Please don't take this as a defense of any of these folks if they were truly acting with the level of ineptitude as some of these items seem to indicate, but...

I worked for several years in EMS. Folks who work in crisis situations tend to develop a really bizarre and twisted sense of humor, that would look really bad on the profession if most of the general population were aware of it. I don't know if that factor entered into any of these memos, messages, and emails, but it's entirely possible that some of this wasn't the officials being nonchalant, but a case of them making some attempts at dry humor that would be very hard to understand (and fairly distasteful) to the outsider.

If Brown's humor is attempt to disarm the seriousness of the effects of the hurricane, we should be grateful from his first official memorandum to Chertoff, he saw Katrina only as a a `near catastrophe event'. From reading the e-mails one gets the feeling that Brown was far more interested in his career and the impression he was making, than in the hurricane.

I understand and appreciate a twisted sense of humor, but this man has been so incompentent and such a jackass it is hard to buy into this.

As I said, if this was anything more than "insider humor," then disregard everything I wrote.

Steve, the use of humor in the scenario I described isn't to "disarm the seriousness" of an event, it's a coping mechanism for those who are directly involved. If you aren't in that sort of situation, or very close to someone who is, you probably won't understand.

But again, let me stress that I'm not saying that's the case, just that it's possible that some of the exchanges may have been sprinkled with the dry, twisted humor that sometimes accompanies such situations.

I worked for several years in mental hospitals (that's why I find it so easy to talk to conservatives) and I know what you mean about dark humor. But while were joking we were getting our job done. That's why nobody's letting Brownie off the hook.

Again (and again, and again)

I'm not letting anybody off the hook. Reading the emails, it seemed that FEMA was doing everything possible to coordinate the relief effort, but there were complications that hadn't been addressed properly beforehand (especially within the exchange regarding the requested ice and water supplies, when compared to what was actually on the way).

All in the world I'm saying is that what's being used to illustrate "incompetency" and make Brown (and others) look narcissistic and insensitive may not be as sinister as the MSM would like you to believe.

And Chris, I'm not picking on you--it just seems that you and I are commenting on the same posts. Don't take it personally.

For a more complete reading of the e-mails, and the haplessness of Fema's response, see the PDFexternal link in Mommmy I wanna go home!!! Scroll down to the sixth thread. It's terrifying.

Question:
Did anyone lose their life, due to the actions, or INactions of Michael Brown?

Or...

Were they just inconvenienced a little longer than some people think they should've been?

And after you've given THAT a little thought, ask yourself:
Did anyone lose their life, due to the actions, or INactions of Kathleen Blanco and Ray Nagin?

I'll let you come to your own conclusions.

We second the opinion.

Yes...yes...this guy is, as Michelle Malkin rightly describes, "a baffoon." And he is officially fired, publicly shamed, and the media will continue to kick him while he's down because of Brown's connection to President Bush.

But why aren't the terms "baffoon," "moron," "jackass" applied to Mayor Ray "They'll Be Back For The Food" Nagin?

After all, he's running for re-election.

Former FEMA Director Michael Brown's secretary Sharon Worthy sends her boss some fashion advice Sunday Sept. 4, 2005, the day Hurricane Kartina hit.

Just to clarify the record, Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on Monday, Aug. 28, and the levees started breaking in New Orelans the following day. So if the e-mails were sent out Sept. 4, then they didn't occur before the hurricane, but after it hit and well after all the images around the Superdome, Convention Center, etc. had gone out and the criticism of Brown was well underway (Sept 4 was the day Aaron Brousard broke down and cried on Meet the Press over the later-proved inaccurate story of the drowning of a parish employee's mother).

That Brown was being given fashion advice on Sept. 4 may actually make the e-mails more daming, since it appears there was a lot of Clintonesque image buffing being attempted here on the part of Brown's FEMA staff, though given the general incompetence of the Louisiana state and local governments, actually doing anything substantial might not have made a difference.

I know the EMS workers may have a twisted sense of humor, but they do show up and help who ever is in need. Brown made jokes and did nothing until the situation was out of control.

To the FEMA apologist up there: After Katrina hit, 50% of Louisiana's resources and 95% of New Orleans' resources were underwater. Blaming Nagin and Blanco for not responding in a quick fashion after the hurricane hit is like blaming a drowning victim for not swimming to land before drowning -- they were literally underwater and capable of little more than thrashing around and screaming for help. You can say they should have prepared better before the hurricane hit, but who can prepare for having their entire city drowned and half their state blown away? God Himself would have had difficulties in that situation, much less the governor of the second-poorest state in the Union and the mayor of the poorest major city in the country.

As a Louisianian, I'm pissed at the heartless sons-of-bitches who make excuses for the life guard (FEMA) yawning and reading his newspaper while drowning people scream for help. In the end, do you know who rounded up all those busses that eventually evacuated the Superdome and Convention Center? It wasn't FEMA. FEMA managed to contract 100 buses, which showed up on Friday just in time for a Presidential photo-op, spent two hours loading at the Superdome, and then disappeared, never to be seen again. EVERY SINGLE BUS AFTERWARDS WAS ROUNDED UP BY GOVERNOR BLANCO. That's right, Blanco rounded up THOUSANDS of bus while Brownie the horse-butt inspector was busy being a fashion god. And all she did was send a fax to every governor in the nation, screaming "HELP! I NEED BUSES!" like she'd been screaming to FEMA for almost a *WEEK* by that time, and it wasn't 24 hours before she had all the buses she needed. In other words, she did Brownie "I am a fashion God"'s job, what Brownie had been supposed to be doing for a *WEEK*. At worst I can blame her for being a gullible fool who believed it when Brownie told her he was doing his job... when he was instead obsessing about his "image"...

BTW, no, I am not going to vote for Blanco in the next election, unless forced to do so by someone horrible running against her (like Bobby Jindel). She was not my preferred candidate in the first place, and this whole thing just makes it clear that she's a dim bulb who takes far too long to catch on that she is dealing with even dimmer bulbs like Drownie Brownie. But going from there to saying that Drownie Brownie "did a great job" is just plain ludicrous...

- Badtux the Louisiana Penguin

What is a baffoon?

Posted by: BadTux at November 4, 2005 07:28 PM:

"God Himself would have had difficulties in that situation,..."

So, unless we are to believe, Michael Brown is "God" you've just made my point.

I think, Michael Brown has been unfairly criticized...I thought so at the time...And, I still think so.

[MissFUBAR] What is a baffoon?

Why, it's a "baffled buffoon"!

I'm surprised you didn't know this... ;-)

BadTux: The buses that sat underwater could have been moved to higher ground BEFORE the storm. And Blanco can be blamed for a lot more than being a gullible fool: on Saturday she hedged her responsibilities and "blamed" Bush for the evacuation order, as if to say "if the storm doesn't hit, then it's HIS fault you had to evacuate."

That the storm DID hit, and that she had the authority to take executive decisions but did NOT do so (choosing, as you so rightly put it, to flail her arms around instead, disallow the Red Cross from bringing water and food into the city, and on and on...) points to her central culpability as the "monkey in the middle".

Not to take anything away from the "baffoon" Mr. Brown... but even he did not have the authority to override Louisiana's decision not to send food and water to the Superdome.

BTW: What's horrible about Bobby Jindal? Would like to hear the rap...