Michael Brown's Dinner

[toasty]

Evidently, part of the reason Brown didn't spring into action in the wake of Hurricane Katrina was that he had to have enough time to eat his meal. The disconnect between the information that was being provided to the FEMA head and the gravity with which it was taken is outrageous.

NBC News report here.

[daveman]

Re: Michael Brown's Dinner

and to think that he and his family wasn't watching TV while eating dinner. that just down right unamerican. im glad this guy is outta FEMA and now investigating his own blunder.

[Jenks]

Re: Michael Brown's Dinner

i remember reading a headline shortly after he was fired...it went something like this:

"Bush dumps Brown in Katrina mess" lol. yes, i'm 12, and that's really funny.

[toasty]

Re: Michael Brown's Dinner

^^back when my wife was working in auto sales, they used to have bets on who could work "take it in the brown" into conversations with customers the most times during a shift.

Still cracks me up to this day because, let's face it, I'm incredibly immature.

[toasty]

Re: Michael Brown's Dinner

more on this:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051020/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/katrina_fema

oblivious jackass.

[thesightless]

Re: Michael Brown's Dinner

im not gonna throw stoned here.

they all fucked up AND were overwhelmed.
NO ONE down there outside of scientists who did the studies had any idea how bad it was going to be, and continues to be. to be honest i feel terrible for all of them, even though they dropped the ball big time. can only hope the spirit of orelans is revived.

[toasty]

Re: Michael Brown's Dinner

they all fucked up AND were overwhelmed.
NO ONE down there outside of scientists who did the studies had any idea how bad it was going to be, and continues to be. to be honest i feel terrible for all of them, even though they dropped the ball big time. can only hope the spirit of orelans is revived.

I'll kinda agree with you on the front end, although there was ample evidence that exactly what happened could happen if a large enough storm hit New Orleans. What I find alarming (and telling) is the response after things did go south. For example:

On Aug. 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 (sic) 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."

To me, that displays either a complete failure to understand the gravity of the situation, or a complete failure to give a rip about it. Either was inexcusable under the circumstances. As I've indicated in previous messages on this topic, I don't think anyone at any level of government ought to get a free pass for what happened in New Orleans. On the other hand, "Brownie" appeared to be a special kind of idiot.

[thesightless]

Re: Michael Brown's Dinner

was Brown directly aware of that email, or was it staff sheilding him like a secretary sheils her boss? you know full well that if he were in a """dinner meeting"" the staff would deflect off calls and emails without telling him.

really though, i just feel bad for all of them. the mayor is the #1 on my blame list once they get the place moving again. the more you read about what went on, the more he looks like a criminal. the buses, the cops, the levy board, the transit system, the failure to call for national guard before hand ,the ignoring of the NWS warning on saturday and sunday, a lot more.

[toasty]

Re: Michael Brown's Dinner

was Brown directly aware of that email, or was it staff sheilding him like a secretary sheils her boss? you know full well that if he were in a """dinner meeting"" the staff would deflect off calls and emails without telling him.

You can see in the NBC News report that the email was addressed directly to him. At this point, I don't understand why anyone would give this guy the benefit of the doubt. He just continues to disappoint.

With regard to the mayor, it is true that he botched things pretty good in the days leading up to Katrina, at least with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. On the other hand, he was the only person post-Katrina who seemed to have a realistic understanding of what was going on in New Orleans in his famous rant on the radio. The audio of his interview is here . The transcript can be found here, but you've really got to hear it to get the full effect. On balance, I have trouble blaming him but letting Brownie come off looking like he did nothing wrong...

[toasty]

Re: Michael Brown's Dinner

Also, the thing I like about Nagin's interview is that he said what he said without consideration of the political ramifications. Everyone else out there was looking to save their ass, and he's telling it like it is. His was the only description of the events in New Orleans that matched what we were seeing on TV...

[thesightless]

Re: Michael Brown's Dinner

even if it were addressed to him, he might have screeners, much like any higher up in any business. im can pretty much verify that no politician actually reads thier own emails. if so then i dont blame him. if not then he fucked up big time. give the president an email. im sure he will never actually read it.

[toasty]

Re: Michael Brown's Dinner

Are you related to this guy or something?

I'm sure if you or I sent an email to Mike Brown, or the President, or whomever, there are folks that handle that sort of correspondence. You can't tell me, however, that they don't have some sort of interoffice email system apart from those public addresses that they use to communicate internally. They have Blackberrys, which would be useless if other people had to filter through your email before you get to read it.

Suppose he was in a dinner meeting and his secretary was shielding him. Why the hell was he in a dinner meeting? There are times you can safely make yourself unavailable, and there are times you really ought to have your finger firmly on the pulse of what the hell is going on around you. Responding to Hurricane Katrina was most certainly the latter.

FFS, his job is to respond to emergencies, which I would imagine is the type of job with long periods of boredom interrupted by occasional bursts of fast paced activity. During one such burst, this dude is more concerned with whether he is going to be able to have time to have dessert with his dinner than with the emails he's receiving telling of the coming of the apocalypse. Sometimes, when I've got a case that's really heating up, I'll forget to eat lunch and might just have some crackers or something for dinner to keep me going -- and I'm not responding to something where people's lives hang in the balance. This clown sensed no urgency whatsoever.

IMO, Brown's response is indefensible.

[thesightless]

Re: Michael Brown's Dinner

lmao, no not related, just would feel bad if he got blamed for something he didnt know about at the time. to be honest i feel terrible for all those ppl. nature done fucked up their lives all together.