading agencies such as FEMA? None.
Before joining the Bush administration in 2001, Brown spent 11 years as the commissioner of judges and stewards for the International Arabian Horse Association, a breeders' and horse-show organization based in Colorado, so I suppose if we needed to create a cabinet position that was in charge of cleaning up America's horse shit, Brown just may be your perfect choice.
Or...maybe not. Brown actually didn't do a very good job with the horses. He was actually fired for...ready for this.. lacking supervisory skills.
According to the Boston Herald, Brown was forced out of the position after a spate of lawsuits over alleged supervision failures. Bill Pennington, president of the IAHA at the time, has now confirmed, that Brown was "asked to resign.'' In other words, Brown couldn't even oversee fucking horses (that's fucking as a verb, not an adjective).
In addition to all this, recent reports indicate Brown is actually more incompetent than once thought because...he's actually been lying on his resume.
- Brown's official government resume claims that he was an assistant city manager with emergency services oversight, in Oklahoma. Claudia Deakins, head of public relations for the city of Edmond, OK revealed that Brown "was an 'assistant to the city manager' from 1977 to 1980, not a manager himself, and had no authority over other employees. 'The assistant is more like an intern,'" she told Time Magazine.
- In a profile on Findlaw.com, Brown claims he was named "Outstanding Political Science Professor, Central State University." Charles Johnson, a member of the university's public relations office, said Brown "wasn't a professor here, he was only a student here." Johnson also added the chair of the Political Science Department at CSU was not aware of the "Outstanding Political Science Professor" award.
- Brown's resume also "from 1983 to the present he has been director of the Oklahoma Christian Home, a nursing home in Edmond." An administrator at the home told Time that Brown is "not a person that anyone here is familiar with." The nursing home doesn't have a board of directors anymore and when it did, no one remembers Brown being on it. According to a veteran employee Brown "was never director here, was never on the board of directors, was never executive director. He was never here in any capacity. I never heard his name mentioned here." (It should be noted that Brown isn't the only official at FEMA worth picking on...The Washington Post reports that "[f]ive of eight top Federal Emergency Management Agency officials came to their posts with virtually no experience in handling disasters.")
Considering all of this, you may discover why, despite dozens and dozens of warnings and
articles in local New Orleans newspapers warning of this very catastrophe - Mike Brown probably sees this situation with the same exact lack of planning and lack of action Bush has used in every other event that has occurred throughout his presidency, summed up with the following quote:"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." - President Bush, Sept 1, 2005 on Good Morning America.
Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, said Brown and other top federal officials were briefed as much as 32 hours in advance of landfall that Hurricane Katrina's storm surge was likely to overtop levees and cause catastrophic flooding.
Mayfield was quoted as saying, "They knew that this one was different...I don't think Mike Brown or anyone else in FEMA could have any reason to have any problem with our calls. . . . They were told. . . . We said the levees could be topped."
Bush's take on how Brown handled all of this? "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," Bush said Friday during a tour of the Louisiana, a day before Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff voiced similar confidence.
Mike Brown, like so many failures before him who have been promoted or rewarded with medals (see Condi Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, John Bolton and George Tennant), is expecting to be Bush's new pick for supreme court Chief Justice.
(I'm not so sure the people at New Orleans's largest newspaper, the Times-Picayune would support such an appointment...read their well written open letter to Bush in the Sunday edition here).
posted by Jeremy at 1:18 PM
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