[Mb-civic] Definition of Incompetence

[Michael Butler]

Thanks to Natalie

>> 
>> Definition of Incompetence
>> 
>> 
>>       I don't know whether you saw President Bush's smirking speech
>> last evening, which today's Times calls "one of the worst speeches of
>> his life," or saw his pathetic interview this morning on Good Morning
>> America, in which he praised the comprehensive federal response to the
>> on-going disaster in New Orleans.  Both appearances make it painfully
>> clear that the worst president in American history and his thoroughly
>> incompetent administration continue to lead our sad country from one
>> disaster to another.
>> 
>> The president used his air time yesterday and today to lie  , there is no
>> softer word appropriate, to the American people about the catastrophe in
>> New Orleans and to dissemble about federal efforts to assist those in
>> need.  When the president says, as he said to Diane Sawyer this morning,
>> that no one could have predicted this, he is only demonstrating to a
>> watching world that he has no idea, NO IDEA, of what he is talking
>> about. It was predicted by experts on every cable channel starting last
>> Friday when Katrina set course for New Orleans as a Category 5
>> hurricane. 
>> 
>> Frankly, it's a pretty stupid lie, much easier to expose than a lie
>> about weapons of mass destruction.  In this case, most of the country
>> had seen people predicting this disaster, so the president just seems
>> out of touch.  What was worse last evening, however, was the giddy,
>> almost joyful, speech the president gave about how much the federal
>> government was doing to solve the crisis.  Does he really not watch  watch
TV?
>> Does his staff mislead him that much?  His casual, careless style was
>> beyond inappropriate.  It was obscene.
>> 
>> While claiming that no one could have predicted the disaster, he ignored
>> the fact that his own staff at FEMA warned him in 2001 that the flooding
>> of New Orleans was one of the three most likely catastrophic disasters
>> facing the nation. (A terrorist attack on New York was one of the other
>> three.)   Perhaps he was on vacation and didn't read their report.
>> 
>> But surely he noticed when the former Republican Congressman who headed
>> the Army Corps of Engineers protested the Bush cuts in the budget for
>> reinforcing the levees.  The president should remember -- he fired him.
>> 
>> 
>> And what were the cuts that led to the protest?  Worth reviewing,
>> perhaps?  President Bush cut federal flood control spending for
>> southeastern Louisiana from nearly $70 million in 2001 to less than $40
>> million  this year.  He cut an Army Corps of Engineers request for $27
>> million for hurricane protection for Lake Pontchartrain to less than $6
>> million.  As a result, for the first time in more than 37 years, work
>> had to stop on strengthening the very levee that broke this week.
>> Actions have consequences.  In this case, the consequences are the
>> destruction of a city, the loss of American lives and the
>> incomprehensible image being presented to the world of an American
>> government that appears to be led by a chief executive of such
>> incompetence that you wouldn't let him run a Laundromat yet alone a
>> government.
>> 
>> It gets worse.  The president cut completely the funding for research on
>> flooding, and he cut all funding for local and state authorities in
>> Louisiana to do a trial run of a disaster scenario.  Cutting taxes for
>> the wealthiest people in America and privatizing essential services were
>> more important than prepare  ng for a disaster that every expert was
>> predicting. 
>> 
>> What exactly do these Republican political operatives Bush has appointed
>> to jobs throughout the federal government do all day?   They certainly
>> don't do disaster planning.  How is it possible that four years after
>> 9-11 the Department of Homeland Security doesn't have plans in place to
>> evacuate every major metropolitan area in the country?  After spending
>> billions of dollars on homeland security, did no one think that it might
>> be necessary to evacuate large numbers of people after a disaster
>> strikes?  Why weren't tents, beds, trucks, boats being kept at the ready
>> for such an emergency?  Why were citizens urged to evacuate New Orleans,
>> but given no assistance if they were too sick, old, or immobile?  Why
>> were no provisions made for those without cars?  If there are no buses
>> in New Orleans, why wasn't FEMA deploying them from surrounding states  ?
>> Why wasn't the guard or the army directed to assist in the pre-hurricane
>> evacuation? 
>> 
>> Why, after all we know about the failure of communications on 9-11, are
>> the New Orleans police and fire department unable to communicate?  I
>> know the answer to that.  I'll tell you why.  Because the Bush
>> administration has opposed every effort to designate a band on the
>> communications spectrum for public safety purposes.  If you not
>> outraged, you're not paying attention.
>> 
>> In keeping with his policy of promoting incompetent people, Bush
>> appointed GOP lawyer Michael Brown to head FEMA, despite his complete
>> lack of experience in management or disaster relief.  Prior to joining
>> FEMA, Brown's only emergency management experience was as an assistant
>> city manager.  So why should we be surprised that FEMA is incapable of
>> getting water to people who have been waiting for it for four days?
>> This morning, the Navy annou  nced that a medical ship would be leaving
>> Baltimore for New Orleans tomorrow!  Why wasn't it sent last weekend?
>> What are all of the Louisiana National Guard's amphibious vehicles doing
>> in Iraq?  How much use is an amphibious vehicle in the desert?
>> 
>> I want to be clear about this.  George Bush is not responsible for the
>> hurricane.  But his budget priorities, appointment of political hacks to
>> jobs that require trained and experienced administrators, and his
>> care-free attitude in the face of a monumental crisis has created a
>> tragedy beyond human comprehension.   Why weren't federal troops sent to
>> help in the first hours after the levees broke?  Why aren't they there
>> today?  Why weren't ships pre-deployed in the area with pumps?  Why were
>> no hospital ships pre-deployed?
>> 
>> A friend of mine who lives in New Orleans called me this morning from
>> Baton Rouge.  His nephew, a fireman in New Orl  eans, told him last night
>> that they are tying dead bodies to trees so that they can be collected
>> at some point in the future.  He saw a baby die outside the Superdome
>> last night. There are people waiting in the wet streets of New Orleans
>> who haven't had a drink of water since Monday.  SINCE MONDAY.  Think
>> about that.  Why aren't Air Force planes dropping water bottles and
>> sandwiches?  How about some rafts for the thousands of people wading
>> through filthy water?  Has any president sat by so cavalierly while so
>> many Americans have suffered?  And then have the nerve to tell us, as
>> George Bush did last night, that this ordeal will make us stronger?  Not
>> since Herbert Hoover.
>> 
>> Why weren't the national guards of all the surrounding states
>> federalized and deployed to New Orleans and Biloxi within hours of the
>> hurricane's passing?  Why wasn't an aircraft carrier sent to the Gulf of
>> Mexico for  airlifting and housing refugees?  Why haven't commercial
>> cruise ships been commandeered as emergency housing?  Why are troops
>> only being mobilized today, days after the disaster was apparent to
>> anyone with a television set?
>> 
>> This isn't second-guessing.  All of these suggestions were part of a
>> plan developed while I worked at the Justice Department a decade ago, a
>> plan that clearly was not implemented by the Republican officials who
>> now have the jobs.
>> 
>> Actions have consequences.  Our vacation-hungry president's press
>> secretary said this morning that this isn't a time for pointing fingers.
>> Why not?  As people die and one of the world's great city lies in ruins,
>> when will it be time before our country realizes that this reckless and
>> arrogant dry drunk in the Oval Office has a lot to answer for?  He's
>> tanned and rested after clearing brush for a month.  But now he's on TV
>> calling this disaster "a  temporary disruption." That's what one prays
>> his presidency will be, a temporary disruption in our country's proud
>> history. 
>> 
>> I don't think I've been this saddened and angry since he made a mockery
>> of our constitution and stole the White House.  Please feel free to
>> share this with anyone you wish.
>> 
>>