Competence at the highest levels

Time investigates Michael Browns resume.

Yeah… Let’s just say it’s not sterling.

Before joining FEMA, his only previous stint in emergency management, according to his bio posted on FEMA’s website, was “serving as an assistant city manager with emergency services oversight.” The White House press release from 2001 stated that Brown worked for the city of Edmond, Okla., from 1975 to 1978 “overseeing the emergency services division.” In fact, according to Claudia Deakins, head of public relations for the city of Edmond, Brown was an “assistant to the city manager” from 1977 to 1980, not a manager himself, and had no authority over other employees. “The assistant is more like an intern,” she told TIME. “Department heads did not report to him.” Brown did do a good job at his humble position, however, according to his boss. “Yes. Mike Brown worked for me. He was my administrative assistant. He was a student at Central State University,” recalls former city manager Bill Dashner. “Mike used to handle a lot of details. Every now and again I’d ask him to write me a speech. He was very loyal. He was always on time. He always had on a suit and a starched white shirt.”

You can see how ‘Assistant city manager’ and ‘Assitant to the city manager’ would be easy to confuse.

Under the “honors and awards” section of his profile at FindLaw.com — which is information on the legal website provided by lawyers or their offices—he lists “Outstanding Political Science Professor, Central State University”. However, Brown “wasn’t a professor here, he was only a student here,” says Charles Johnson, News Bureau Director in the University Relations office at the University of Central Oklahoma

Not only is he clearly incompetent (did you see him on the news saying he had no idea there were people at the convention center?) he’s also an unqualified liar.

And he’s still employed because….

Katrina, again and again and again

At some point I’ll probably stop posting these things, but now I feel like every picture and every story needs to be repeated and spread as much as possible. Each one horrifies me a little differently but each personal empathy brings me a little closer to understanding exactly what happened. In a stark technical sense I know exactly what happened of course. But there’s a deep divide between that barren factual knowledge and the gritty reality on the ground. The only way to bridge that divide is to keep replacing the overview with the details until you can map the two together.

So it’s more Katrina pictures, and accounts.

Two Conference Attendees stuck in New Orleans.

This is the same set I linked to yesterday but he keeps adding pictures.

A different set of Astrodome pictures.

Pictures of people affected by the hurricane.

More pictures from the astrodome

Another Astrodome set, and another, and another, and another (note this picture of a noteboard for people trying to find missing family members) , and another (including this sad picture).

New Orleans itself, More in New Orleans, Pictures pulled from various sources.

The astrodome is locked up tight.

Boing Boing has lots of stuff up about Katrina: Sleeping in the Astrodome, The Austin convention center, Notes on cleanup, FEMA Detainment camp.

UPDATE: Ali sent This and Kim’s dad posted something here. If there’s anything I missed here go ahead and post the link in comments.

Trap Muzik

Rapper TI on his fund raising for donations:

“I called everybody’s bluff who be talking all that ballin’ sh–,” T.I. said. “Popping all them bottles in the club … talking about how much girls and jewelry and cars they got. Let’s see how much money they’ve got for a good cause. Basically, I told everybody to put their money where their mouths are, and if you ain’t got no money to give to the cause, I don’t want to hear that sh– no more.”

Amen.

Astrodome Panorama

Astrodome Panorama

Originally uploaded by ewedistrict.

A panorama of the Astrodome, from the same set as the one below.

Astrodome Floor

Astrodome Floor

Originally uploaded by zcasper.

A close up of the Astrodome floor, there’s a whole set of Pictures from inside the astrodome.

Astrodome center

Astrodome center

Originally uploaded by ioerror.

Inside the astrodome. Jacob Appelbaum is there, and taking pictures.

Flee butterflies!

Lists

It’s true that I am delirious, but I’m pretty sure that George Bush made nature the enemy in one of his speeches. Not everything is either ally or enemy. Lying in bed this morning, not sleeping, I worried that George Bush might get wind of the butterfly effect — the idea that a butterfly flapping its wings in China can create a hurricane in the Gulf. His response would be to invade China to kill all the enemy butterflies.

More katrina

Lost children:

In the chaos that was Causeway Boulevard, this group of refugees stood out: a 6-year-old boy walking down the road, holding a 5-month-old, surrounded by five toddlers who followed him around as if he were their leader.

They were holding hands. Three of the children were about 2 years old, and one was wearing only diapers. A 3-year-old girl, who wore colorful barrettes on the ends of her braids, had her 14-month-old brother in tow. The 6-year-old spoke for all of them, and he told rescuers his name was Deamonte Love.

Humanity

More on Katrina:

Helping Locally, volunteering in Phoenix. Which is good because The first wave of refugees arrived here today. At the moment the red cross doesn’t want donations brought directly to veterans memorial coliseum because they can’t accept them. Watch here for more information.

Jabbor Gibson:

Eighteen-year-old Jabbor Gibson jumped aboard the bus as it sat abandoned on a street in New Orleans and took control.

“I just took the bus and drove all the way here…seven hours straight,’ Gibson admitted. “I hadn’t ever drove a bus.”

The teen packed it full of complete strangers and drove to Houston. He beat thousands of evacuees slated to arrive there.

“I t’s better than being in New Orleans,” said fellow passenger Albert McClaud, “we want to be somewhere where we’re safe.”

During a long and impatient delay, children popped their heads out of bus windows and mothers clutched their babies.

One 8-day-old infant spent the first days of his life surrounded by chaos. He’s one of the many who are homeless and hungry.

Authorities eventually allowed the renegade passengers inside the dome. But the 18-year-old who ensured their safety could find himself in a world of trouble for stealing the school bus.

“I dont care if I get blamed for it ,” Gibson said, “as long as I saved my people.”

I’m assuming by world of trouble they mean: Treated like an american hero, because that’s really the only thing that makes sense.

Behind the scenes at the Houston Convention center. A first person account of processing donations.

Tales of Relief

Stories from Orange texas, where evacuees stop on their way to various points in texas. You see a lot about looting and lawlessness, it’s nice to read about humanity and compassion instead.