This little twit needs to be strung up by his thumbs and left without water and food for a few days. The results of cronyism in action. Unfortunately the results of this temper tantrum have drawn attention away from a very valid point the son of a bitch made later- FEMA has been gutted for the sake of "Homeland Security", whatever the hell that is.
WASHINGTON - A combative Michael Brown blamed the Louisiana governor, the New Orleans mayor and even the Bush White House that appointed him for the dismal response to Hurricane Katrina in a fiery appearance Tuesday before Congress. In response, lawmakers alternately lambasted and mocked the former FEMA director.
House members' scorching treatment of Brown, in a hearing stretching nearly 6 1/2 hours, underscored how he has become an emblem of the deaths, lingering floods and stranded survivors after the Aug. 29 storm. Brown resigned Sept. 12 after being relieved of his onsite command of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's response effort three days earlier.
"My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional," Brown told a special panel set up by House Republican leaders to investigate the catastrophe. Most Democrats, seeking an independent investigation, stayed away to protest what they called an unfair probe of the Republican administration by GOP lawmakers.
"I very strongly personally regret that I was unable to persuade Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin to sit down, get over their differences and work together," Brown said. "I just couldn't pull that off."
Blanco vehemently denied that she waited until the eve of the storm to order an evacuation of New Orleans. She said her order came on the morning of Aug. 27 — two days before the storm — resulting in 1.3 million people evacuating the city.
"Such falsehoods and misleading statements, made under oath before Congress, are shocking," Blanco said in a statement.
Come out and say it, Kathleen. He was flat-out lying in this testimony. Perjury charges, anyone? Why not?
All this denial of responsibility has taken away from a very important aspect- even though this man is totally incompetent, what he has said about FEMA is true. Here is the money shot- the buck really stops at Chertoff and those higher up.
Brown described FEMA as a politically powerless arm of Homeland Security, which he said had siphoned more than $77 million from his agency over the past three years. Additionally, he said Homeland Security cut FEMA budget requests — including one for hurricane preparedness — before they were ever presented to Congress.
Since FEMA is now part of HS, there really needs to be an investigation of HS. Where in the hell is all that money that we gave them? But, because Brown looks like a total fool, I have a feeling this will be put all on him and that will be the end of the story. Chertoff will slide away unscathed.
C'mon media. Dig a little deeper on this. The Department of Homeland Security has a total budget of damn near $40 billion dollars, and it's homepage brags of their response times and preparedness. What have they been doing with themselves for the past four years? Someone needs to find out.