FEMA's Michael Brown: "Needed More Time to Eat Dinner"

[complain jane]

On August 31, Bahamonde e-mailed Brown to tell him that thousands of evacuees were gathering in the streets with no food or water and that "estimates are many will die within hours."

"Sir, I know that you know the situation is past critical," Bahamonde wrote. "The sooner we can get the medical patients out, the sooner we can get them out."

A short time later, Brown's press secretary, Sharon Worthy, wrote colleagues to complain that the FEMA director needed more time to eat dinner at a Baton Rouge restaurant that evening.

"He needs much more that 20 or 30 minutes," Worthy wrote.

"Restaurants are getting busy," she said. "We now have traffic to encounter to go to and from a location of his choise (sic), followed by wait service from the restaurant staff, eating, etc. Thank you."

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/10/20/FEMA.Katrina.ap/index.html

[tatertop]

1. mind boggling

[Carolab]

2. A much fuller account from nola.com

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_10_20.html#088670



"OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!" Bahamonde wrote via e-mail to a colleague at FEMA, after the message was shared with him. "Just tell her (the press secretary) that I just ate an MRE and crapped in the hallway of the Superdome along with 30,000 other close friends so I understand her concern about busy restaurants. Maybe tonight I will have time to move the pebbles on the parking garage floor so they don't stab me in the back while I try to sleep, but instead I will hope her wait at Ruth Christ (sic) is short."

In his testimony, Bahamonde said he hopes his testimony will effect change "so that no other child, no other senior citizen, no other special needs patient, no other parent and no other community in this country will have to experience the horrors and tragedy that happened in New Orleans and the entire Gulf Coast."

He expressed regret that he was unable to persuade his bosses to allow him and other FEMA officials to stay in New Orleans past Sept. 1, when guard officials asked them to leave for their own safety after reports — which turned out to be false — that a riot was about to take place.

Some members of the Senate panel said that they want a House oversight committee that heard contradictory testimony from Brown, under oath, to determine if perjury laws were broken.

[HeeBGBz]

3. WTG, Drownie

[tallahasseedem]

4. I swear I am living in an alternate universe sometimes.

This is sickening.

[jobycom]

5. My parents were eating MREs and loving it.

I can't even speak.

[Coastie for Truth]

6. Maybe he had taken his metformin/glucophage

If you wait too long after taking your metformin/glucophage before eating you are in deep doo doo. (Like your brain doesn't have enough goucose -- and you pass out).

[jobycom]

7. That would have saved a lot of lives--Brown passing out. nt

[freeplessinseattle]

10. oh please, couldn't he just stop for a granola bar?

or explain the situation to the restaraunt staff and get something quick to go?

[Coastie for Truth]

21. You wouldn't expect an arrogant REPKE to do that.

Brownie is a turd blossom.

[lateo]

8. "You're doing a good job brownie"

This news makes that comment sound even more fucked up.

[Nikki Stone 1]

9. I say bring back the guillotine for this idiot.

And do it in public. In New Orleans.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Worked my fair share of disasters and

ate plenty of MREs at the command post... why couldn't he do that?

[Tsiyu]

12. Because he's a Repuke, silly! They're all WUSSES

who can't even do their jobs in a crisis.

It's beneath them, you see.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. I understand now

I get it.....

damn cowards... (ok there are far more expletives going through my head right at the moment, but I fear the place would quickly go to NC-17)

[Tsiyu]

14. Yeah, I left the "f" word off this one

even though it wanted to join in ;)

Most decent people I know get satisfaction from doing their jobs well. These freaks are on a permanent lunch hour and don't appear to take their jobs too seriously.

Oh, and they are also WUSSES. (In case I didn't mention it....) :evilgrin:

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Why do you think I now have

the avatar I have... they are worst than Chtulu....

Oh great one the unmentionable one... at least he will drive you insane, these guys will kill you!

[RepublicanElephant]

16. y'all just don't understand...

...he was eating one of duncan hunter's chicken and rice pilaf dinners. you just don't walk away from a meal like that!

...unless you're on a hunger strike at gitmo.

[Sleepless In NY]

17. horrific..just plain sick..brown should go to jail

I know all the talk is about the impending indictments..but this shouldn't be ignored. What kind of monster would do this? Unbelievable.

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. I could introduce you to some

trust me I cuold... usually they are desk jokeys who are just left ahem, behind, no pun intended, the desk... where they are not to be seen or heard

problem is this fucker had the authority to get in the way, and he did

[Peter Frank]

19. "Check please" n/t

[Starbucks Anarchist]

20. I hope to God Brownie gets the literal shit beat out of him.

And then said shit gets force-fed to him.

But even that wouldn't be good enough.

[complain jane]

22. I agree 100%, what a total POS

And to think he tried to blame everybody else for his miserable failure.

And after that display revealed the cronyism in Bush's administration, he goes and nominates Miers to the Supreme Court and can't understand why the outrage?

I hope they all get what they deserve.