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September 05, 2005
Next disaster?
Quoted from Krugman's editorial piece in the NY Times today:
"...the undermining of FEMA began as soon as President Bush took office. Instead of choosing a professional with expertise in responses to disaster to head the agency, Mr. Bush appointed Joseph Allbaugh, a close political confidant. Mr. Allbaugh quickly began trying to scale back some of FEMA's preparedness programs... But the downgrading of FEMA continued, with the appointment of Michael Brown as Mr. Allbaugh's successor.
Mr. Brown had no obvious qualifications, other than having been Mr. Allbaugh's college roommate. But Mr. Brown was made deputy director of FEMA; The Boston Herald reports that he was forced out of his previous job, overseeing horse shows. And when Mr. Allbaugh left, Mr. Brown became the agency's director. The raw cronyism of that appointment showed the contempt the administration felt for the agency; one can only imagine the effects on staff morale.
You want to know another disaster waiting to happen?
Meet Gaddi Vasquez, the current director of Peace Corps.
Before he was nominated by Bush to head Peace Corps, Mr. Vasquez was the chairperson in charge of Orange County's investments. He was responsible for the bankrupting of the wealthiest county in the US because of bad investing. He refused responsibility for it, was censured by the SEC, and resigned to avoid a grand jury investigation. He then got on the board of the California Electric Utilities, which under his mismanagement had the giant brownouts in the 90's. He then had a failed bid for a representative position in the legislature of California. He donated $106,000 to Bush's campaign, and now he runs an agency that has over 7000 Americans in foreign countries. In 2002,
a PC volunteer was assaulted or robbed every 23 hours on average.
Bush appoints these cronies to organizations he wants to weaken. People are dying in New Orleans, volunteers are dying across the world. Both organizations were designed to be forces for aid, which is unacceptable to the present President.
I have been so angry over the last few days about this country. I served in the Peace Corps because I believed that we had something amazing in this country. The scenes I've viewed wouldn't be happening in the countries Peace Corps helps. It's criminal.
Posted by G at September 5, 2005 10:43 AM
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Comments
Krugman Rocks. I have become quite addicted to the Op Ed page of the NYT lately.
Cheers,
Posted by: Mr H.K. at September 5, 2005 06:18 PM
Well, really, why should Bush care about people who have darker skin and/or don't speak our language? What have they ever done for him?
I'm pissed the fuck off myself.
Posted by: Frank Beekman at September 5, 2005 10:04 PM
FEMA Director Mike Brown's last private sector job was overseeing horse shows. And he got fired from it.
http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=100857
Cronyism RUNS RAMPANT with BushCo.
Posted by: palochi at September 6, 2005 12:33 AM
Republicans campaign proudly about what they WON'T do if elected. They run against the idea of government as a social construct that improves individuals, corporations and the environment.
They preach self-reliance as the foundation of better societies. They belittle those who were not born into stable families or have not assembled the financial and psychological resources to create their own.
The ugly side of republican self-reliance is what happens to those who can't achieve it. Oddly, conservative Christian republicans hate the idea of Darwinian evolutionary forces, but they preach them every day.
Posted by: Stephen at September 6, 2005 11:48 AM
My thoughts exactly, G. Just another thing to think about. Dept. of Homeland Sec. is in charge of FEMA. DHC are the ones that keep telling us they are ready for anything that could happen in the States. Well, if they can't prepare and react to a situation where they know the timetable, why should we expect them to be able to respond to an act of unknown origin and unknown time? The firm I'm with is currently seeking out engineers from the area that has been hit hard. If anyone knows of any engineers or draft-persons that are without a job due to the hurricane, please contact me.
Thanks.
Posted by: James at September 6, 2005 10:08 PM
OMFG. there's gotta be a very special wing of HELL reserved for all of these people for pulling shit like this. It makes me sick to my stomach.
Posted by: Telefrank at September 7, 2005 10:19 AM
You can imagine the conversations.
Shrub: I need this position filled. You wanna do it? Other Guy: Well, sure, but I'm totally not qualified. Shrub: Shit, who needs qualified? How hard can it be?
I mean, I've had conversations like that, but I'm not the president of the United States, fer chrissakes.
The whole situation is making me sick.
Posted by: Mush at September 7, 2005 05:55 PM