Someone Let the Kat out of the Bag

So the NYT reports that the white house knew about the breach of the levees on Monday night. There's quite a bit of backpeddling within the article about "conflicting reports" and the more baffling comment that with the outages even "news reporters in NO remained unaware of the full extent of the breaches until Tuesday."

Huh.

Baffling. Why? Because FEMA official, Marty Bahamonde, who heard about the major levee break on Monday morning, by the afternoon of Monday had hopped a Coast Guard helicopter to CONFIRM the 17th Street Canal breach and check out the flooding. Upon confirming the breach, he called FEMA - MONDAY NIGHT which in turn notified Homeland Security. Although the call's content isn't listed, an email is:

FYI from FEMA," said an e-mail message from the agency's public affairs staff describing the helicopter flight, sent Monday night at 9:27 to the chief of staff of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and recently unearthed by investigators. Conditions, the message said, "are far more serious than media reports are currently reflecting. Finding extensive flooding and more stranded people than they had thought — also a number of fires."

Monday night at 9:27.

And our bud, Brownie, confirms that he called the White Houste that night with that info but refused to id the person he talked to. Loyal to the end, that Brownie.

On Tuesday - Bush said NO had dodged a bullet. Chertoff flew to Atlanta to discuss the much more important bird flu.

You cannot say you didn't know something, you weren't aware of something when you did and you were. I am tired of these "leaders" soaking up the glory during the times of success and then turning around and saying golly. Didn't know. No one told me. I wasn't informed. It's like the Enron mess. You cannot grace the covers of national magazines touted as a leader of the future and give explicit details on how you manage your company and then when it all falls apart, say that all this stuff happened without your knowledge.

That's why you're paid the big bucks.
That's why you are put in charge - which by definition means that you know what's going on. It's you job to know.

It's your JOB TO KNOW. Just because you opt to continue vacationing during a national disaster does not exempt you from the RESPONSIBILTY of your position.

Do not pretend to be in touch when you aren't. Do not make crap up to cover your ass. It's a very bad example. It's hard enough getting my children to acknowledge their mistakes and accept responsibility for those mistakes when every example of a leader in this country is looking around with a look of perplexed misunderstanding say "wha? whatdidIdo? who me?" shoulders and arms positioned in a shrug.

You cannot say that you are tough, that you have integrity, that you are honorable if you are not man or woman enough to face the consquences of your screw ups. We all screw up. Admit it.

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