I just got a CNN Breaking News e-mail with this body:

“President Bush says he takes responsibility for the federal government’s failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said it clearly. “Michael Brown’s departure from FEMA is long overdue, and his resignation is the right thing for the country and for the people of the Gulf Coast states.”

It is indeed. It is also the best thing for George W. Bush and his cronies going into the 2006 elections. With Brown gone, will there be anything left outside the south to remind us about the gross incompetence loosed on our citizens in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The mismanagement of the war in Iraq and the deaths caused by that mismanagement, not to mention the outright lies from the Bush White House, were successfully carted off in one swift boat campaign. America forgot the ongoing incompetence in the wake of 9/11 and succumbed to the glitz of the Rove media machine, re-electing the worst president in our nation’s history.

How many lives did the Bush political “good ol’ boys” cost this time? How many could have been saved by the appointment of a capable and experienced emergency manager instead of the college roommate of an old Bush campaign manager? Could we have saved 100, 500, or maybe even 1000 more when the storm came in?

The fringe of the Bush team sure looked after their people. Kellogg, Brown and Root was right there at the front of the line, rewarded with yet more no-bid contracts by the government. The investigations of their mismanagement in Iraq is still under scrutiny (I hope); but still Bush and the Gang were willing to make them their first choice on the Gulf.

What about the lives and money that could have been saved by putting real experts in charge of strengthening those all important levees? What could have been saved by spending what was needed, instead of doing it on the cheap; so yet more money could be poured into the Bush political war and the coffers of Cheney’s beloved Halliburton Corp?

Michael Brown worries me even when he is resigning. In resigning Brown told the press it was best for FEMA and best for the president that he step aside. “The focus has got to be on FEMA, what the people are trying to do down there.” Why do I get the feeling this is a tailored Karl Rove written line? This worries me because just the other day someone pulled the string on Scott McClellan’s back and sent him out in front of the press. All he could say was the focus must be on what the people are trying to do down there. He did add that it was not time for the blame game.

It is not time for the blame game until we get everything straightened out and the recovery is complete, right? How long will that be Scotty? Will it be 5 years, 10 years, maybe never? Wouldn’t that suit Rove and the conservative spin doctors? Heck, they could get all the oil wells going again, get gas to $5.00 per gallon, get all the Democratic poor gone in the Gulf States and get Bill Frist elected president before anyone even has to say excuse me.

We cannot forget Michael Brown and what happened with Katrina, just as we cannot forget what happened on 9/11. No, I don’t want Brown’s head on a platter. He is just a stooge for the real power brokers in the Bush Administration. We need to get to the heart of who put him there in the first place.

When the twin towers fell, Bush was reading “My Pet Goat.” He seemed to make no move to execute the office of president.

When Katrina hit he was on vacation, then went to raise funds for a political buddy instead of doing his job. How many more times are we going to allow this to go on without a real public accounting?

Bush, Chernoff, Brown and all the others involved in the Bush shortchanging of America need to be brought before the people and judged. We the people have a right to know. It is not unpatriotic to demand truthful and complete answers to questions it is our civic duty to ask.

We cannot let this resignation swept all the lives that lay in ruin because of conservative politics under the rug again. Osama Bin Laden kills 3,000 and the country unites in a cry for justice. Conservative presidential politics kills twice that many, can we ask for anything less?

Phil Mockel
thekickingdonkey.com

Thanks for the info on the wages. I only saw the blurb once, and it listed the $9 wage – not sure where that number came from. It must have been a specific classification that the person who reported it was aware of in particular. I’m very busy for the next couple of days, but if I dig something more up on this I’ll let you guys know.

http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm#Louisiana

The process was greed, it’ll almost cost half as much in labor costs for the manual labor… It’s 5.15 per hour for the national wage, and I read 9.00 for louisiana – but I haven’t confirmed that figure. The reich wing always uses disasters as an opportunity to undermine consumer and worker protections – it’s standard operating procedure for them… This is just one of the MANY overrides they’ve done including environment controls, etc.

What was the thought process behind that decision? (Well, other than allowing Haliburton to make a larger profit on the backs of the poor.)

They are refusing to pay the Louisiana minimum wage, and instead are only going to pay federal minimum wage.

I guess Rove has corrupted the entire organizational structure and accountability mechanisms of the WH staff.

The times when “firing” is more often done is when the person is being removed “for cause” (such as stealing, violating workplace rules like sexual harrassment, etc) because in such cases the standard severance arrangements do not come in to play by virtue of, again, corporate policy.

Can we talk about something that makes a difference? Like how the $62 Billion is going to be spent? Option (1): Dole it out to victims and contractors and task forces without an overarching plan for what the outcome in the region should be, with benchmarks, milestones, and measures of effectiveness of the investments. Option (2): Construct a vision of what the region could/should look like economically, housing-wise, disaster preparedness, job-wise, health care facilities and staffing, educational initiatives, etc …. and then spend the money in ways that move the whole region in that direction, in measurable and observable ways.

There is a saying that it is futile to hope for (2) while doing (1). What are the chances that this will be done right vs. wrong, resulting in the taxpayers scratching their heads and butts 5 years from now while pondering “what happened to that $100+ billion again?”

This is an opportunity. Will it be treated that way? Probably not, but one can hope and dream.