FEMA=Felons, Election hacks, Morons, Assholes

"Brownie"'s bad enough, but to give you an idea of the level of dingbat at the top of the FEMA slag heap, here's something Oyster came across:

Top FEMA Deputies Make Brown Look Qualified
If Bush were to fire FEMA director Mike Brown the agency would be run by the Chief of Staff and the Deputy Chief of Staff. (See the FEMA organizational chart).

The Chief of Staff is a guy named Patrick Rhode. He planned events for President Bush’s campaign. Rhode has no emergency management experience whatsoever. From Rhode’s official bio:

His first position with the Bush Administration was as special assistant to the President and deputy director of National Advance Operations, a position he assumed in January 2001. Previously, Mr. Rhode served as deputy director of National Advance Operations for the George W. Bush Presidential Campaign, in Austin, Texas

.
The Deputy Chief of Staff is Scott Morris. He was a press flak for Bush’s presidential campaign. Previously, he worked for the company that produced Bush’s campaign commercials. He also has no emergency management experience. From Morris’s official bio:

Mr. Morris was also the marketing director for the world’s leading provider of e-business applications software in California, and worked for Maverick Media in Austin, Texas as a media strategist for the George W. Bush for President primary campaign and the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign.

These guys make Brown look qualified. And that’s no small feat.

Meanwhile, a close friend of my who's originally from Livingston Parish (east of Baton Rouge) sent me the text of an article that appears here (however, it's behind a free-registration page):

Livingston Parish has been struggling to provide assistance to thousands of evacuees staying in shelters and motels or living with local families and doing it mostly with local resources, Parish President Mike Grimmer said.

"FEMA is a four-letter word around here," said Parish President Mike Grimmer, who was hoping to meet with a FEMA representative Tuesday for the first time since Hurricane Katrina hit more than a week ago.

Update: Sorry--I'm trying to balance about twenty different things right now--I meant to add that Livingston is about as Red State as it gets in Louisiana (my friend, however, is a wonderful person and has strong resistance to such things). When LIVINGSTON is slamming the administration, it should make Messrs. Rove, Cheney, and Bartlett shudder.