It Wasn't My Fault!
August 28, 2015 10:54 AM Subscribe
Former FEMA Head Michael Brown: Stop Blaming Me For Hurricane Katrina (SPL) In which he explains from his point of view what the real problems with the Katrina response were.
Gross.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 11:01 AM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by a lungful of dragon at 11:01 AM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Brownie, you wrote a heck of a denial
posted by Noisy Pink Bubbles at 11:02 AM on August 28, 2015 [12 favorites]
posted by Noisy Pink Bubbles at 11:02 AM on August 28, 2015 [12 favorites]
Heck of a job, Brownie. Your job is like Heck, a euphemism for the eternal torment of the Underworld
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:02 AM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:02 AM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
Had I left the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the spring of 2005, my life would be very different today. And I really wish, in retrospect, that I had.
Ah, Brownie. If wishes here horses, huh?
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:02 AM on August 28, 2015 [16 favorites]
Ah, Brownie. If wishes here horses, huh?
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:02 AM on August 28, 2015 [16 favorites]
We all have the same wish. Maybe we're not so different after all
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:03 AM on August 28, 2015 [34 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 11:03 AM on August 28, 2015 [34 favorites]
Had I left the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the spring of 2005, my life would be very different today. And I really wish, in retrospect, that I had.
As someone who evacuated New Orleans and had to deal with the superlative incompetence of FEMA in dealing with a major disaster, I also wish you had left before Katrina. And now I wish you would shut up.
posted by maxsparber at 11:06 AM on August 28, 2015 [57 favorites]
As someone who evacuated New Orleans and had to deal with the superlative incompetence of FEMA in dealing with a major disaster, I also wish you had left before Katrina. And now I wish you would shut up.
posted by maxsparber at 11:06 AM on August 28, 2015 [57 favorites]
Now where did I leave the world's smallest violin? Oh right, it got washed away in the flooding caused by a certain hurricane . . .
posted by Zonker at 11:06 AM on August 28, 2015 [14 favorites]
posted by Zonker at 11:06 AM on August 28, 2015 [14 favorites]
Let me remind eveyrone that Brownie was an appointee with no experience in emergency management or anything of the sort. He was Judges and Stewards Commissioner for the International Arabian Horse Association and resigned from that position amid scandal and lawsuits. He landed as General Counsel of FEMA, which was headed at the time by one of Bush's campaign managers and later became head of the agency.
So yeah, the guy isn't literally to blame for everything that went wrong during and after the storm. But he was a political hack appointee who had no business in that job to begin with.
posted by zachlipton at 11:08 AM on August 28, 2015 [43 favorites]
So yeah, the guy isn't literally to blame for everything that went wrong during and after the storm. But he was a political hack appointee who had no business in that job to begin with.
posted by zachlipton at 11:08 AM on August 28, 2015 [43 favorites]
There were many dark moments in those three weeks on the Gulf Coast, and FEMA and the federal government certainly made some mistakes, but perhaps the worst part was being held responsible for the things that I didn’t control at all.
That's the worst thing that happened? What a fuckstain.
posted by Artw at 11:08 AM on August 28, 2015 [88 favorites]
That's the worst thing that happened? What a fuckstain.
posted by Artw at 11:08 AM on August 28, 2015 [88 favorites]
Brown: The defamatory Time article accomplished its mission—a few hours after it was published, I was recalled to Washington, relieved of my responsibilities as the “principal federal official” in response to Katrina.
If this Time article (which I linked to above) were in truth defamatory, he'd have had a heck of a libel suit he could have slapped them with.
Instead, the story is still published. Sooooo...one can reasonably conclude it's all true and ergo not defamatory.
Now where did I leave the world's smallest violin?
Perhaps this fellow can help serenade Brownie?
Violinist Samuel Thompson was visiting New Orleans last year when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and the city was flooded.
He found himself in the Superdome with thousands of others looking to escape the storm's fury — and as the scene descended into chaos, he began to play classical tunes to soothe the crowd.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:10 AM on August 28, 2015 [9 favorites]
If this Time article (which I linked to above) were in truth defamatory, he'd have had a heck of a libel suit he could have slapped them with.
Instead, the story is still published. Sooooo...one can reasonably conclude it's all true and ergo not defamatory.
Now where did I leave the world's smallest violin?
Perhaps this fellow can help serenade Brownie?
Violinist Samuel Thompson was visiting New Orleans last year when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and the city was flooded.
He found himself in the Superdome with thousands of others looking to escape the storm's fury — and as the scene descended into chaos, he began to play classical tunes to soothe the crowd.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:10 AM on August 28, 2015 [9 favorites]
His appointment was a clear indication that the Administration didn't value FEMA or the job it was supposed to do. So in that respect he is right, it's not all his fault. The fault goes up through him to the desk where the buck is supposed to stop. However, he was the figurehead of the agency and thus the legitimate target of the slings and arrow of just plain outrage.
I evacuated, returned, and have lived through the rebuilding. There are countless tales of selflessness, generosity, and community that never saw any publicity and aren't seeing any victory laps this month. If you're reading this you know who you are. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
posted by djeo at 11:16 AM on August 28, 2015 [51 favorites]
I evacuated, returned, and have lived through the rebuilding. There are countless tales of selflessness, generosity, and community that never saw any publicity and aren't seeing any victory laps this month. If you're reading this you know who you are. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
posted by djeo at 11:16 AM on August 28, 2015 [51 favorites]
I love being reminded every few years by GW Bush and his cronies that they're totally not sorry.
posted by Hoopo at 11:17 AM on August 28, 2015 [103 favorites]
posted by Hoopo at 11:17 AM on August 28, 2015 [103 favorites]
Very early on his priority appears to become being angry at people in the superdome because he totally wanted them to go somewhere else.
posted by Artw at 11:20 AM on August 28, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Artw at 11:20 AM on August 28, 2015 [5 favorites]
It's all like that, basically the tl;dr is "I was utterly ineffectual, but if I wasn't things would have gone better in some nebulous way".
Zero points for that shit.
posted by Artw at 11:24 AM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Zero points for that shit.
posted by Artw at 11:24 AM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
I love being reminded every few years by GW Bush and his cronies that they're totally not sorry.
and suffering no consequences for their actions other then kinda feeling bad.
The message is clear: theses guys are untouchable and will never, ever be able to account for the suffering they caused at home and abroad. There's no incentive not be corrupt or clueless.
posted by The Whelk at 11:32 AM on August 28, 2015 [18 favorites]
and suffering no consequences for their actions other then kinda feeling bad.
The message is clear: theses guys are untouchable and will never, ever be able to account for the suffering they caused at home and abroad. There's no incentive not be corrupt or clueless.
posted by The Whelk at 11:32 AM on August 28, 2015 [18 favorites]
And even if FEMA had been given the power to order citizens out of New Orleans days earlier, it didn’t own the helicopters, military transport planes and amphibious armored personnel carriers necessary to carry out the evacuation of a major American city.
Don't blame me that the agency I was put in charge of isn't capable of doing what you think it should!
I'm not sure whether this is amazingly honest or the most weasley thing ever.
posted by GuyZero at 11:33 AM on August 28, 2015
Don't blame me that the agency I was put in charge of isn't capable of doing what you think it should!
I'm not sure whether this is amazingly honest or the most weasley thing ever.
posted by GuyZero at 11:33 AM on August 28, 2015
He comes across as whiny, and rather bitter, but he's not entirely wrong.
Yes, he was in charge, and yes, he made (in hindsight) pretty bad decisions.
But large-scale emergency management was an under-funded, disorganized mess before he got to FEMA*, and it's unfair to use him as a fall-guy for that.
There was no way Katrina was going to go well, no matter who was in charge.
I'd be bitter, too.
* And still is, to be honest.
posted by madajb at 11:33 AM on August 28, 2015 [8 favorites]
Yes, he was in charge, and yes, he made (in hindsight) pretty bad decisions.
But large-scale emergency management was an under-funded, disorganized mess before he got to FEMA*, and it's unfair to use him as a fall-guy for that.
There was no way Katrina was going to go well, no matter who was in charge.
I'd be bitter, too.
* And still is, to be honest.
posted by madajb at 11:33 AM on August 28, 2015 [8 favorites]
My most vivid memory from this was when Brown's boss, Chertoff, was being interviewed on NPR and obviously had absolutely no idea what was going on and didn't know there were people trapped in the convention center even thought NPR's reporter was just reporting from that very site.
posted by octothorpe at 11:41 AM on August 28, 2015 [17 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 11:41 AM on August 28, 2015 [17 favorites]
Even if arguendo every single claim he makes in this article is true and relevant, the insufferable whining tone is better suited to a class president's student newspaper article about why it wasn't his fault that the prom was a fiasco. If he wanted this article to have legs, he should have gotten a sympathetic hack to write it, showing his stoicism in the face of calumny and etc., etc.
I might have had some sympathy for him. Herbert Hoover made his reputation on his sterling administrative work for recovery after the Flood of 1927, but no one today can imagine Hoover being praised as a man who could feed and shelter multitudes. I imagine Brown is good at something, somehow. But as someone whose town was in the first line of refugees, who wept herself sick that weekend, I'm not about to bother myself about what that might be.
posted by Countess Elena at 11:46 AM on August 28, 2015 [8 favorites]
I might have had some sympathy for him. Herbert Hoover made his reputation on his sterling administrative work for recovery after the Flood of 1927, but no one today can imagine Hoover being praised as a man who could feed and shelter multitudes. I imagine Brown is good at something, somehow. But as someone whose town was in the first line of refugees, who wept herself sick that weekend, I'm not about to bother myself about what that might be.
posted by Countess Elena at 11:46 AM on August 28, 2015 [8 favorites]
"he was in charge", and "he made pretty bad decisions."
"large-scale emergency management was an under-funded, disorganized mess" which he made no attempt to rectify.
Instead he chose to accept an appointment he had no experience in or apparent ability to perform well in and proceeded to collect a fat monthly paycheck.
He was paid handsomely for his total ineptitude and now he whines about how he should have quit before he was required to actually do work.
Sorry, not sorry. He is wrong for accepting the position if he was aware enough to realize he was totally ineffectual. If he was unaware of what a worthless bag of shit he was, still not sorry! If he had he hubris to accept the position, he needs to deal with the consequences of his ineptitude instead of blaming literally anyone else for it.
posted by j03 at 11:49 AM on August 28, 2015 [24 favorites]
"large-scale emergency management was an under-funded, disorganized mess" which he made no attempt to rectify.
Instead he chose to accept an appointment he had no experience in or apparent ability to perform well in and proceeded to collect a fat monthly paycheck.
He was paid handsomely for his total ineptitude and now he whines about how he should have quit before he was required to actually do work.
Sorry, not sorry. He is wrong for accepting the position if he was aware enough to realize he was totally ineffectual. If he was unaware of what a worthless bag of shit he was, still not sorry! If he had he hubris to accept the position, he needs to deal with the consequences of his ineptitude instead of blaming literally anyone else for it.
posted by j03 at 11:49 AM on August 28, 2015 [24 favorites]
Madjab, while you're right that there are institutional problems longer than Brownie, what strikes me is this:
Had I left the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the spring of 2005, my life would be very different today. And I really wish, in retrospect, that I had.
He doesn't wish he could have done better--he wishes he could have ducked the job entirely. That's the sign a selfish, miserable human being. The man is a nothing but a fuckstick and deserves every bit of opprobrium every human being can possibly throw at him and then some.
posted by stevis23 at 11:51 AM on August 28, 2015 [53 favorites]
Had I left the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the spring of 2005, my life would be very different today. And I really wish, in retrospect, that I had.
He doesn't wish he could have done better--he wishes he could have ducked the job entirely. That's the sign a selfish, miserable human being. The man is a nothing but a fuckstick and deserves every bit of opprobrium every human being can possibly throw at him and then some.
posted by stevis23 at 11:51 AM on August 28, 2015 [53 favorites]
Fuck this guy. Fuck. This. Guy.
posted by brundlefly at 11:53 AM on August 28, 2015 [11 favorites]
posted by brundlefly at 11:53 AM on August 28, 2015 [11 favorites]
It's sort of interesting how a fluke of history has ensured that this guy's name will never be remembered. Even today, when the name "Michael Brown" is used, is almost no one who wasn't a direct victim of his incompetence thinks of him. It's like we've accidentally instituted Damnatio memoriae.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 11:53 AM on August 28, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 11:53 AM on August 28, 2015 [5 favorites]
Even assuming that everything he says is God's truth, who other than his mommy, his bros and (maybe) his wife would possibly give a shit? Just stick it on your Christmas cards, dog.
posted by Zerowensboring at 11:54 AM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Zerowensboring at 11:54 AM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
After a certain point, incompetence is indistinguishable from malevolence.
posted by adamrice at 11:55 AM on August 28, 2015 [34 favorites]
posted by adamrice at 11:55 AM on August 28, 2015 [34 favorites]
The way you know someone is a truly entitled piece of shit is that, after fucking up in every way possible and having literal blood on his hands, he doesn't take the opportunity to slink off into the shadows and try to be forgotten, he instead writes a whining screed about how unfair it is for other people to be angry at his fatal mistakes.
I mean, nobody was talking about him much, and once the Katrina anniversary passed, even that small amount would die down. He had every chance to stay out of sight. But nope. He's learned nothing, nothing from the deaths and suffering he is responsible for, and he wants to come out and tell the world about it. He demands a spotlight, not understanding that all he's doing is reminding us of what a truly useless, entitled, dangerously, fatally incompetent piece of shit he is.
posted by emjaybee at 11:55 AM on August 28, 2015 [41 favorites]
I mean, nobody was talking about him much, and once the Katrina anniversary passed, even that small amount would die down. He had every chance to stay out of sight. But nope. He's learned nothing, nothing from the deaths and suffering he is responsible for, and he wants to come out and tell the world about it. He demands a spotlight, not understanding that all he's doing is reminding us of what a truly useless, entitled, dangerously, fatally incompetent piece of shit he is.
posted by emjaybee at 11:55 AM on August 28, 2015 [41 favorites]
BTW, here's his own government co-workers (although in this case the NWS, so you know, competent ones) warning everyone what was to come:
Power outages will last for weeks…as most power poles will be down and transformers destroyed. Water shortages will make human suffering incredible by modern standards.
That you weren't preparing to deal with that--that you were skipping around in the days after like nothing was wrong--damn, it's sociopathic.
posted by stevis23 at 11:56 AM on August 28, 2015 [18 favorites]
Power outages will last for weeks…as most power poles will be down and transformers destroyed. Water shortages will make human suffering incredible by modern standards.
That you weren't preparing to deal with that--that you were skipping around in the days after like nothing was wrong--damn, it's sociopathic.
posted by stevis23 at 11:56 AM on August 28, 2015 [18 favorites]
But large-scale emergency management was an under-funded, disorganized mess before he got to FEMA*, and it's unfair to use him as a fall-guy for that.
There was no way Katrina was going to go well, no matter who was in charge.
Nah, he deserves every bit of criticism he's getting. Trying to get funding for FEMA was his fucking job, organizing FEMA to prepare for entirely predictable disasters was his fucking job, and being able respond decently was his fucking job. He fell well short of all of those. He could have turned down the post, or let someone who wasn't an utterly unqualified political appointee head things up. His whining about how unfair the media was, covering for Dubya and crew, and failure to point out how cravenly and cruelly GOP Congresses have been when it comes to FEMA (and majority-minority disaster areas in particularly) just underline the problem.
posted by zombieflanders at 11:56 AM on August 28, 2015 [13 favorites]
There was no way Katrina was going to go well, no matter who was in charge.
Nah, he deserves every bit of criticism he's getting. Trying to get funding for FEMA was his fucking job, organizing FEMA to prepare for entirely predictable disasters was his fucking job, and being able respond decently was his fucking job. He fell well short of all of those. He could have turned down the post, or let someone who wasn't an utterly unqualified political appointee head things up. His whining about how unfair the media was, covering for Dubya and crew, and failure to point out how cravenly and cruelly GOP Congresses have been when it comes to FEMA (and majority-minority disaster areas in particularly) just underline the problem.
posted by zombieflanders at 11:56 AM on August 28, 2015 [13 favorites]
It's sort of interesting how a fluke of history has ensured that this guy's name will never be remembered. Even today, when the name "Michael Brown" is used, is almost no one who wasn't a direct victim of his incompetence thinks of him. It's like we've accidentally instituted Damnatio memoriae.
I mean, I guess, but everyone remembers "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job"
posted by graventy at 11:58 AM on August 28, 2015 [5 favorites]
I mean, I guess, but everyone remembers "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job"
posted by graventy at 11:58 AM on August 28, 2015 [5 favorites]
We're not giving GW Bush enough credit here -- maybe he was just being incredibly sarcastic?
posted by nathan_teske at 12:00 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Trying to get funding for FEMA was his fucking job, organizing FEMA to prepare for entirely predictable disasters was his fucking job, and being able respond decently was his fucking job.
Actually I'm pretty sure he was given to understand that his fucking job to rationalize the defunding and privatization of his department as much as possible towards the Administration's goal of getting the government down to a size where Grover Norquist could drown it in a bathtub. So he was probably doing a very good job, for the value of $JOB given to him by his actual bosses, which is probably why he is so bitter about being personally cast in the role of villain over it.
posted by Bringer Tom at 12:01 PM on August 28, 2015 [35 favorites]
Actually I'm pretty sure he was given to understand that his fucking job to rationalize the defunding and privatization of his department as much as possible towards the Administration's goal of getting the government down to a size where Grover Norquist could drown it in a bathtub. So he was probably doing a very good job, for the value of $JOB given to him by his actual bosses, which is probably why he is so bitter about being personally cast in the role of villain over it.
posted by Bringer Tom at 12:01 PM on August 28, 2015 [35 favorites]
I think the word "incompetent" just doesn't do justice to the fucked-upness of this guy.
Remember some of the specifics: he went on TV more than 24 hours after the first pictures of people stranded on their roofs were broadcast on national TV and said "we didn't know about this until just now". Which means that his biggest failing at that point wasn't a poor response; it was a total lack of interest in even glancing at a television to find out what was happening. Schmucks sitting in airport departure lounges ten thousand miles away knew more about what was happening that the head of FEMA.
Now consider this point: he's on Jeb Bush's current advisory team. He was standing next to him at a recent campaign event. There is literally nothing that these people can do to fail.
posted by Fnarf at 12:03 PM on August 28, 2015 [60 favorites]
Remember some of the specifics: he went on TV more than 24 hours after the first pictures of people stranded on their roofs were broadcast on national TV and said "we didn't know about this until just now". Which means that his biggest failing at that point wasn't a poor response; it was a total lack of interest in even glancing at a television to find out what was happening. Schmucks sitting in airport departure lounges ten thousand miles away knew more about what was happening that the head of FEMA.
Now consider this point: he's on Jeb Bush's current advisory team. He was standing next to him at a recent campaign event. There is literally nothing that these people can do to fail.
posted by Fnarf at 12:03 PM on August 28, 2015 [60 favorites]
I've been alive long enough at this point that I really think I'm over being upset by people who display a complete, total, utter lack of self-awareness accompanied by boundless self-regard. And then along comes someone like this guy. Seriously, what a miserable prick.
posted by holborne at 12:03 PM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by holborne at 12:03 PM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
"The American public needs to learn not to rely on the government to save them when a crisis hits."
Then what the fuck is it for?
posted by brundlefly at 12:12 PM on August 28, 2015 [80 favorites]
Then what the fuck is it for?
posted by brundlefly at 12:12 PM on August 28, 2015 [80 favorites]
no-bid defense contracts mostly
posted by The Whelk at 12:19 PM on August 28, 2015 [52 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 12:19 PM on August 28, 2015 [52 favorites]
It was not a passionate response to the people who suffered, and I can understand frustration with that. But I think it's a decent read to a conservative audience addressing issues that I wish the Republican party would address amongst themselves.
1. He's pissing on state's autonomy. He's arguing that the federal government has a legitimate right to override the wishes of a governor (or Trent Lott) to provide assistance.
2. He's arguing that the media is an important partner in democracy, and needs to be respected and accomodated, not shouted down.
I don't think he deserves a pass. And my opinion of him is mostly unchanged. But I'm hoping my dad reads it and thinks maybe federal government has a legitimate role beyond the military.
posted by politikitty at 12:20 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
1. He's pissing on state's autonomy. He's arguing that the federal government has a legitimate right to override the wishes of a governor (or Trent Lott) to provide assistance.
2. He's arguing that the media is an important partner in democracy, and needs to be respected and accomodated, not shouted down.
I don't think he deserves a pass. And my opinion of him is mostly unchanged. But I'm hoping my dad reads it and thinks maybe federal government has a legitimate role beyond the military.
posted by politikitty at 12:20 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
"The American public needs to learn not to rely on the government to save them when a crisis hits."
Especially the anti-government types:
Washington Man Wearing Anti-Government T-Shirt Thanks Firefighters for Saving His Home
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:21 PM on August 28, 2015 [19 favorites]
Especially the anti-government types:
Washington Man Wearing Anti-Government T-Shirt Thanks Firefighters for Saving His Home
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:21 PM on August 28, 2015 [19 favorites]
He had every chance to stay out of sight.I wouldn't have thought that "disaster recovery" and "electoral campaigning" had anything to do with each other, but it turns out that Michael Brown is just as good at the latter as he was at the former.
posted by roystgnr at 12:24 PM on August 28, 2015
That you weren't preparing to deal with that--that you were skipping around in the days after like nothing was wrong--damn, it's sociopathic.
I clearly remember reading that warning - BEFORE THE STORM EVEN HIT.
The idea that these people didn't know what was coming BUT I DID is mindbogglingly ridiculous. Fuck this guy and everyone who ignored the warnings.
posted by waitingtoderail at 12:31 PM on August 28, 2015 [6 favorites]
I clearly remember reading that warning - BEFORE THE STORM EVEN HIT.
The idea that these people didn't know what was coming BUT I DID is mindbogglingly ridiculous. Fuck this guy and everyone who ignored the warnings.
posted by waitingtoderail at 12:31 PM on August 28, 2015 [6 favorites]
"no-bid defense contracts mostly"
Wow, TheWhelk, that's like, actually true from a budgetary perspective.
posted by Annika Cicada at 12:34 PM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
Wow, TheWhelk, that's like, actually true from a budgetary perspective.
posted by Annika Cicada at 12:34 PM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
This is a classic example of Sonny Jim's capitalist deskilling comment. Right now Michael Brown, along with the rest of Jeb Bush's campaign team, is pressing the CORPORATE MEDIA button and wondering why it's not working.
posted by infinitewindow at 12:39 PM on August 28, 2015 [14 favorites]
posted by infinitewindow at 12:39 PM on August 28, 2015 [14 favorites]
72 uses of "I" and 16 uses of "me".
9 uses of "victims", 4 of "citizens" and 3 uses of "people" referring to New Orleans residents.
Pretty much tells you what you need to know about the article.
posted by Ickster at 12:42 PM on August 28, 2015 [14 favorites]
9 uses of "victims", 4 of "citizens" and 3 uses of "people" referring to New Orleans residents.
Pretty much tells you what you need to know about the article.
posted by Ickster at 12:42 PM on August 28, 2015 [14 favorites]
It's amazing how incompetent most of that administration was.
Replace "incompetent" with "criminally negligent".
posted by ryanshepard at 12:43 PM on August 28, 2015 [10 favorites]
Replace "incompetent" with "criminally negligent".
posted by ryanshepard at 12:43 PM on August 28, 2015 [10 favorites]
We must never forget what a group of craven fuckups the Bushies were.
This is partially why I get pissed at Bernie supporters who won't vote for HC if she gets nominated. Or, worse, will vote for the Republican.
posted by persona au gratin at 12:43 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
This is partially why I get pissed at Bernie supporters who won't vote for HC if she gets nominated. Or, worse, will vote for the Republican.
posted by persona au gratin at 12:43 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
While it sucks that he doesn't express any personal responsibility for what happened, his argument here makes a lot of sense. He was a bureaucrat handcuffed by bureaucracy.
On the other hand, it does appear that he was way, way, way out of his depth and lacked the personality necessary to navigate or even shape the political reality in which he existed.
posted by Nevin at 12:45 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
On the other hand, it does appear that he was way, way, way out of his depth and lacked the personality necessary to navigate or even shape the political reality in which he existed.
posted by Nevin at 12:45 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
The fact that there is still a Republican party after 2 terms of Bush boggles my mind. I still have a deep hatred and rage every time I'm reminded of the incompetence of that period. To this day I consider Republicans and all who associate with them scum.
posted by any major dude at 12:49 PM on August 28, 2015 [12 favorites]
posted by any major dude at 12:49 PM on August 28, 2015 [12 favorites]
FEMA was his fucking job, organizing FEMA to prepare for entirely predictable disasters was his fucking job, and being able respond decently was his fucking job. He fell well short of all of those. He could have turned down the post, or let someone who wasn't an utterly unqualified political appointee head things up
FEMA has always been headed by unqualified political appointees.
Bush the Elder's appointee apparently got the job by being John Sununu's neighbor.
One of Reagan's was fired for building himself a house with Federal money.
Other than Carter's first directors, and the brief period when it was a Cabinet job (Clinton?), it has been a patronage job.
I'm not saying he wasn't incompetent or incredibly bad at managing media (which is a hugely important part of disaster response), I'm just saying that there's plenty of blame to go around.
A lot of the people and policies that failed during Katrina are still in place at FEMA, and it's going to bite us in the ass hard when the 9.0 earthquake hits the West Coast.
posted by madajb at 12:51 PM on August 28, 2015 [6 favorites]
FEMA has always been headed by unqualified political appointees.
Bush the Elder's appointee apparently got the job by being John Sununu's neighbor.
One of Reagan's was fired for building himself a house with Federal money.
Other than Carter's first directors, and the brief period when it was a Cabinet job (Clinton?), it has been a patronage job.
I'm not saying he wasn't incompetent or incredibly bad at managing media (which is a hugely important part of disaster response), I'm just saying that there's plenty of blame to go around.
A lot of the people and policies that failed during Katrina are still in place at FEMA, and it's going to bite us in the ass hard when the 9.0 earthquake hits the West Coast.
posted by madajb at 12:51 PM on August 28, 2015 [6 favorites]
When that didn’t work, I called President Bush at the ranch
Category 5 hurricane heading for a major city located below sea level - not a reason to cut a vacation short...
posted by any major dude at 12:54 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
Category 5 hurricane heading for a major city located below sea level - not a reason to cut a vacation short...
posted by any major dude at 12:54 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
God this whole article gives me bad memories of working in government. However, thank Christ the organizations I worked for or "collaborated" with were not responsible for anything of any real serious impact to anyone.
posted by Nevin at 12:59 PM on August 28, 2015
posted by Nevin at 12:59 PM on August 28, 2015
Brownie spoofed pretty good in Will Ferrell's "You're Welcome, America."
Yeah, nothing has really changed. Both FEMA and the Red Cross are bafflingly incompetent and corrupt.
posted by Melismata at 1:01 PM on August 28, 2015
Yeah, nothing has really changed. Both FEMA and the Red Cross are bafflingly incompetent and corrupt.
posted by Melismata at 1:01 PM on August 28, 2015
While it sucks that he doesn't express any personal responsibility for what happened, his argument here makes a lot of sense. He was a bureaucrat handcuffed by bureaucracy.
Not a chance. He was the head of an organization that he was manifestly unprepared to run. Someone comes to me with a job offer like that and I politely decline because hell if I want the lives of the people I'm responsible for on my head when I'm not prepared to shoulder that responsibility. That's the reason I've stayed away from any technology involving medical devices/software; I don't want that weight. No reason he couldn't be a mature human being and make the same choices.
Any excusing that is letting him off the hook in the way you would excuse a child except that he doesn't have the excuse of having a child's level of brain development. Or maybe he does; CAT scan, stat!
posted by kokaku at 1:01 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
Not a chance. He was the head of an organization that he was manifestly unprepared to run. Someone comes to me with a job offer like that and I politely decline because hell if I want the lives of the people I'm responsible for on my head when I'm not prepared to shoulder that responsibility. That's the reason I've stayed away from any technology involving medical devices/software; I don't want that weight. No reason he couldn't be a mature human being and make the same choices.
Any excusing that is letting him off the hook in the way you would excuse a child except that he doesn't have the excuse of having a child's level of brain development. Or maybe he does; CAT scan, stat!
posted by kokaku at 1:01 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
His appointment was a clear indication that the Administration didn't value FEMA or the job it was supposed to do.
Once again P.J. O'Rourke's quip springs to mind: "Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work, and then they get elected and prove it."
The sad thing is he wrote that way back in 1991.
posted by Gelatin at 1:08 PM on August 28, 2015 [7 favorites]
Once again P.J. O'Rourke's quip springs to mind: "Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work, and then they get elected and prove it."
The sad thing is he wrote that way back in 1991.
posted by Gelatin at 1:08 PM on August 28, 2015 [7 favorites]
"The American public needs to learn not to rely on the government to save them when a crisis hits."
You fucked up. You trusted us!
posted by rhizome at 1:09 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
You fucked up. You trusted us!
posted by rhizome at 1:09 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
I encourage y'all to head over to the Sanders subreddit and talk sense to them. We need to elect the Dem, whomever that is.
posted by persona au gratin at 1:10 PM on August 28, 2015
posted by persona au gratin at 1:10 PM on August 28, 2015
Madajab: I don't want to paint with too broad a brush here, but it sounds like you're maybe not from a place where FEMA is sometimes the only hope you have besides the Red Cross and Church of Latter Day Saints (seriously, I mock Mormons in private a lot, but their mobilization in a crisis is amazing).
The anger from Gulf Coast residents isn't just at this one guy, we already know FEMA's broken and has treated us like we're not worthwhile of help and succor. The anger comes from Brown and the rest of the Republican elites' attitude that is not even bothered to be covered up that they have no time for people in poverty or in dire straights who have no ability to rent a helicopter to escape an event like this.
On another angle, this anniversary has been really hard on most people I know down here. Seeing W in the Spike Lee doc made me want to vomit.
posted by syncope at 1:13 PM on August 28, 2015 [7 favorites]
The anger from Gulf Coast residents isn't just at this one guy, we already know FEMA's broken and has treated us like we're not worthwhile of help and succor. The anger comes from Brown and the rest of the Republican elites' attitude that is not even bothered to be covered up that they have no time for people in poverty or in dire straights who have no ability to rent a helicopter to escape an event like this.
On another angle, this anniversary has been really hard on most people I know down here. Seeing W in the Spike Lee doc made me want to vomit.
posted by syncope at 1:13 PM on August 28, 2015 [7 favorites]
"...his job [was] to rationalize the defunding and privatization of his department"
Exactly. That and to simply be an adult human occupying the position in order that the president could say he'd fulfilled his duty to appoint somebody head of FEMA. And, of course, to do the one thing that counts as work anymore in practically any position in government, namely PR. He clearly labored as hard as everybody else at that:
"I asked the White House chief of staff for private time with Bush when he arrived in Alabama to give him a heads up about the problems in New Orleans and prepare him to deal with the media—especially for any questions he might get from the White House press corps.
I’d kept the White House staff fully informed of the debacle unfolding in Louisiana, but I felt compelled to privately inform Bush of the difficulties with Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin. The president’s schedule included a brief meeting with me before the public briefing and photo op at the air national guard base. But that meeting was cut short and I wasn’t able to fully explain the situation to the president. Without warning about the problems we were having in Louisiana, he walked into the glare of the cameras."
Remember back then, after the thousands had drowned and when the many more thousands were trapped sweltering and thirsty in the Superdome, when W.'s jobbers were getting scolded for keeping their shirtcuffs buttoned? I don't remember where I read it; probably here somewhere. The president himself and every administration spokesperson, they were all supposed to always have their shirtsleeves rolled up whenever they went on TV, this in order to seem like they were hard at work solving the nation's biggest problem. Thank God someone thought of that. When they rolled their shirtsleeves, that's when I staunched my tears and began sleeping through the night again and smiling each morning into the bright, rising sun that is America. These Andover boys were willing to muss their Brooks Bros; what more proof did anyone need that they were on the job? A nation reassured... That's the kind of creative genius that comes only out of extremis. And I suppose that's why the valiant Michael Brown is still doing a heck of a job for the Bush family. They owe it to him after they rebuffed him when he was only trying to alert his president that there were problems in Louisiana. He can be relied upon to roll up his sleeves when necessary.
posted by Don Pepino at 1:13 PM on August 28, 2015 [6 favorites]
Exactly. That and to simply be an adult human occupying the position in order that the president could say he'd fulfilled his duty to appoint somebody head of FEMA. And, of course, to do the one thing that counts as work anymore in practically any position in government, namely PR. He clearly labored as hard as everybody else at that:
"I asked the White House chief of staff for private time with Bush when he arrived in Alabama to give him a heads up about the problems in New Orleans and prepare him to deal with the media—especially for any questions he might get from the White House press corps.
I’d kept the White House staff fully informed of the debacle unfolding in Louisiana, but I felt compelled to privately inform Bush of the difficulties with Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin. The president’s schedule included a brief meeting with me before the public briefing and photo op at the air national guard base. But that meeting was cut short and I wasn’t able to fully explain the situation to the president. Without warning about the problems we were having in Louisiana, he walked into the glare of the cameras."
Remember back then, after the thousands had drowned and when the many more thousands were trapped sweltering and thirsty in the Superdome, when W.'s jobbers were getting scolded for keeping their shirtcuffs buttoned? I don't remember where I read it; probably here somewhere. The president himself and every administration spokesperson, they were all supposed to always have their shirtsleeves rolled up whenever they went on TV, this in order to seem like they were hard at work solving the nation's biggest problem. Thank God someone thought of that. When they rolled their shirtsleeves, that's when I staunched my tears and began sleeping through the night again and smiling each morning into the bright, rising sun that is America. These Andover boys were willing to muss their Brooks Bros; what more proof did anyone need that they were on the job? A nation reassured... That's the kind of creative genius that comes only out of extremis. And I suppose that's why the valiant Michael Brown is still doing a heck of a job for the Bush family. They owe it to him after they rebuffed him when he was only trying to alert his president that there were problems in Louisiana. He can be relied upon to roll up his sleeves when necessary.
posted by Don Pepino at 1:13 PM on August 28, 2015 [6 favorites]
I've always wondered exactly how to pinpoint the moment when incompetence devolves into malice. This guy is a good place to start.
posted by 4ster at 1:15 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by 4ster at 1:15 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Hey, what about the other three states that were hit by Katrina? Was there abject FEMA failure in those states? (Florida, Alabama & Mississippi). Katrina crossed Florida before entering the Gulf where it grew in intensity. The central eye of Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Mississippi and then crossed Mississippi from south to north. FEMA staff was in place and engaged with state, local and other Federal responders 48 hours before Katrina's landfall. Somehow the evacuation order was effective and many lives were spared.
posted by X4ster at 1:15 PM on August 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by X4ster at 1:15 PM on August 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
he gets paid to lecture about crisis management?
I'm certain he knows a lot about it, in the sense that Jocelyn Wildenstein knows a lot about cosmetic surgical procedures.
(seriously, I mock Mormons in private a lot, but their mobilization in a crisis is amazing)
As awful as the Church is in public, and as much as I disapprove of many of their beliefs, I have a great respect for those kids they send out. This is entirely because they came up to a dear friend's house in Pascagoula -- or the slab that had been their house -- and offered nothing but their hard work, granola bars, bottled water and kindness. Not a word about the Book.
posted by Countess Elena at 1:16 PM on August 28, 2015 [7 favorites]
I'm certain he knows a lot about it, in the sense that Jocelyn Wildenstein knows a lot about cosmetic surgical procedures.
(seriously, I mock Mormons in private a lot, but their mobilization in a crisis is amazing)
As awful as the Church is in public, and as much as I disapprove of many of their beliefs, I have a great respect for those kids they send out. This is entirely because they came up to a dear friend's house in Pascagoula -- or the slab that had been their house -- and offered nothing but their hard work, granola bars, bottled water and kindness. Not a word about the Book.
posted by Countess Elena at 1:16 PM on August 28, 2015 [7 favorites]
Not a chance. He was the head of an organization that he was manifestly unprepared to run. Someone comes to me with a job offer like that and I politely decline because hell if I want the lives of the people I'm responsible for on my head when I'm not prepared to shoulder that responsibility.
I think we agree, but, setting aside the rather odious nature of Brown's personality, I don't think just one person should be made a scapegoat (and I know you're not necessarily arguing that) for the horror that was inflicted on New Orleans.
There was W's inept administration (Brown seems like a warmup act for Paul Bremer), but there was, according to Brown's plausible account here, a failure of politics with powerful senators going up the food chain to subvert FEMA's role. There was also the administrative failure, with DHS and Chertoff.
And there was also racism - never mentioned here - and inter-state rivalries.
posted by Nevin at 1:17 PM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
I think we agree, but, setting aside the rather odious nature of Brown's personality, I don't think just one person should be made a scapegoat (and I know you're not necessarily arguing that) for the horror that was inflicted on New Orleans.
There was W's inept administration (Brown seems like a warmup act for Paul Bremer), but there was, according to Brown's plausible account here, a failure of politics with powerful senators going up the food chain to subvert FEMA's role. There was also the administrative failure, with DHS and Chertoff.
And there was also racism - never mentioned here - and inter-state rivalries.
posted by Nevin at 1:17 PM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
Clarification: FEMA staff was in place and engaged 48 hours before landfall in Mississippi, Alabama & Florida.
posted by X4ster at 1:24 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by X4ster at 1:24 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Dude, are you kidding about evacuation orders? The idea that natives would leave short of being forcibly removes by police (has happened) is ludicrous. The Gulf States were decimated in a way that hasn't happened since Camille. No one thought it would be as bad as it was and just went about their business buying water to flush the toilet at Wal-Mart and sitting in lines to gas the car up for and hour.
Many members of my family lost their homes in Ivan and when Katrina hit they still had what we call blue roofs on their houses (plastic).
The 24 hr news cycle just likes to show NEW! EXCITING! disaster porn. My home town has never recovered from Ivan and I worked for Oxfam in Mississippi after Katrina. Backseat driving on this is annoying.
posted by syncope at 1:24 PM on August 28, 2015
Many members of my family lost their homes in Ivan and when Katrina hit they still had what we call blue roofs on their houses (plastic).
The 24 hr news cycle just likes to show NEW! EXCITING! disaster porn. My home town has never recovered from Ivan and I worked for Oxfam in Mississippi after Katrina. Backseat driving on this is annoying.
posted by syncope at 1:24 PM on August 28, 2015
Bunch of rich prep school buddies who are surprised and actually *resent* that their political appointment jobs not only require them to do work, not only require some background knowledge about the field, but guess what? They are underfunded, difficult, and frustrating.
As someone who has spent 20+ years slaving away in the public sector for way less money than I'm worth and being stymied by rich less-government-is-better-tax-phobic, all because I think building the society I want to live in is it's own reward, as someone who has advanced far in his field and considers himself to have some expertise, but not nearly enough to accept a friend's appointment to head a federal agency, this guy makes me physically want to puke. The state of the world would be like 4% better solely if Michael Brown crawled into a hole and never came out again.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 1:24 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
As someone who has spent 20+ years slaving away in the public sector for way less money than I'm worth and being stymied by rich less-government-is-better-tax-phobic, all because I think building the society I want to live in is it's own reward, as someone who has advanced far in his field and considers himself to have some expertise, but not nearly enough to accept a friend's appointment to head a federal agency, this guy makes me physically want to puke. The state of the world would be like 4% better solely if Michael Brown crawled into a hole and never came out again.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 1:24 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
my favorite post-Katrina moment was when that doctor told cheney to go fuck himself live on CNN.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 1:24 PM on August 28, 2015 [30 favorites]
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 1:24 PM on August 28, 2015 [30 favorites]
syncope, I assure you that, despite what you may think, people certainly did comply with evacuation advisories and orders for Katrina in Mississippi.
posted by X4ster at 1:33 PM on August 28, 2015
posted by X4ster at 1:33 PM on August 28, 2015
perhaps the worst part was being held responsible for the things that I didn’t control at all
Notice the "didn't." Not "couldn't," but "didn't."
Not my fault you got run over! I'd put it on cruise control and was sitting in the back seat when it happened!
posted by Sys Rq at 1:41 PM on August 28, 2015
Notice the "didn't." Not "couldn't," but "didn't."
Not my fault you got run over! I'd put it on cruise control and was sitting in the back seat when it happened!
posted by Sys Rq at 1:41 PM on August 28, 2015
Would any of you be interested in looking at an actual FEMA Incident Action Plan (IAP) for Hurricane Katrina? I have copies of all the IAPs for the first 30 days of operations, starting pre-landfall.
posted by X4ster at 1:43 PM on August 28, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by X4ster at 1:43 PM on August 28, 2015 [8 favorites]
These anniversary celebrations are really getting under way now, so let's go to the obvious bullet-proof vest, Bob.
posted by rhizome at 1:45 PM on August 28, 2015
posted by rhizome at 1:45 PM on August 28, 2015
I'm in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, about 1.5 hours north of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We were without power 11 days, and hundreds of trees fell--the house across the street from me STILL has a blue roof on it. So this is to say that while we certainly were not utterly devastated, places far north of the Coast were heavily impacted. My first contact with FEMA? Two weeks after landfall, a woman rear-ended me while I was out trying to get basic supplies. She jumped out of the car and yelled, "Please don't call the cops--I'm from FEMA!" Tell it to this nice officer, lady. : /
posted by thebrokedown at 1:54 PM on August 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by thebrokedown at 1:54 PM on August 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
I've been alive long enough at this point that I really think I'm over being upset by people who display a complete, total, utter lack of self-awareness accompanied by boundless self-regard.
Pretty much the definition of the Dunning-Kruger syndrome. Since the head of his administration is the poster child for this heartbreaking condition, it's no wonder this guy is a fellow sufferer.
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:55 PM on August 28, 2015
Pretty much the definition of the Dunning-Kruger syndrome. Since the head of his administration is the poster child for this heartbreaking condition, it's no wonder this guy is a fellow sufferer.
posted by Mental Wimp at 1:55 PM on August 28, 2015
X4ster: I hate to be this kind of dillhole, but I looked on your userinfo and you appear to live out West. I do know people evacuated. What I was addressing is the endemic attitude of Gulf Coast residents not bothering to leave because of a storm warning. We're used to the situations and tend to just weather it out with a shrug and deal with power outages and flooding.
The issues with Katrina are that it was what was used to be called a "lifetime event" (no longer due to climate change) and that combined with the usual incompetence of the Army Corps and the Republican administration with the added issues of populations who could have left were so inured to storm that didn't take this one seriously (oh, Cat 3, evs . Then there were the pitiful people who had no transport to leave.
Spend some time thinking about that last bit. This is the US.
Fucking bullshit.
posted by syncope at 1:58 PM on August 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
The issues with Katrina are that it was what was used to be called a "lifetime event" (no longer due to climate change) and that combined with the usual incompetence of the Army Corps and the Republican administration with the added issues of populations who could have left were so inured to storm that didn't take this one seriously (oh, Cat 3, evs . Then there were the pitiful people who had no transport to leave.
Spend some time thinking about that last bit. This is the US.
Fucking bullshit.
posted by syncope at 1:58 PM on August 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
Looking back at all this awfulness: I was never so proud to be a former Coast Guardsman than when this whole mess unfolded and the one group whom nobody had a problem with was the USCG.
#notalldisasterresponders
posted by scaryblackdeath at 2:04 PM on August 28, 2015 [10 favorites]
#notalldisasterresponders
posted by scaryblackdeath at 2:04 PM on August 28, 2015 [10 favorites]
Madajab: I don't want to paint with too broad a brush here, but it sounds like you're maybe not from a place where FEMA is sometimes the only hope you have besides the Red Cross and Church of Latter Day Saints (seriously, I mock Mormons in private a lot, but their mobilization in a crisis is amazing).
Mostly around here, you deal with NIFC, which has its own problems, but is run by professionals.
I have not directly been in an incident under FEMA control, but I have done a bunch of training with them.
It reinforced my view that, while the people in the trenches are dedicated and ready, the agency itself is unfocused and overbearing.
posted by madajb at 2:07 PM on August 28, 2015
Mostly around here, you deal with NIFC, which has its own problems, but is run by professionals.
I have not directly been in an incident under FEMA control, but I have done a bunch of training with them.
It reinforced my view that, while the people in the trenches are dedicated and ready, the agency itself is unfocused and overbearing.
posted by madajb at 2:07 PM on August 28, 2015
Would any of you be interested in looking at an actual FEMA Incident Action Plan (IAP) for Hurricane Katrina? I have copies of all the IAPs for the first 30 days of operations, starting pre-landfall.
I would.
posted by madajb at 2:08 PM on August 28, 2015
I would.
posted by madajb at 2:08 PM on August 28, 2015
After a certain point, incompetence is indistinguishable from malevolence.
Hanlon's Razor is off the table?
posted by Chuffy at 2:18 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Hanlon's Razor is off the table?
posted by Chuffy at 2:18 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
syncope - Yes I live out west. I know that folks in NOLA had hurricane parties many times prior to Katrina. Years before Katrina happened I listened to a friend's son calling from the restaurant in NOLA where there were having a hurricane party. The forecasts and warnings for numerous earlier hurricanes were ignored and everyone and everything always were OK. People were lulled into a false sense of security. The failures in NOLA include state, local and federal agencies. And some people who could have evacuated own the responsibility for their decisions.
I was in Jackson MS for Katrina. I returned to Baton Rouge many times in the years following to work with GOHSEP, striving to develop and test planning for future hurricanes. I also was there for Gustav, Ike and a couple other hurricanes. Sometimes I think folks in Louisiana would prefer not having any Federal intervention for what happens in the state. I tend to agree.
posted by X4ster at 2:21 PM on August 28, 2015
I was in Jackson MS for Katrina. I returned to Baton Rouge many times in the years following to work with GOHSEP, striving to develop and test planning for future hurricanes. I also was there for Gustav, Ike and a couple other hurricanes. Sometimes I think folks in Louisiana would prefer not having any Federal intervention for what happens in the state. I tend to agree.
posted by X4ster at 2:21 PM on August 28, 2015
Bless your heart, Brownie.
posted by sallybrown at 2:22 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by sallybrown at 2:22 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Before reading the other 83 comments (and I will, I swear), I had a strong urge to share my immediate response to this article and this man - fuuuuuuuuuuuck youuuuu, buddy.
posted by ersatzkat at 2:23 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by ersatzkat at 2:23 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
Heck of a job you're doing at not accepting any personal responsibility or blame, Brownie.
posted by ob at 2:24 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by ob at 2:24 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
<>bmadajb - I need a suggestion for how to share the IAP. My email is in my profile. I will delete PII from the IAP and can send to you via email attachment. I'm open to better ideas for sharing.
posted by X4ster at 2:25 PM on August 28, 2015
posted by X4ster at 2:25 PM on August 28, 2015
After a certain point, incompetence is indistinguishable from malevolence.
Hanlon's Razor is off the table?
Yup, replaced by Grey's Law.
posted by MikeKD at 2:33 PM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
Hanlon's Razor is off the table?
Yup, replaced by Grey's Law.
posted by MikeKD at 2:33 PM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
But he was a political hack appointee who had no business in that job to begin with.
Kind of a derail (sorry), but does't one of the science-related commitees have a number of young-earth believers, fervent "christian science" supporters and so on that should disqualify anyone from service in a science-based board?
I don't even need to google this asshole to know he's either a law or economics major or has a "business background". Nothing against either, but just as I wouldn't trust a seismologist or structural engineer to fix the economy or consider the legal ramifications of new legislation, why the fuck should anyone trust a lawyer or an economist to decide if climate change is real or to coordinate an emergency response unit?
Maybe next time they feel a lump in their balls, they should check that out with a plumber or a network manager, because playing with peoples' lives is what these sort of appointments do.
posted by lmfsilva at 2:38 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
Kind of a derail (sorry), but does't one of the science-related commitees have a number of young-earth believers, fervent "christian science" supporters and so on that should disqualify anyone from service in a science-based board?
I don't even need to google this asshole to know he's either a law or economics major or has a "business background". Nothing against either, but just as I wouldn't trust a seismologist or structural engineer to fix the economy or consider the legal ramifications of new legislation, why the fuck should anyone trust a lawyer or an economist to decide if climate change is real or to coordinate an emergency response unit?
Maybe next time they feel a lump in their balls, they should check that out with a plumber or a network manager, because playing with peoples' lives is what these sort of appointments do.
posted by lmfsilva at 2:38 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
The current administrator of FEMA has vastly different career experience and training from "Brownie".
When I left the agency I'd seen far too much self serving, incompetence, laziness, stagnation and unacceptable substandard work performance. I was completely disappointed, disgruntled, frustrated and fully fed up with bureaucracy.
posted by X4ster at 2:52 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
When I left the agency I'd seen far too much self serving, incompetence, laziness, stagnation and unacceptable substandard work performance. I was completely disappointed, disgruntled, frustrated and fully fed up with bureaucracy.
posted by X4ster at 2:52 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
It seems to me like the idea that New Orleans residents didn't evacuate because they were lulled into a false sense of security, or were inured to storms, or whatever is a "just so story" that we tell to make ourselves feel better about how we let the poor, disabled, and elderly citizens of New Orleans die while the vast majority with means and support structure fled the city in time.
Do I think Michael Brown is personally responsible for their deaths? Of course not. Do I think he's part of a web of failure and his finger-pointing is simply shameful even if it helps him sleep at night? Yes, absolutely.
posted by muddgirl at 2:55 PM on August 28, 2015 [12 favorites]
Do I think Michael Brown is personally responsible for their deaths? Of course not. Do I think he's part of a web of failure and his finger-pointing is simply shameful even if it helps him sleep at night? Yes, absolutely.
posted by muddgirl at 2:55 PM on August 28, 2015 [12 favorites]
(Also, if one is so inclined, one could completely fisk his petulant complaint against, say, this Katrina timeline from Think Progress and find many interesting "inconsistencies" between Brown's statements in 2005 and his statements now...)
posted by muddgirl at 3:01 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by muddgirl at 3:01 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
In case anyone still has any sympathy for this guy:
Failed Bush FEMA director Michael Brown says Obama, FEMA acted too quickly in hurricane response
And
Failed Bush FEMA director Michael Brown doubles down on criticism of Obama's Sandy response
posted by geegollygosh at 4:04 PM on August 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
Failed Bush FEMA director Michael Brown says Obama, FEMA acted too quickly in hurricane response
And
Failed Bush FEMA director Michael Brown doubles down on criticism of Obama's Sandy response
posted by geegollygosh at 4:04 PM on August 28, 2015 [4 favorites]
But large-scale emergency management was an under-funded, disorganized mess before he got to FEMA
FEMA was originally a Cold War creation designed to retain the American Way of Life after a nuclear war. Then Bill Clinton appointed James Lee Witt who single-handedly transformed it into a working part of government capable of managing real-world disasters that fell short of destroying civilization as we know it. Witt is a logistics genius with a tremendous vision for creating resilient social structures. It's not his fault his successor was a political hack with a flair for narcissism appointed by a man-child who didn't believe in the effectiveness of the government he was elected to lead.
posted by scalefree at 4:16 PM on August 28, 2015 [18 favorites]
FEMA was originally a Cold War creation designed to retain the American Way of Life after a nuclear war. Then Bill Clinton appointed James Lee Witt who single-handedly transformed it into a working part of government capable of managing real-world disasters that fell short of destroying civilization as we know it. Witt is a logistics genius with a tremendous vision for creating resilient social structures. It's not his fault his successor was a political hack with a flair for narcissism appointed by a man-child who didn't believe in the effectiveness of the government he was elected to lead.
posted by scalefree at 4:16 PM on August 28, 2015 [18 favorites]
They left Big Freedia sitting on a roof. They let people's grandmothers drown trapped in their houses. They got on TV and said, "Get out of there or you'll die," knowing full well they were saying it to people who had no way to get out of there. Just so they could get on TV later and say, "Well, we told 'em to leave." I wish there were a God. I wish there were a hell.
posted by Don Pepino at 4:19 PM on August 28, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by Don Pepino at 4:19 PM on August 28, 2015 [10 favorites]
It was like the perfect storm of careerism and not giving a shit about humans.
posted by rhizome at 4:24 PM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 4:24 PM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
There were many dark moments in those three weeks on the Gulf Coast, and FEMA and the federal government certainly made some mistakes, but perhaps the worst part was being held responsible for the things that I didn’t control at all.
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
posted by threeants at 4:36 PM on August 28, 2015 [6 favorites]
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
posted by threeants at 4:36 PM on August 28, 2015 [6 favorites]
I remember reading somewhere that, despite the common knowledge of "Nero fiddled while Rome burned," Nero actually helped with the recovery I. Person, refusing personal guard because of the message it would send.
So, Bush administration, how do you stack up to Nero?
posted by Navelgazer at 4:40 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
So, Bush administration, how do you stack up to Nero?
posted by Navelgazer at 4:40 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
first question in any interview for FEMA chief should be: Do you believe people should be able to count on you in a crisis?
posted by klangklangston at 5:13 PM on August 28, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by klangklangston at 5:13 PM on August 28, 2015 [8 favorites]
A bit OT but there's something that outsiders need to understand about the people who stayed.
If you drive out from the Quarter toward the suburbs of NOLA, you will notice that the houses get higher and higher off the ground, eventually in some places 6 or 7 or 8 feet off the ground with "basements" underneath and daunting staircases. The reason for that is that people aren't stupid and knew the city would flood once in awhile, and as the city expanded beyond the Quarter, which is mostly above sea level, they built higher and higher to minimize the damage from storms and floods.
But then, in 1910, the city completed its grand drainage system, a wonder of the world for decades, and people no longer felt the need to spend so much to build high. So in every direction you reach a point where the houses go higher and higher and then sink back to a couple of feet above the street to avoid local flooding.
So all of New Orleans is divided into pre-1910 and post-1910 styles. Pre-1910 did not flood even in Katrina. Those builders expected the worst. Post-1910 people got lazy.
So they built further and further out. People sometimes ask, why are the pumps in this crazy location in the middle of town so they have to pump out through canals? And the reason is that in 1910 that was the EDGE of town. But people built past it, and so they had to build canals to channel the pumps' outflow to the lake. It was the walls of those canals that failed after Katrina, rendering the pumps worse than useless. (This has since been corrected with new pumps that are actually at the lake.)
So nothing bad happened in the 1920's or 1930's or 1940's, and after the war some genius got the idea to start building slab-on-grade homes in Gentilly and then that took off in New Orleans east, and then there was a bit of a hiccup with Betsy in the 1960's but then it was OK through the 1970's and la-di-da and one day it's 2005 and most of the city is so far below grade you need a periscope to see sea level.
This is the city that Katrina flooded, a city where elderly people who had lived their entire lives without seeing even a minor street flood drowned in their attics. (This was the fate of the couple, then in their 90's, who had rented my wife her apartment when she was in college.) People didn't leave because the last time a contraflow evacuation had been attempted just a few weeks previously it had been a clusterfuck, and everyone knew that if you were caught on those long bridges in traffic when the storm came, you were done for. And they had never seen flooding anyway, so they stayed.
Nobody realized we had been playing roulette for 95 years. In 2005 the house number finally came up.
If you are the head of a Federal agency one might expect you to have some tiny curiosity about what your job duties entail, but most of the people who stayed really had no idea. There was nobody alive who could remember NOLA without those pumps and most ordinary people aren't expected to be hydrological engineers. They figure if there are hundreds of square miles of neighborhoods that have been safe for almost a century, maybe they're a better bet than joining what might be the world's biggest traffic jam and getting blown off a bridge into Lake Pontchartrain.
posted by Bringer Tom at 6:10 PM on August 28, 2015 [30 favorites]
If you drive out from the Quarter toward the suburbs of NOLA, you will notice that the houses get higher and higher off the ground, eventually in some places 6 or 7 or 8 feet off the ground with "basements" underneath and daunting staircases. The reason for that is that people aren't stupid and knew the city would flood once in awhile, and as the city expanded beyond the Quarter, which is mostly above sea level, they built higher and higher to minimize the damage from storms and floods.
But then, in 1910, the city completed its grand drainage system, a wonder of the world for decades, and people no longer felt the need to spend so much to build high. So in every direction you reach a point where the houses go higher and higher and then sink back to a couple of feet above the street to avoid local flooding.
So all of New Orleans is divided into pre-1910 and post-1910 styles. Pre-1910 did not flood even in Katrina. Those builders expected the worst. Post-1910 people got lazy.
So they built further and further out. People sometimes ask, why are the pumps in this crazy location in the middle of town so they have to pump out through canals? And the reason is that in 1910 that was the EDGE of town. But people built past it, and so they had to build canals to channel the pumps' outflow to the lake. It was the walls of those canals that failed after Katrina, rendering the pumps worse than useless. (This has since been corrected with new pumps that are actually at the lake.)
So nothing bad happened in the 1920's or 1930's or 1940's, and after the war some genius got the idea to start building slab-on-grade homes in Gentilly and then that took off in New Orleans east, and then there was a bit of a hiccup with Betsy in the 1960's but then it was OK through the 1970's and la-di-da and one day it's 2005 and most of the city is so far below grade you need a periscope to see sea level.
This is the city that Katrina flooded, a city where elderly people who had lived their entire lives without seeing even a minor street flood drowned in their attics. (This was the fate of the couple, then in their 90's, who had rented my wife her apartment when she was in college.) People didn't leave because the last time a contraflow evacuation had been attempted just a few weeks previously it had been a clusterfuck, and everyone knew that if you were caught on those long bridges in traffic when the storm came, you were done for. And they had never seen flooding anyway, so they stayed.
Nobody realized we had been playing roulette for 95 years. In 2005 the house number finally came up.
If you are the head of a Federal agency one might expect you to have some tiny curiosity about what your job duties entail, but most of the people who stayed really had no idea. There was nobody alive who could remember NOLA without those pumps and most ordinary people aren't expected to be hydrological engineers. They figure if there are hundreds of square miles of neighborhoods that have been safe for almost a century, maybe they're a better bet than joining what might be the world's biggest traffic jam and getting blown off a bridge into Lake Pontchartrain.
posted by Bringer Tom at 6:10 PM on August 28, 2015 [30 favorites]
There was nobody alive who could remember NOLA without those pumps and most ordinary people aren't expected to be hydrological engineers. They figure if there are hundreds of square miles of neighborhoods that have been safe for almost a century, maybe they're a better bet than joining what might be the world's biggest traffic jam and getting blown off a bridge into Lake Pontchartrain.
One of my volunteer activities is giving talks/presentations on the Cascadia Subduction Zone to people who have lived near it all their lives and have never felt an earthquake, or even a tremor.
Specifically, we try to tell them how bad it could be, in a place where building codes didn't even contemplate earthquakes until the late 80s and a large percentage of the infrastructure is woefully inadequate.
People just don't want to hear it.
And we're not even trying to get them to leave their houses, just store enough supplies to get through the immediate aftermath.
I can't even imagine the kind of persuading you'd have to do to convince people to leave their entire lives behind and Get. Out. Now.
posted by madajb at 6:33 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
One of my volunteer activities is giving talks/presentations on the Cascadia Subduction Zone to people who have lived near it all their lives and have never felt an earthquake, or even a tremor.
Specifically, we try to tell them how bad it could be, in a place where building codes didn't even contemplate earthquakes until the late 80s and a large percentage of the infrastructure is woefully inadequate.
People just don't want to hear it.
And we're not even trying to get them to leave their houses, just store enough supplies to get through the immediate aftermath.
I can't even imagine the kind of persuading you'd have to do to convince people to leave their entire lives behind and Get. Out. Now.
posted by madajb at 6:33 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
Sometimes recently y'all have made me annoyed with ignorant remarks about shit you know nothing about. This thread is about something very personal to me.
When you want to opine about shit you only saw on the news or youtube that includes death and the diaspora of people who had PTSD and no choice because they had no place to go otherwise, please, please keep in mind we're humans that just ended up down here.
Now I go cry.
Brown was hardly the problem. He was just the face of it.
posted by syncope at 6:34 PM on August 28, 2015 [6 favorites]
When you want to opine about shit you only saw on the news or youtube that includes death and the diaspora of people who had PTSD and no choice because they had no place to go otherwise, please, please keep in mind we're humans that just ended up down here.
Now I go cry.
Brown was hardly the problem. He was just the face of it.
posted by syncope at 6:34 PM on August 28, 2015 [6 favorites]
madajb, god speed on the good fight. If it's any inspiration a lot of stuff did work, and it took over a year for me to really believe that the death toll was only in 4 figures, which can only be considered a fucking miracle. Hopefully when Cascadia rips you will get as lucky as we did.
posted by Bringer Tom at 6:39 PM on August 28, 2015
posted by Bringer Tom at 6:39 PM on August 28, 2015
It's unfortunate that all of the good points made are being lost in the (totally rightful) grousing. There is a lot of "don't blame me" whining, but there is also a lot of talk about the systemic failures that really did have nothing to do with, and were completely out of, Brown's control.
The part about federal grant money being redirected away from disaster relief and into the terrorism boogeyman is both correct and also quite relevant to the increased militarization of law enforcement, which has led directly to the normalization of police shooting civilians unnecessarily.
posted by wierdo at 6:51 PM on August 28, 2015 [6 favorites]
The part about federal grant money being redirected away from disaster relief and into the terrorism boogeyman is both correct and also quite relevant to the increased militarization of law enforcement, which has led directly to the normalization of police shooting civilians unnecessarily.
posted by wierdo at 6:51 PM on August 28, 2015 [6 favorites]
Heckuva job, metafilter.
posted by clvrmnky at 9:09 PM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by clvrmnky at 9:09 PM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
The mayor's incompetence cost lives.
You want to make your argument that you are not to blame for the Katrina disaster, fine, make your argument. Blaming Ray Nagin for the deaths in New Orleans, that's not making that argument, that's throwing someone else under the bus.
posted by riverlife at 12:04 AM on August 29, 2015
You want to make your argument that you are not to blame for the Katrina disaster, fine, make your argument. Blaming Ray Nagin for the deaths in New Orleans, that's not making that argument, that's throwing someone else under the bus.
posted by riverlife at 12:04 AM on August 29, 2015
So two things from this piece that I didn't know before. First it sounds like there was a deliberate choice not to put supplies and medical teams in the Superdome, because it was going to blow away anyway. That's inexcusable given that people had been told to shelter there. Second it sounds like federal authorities made a choice to wait to rescue people trapped in attics. Hence the whining about how Anderson Cooper messed up the nice orderly rescue plan by saving someone before their proper turn. Wow.
posted by Cocodrillo at 5:22 AM on August 29, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Cocodrillo at 5:22 AM on August 29, 2015 [6 favorites]
As someone from Louisiana with family from new Orleans (who were living in Shreveport at the time) and being in Baton Rouge . ...
My honest feeling then and now was that Katrina wasn't set up as a rescue effort, it was set up as a recovery of bodies effort.
Regardless of what happened, New Orleans got hit by the "weak" side of katrina because it hit east of New Orleans. A direct hit would have liked more like what was seen in Alabama and Mississippi where there were just foundations for miles and miles and nothing else.
The warnings were clear for educated middle class folk. The change of the superdome from shelter to "center of last resort" and the way that weather announcements are written.
When you have people with a 3rd grade education it doesn't matter how long you tell them they will be without water because they don't understand how much water they need. Being without powet is just living life without power. It sucks but candles work.
On the other hand:
Keeping an ax in the attic incase the water gets to high is something that people did and do understand. That's why people were on the roofs to begin with. Flooding is something new Orleans knows.
FEMA was completely incompetent and callous. This man deserves hate and blame. But so do many other people and agencies.
I'm going to go back to my lack of news coverage now. Mrs. Sky told me about this post so I came in to just say this and run.
Some other time I'm focus the amazing people and the significant changes in disaster response.
posted by AlexiaSky at 7:10 AM on August 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
My honest feeling then and now was that Katrina wasn't set up as a rescue effort, it was set up as a recovery of bodies effort.
Regardless of what happened, New Orleans got hit by the "weak" side of katrina because it hit east of New Orleans. A direct hit would have liked more like what was seen in Alabama and Mississippi where there were just foundations for miles and miles and nothing else.
The warnings were clear for educated middle class folk. The change of the superdome from shelter to "center of last resort" and the way that weather announcements are written.
When you have people with a 3rd grade education it doesn't matter how long you tell them they will be without water because they don't understand how much water they need. Being without powet is just living life without power. It sucks but candles work.
On the other hand:
Keeping an ax in the attic incase the water gets to high is something that people did and do understand. That's why people were on the roofs to begin with. Flooding is something new Orleans knows.
FEMA was completely incompetent and callous. This man deserves hate and blame. But so do many other people and agencies.
I'm going to go back to my lack of news coverage now. Mrs. Sky told me about this post so I came in to just say this and run.
Some other time I'm focus the amazing people and the significant changes in disaster response.
posted by AlexiaSky at 7:10 AM on August 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
Obligatorily, "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva self-blow-job."
posted by xigxag at 10:37 AM on August 29, 2015
posted by xigxag at 10:37 AM on August 29, 2015
The headline for this story in the New Orleans Times-Picayune was "Michael Brown says he did a heckuva job."
posted by Bringer Tom at 3:38 PM on August 29, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Bringer Tom at 3:38 PM on August 29, 2015 [4 favorites]
Heck of a job, Drownie.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:37 PM on August 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 4:37 PM on August 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
Doesn't a greater share of the blame rest with Mayor Nagin?
posted by humanfont at 9:34 PM on August 29, 2015
posted by humanfont at 9:34 PM on August 29, 2015
Sure, if you believe that the federal government can only do the specific things it is allowed to do by constitution and law, yet also believe that the city government can just do whatever the fuck it wants without regard to the same.
At the time, the Nagin-blame seemed to me to be calculated to push attention away from FEMA's failures (and the general incompatibility between neoconservative Republican ideology with effective disaster relief) onto Democrats in general and a black man in particular.
There was quite a lot of revisionist "history" regarding what Mayor Nagin said regarding preparation generally and evacuation specifically in the days leading up to the storm. There was also a lot of "oh, it was a foregone conclusion that New Orleans will be struck," when in fact the forecast uncertainty at 4 or 5 days out is several hundred miles. Someplace was going to get walloped, but it could just as easily have been Mobile or Port Arthur.
posted by wierdo at 2:22 AM on August 30, 2015 [4 favorites]
At the time, the Nagin-blame seemed to me to be calculated to push attention away from FEMA's failures (and the general incompatibility between neoconservative Republican ideology with effective disaster relief) onto Democrats in general and a black man in particular.
There was quite a lot of revisionist "history" regarding what Mayor Nagin said regarding preparation generally and evacuation specifically in the days leading up to the storm. There was also a lot of "oh, it was a foregone conclusion that New Orleans will be struck," when in fact the forecast uncertainty at 4 or 5 days out is several hundred miles. Someplace was going to get walloped, but it could just as easily have been Mobile or Port Arthur.
posted by wierdo at 2:22 AM on August 30, 2015 [4 favorites]
I have no personal connection to Katrina at all and this is really hard to read. Apparently it's possible to meditate on something for ten years and come out no wiser. Also:
Within two or three days of the storm, we had gotten to safety the easiest victims to locate, those who had made it onto their rooftops.
I don't know anything about hurricane response but he is clearly proud of this pace and ...... that cannot be reasonable, can it?
posted by gerstle at 2:40 AM on August 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
Within two or three days of the storm, we had gotten to safety the easiest victims to locate, those who had made it onto their rooftops.
I don't know anything about hurricane response but he is clearly proud of this pace and ...... that cannot be reasonable, can it?
posted by gerstle at 2:40 AM on August 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
The easiest victims to locate, otherwise known as the strongest residents who are able to climb.
posted by rhizome at 6:38 PM on August 30, 2015
posted by rhizome at 6:38 PM on August 30, 2015
Haiti helping the US? Can't have that media narrative!
Or, you know Cuba, that offered to help almost immediately, but because of a pissing contest in the 60s, the state department refused all help.
posted by lmfsilva at 11:21 AM on August 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
Or, you know Cuba, that offered to help almost immediately, but because of a pissing contest in the 60s, the state department refused all help.
posted by lmfsilva at 11:21 AM on August 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
I assume the whole time Brownie was writing this, he was bumping this.
posted by klangklangston at 10:35 AM on September 1, 2015
posted by klangklangston at 10:35 AM on September 1, 2015
« Older Love, Hate, Security, and the Writer | Understanding Politics For Geeks Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by glaucon at 11:00 AM on August 28, 2015 [35 favorites]