News What job opportunities are available for former FEMA director Michael Brown?

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Michael Brown, the former FEMA director, was focused on his public image during Hurricane Katrina, as revealed by emails released by a House panel. Despite the chaos reported by FEMA officials on the ground, Brown engaged in lighthearted exchanges about his appearance, indicating a lack of urgency in addressing the disaster. Critics highlight his eagerness to resign and question his competence, suggesting that he was unfit for the role given the gravity of the situation. The discussion also touches on the legality of accessing Brown's emails, with concerns about privacy and the appropriateness of monitoring communications sent from a government email account. Participants debate the implications of appointing individuals to high-stakes positions without the necessary qualifications, emphasizing the serious consequences of incompetence in disaster management.
rachmaninoff
What was Michael Brown doing when Katrina hit? A House panel released some of his emails from that day:

...The e-mails show that Brown, who had been planning to step down from his post when the storm hit, was preoccupied with his image on television even as one of the first FEMA officials to arrive in New Orleans, Marty Bahamonde, was reporting a crisis situation of increasing chaos to FEMA officials.

"My eyes must certainly be deceiving me. You look fabulous — and I'm not talking the makeup," writes Cindy Taylor, FEMA's deputy director of public affairs to Brown on 7:10 a.m. local time on Aug. 29.

"I got it at Nordstroms," Brown writes back. "Are you proud of me? Can I quit now? Can I go home?" An hour later, Brown adds: "If you'll look at my lovely FEMA attire, you'll really vomit. I am a fashion god."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051103/ap_on_go_co/fema_brown

Spin on this, Scott McClellan!
 
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I've been having to say this more and more frequently in recent years:

"No, this is not a parody from the Onion. It's real."
 
I wonder why he was so eager to quit.. He was doing a great job, just as he said he would the day before the hurricane Katrina came ashore in the United States:

"FEMA is not going to hesitate at all in this storm. We are not going to sit back and make this a bureaucratic process. We are going to move fast, we are going to move quick, and we are going to do whatever it takes to help disaster victims." -FEMA Director Michael Brown, Aug. 28, 2005
 
haha so I guess we're hiring people to posts that they don't even want to do?

But actually, what are they doing leafing through his personal emails? I'm sure the ACLU will be all over this as it is seemingly a huge invasion of privacy.
 
Pengwuino said:
haha so I guess we're hiring people to posts that they don't even want to do?

No the word you are looking for is "appointing". To hire implies that you expect work to be done. Appointing is used to fill chairs with people who will laugh at your joke attempts.
 
Mental Gridlock said:
No the word you are looking for is "appointing". To hire implies that you expect work to be done. Appointing is used to fill chairs with people who will laugh at your joke attempts.

then he should have quit. Or in this case, "resigned". Nothign in the constitution saying you are forced to be a competant government employee :-p
 
Pengwuino said:
then he should have quit. Or in this case, "resigned". Nothign in the constitution saying you are forced to be a competant government employee :-p
The Constitution doesn't explicitly prohibit rape either. Does that make it ok? See, in the most basic sense, rape interferes with another person's rights. If the government official in charge of disaster relief is incompetent, he is interfering with people's rights to live. It's his job to (competently) supply people with relief after a hurricane hits, and when he can't do it because he was appointed in spite of his lack of experience, it's not just a matter of "oh, I screwed up. I'll just resign now." People die.
 
I think you're missing my point... if he didn't like his job... why didn't he resign sooner?
 
Pengwuino said:
haha so I guess we're hiring people to posts that they don't even want to do?

But actually, what are they doing leafing through his personal emails? I'm sure the ACLU will be all over this as it is seemingly a huge invasion of privacy.
Point to keep in mind - your 'personal' E-Mails are E-mails you send from your own computer. E-mails sent from your employer's computer using your employer's e-mail service are not your own 'personal' E-mails. Your employer has a right to ban the jokes that tend to make the rounds (they can theoretically clog up the server with worthless messages), to ban employees from surfing the net for porn, playing games on company computers, surfing the net to accomplish their own personal business, etc.

Technically, your employer can monitor and regulate just about anything you do on your computer at work, should they decide to do so. It's not exactly a great morale booster to take this as far as an employer could legally take it - especially if the alternative to allowing employees to take care of some personal business at work is having the employee take off of work to run to the bank, etc.
 
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Pengwuino said:
I think you're missing my point... if he didn't like his job... why didn't he resign sooner?
Where is he going to find a job that pays as well as FEMA director? Check out his background - he doesn't exactly have a stellar resume. For the most part, he's gotten by in life by who he knows. The transition from 'knowing important people' to being 'someone people know' isn't exactly going to enhance his job opportunities.
 

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