Former FEMA (regional) director calls NO mayor "Whining, Flip Flopping.

[bettyellen]

during one of those MSNBC reports that pretends to be about Rita, but is filled with Rovian bullshit about how great Texans and Floridians are at handling this kinda shit.
Why don't they just use the word shiftless and get it over with already.
I'm soo disgusted with this blame game.

[Sanity Claws]

1. You mean Brownie?

I thought he stopped singing for ***. Do you have a link?

[bettyellen]

2. No, sorry he was a former REGIONAL director.....

Stevenson? I think. He was a nobody who repeated this crap twice....
what a big dick.

[applegrove]

3. They tried to scapegoat the poor in week one. Didn't work. Now

they try and make NO sound like a bunch of cry babies. Has Houston sunk? Has Miami?

Nope. And hell - people in Florida who were not even touched by storms got "free stuff" from FEMA. What the hell would they have to complain about?

[WePurrsevere]

4. Is he the same FEMA director when $60 million LA FEMA $$ went *poof*....

under the REPUBLICAN Gov before Blanco was elected in 2004?

The Republicans act so self righteous and indignant over things that THEY are often responsible for. It seems like every time a Republican opens their mouth lately it's either pure BS or an bold faced lie.

*(FYI that story about the LA Gov and the missing 60 mil was posted http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4814718|HERE on DU>).

[philb]

6. New Orleans levee protection had big cuts to pay for Iraq war

New Orleans levee protection needs lost out to Iraq funding
When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA. Over the next several years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside. Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars. ...In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain ... http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/002331.html

[philb]

5. FEMA blocked evacuation aid and relief aid for New Orleans

FEMA prevented evacuation using Amtrack and other means and blocked a huge amount of volunteer aid by cities, states, firefighters, countries, volunteers, companies, emergency response agencies, etc.
while failing to act to prevent the problems or aid in evacuation or provide aid to devastated areas of Louisiana and Mississippi

Summary:
http://www.flcv.com/femabloc.html

[bettyellen]

7. and has not sent one dime to ST Bernards Parish as of yet......

yet the talking heads from Fla and Tx were not concerned- they say THEIR govenors are on the phone with FEMA constatntly--- implied they weren't going touse that as an excuse not to do their jobs and prepare.
They were schilling hard. Disgusting.

[Lithos]

8. As I recall

Many of the "Acting" regional FEMA directors were Bush Political appointees who got their job from working in his campaigns. Definitely a political shill using his former FEMA title as cover.

L-