Because Lack of Competence Should Never Be a Barrier
Posted on November 25, 2005 Posted by John Scalzi 13 Comments
Former FEMA head Mike Brown is starting a disaster preparedness consulting firm. This is like Joseph Hazelwood opening up an oil tanker driving school. What really gets me is this quote:
Brown said officials need to "take inventory" of what’s going on in a disaster to be able to answer questions to avoid appearing unaware of how serious a situation is.
It’s evident that Brown knows how to appear unaware of how serious a situation is; what’s not in evidence is that he knows how to avoid the same, or can teach that skill to others. Nevertheless, Brown says he’s already gotten interest from firms. You’ll know who they are when their spokespeople appear glassy-eyed and sweaty after their next corporate disaster, claiming the now is not the time to place blame, and then blaming the victims of the disaster five seconds later. Yes, yes, that’s certainly a skill to have.
Denial, incompetence, victim-blaming, and uncontrollable acts of avarice are all top qualities of the Modern Republican. I’m suprised he wasn’t offered an ivory tower at the Brookings Institute.
Ex-FEMA head to start consulting business
Ex- FEMA Director Michael Brown, criticized for his agency?s slow response to Hurricane Katrina, is
The only way this story could get better is if the company that had showed interest engaged his services, and turned out to be a subsidiary of Haliburton.
K
Sounds to me like he is simply selling his services as a scapegoat for bloated corporate indifference. If the coporations hire him for his consulting then they can simply point to him when it all falls apart and he can shrug his shoulders and make the “OOps?” sign with his eyes. Everyone gets mad at Brown….ignores the hand up his puppet-hole and the scam continues unfettered by liability.
It’s just a stop-gap measure for international corporate interests. Very soon, laws will be passed that make suing corporations for gross negligence something our grandparents used to do for fun. Isn’t that the way it always goes? If you make anything fun, someone will eventually come along and make it illegal.
America has become as bad as the government our colonial forefathers overthrew. Only traitors would allow this to happen: http://www.mixposure.com/song.php?songid=14027.
Do you think even the Arabian Horse Association would hire him?
Possibly, as long as the job involved a shovel.
Two ways to read this headline –
1) Brownie will be consulting on how to prepare for disasters, or
2) How to plan disasters based on his experience – including tips on shopping at Nordstrom’s, getting restaurant reservations and sucking up to bosses who are equally incompetent.
He might as well join a cable channel and be the chef who prepares the recipe for disasters.
I had to fight to keep myself from screaming obscenities when I first read this post this morning. (I take a lot of the Michael Brown BS personally, because my parents are still waiting for some word on FEMA assistance.) Is there anyone in this Administration’s history that doesn’t know how to fail upwards?
Minutes after Brownie releases his client list, I expect to release my “Companies You Should Short” list.
I think comparing Mike Brown to Joseph Hazelwood is a bit unfair – to Hazelwood.
Actually, as Bob said, this is a great negative indicator. If you found out your company had hired him, you’d know it was time to dust off your resume, wouldn’t you?
Let me guess, this shows how the Bush Administration is helping start small business entrepreneurs on the road to success. All this while FEMA tries to roust the victims of Katrina out of emergency housing.