Cronyism Kills

[moondust]

Couldn't resist this title.


http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_anthony__050910_cronyism_kills.htm

Cronyism Kills

Building a safety net with lies and fraud

by Anthony Wade

http://www.opednews.com

September 9, 2005

“Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”

The speaker was George W. Bush. “Brownie”, is Michael Brown the head of FEMA. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the abhorrent mismanagement of the relief efforts, a lot of attention is being rightfully paid to Mr. Brown and his bungling. As the attention morphs into scrutiny, it is becoming painfully obvious that cronyism kills.

Cronyism is a term defining how the Bush administration hands out important government posts. It is when a person is given a government job not based on experience but rather on the good ole boys network. It is not what you know, but who you know. Michael Brown knew Joseph Allbaugh, the former FEMA Director and former Bush campaign manager in 2000. He actually had no relevant experience for the job, but when you are a crony, you don’t have to. Prior to FEMA, Mr. Brown worked for the Arabian Horse Association, who eventually dismissed him.

Last week, Brown actually went on several news shows to state that he had no idea that there were people being held in the Superdome without food, water or electricity. Never mind that for days, the rest of the world knew, because it was being reported on every channel. Apparently, Mr. Brown does not watch CNN or the weather channel. As the criticism mounted Time Magazine decided to investigate just who Mr. Brown was and they have discovered that he was even less qualified than we thought.

It seems that Michael Brown had to lie just to make himself as unqualified as we thought he was. His resume was filled with embellishments. First of all, Mr. Brown claimed that from 1975 to 1978 he worked for the City of Edmond, Oklahoma, overseeing the emergency services division. The obvious nature of this lie was to give the appearance that 30 years ago, he worked in a supervisory capacity in a related field to the FEMA position he was being handed. Unfortunately, he actually was an intern, not a supervisor. Not one single person answered to him.

~more~

[madmom]

1. the republicans have gotten away with saying ....

" I didn't know" for so long they figured it would work here too. Every time they are caught in their mismanagement their standard reply " I didn't know".

[VespertineIconoclast]

5. How is the "I didn't know" excuse acceptable for a govt. official?

The officials are in positions to have access to information that is unavailable to the public and therefore, they should know EVERYTHING the public knows and then some! But as you mentioned, the media and Americans have allowed this pitiful excuse in the past. I hope this is changing now...

-VI

[pippin]

2. Can't Resist This Either

Neigh to Cronies

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/10/opinion/10dowd.html?hp

[moondust]

3. Usually it doesn't cost quite this much.

Cronyism is nothing new. It's the Republican MO. Don't they usually find somebody relatively poor who is able to run things and pay them to be the "boss's" underling? And the boss then takes the credit for their successes?

Usually it doesn't cost so much. The truly qualified candidates don't get hired into positions that they belong in. Maybe a good career is lost here and there. Maybe the partial or total collapse of this or that from time to time. But usually it can all be neatly swept under the rug and forgotten along the path to more incompetence, failure, and inviability.

Do Republicans ever wonder why so much is so fucked up?

[rodeodance]

4. let your Senators/Reps know this--just a few clicks.

easy way to contact your Senators about this.


HE'S BEEN REMOVED FROM THE SCENE OF THE CRIME, BUT WHY IS MICHAEL BROWN STILL DIRECTOR OF FEMA?

Lowering the integrity standard yet again, President Bush declared today that anybody executed for treason would no longer work in his administration. No, he didn't actually say that . . . but seriously now, how incompetent and inept does one have to be to lose his job as a crony of this president? Consider Michael Brown, whose criminal inaction turned a survivable hurricane into a category 5 catastrophe for the entire Gulf Coast. And now we learn that the ONLY previous emergency management experience on Brown's resume was faked! We all know that Bush is not interested in playing the indictment game, so isn't it time that we finally demand some accountability? Demand that Bush FIRE Michael Brown immediately.

http://www.usalone.net/fema.htm

The president did actually say that "Brownie," his pet name for the FEMA director, was doing "a heck of job" in the aftermath of the storm. Of course he also said that nobody could have anticipated that the levees would break. Although dire warnings from every quarter had predicted exactly that looming danger (see National Geographic, Oct. 2004, for example), Bush axed their repair and maintenance budgets. And he put in charge of the agency that would respond to a major terrorist attack a man with no experience and no credentials except as a frat boy bootlicker. Tell your members of Congress that Brown must go NOW, before the next disaster in the making cripples the rest of our economy.

http://www.usalone.net/fema.htm

You can use the one-click action page above to instantly transmit your personal message to all your members of Congress, and, at the same time, send a Letter to the Editor of your nearest daily newspaper. There is more information on the site about the Roberts nomination, and please check out also -- http://www.OpEdNews.com, the best source of real news and opinion on the web. Write your senators and representative now and tell them to take some personal responsibility for stopping the crony corruption of George Bush.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

6. Cronyism is SOP for the BFEE