FEMA: Led by Bush's Good Buddy, Brownie
Just in case you aren't aware that Bush chose his woefully inexperienced college pal Michael Brown to head FEMA, maybe you also need to know that Brown took the job after being fired for ineptitude and "alleged" improprieties while managing a horse breeding farm.
Yes, you read that right.
Brown couldn't oversee horses knocking up other horses. It was just too hard to master.
So get a load of this.
Today, when I went to volunteer at Kelly USA evacuee camp in San Antonio, the moment I walked in I noticed a hushed tone and looks of concern among most of the volunteers with whom I've become acquainted.
So subdued were they, I didn't plunge right in and ask what was up, instead I listened a while to see if I could figure out why these usually jolly souls were so somber.
Seems Bush's buddy Brownie decided to hand out $2,000 debit cards to all the adult evacuees.
The debit cards are basically prepaid charge cards that can be used for:
Buying clothing for job interviews
Renting an apartment
Renting a car for job searches
Feeding a family
Buying needed clothing, medicines or household items for said family
Traveling to destinations to join relatives in safe areas
And other sensible things.
But you see, a good portion of the evacuees are actively withdrawing from drug and alcohol abuse. Some are prostitutes, some are drug dealers, some are addicted to crack prostitutes, some are pimps, many have police records, and many multiple convictions behind them.
Alas, they can use their debit cards at ATM's to obtain cash, with which to purchase:
Gallons of Jim Beam, cases of beer or huge boxes of wine
Crack
Marijuana
Hookers
Fancy pimp outfits
Rented Pimpmobiles
Methamphetamine
Weapons
Cocaine
Heroin
Slim-jims and other car theft tools of the trade
etc.
At this point, I'd usually make the transition into creating colorful scenarios that would make it easy to envision the havoc that could be caused by a couple thousand drug addicts, alcoholics and crack addicts let loose on the streets with $2,000 in free money to spend.
But do I need to?
No. Let's all just breathe a collective groan of derision and point out, once again, that Bush is a fucking imbecile with the combination to the taxpayers' safe. Now it seems our brain addled little frat boy has shared the combination with his dimwitted pal Brownie.
All I know is, San Antonio streets just became a lot more dangerous tonight.
Tonight starts the period where we get reciprocation for all the times we Texans traveled to Mardi Gras to act up, get drunk, get high and puke on their streets.
It's payback time.
Thanks, Brownie.
Way to go.
24 comments:
I forgot to mention the GOOD NEWS!!
Bush has appointed himself the leader of the investigation into what went wrong with the Bush White House's response to Katrina.
Whew! I feel safer now, knowing Bush is going to make a fearless moral inventory of himself and his cohorts that cost the lives of tens of thousands of Americans.
And just like in the Valerie Plame case, I'm sure he's going to fire the people responsible. Well, not fire, but suspend. OK, maybe not suspend, but give a stern talking-to.
More likely, he'll have forgotten the whole thing by this weekend.
I think those "vacations"should be called what they more likely are: binges.
It takes him a week to recover and get anything done after he's had a "trip" to the ranch.
I still think we ought to piss test him after each vacation like they do randomly to all civil servants.
I firmly believe he's still a user and a boozer.
Is there an alternative? How does one decide who gets the money and who doesn't?
A month from now the addict will still be an addict. Should FEMA interview each applicant and say to the addict - nope, no cash for you but here's a voucher for rehab? Is that even possible?
Not trying to be inflammatory here - just confused. Thousands of people - upstanding displaced American citizens - need money now. If FEMA did not distribute those funds immediately, wouldn't there be an equally loud uproar about the federal government and red tape and withholding funds from those who so desperately need it? It's a lose-lose situation if you think about it, really.
I understand your concern about your city, but for every person who might not use the funds wisely, there are folks who want nothing more than to stand up with a little dignity, which that $2K just might help provide.
Again, thank you for everything you're doing down there. You are truly amazing for doing that!
I think FEMA did too little too late, then they tried to instantly solve the problem by throwing money at it.
They could have issued debit cards limited to travel or gasoline, rent, groceries (excluding alcohol), clothing or other essentials without giving the cards the ATM feature.
Or, the ATM feature could have been limited to $40 or $50 a day.
In Texas, food stamps no longer exist. Now recipients get "Lone Star" cards which can only be used for food purchases, not traded on the black market for drugs or other non food items.
Too little thought went into this quick fix solution, and the temptation for abuse is too high.
New Orleans has a gigantic heroin, crack and alcohol problem, disproportionately higher than most cities that size, and many of the evacuees are long term addicts or alcoholics.
Limiting the scope of what the cards could be used for would have been the most sensible approach.
This plays right into their plans...the "good" government gives $2K to the "poor souls" and look what those "animals" did - they spent it on drugs. For this reason, they need to be locked up in "safe" places...away from "proper" society.
Just watch - they will have these people in permanent detention and they will never get out.
MJ is right..its a lose lose situation..I have mixed feelings about the whole debit card thing. Good people will use it wisely, the rest will piss it away..but it is felony dumb to make it ATM friendly..I have been aware of Brownies illustrious employment history for some time..he is under intense scrutiny now thank god..the man is a bozo..
When Florida had that series of hurricanes last year, Dubya couldn't declare a state of emergency and send his brother Jeb kazillions of dollars fast enough.
But when it comes to Mississippi and Louisiana, besides Trent Lott, Bush must just consider them a bunch of poor folks who may have voted for him, but didn't contribute enough to his campaign coffers.
Watch how Lott gets his GOP pig snout in the trough first and sucks up most of the federal funds to rebuild Biloxi, Mississippi.
Bush and his crooked pals will fuck Louisiana Governor Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Nagin for being uppity. Hear me now and believe me later.
This is how the Bush clan works.
In Florida last year, they issued [based on your family size] debit cards to be used for food to many families that qualified for it. Difference is, the ATM feature was turned off, and they could only purchase approved items with the cards. No alcohol, tobacco products or ready-to-eat foods. Same as food stamps -- which they don't use in FL any more, either.
FEMA could have easily taken a little more time to do the same to these $2K cards they handed out, and prevented alot more bad press for the evacuees.
Well, of course they doled out cards that had the potential for abuse this time.
This is why Bush refuses to fire Karl Rove. The plan has his trademark filthy pawprints all over it.
Let them abuse the cards, then start blaming the victims- it's classic Rove.
One more reason to loathe these slimy bastards.
Nicked from Josh Marshall's Talking Points Blog:
"So let me see if I understand this. Brown's a Republican from the southwest. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress when he was thirty-three. Then he bounced from job to job, finally getting into the sports business in mid-life, before getting canned. And then he used connections to land himself a high-powered position in the federal government for which he had no apparent experience at all.
How could such a fellow possibly be in the Bush administration?"
Check this out:
CNN finally shows what a dimwit this Homeland Security Secretary Michael
Jerkoff is:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/03/katrina.chertoff/
Gee, who could have imagined floods following a hurricane in a zone below sea level??
Are these guys fucking kidding us?
Thought you might be interested in this for what it's worth...
According to my Red Cross deployment docs I just received, The Red Cross CAC cards that are being issued are preloaded MasterCard debit cards given to victims ("clients") and are NOT cash enabled i.e. no PIN#'s are issued with them. The photo's I have show the cards with "No Alcohol, Tobacco or Weapons" printed on the back AND the cards will be declined if a client attempts to use them at a liquor store or cigarette outlet.
Sounds like FEMA could have withheld the PIN#'s thereby disabling the ATM feature.
I finally have my DAT deployment date (Sat.) but I still don't know how or where...
The piss test isn't a bad idea but I'd really like to see a full scale independent psychological evaluation.
MJ that's good news.
I was reacting to what I'd heard fresh off the volunteer crew at Kelly USA.
Terrible:
I'd love to see them try to evaluate that petulant little prick- especially to see how long it takes to enrage him.
I bet I could do it within three minutes of questioning.
Whoops!
Seems Time Magazine has found considerable piles of marshmallow fluff in Brownie's resume.
Yep-he was about as qualified to run FEMA as I am to open a quantum physics research facility.
Methinks Karl Rove may have slipped Time Magazine the facts- the White House needed a scapegoat fast, and this Beaver Cleaver lookin' jackass is about as disposable as a used tampon.
He's likely to be Dixie Chicked pretty quick...but who was stupid enough to hire him?
Log on?
Oh, I wish you wouldn't have mentioned that. It's like an icepick to the eye.
at least the nimrod is not leading FEMA's hurricane team any longer..bush has found his scapegoat...
Yeah, but in true good ole' boy network style, Bush didn't just up and fire the clown, so he's still on the payroll.
More tax dollars being piddled away on one more useless Bush-appointed imbecile.
The moral:
You can lie like hell on your resume and if Bush likes you, it's okie dokie.
naah...brownie's as good a scapegoat as anyone at this point...all an effort to bolster Chimp's teflon image of everyone else being incompetent and he being the saviour of us all.
my granddaddy always told me (aside from never trusting a Halliburton Man) that you're known by the company you keep...Chimp surrounds himself with losers, incompetent boobs, scoundrels and corporate scumbags...what does that say about the Chimp?
Talked to my mom in Ft. Worth (yeah, i'm a texan too) this afternoon, and she said things are pretty freaking dire all the way to the metroplex. i'm just sad that so many innocent people had to lose their lives because of this supreme lack of stupidity and laziness on the part of our imperious leaders.
oh yeah...keep up with http://www.cursor.org
and http://www.mediamatters.org
pretty reliable tell-it-like-it-is watchdogs and news sources...
I'm lovin' this in.dog.neato.
Wish I could buy you a beer, pal.
har...you can thank pynt @ a view from the lake for my presence here these days...she n i are sort of an item...
glad to be another dissenting voice in a mass of otherwise oblivious dunderheads.
Well, you're always welcome here, daddy-o.
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