Thursday, November 03, 2005

More Cronyism and Incompetence

Busy day today....just switched from DSL to Time Warner cable and so far so good. I'm running about double the speed I was before...pretty darn fast.
I did find this in my quick sweep of the news. I am dumbfounded at the kinds of people we have or have had in important positions in this administration and from the looks of things Bush is continuing to appoint morons and cronies and doesn't appear to learn from past mistakes. He's as thick as a brick.

From Truthout:

President Bush last week appointed nine campaign contributors, including three longtime fund-raisers, to his Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, a 16-member panel of individuals from the private sector who advise the president on the quality and effectiveness of US intelligence efforts.

Add Ellen Sauerbrey to President Bush's growing list of appointments based on cronyism instead of qualifications. Bush wants her to be assistant secretary of state in charge of the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.. What is the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration? Think FEMA for the world. With about a $1 billion-a-year budget, the agency responds to refugee and humanitarian crises Food, medical help, relocation, security. Ellen Sauerbrey is a Bush campaigner, former state legislature, and current Bush appointee to the UN's Commission on Women. Ms. Sauerbrey has no experience providing aid to victims of natural disaster or political persecution, or those displaced by war.

And an interesting tidbit showing the character of Micheal Brown:

From the Smoking Gun:

More "Brownie" Buffoonery

In Katrina's midst, ex-FEMA boss sent embarrassing e-mails

NOVEMBER 3--As Michael "Brownie" Brown was botching the federal emergency response to Hurricane Katrina, the ousted FEMA director sent a series of embarrassing e-mails to colleagues discussing his appearance, the care of his dog, and, as the storm was making landfall, his desire to "quit" and "go home." Copies of Brown's e-mails were just provided by Department of Homeland Security officials to a congressional panel examining the government's disaster response (a sampling of that correspondence can be found below). On August 29, as Katrina was striking the Gulf Coast, Brown responded to a compliment on a TV appearance by stating, "I got it at Nordsstroms...Are you proud of me? Can I quit now? Can I go home?" An hour later, Brown wrote about his government-issued wardrobe: "If you'll look at my lovely FEMA attire you'll really vomit. I am a fashion god." Other messages dealt with Brown's need for a dog sitter, how the hurricane had "trapped" him in his job, and his press secretary's suggestion that he should roll up his shirtsleeves because "on TV you just need to look more hard-working." And on September 6, as the Army Corps of Engineers began pumping water from New Orleans, Brown offered his press flack helpful advice on ordering at Sonic: "Order a #2, tater tots, large diet cherry limeade."