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"My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional." Michael Brown, former FEMA director - September 28, 2005 A Man-Made DisasterMichael Brown reported to Congress that his BIGGEST mistake was not realizing that Louisiana was dysfunctional. Really? Where has he been? Louisiana has been dysfunctional for so long, it's hard to imagine a time when it was "functional." Seriously! Let's start with New Orleans. The city is a major port sitting in the path of hurricanes that is lower in elevation than the surrounding lake and the gulf on which it sits. It is the melting pot of Witchcraft, Voodoo, Christian, and Pagan beliefs. It is a tourist town that has high temperatures, high humidity, and high crime - a place where fairly normal women will raise their shirts for cheap, beaded necklaces. Where getting arrested for drunk and disorderly takes some doing. Surrounding this Bacchanalian Paradise we lovingly call the Big Easy stretches miles of swamps and backwater filled with critters that would just as soon bite you as say hello, and I'm not talking about the alligators, snakes, and mosquitoes! The people are colorful and notorious, their tales of greed and corruption are legendary. But somehow Michael Brown was caught off guard. Cajun Country is dysfunctional? Wait a minute - wasn't Mr. Brown in charge of FEMA? Isn't FEMA supposed to deal with disasters, with situations that are, say, dysfunctional? Isn't his role as coordinator primarily one of making the dysfunctional functional in emergency situations? When Katrina hit I feel fairly certain that everyone in the United States expected the director of FEMA to straighten things out and get help to people in need. I believe we all thought that this was the number one item in the FEMA Director's role / responsibility matrix. ClosureMichael Brown had his day and we can safely close the Congressional hearings on FEMA. From Mr. Brown's own testimony he admitted that his biggest mistake was not doing his job. Now he doesn't have it anymore - case closed. The theocrats in D.C. will use Mr. Brown's scripted testimony to claim he is the ultimate white male victim. It's a waste of time - Americans won't buy it. Too many people died, too many people did without for too long. I also doubt America will care about the fate of one more middle manager who failed U.S. citizens in a crisis situation. The bigger fish to fry is Homeland Security, which failed to step up and handle the overall situation. Congress should investigate how that organization is doing before we go through this again, but I don't think the theocrats in charge want their newly installed "big brother" engine reviewed and overhauled. We have our scapegoat and he has been relieved of duty. Now back to our regularly scheduled raiding of the treasury - business as usual on the hill. Center-left Stategy PointAdd this to the list of reasons for taking back Congress in 2006. When we take back Congress the new leadership will review the Department of Homeland Security. All contracts will be reviewed and, if necessary, renegotiated. Tax savings from getting DHS under control will be applied to paying off the federal deficit, reducing the tax burden on our children. |
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