Mike Brown has resigned as director of FEMA, and here's what cracks me up about the whole thing. When he was relieved of his duties in New Orleans the other day, DHS director Michael Chertoff said at the press conference that he was being sent back to Washington because other threats exist around the world and Brown was needed in Washington to help prepare for them. He actually said that with a straight face. Did anyone believe him? Was there a single person with an IQ above room temperature who didn't know that Brown would be fired or would quit within a few days of that? It's just another example of something that continually baffles me: politicians tell incredibly obvious lies to the press and the press just reports them without questioning them. It's what press secretaries do every single day, regardless of party, in front of the media. They tell lies. The reporters they're talking to all know that they're telling lies and no one says anything about it. And the public doesn't care at all.
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"And the public doesn't care at all"
And this is the saddest part of it for me. Realizing that so few people actually care enough about their civil responsibilities, through which they empower their rights, to make the effort to inform themselves. The upcoming elections, beginning here a week from today for me, are laced with intentionally misleading ads, deceptive textual claims, and outright lying in public pronouncements. Yet, as is so often shown, the public doesn't care nor will it make the effort to become knowledgeable. It is enormously frustrating to stay a good citizen.
The general public had better start caring. The disruption at the Port of New Orleans is going to cause problems all up and down the Mississippi River and its tributaries (the Missouri R to the west, and the Ohio and Tennessee Rs to the east.
I do not understand why Bush II did not keep James Witt on as head as FEMA. He actually had experience in disaster relief, before he was appointed head of the agency. Whether or not one believes that the FedGov should, from a constitutional standpoint, be involved in local disaster relief, it will continue. It would be nice if they did so with competent personnel.
Missed this...
DHS director Michael Chertoff said at the press conference that he was being sent back to Washington because other threats exist around the world...
Um, the mandate of FEMA is to address disasters that occur in the US. Threats that exist around the world are to be addressed by---the military.
I don't know who Chertoff is trying to kid, but he isn't kidding me.
Politicians say something to the press which they know is false. The press knows that this is false but reports it anyways. The public read it, knows that it is false, but accepts it anyways.
Reminds me of Dave Barry saying that he envied Soviet citizens, because they could safely presume that anything reported by Tass or in Pravda was false, whereas Americans can only be reasonably sure that what they read is false, due to the unfortunate possibility that the press may make a mistake and accidentally print something true.
Lemme tell you, the art of doublethink was one of the most important lessons I got from my poli sci classes.
Another sad fact about the Brown removal is that it appears he will be the only sacrificial lamb the Bush administration offers up...other than Southern Democrats.