FEMA in serious deep trouble.

[Rosemary2205]

Seems nobody wants to work for Bush.

http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/nation/04/2FEMA.html

Few answered FEMA calls for its top job
Several who passed on posts say they don't think administration is ready to fix problems at agency.
By Eric Lipton

THE NEW YORK TIMES


Sunday, April 02, 2006

WASHINGTON — The calls went out across the nation as Bush administration officials asked the country's most seasoned disaster response experts to consider the job of a lifetime: FEMA director.

But again and again, the response over the past several months was the same: "No, thanks."

Unconvinced that the Bush administration is serious about fixing the Federal Emergency Management Agency or that there is enough time to get it done before President Bush's second term ends, seven candidates for the director position or another top FEMA job said in interviews that they had pulled themselves out of the running.

snip

Now, with the next hurricane season only two months away, the Bush administration has come up with a convenient but somewhat embarrassing solution. Several former and current FEMA officials said that Bush intends to nominate David Paulison, a former fire official who has been filling in for the past seven months, to take the job permanently.

snip

Of the 30 most senior jobs at FEMA, 11 currently are filled by officials appointed on an acting basis, including the administrators in charge of crucial functions such as operations, disaster recovery and disaster response.

The agency is moving quickly to try to fill some of the approximately 550 vacant positions among its full-time staff of about 2,500 employees. The goal is to fill 95 percent of the jobs by the start of hurricane season.

snip

[SoCalDem]

1. Only an idiot signs up as captain of a sinking ship..n/t

[annabanana]

2. It needs to be uncoupled from Homeland Security...

Hillary has legislation working now to get it back on it's own, like it was during Bill's administration. It used to be a functioning agency, and it could be again...

[AndyA]

3. Talk about career suicide!

I can't imagine any sane person wanting to work in the Bush Administration at this point. It would be like signing up to be a crew member of The Minnow after it beached on Gilligan's Island.

[Ilsa]

4. Well, we'll just have to skip hurricane season this year. Ya hear that?

It's cancelled! That's that. End of story. Alert the weather service that we will not be having a hurricane season, and we'll be okay.

[ewoden]

7. Faith Based Disaster Prevention!! N/t

[LiberalEsto]

5. Just outsource it!

Do what every big corporation in the US is doing.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

6. Why not let Rove run it? I thought he was in charge of reconstruction of

New Orleans anyway, according to shrub. Or did I just dream that he said that, once?

[Nomen Tuum]

8. Draft Pat Robertson to run FEMA

Pat knows how to pray those hurricanes away! :evilgrin:

[pinto]

9. Dismantling a nuts and bolts agency as part of some DHS

ideology was a bad idea....These are things the federal government has historically done pretty well - you know, the National Weather Service, FEMA, the Coast Guard...

[Dudley_DUright]

10. We need a Meta-FEMA to respond to the federal disaster that is FEMA

We can call this new agency the Federal FEMA managment agency, or F(FEMA)MA

[Disturbed]

12. Brownie was correct when he said that...

the Bush Regime was trying to nueter FEMA. Maybe that's why they appointed him? The Bush Regime wants to abolish FEMA and make Homeland Security into an all inclusive agency but they screwed up by appointing Chertoff who talks a good game but couldn't deliver. The Bush Regime wants to have the US Military in control of Amerika in all aspects. Neo Fascism isn't merely a cute monikor, it is reality.

[mikelewis]

11. Bullshit... I don't care how incompetent or uncommitted Bush is...

FEMA serves a vital function by saving lives and helping deal with a disaster. I'd rather have a cobbled superstar in that position than a third string lineman whose in over his head. The scapegoating and Swift-boating of Michael Brown had to have been horrendous to witness so I understand why they wouldn't want to deal with assholes like this but we need an experienced captain at the helm. Even if FEMA is a sinking ship, maybe the right captain could run her aground and save a few lives.