I've been thinking a lot about the FEMA mess in NOLA. Everyone has piled on Brownie and much of it was deserving but I have a few observations. First, would anyone else have been more capable to handle things in NOLA, considering the problems in that existed in New Orleans before Katrina?

Brownie called NOLA dysfunctional, I think he was being generous and I'm not the only one.

It's easy to dismiss Brown's statement to a congressional committee investigating the Katrina response as an attempt to deflect blame for his agency's bureaucratic blunders and snafus on others — in this case Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

But as we've noted on this page, the failure of state and local officials to adequately address the levee situation over decades is well-documented.

One need only revisit events such as 200 buses sitting idle in a flooded city lot or the blocking of an American Red Cross relief convoy from reaching the New Orleans Superdome, to accept the premise that there's enough blame to go around.

As we've also noted, nine months before Katrina, three officials of Louisiana's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness were indicted for obstructing an audit of the use, or misuse, of federal funds for flood-mitigation activities.

Louisiana ranks third in the nation in the number of indicted officials per capita. Just the past generation has seen a governor, an attorney general, a federal judge, a state Senate president and a swarm of local officials convicted of assorted crimes.

Considering all the problems associated with the officials in Louisiana, is it any surprise that the shit hit the fan when Katrina blew in?

I'm not defending Brownie because I think he's great, just the opposite, but isn't it curious that he became incapable of doing a job that he did just fine a year ago? Last year, Florida got nailed 4 times by some pretty nasty hurricanes and Brownie managed them without any performance complaints.

Why weren't there any FEMA horror stories after Hurricane Rita slammed into Texas? Some would argue that the agency had learned the lessons of Katrina.

But then how do we explain the fact that there were no horror stories after Florida was hit with four hurricanes — Charley, Francis, Ivan and Jeanne — last year? In fact, President Bush was criticized for responding too fast in order to help his re-election chances.

Mike Brown may deserve criticism for his performance. But given the corruption and malfeasance in the Pelican State, and the lack of preparedness and chaotic response of local officials, his observation that "Louisiana was dysfunctional" may not be far off the mark.

My concern now is the rebuilding. I don't want to just start throwing money at NOLA when their history of corruption isn't exactly history, yet. New Orleans is a city with a barely functioning government, a corrupt police force and haven for crime and poverty. And jazz. All of it sitting below sea level.

Is that what we are rebuilding? We need someone that knows how to build and manage money in there supervising or we'll get more of the same. I don't know about you but I don't want to invest in a sinkhole, literally or figuratively speaking. Do you?

I want The Donald to run the rebuilding.

Nominate Trump!!!!

(Via The Professor)