Brownie: Disaster Consultant

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http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/24/brown.consultant.ap/index.html

 

Well, you've got to admire his nerve. Moving from one disaster to another.

 

Hopefully the state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans will be his first two clients. This way next time they will be better prepared and will not have to spend so much time steering the blame away from themselves and towards the federal government.

One can hope...

 

Uhhh, sorry, TGS. But if they were Brownie's clients, who would they be able to blame? Unless you mean to say that they really would be better prepared. In that case, why would they have to "blame" anyone?

 

The point was that both the City and State were unprepared to handle the disaster. How their failure turned into the federal government's fault is completely beyond me. Maybe I'm misunderstanding a lot of things, but I don't believe that FEMA has any troops to command, any vehicles to drive, or any supplies to deliver. I always thought FEMA was their to cut checks and to assist the local authorities, not solve the problems.

 

Actually no - FEMA are the people on the ground putting out all the fires (both literally and figuratively). I have some close family friends who've been working for FEMA for over 15 years. They're based out of Denver, where FEMA is headquartered (as well as where Brownie is from). They're the people who fly into a disaster area, set up a command post, coordinate relief efforts with local officials, expedite federal resources and attempt to minimize public panic and further damage. Ever see the movie "Volcano," with Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche (before she went all nutcase-lezbo)? Tommy Lee Jones' character is a good example of what FEMA people do.

While it's true that the city of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana were woefully unprepared for the disaster, much of the blame does go to Brownie for the way the disaster was handled. Most people in FEMA were furious when Brown was "appointed" to the position, because he had no business being in it, and other more deserving candidates - who'd been working for FEMA for years - were passed up. He had no disaster situational background whatsoever. People in his position usually benefit from at least a few years of field experience dealing with natural and man-made disasters.

When the disaster hit and sh*t hit the fan, my friends had the reaction most FEMA workers across the nation did: "Well, DUH! You wouldn't make an accountant the chief resident in a hospital emergency room...why make the former President of the Arabian Horse Association - with no prior experience in disaster management - the Director or FEMA? What did you expect would happen?" Aside from him being unqualified for the position, evidently, according to them, he wasn't too bright either. They basically just sat back, prayed a disaster wouldn't happen under his watch and hoped they could wait out his term. Guess the praying didn't work.

I sure do likes me some cronyism.