Brown Got Railroaded? Not likely.

I know its a little late to still be bitching about Hurricane Katrina, but this really pisses me off. Anyone who says that FEMA's response was the best they could do given the information they have is dead wrong. Marty Bahamonde, a FEMA official testified before a Senate committee earlier this month. And he says he was in the thick of it, in the Superdome, with people dying and shitting in hallways and starving to death. Luckily he had his blackberry that was amazingly still working. He sent the word out soon as the situation got bad. He was met with a polite thank you or nothing at all. He did, however, get a directive from FEMA director Michael Brown's press secretary, Sharon Worthy, regarding His Holiness's eating schedule. From
USATODAY.com:

"Worthy wrote that 'it is very important that time is allowed for Mr. Brown to eat dinner' in Baton Rouge. She went on to express concern that Brown should be allotted plenty of time in his schedule because 'restaurants are getting busy.'

Bahamonde, who received a copy of the e-mail at the time, wrote a reply that said, 'OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!', according to an e-mail transcript. 'Just tell her that I just ate an MRE and (went to the bathroom) in the hallway of the Superdome along with 30,000 other close friends so I understand her concern about busy restaurants.' "

Michael Brown should be held personally responsible for the deaths along the Gulf Coast. I know that one man can't save everyone's life, but his job was to manage federal emergencies. Isn't that what FEMA stands for? Of course part of the blame rests on the shoulders of N.O. Mayor Ray "Come help or I'll curse" Nagin, or LA Governor/Deer-In-Headlights Kathleen Blanco. They knew the city was one storm away from devastation, but did they get everyone ready? Part of the blame also goes to the residents of New Orleans who stayed. Poor, homeless or whatever, you have to do what you can to survive. It has nothing to do with money. And finally, the blame also goes to Hurricane Katrina, for breaking the levee. Had the levee not broke, things would not have been so bad. I'm sure somewhere along the line, somebody knew the levee would not hold, but emergency officials probably had no reason to think it wouldn't.

Like they say, hindsight is 20/20. The city needs to learn from the mistakes of the past, and not repeat them.

What do you think? Hit comments and release your inner Michael Moore.