Katrina Continued .........

New Orleans Mayor to Force Remaining Residents to Leave City
Can he legally? Should he?

Refugee Term angers residents
Are they refugees? Yes and no. The term refugee, especially in this country, the so called "melting pot", has probably been overused and misused. We are used to it meaning a person fleeing religious and political persecution. Alternate terms include "evacuee", which is also applicable. They have been forced to "evacuate" their homes due to a natural disaster, and they are now seeking "refuge" somewhere else. So what do you say we call them "refuge seeking evacuees"? Geez political correctness is such a chore. What would you call the opposite of a "fish out of water" anyway? I do know what we can call those who DON'T want to leave - refusees!

FEMA Boss a Total Loss
Only AFTER Katrina struck did Michael Brown first send a "proposal" of what he thought should be done and how. Browns memo described Katrina as "this near catastrophic event" but otherwise lacked any urgent language. The memo politely ended, "Thank you for your consideration in helping us to meet our responsibilities." Employees were told that among their duties, they would be expected to "convey a positive image of disaster operations to government officials, community organizations and the general public."
So the over educated , but underqualified Brown knew how to put the "proper spin" on a story, but when it came to action he was woefully inadequate. Its not he first failure either. No, Brown was previously fired, asked to resign, "pushed out" or just "left" (whatever) from that most demanding, most important, most qualifying of all jobs in the world, that of "overseer" of horse shows! Yep During the 1990s, Brown served as commissioner of judges and stewards for the International Arabian Horse Association. This obviously left him well qualified for his job as FEMA boss because as reporters quote Kate Hale, former Miami-Dade emergency management chief: "He's done a hell of a job, because I'm not aware of any Arabian horses being killed in this storm.
Having said all that though, just how DID he get the job at FEMA? Well here's a simple, quick, how to on getting a job you don't deserve and it goes on each and every day throughout the world. And that is: Brown knew Joseph Allbaugh, President Bush's 2000 campaign manager. Allbaugh took over FEMA in 2001, and hired Brown, his old Oklahoma college roommate as general counsel. Allbaugh left FEMA in 2003 to work for the president's re-election campaign and guess who got the nod at FEMA? Yeah, him ...... cronyism at its worst.

Iran Offers 20 Million Barrels of Oil in Aid to U.S.
Of course it was predicated on the U.S. lifting trade sanctions against Iran, and of course the United States rejected the offer. It was unfortunate that Iran saw the need to attach strings such as it did, because had they not, and combined with Cuba's offer of medical help previously, together they could have gone a long way toward making the U.S. look even more Demonic to its detractors. Kind of like a "see we are more humanitarian than the self righteous America" etc. etc. But they blew it, big time. Instead they made themselves look like exactly what America portrays them as. Too bad ......