Conservative Michelle Malkin on FEMA Michael Brown

Fire Brown? You bet. But since President Bush praised instead of firing those who gave him the bad intel that led to the Iraq war, I doubt he will step up to the plate and do what should be done this time, either.

 

What was that famous Shakespearan line: "I came to bury Caesar not to praise him."? Or was it "I came to praise Caesar not to bury him."?

 

Ken,

I criticized your response to the federal government's efforts earlier and I still stand by my points, but you're right that Brown is clearly not up to the task. You're probably right that Bush won't fire him but I expect (or hope, at least) that Bush will ask him to quietly step down. I still believe that, despite whatever problems may exist at the top of that bureaucracy, the federal government has responded well, in general, to a disaster of this magnitude. I would add that it is a terrible comparison between the tsunami response and this. There are several relevant differences.

 

FTR,
What differences are you referring to? The major difference that I see is that the people in Indonesia received faster and more efficient treatment than citizens of our own country. I cannot help but wonder if the people would have been of a higher socioeconomic class things would have been done differently.

 

Doesn't every socioeconomic class live in NO?

 

What? Do you really believe that Brown did an exceptional job?

 

Please, you and I both know that the MAJORITY of people left behind were low income. No, to put it bluntly they were dirt poor. They were the people who did not have the means, nor the transportation to evaculate.

 

I saw a picture on one of the threads with a LOT of school buses just parked in deep water. The mayor could have used those to take those without transportation to safety.

 

I am not disagreeing with you. This thread was about FEMA director Brown. The mayor of NO, the govenor of LA, and others all dropped the ball in some way or another. I admire Bush for saying so yesterday.

 

You are right, this thread was about Brown. Sorry. I guess looking back is always 20/20. I am sure the mayor, and many others, would do things differently. It is kinda like being in an argument, you always think of things to say after the fact.

 

Before you make unsubstantiated claims about Tsunami relief you might check the following chronology:

Edited only for fixing link for browsers - LE

[ September 04, 2005, 10:44 PM: Message edited by: LadyEagle ]

 

Well said. I could not agree more. I just hope that we learn from tis experience instead of trying to place blame on any one person or government entity, because in the end all that matters is that we are better prepared for the next disaster.

 

Before you make unsubstantiated claims about Tsunami relief you might check the following chronology:

Edited only for fixing link for browsers - LE </font>[/QUOTE]What unsubstantiated claims are you referring to? We mobilized in less time after the tsunami than we did after Katrina.

As far as the socioeconomic statement, it was purely speculative. I just wonder if things would have been different.

 

Who got fired over 911? Brown will get a promotion and an award.

 

FP,

What differences are you referring to? The major difference that I see is that the people in Indonesia received faster and more efficient treatment than citizens of our own country.

1. The geography. Damage to highways and bridges hampered the immediate response here. BTW, there is also a similarity here with the tsunami: supplies got there but could not be distributed due to lack of clearing equipment, which made it not very fast nor very efficient.

2. The tsunami was one big instanteous disaster. Part of the problem after the hurricane is that the already disastrous situation created by the hurricane became immense when the levees broke. Nothing analogous to the tsunami situation.

3. Our central government responded quickly to the tsunami because it could do so as a unified entity. The federal system we have hampered such a unified response, by definition. The systems in place for emergency response helped to mitigate this, though.

It is easy, but also dishonest and irresponsible to armchair quarterback how poor the response was to Katrina, and just plain ignorant of the facts to compare it to the tsunami.

I believe that people truly did the best they could and as fast as they could with the information at hand. To make accusations of gross incompetence on the part of dedicated public officials and employees is just plain trashy. Yes, there are isolated individuals who should be reproached for incompetence, NOLA's mayor being one, but as crazed as his response has been, I also would not want to be in his shoes. Some of you have made any delays seem like weeks. Take a look at at least one chronology. And another for the tsunami. Both were horrible situations handled by human beings.


I cannot help but wonder if the people would have been of a higher socioeconomic class things would have been done differently.

Yeah, I'm sure the multitudes of ultra-rich in Indonesia were dazzled with the speedy response.

 

One example of how ridiculous it is to compare the tsunami to Katrina is the response of the US Navy. The tsunami struck on 26 December. It was six days before a US aircraft carrier was on station, but I'm sure that the President immediately directed Pacific Command to order the carrier to proceed quickly. By contrast, any US Navy ships would have been ordered out of the Gulf of Mexico to avoid the hurricane, and THEN, would have taken time to load equipment and supplies and then transit back to area. Only this morning did I see film of LCAC's (amphibious air-cushion vehicles) coming ashore with supplies. FP, was someone delinquent to have taken this long for this to happen? Do you think the US Navy decided to kick back and take their dear sweet time to get there? Do you think that because the population of the area is largely black and low income that our ships proceeded under sail and not power to get there?

 

FTR,

As I mentioned before, my question purely speculative. Secondly, I am not blaming anyone. I have stated many times before that I believe MANY people drooped the ball, including Brown. I also believe the least our government could have done was to inform the people that help was on the way. Imagine being in that situation, you would feel as frustrated and hopeless about not knowing what was going on, or even if you were going to recieve help. Even our President was disappointed with the response of aid. Maybe it is wrong to compare it to the Tsunami, I'll give you that, but there were some serious communication breakdowns, which IMO lead to some unecessary deaths. Hopefully, we will learn from this tragedy. I am not even really concerned with placing blame as long as this NEVER happens again.

 

Definitely agreed with your last statement. But I would add that I believe that many of these lessons HAVE been, and not just should be, learned. Well, at least I hope so.