Brown out in DC, and Black out in LA
Punnish ironies abound, as Mike Brown, (former) head of FEMA, resigns... and Los Angeles electricity goes black. Related? Probably not, but it makes for an amusing headline.
Brown's resignation was no surprise; he's been weathering heavy fire as the scapegoat for mishandling of emergency efforts in the wake of Katrina, but what's going on in LA is still a mystery. Yesterday, ABC aired a supposed tape by someone claiming to be an Al Qaida member, threatening in an impeccable American accent to hit LA... and Melbourne (of all places!)
Addendum: As of thirty minutes ago (17:44:24 EDT), Brown's profile was de-linked from the FEMA "Senior Staff Bios". Listed as "Acting Under Secretary" is R. David Paulison.
Michael Brown: “The Office” Come to Life
Nice. By now, we've all heard that under-fire FEMA head Michael Brown's most recent non-government gig was the much-ridiculed, "commissioner of judges and stewards for the International Arabian Horse Association."
The official FEMA bio doesn't mention his 11 years in the horsey biz. Or say anything about his having been "asked to resign" from that job, "after a spate of lawsuits over alleged supervision failures." (Boston Globe)
What it does say is, "his background in state and local government also includes serving as an assistant city manager with emergency services oversight and as a city councilman."
Turns out 'ol Mikey has a bit of a Dwight Schrute complex. On NBC's version of "The Office", Shrute claims to be the "assistant regional manager", and is constantly reminded he is actually the assistant to the regional manager.
Brown had a similar prepositional problem. Yesterday's Time.com article says,
In fact, according to Claudia Deakins, head of public relations for the city of Edmond, Brown was an "assistant to the city manager" from 1977 to 1980, not a manager himself, and had no authority over other employees. "The assistant is more like an intern," she told TIME. "Department heads did not report to him." Brown did do a good job at his humble position, however, according to his boss. "Yes. Mike Brown worked for me. He was my administrative assistant. He was a student at Central State University," recalls former city manager Bill Dashner. "Mike used to handle a lot of details. Every now and again I'd ask him to write me a speech. He was very loyal. He was always on time. He always had on a suit and a starched white shirt."
See, also:
- The Daily Kos 2 September 2005
Technorati Tags: Michael Brown, FEMA, Hurricane Katrina, The Office
Where will they all go?
According to the 2000 Census, there are (or were) over 480,000 people in the city of New Orleans. With at least 80% of the city underwater, and a government-ordered evacuation, where will all those displaced people end up? Today, tens of thousands of evacuees began being bused 300 miles from the Superdome to the Houston Astrodome, but by early evening Houston officials said they had reached capacity, or as CNN.com's new screaming banner announced, "ASTRODOME: NO MORE ROOM!"
San Antonio may be next, and then where? Will there be refugee camps set up for months and months, while the Big Easy dries out and rebuilds?
The Boston Globe reports that rebuilding NOLA may cost the staggering amount of over $75 billion. And that's just part of the cost of the devastation wrought by Katrina. Along the Mississippi coast, entire towns were said to have been wiped out, and no one has a real clue on the loss of life there. The final tally of human suffering has yet to be imagined.
Take a gander at this frightful photo taken on August 31, from a Navy helicopter of the flooding around downtown New Orleans, including the Superdome. (Original at: http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=27553)
addendum: Dateline NBC is reporting that as many as 750,000 people are displaced and "on the move" right now.
Technorati Tags: New Orleans, Hurricane, Hurricane Katrina, Katrina
Int’l Blogging for Disaster Relief Day
It's the stuff of nightmares: the destruction, death and displaced lives left in wake of Hurricane Katrina. One blogger, Andy Carvin, "tossing and turning in his bed" last night hit upon an inspiration: unilaterally declare tomorrow "International Blogging for Disaster Relief Day."
In the recent past, the Internet has been a mainstay of up-to-the-second reporting on events, particularly catastrophes like the tsunami of the past year. The response to Katrina has been slow to develop, so spread the word and contribute what you can to charitable groups such as the Red Cross or your local relief efforts.
See:
- FEMA Donations list
- Katrina Help Wiki
- Andy Carvin's entry into his Waste of Bandwidth Blog
- Katrina's Aftermath Blog, also by Andy Carvin, listing latest updates.
- News.com Blogma post about Blogging for Disaster Relief Day
Technorati Tags: Disaster relief, Hurricane, International Blogging for Disaster Relief Day, Katrina
When Mac Users Attack
Last month, I sent a note to a friend in DC that the Henrico County, Virginia school district was planning to sell off 1000-odd four-year-old iBooks for $50 each to the general public. Noting their age and potential problems, I added, "It's about a 2 hour drive from DC, so I dunno if it's worth it..."
Soon after, however, it became apparent that the sale would draw a huge crowd, as word spread across the Internet, and people from around the US started making plans to show up. Under fire from local taxpayers (who had kinda paid for these laptops already), the County Board of Supervisors amended the County Code to allow only Henrico residents to buy the used iBooks.
Even still, moved to the bigger venue at the Richmond International Raceway complex, a mob scene ensued, as thousands of people rushed the entrance as soon as the gate opened this morning at 7am. In all, police estimate nearly 5,500 people showed up. Some were trampled, and others were taken away due to heat stroke. One woman, apparently so intent on getting her iBook refused to leave the line to relieve herself, and pulled a Fergie-Black-Eyed-Pee-Pee. One genius tried to ram his way through the crowd, using his car.
Sad part of the whole thing? According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, "Students and teachers will be getting new Dell computers this school year."
An NBC newsreport (RealMedia) from the scene captured the chaos.
See also: