michael brown

probably the most stunning thing i have learned over the past week, is the background of michael brown, director of FEMA. brown was appointed to FEMA with no comparable experience. his only qualification, as far as anyone can tell, is that he was college roommate with joseph allbaugh, the prior director of FEMA. (allbaugh, by the way, apparently got the job because he was a big donor to bush's presidential campaign).

brown lost his prior job position as commissioner of the international arabian horse association, "a Colorado-based group that organizes breeders and horse shows." he lost the job when he was forced to resign "after a spate of lawsuits over alleged supervision failures."

let that sink in: the man our president put in charge of managing the federal response to national disasters had lost his prior job because of his supervision failures.

the straw that broke the camel's back, however, was not a mere "supervision failure," but rather a charge of corruption:

Former association board member Karl V. Hart of Florida alleges that in 2000 Brown improperly accepted a check for nearly $50,000 from a prominent breeder and put it toward his own legal defense for his work as commissioner. Board members thought this was improper because Brown already had protection, from the association's legal team, Hart said.

(i should note that another board member, tom connelly, claimed the whole misappropriated fund thing was just a misunderstanding. accordingly to connelly, brown used the money for his own legal defense fund because the organization was getting sued so much, he was afraid it would stop paying his legal expenses. why that makes it not improper is a mystery to me)

that's the guy who the president put in charge of responding to national disasters and distributing aid money. stunning.

and what did the president have to say as michael brown fumbled through this week's disaster:

Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job

to which kate hale, former miami-dade emergency management chief replied:

He's done a hell of a job, because I'’m not aware of any Arabian horses being killed in this storm.

(note: many of the links ripped off from billmon. i usually don't like just rewriting what someone else has already done, but i couldn't resist with this one)