Everything looks like a nail.
Alenda LuxAnd high-level screaming and whining isn't going to accomplish that. Examine what went wrong - what REALLY went wrong and not what people might think went wrong - and then fix that. Don't just grease the squeaky wheel - find out why the thing is squeaking in the first place, and fix all of the wheels.I'm not sure what it is with Washington that they believe there isn't a problem that they can't throw a lawyer at to solve. This was proven with the 9-11 Commission when, in an attempt to find out what went wrong with our intelligence organizations, we were given a panel of lawyers with absolutely no background in either intelligence or organizational theory. Indeed, the results show the disconnect that is bound to occur when you put people in charge of running organizations dealing with issues in which they have no relevant experience.
Michael Brown has also proven this at FEMA, and I think Michael Chertoff has as well at Homeland Security, though not as blatantly as Brown. But I don't think, even with the best leadership, that FEMA could pull off an adequate recovery effort without some semblance of local leadership, which was sorely lacking in New Orleans. Nevertheless, we need to fix FEMA.
And for God's sake, limit lawyer involvement. They're looking for who's at fault - NOT how best to create a working system. Or, as Tom Paxton put it:
One Million LawyersHow much, indeed? I think we're getting close to the limit.
Humankind has survived some disasters, I'm sure.
Like locusts and flash floods and flu.
There's never a moment when we've been secure
From the ills that the flesh is heir to.
If it isn't a war, it's some gruesome disease.
If it isn't disease, then it's war.
But there's worse still to come, and I'm asking you please
How the world's gonna take any more?(CHORUS:)
In ten years we're gonna have one million lawyers,
One million lawyers, one million lawyers.
In ten years we're gonna have one million lawyers.
How much can a poor nation stand?The world shook with dread of Atilla the Hun
As he conquered with fire and steel,
And Genghis and Kubla and all of the Kahns
Ground a groaning world under the heel.
Disaster, disaster, so what else is new?
We've suffered the worst and then some.
So I'm sorry to tell you, my suffering friends,
Of the terrible scourge still to come.(CHORUS)
(BREAK:)
Oh, a suffering world cries for mercy
As far as the eye can see.
Lawyers around every bend in the road,
Laywers in every tree,
Lawyers in restaurants, lawyers in clubs,
Lawyers behind every door,
Behind windows and potted plants, shade trees and shrubs,
Lawyers on pogo sticks, lawyers in politics!(CHORUS)
In spring there's tornadoes and rampaging floods,
In summer it's heat stroke and draught.
There's Ivy League football to ruin the fall,
It's a terrible scourge, without doubt.
There are blizzards to batter the shivering plain.
There are dust storms that strike, but far worse
Is the threat of disaster to shrivel the brain,
It's the threat of implacable curse.In ten years we're gonna have one million lawyers,
One million lawyers, one million lawyers.
In ten years we're gonna have one million lawyers.
How much can a poor nation stand?
How much can a poor nation stand?
J.
Comments (2)
The lack of management and oversight swirling around in the DC environment should not surprise anyone. Did FEMA and Homeland Security drop the ball? I really don't know. I, like the majority of the country was not there the day after the hurricane hit. We are forced to get information from news sources whose motives tend not just to provide information. If inadequacies and incompetance existed, then by all means let's remedy it at all governmental levels. Contingency plans are only valuable if competent individuals are willing to implement them and also be willing to think outside the box!
Posted by TimH | September 8, 2005 2:28 PM
Posted on September 8, 2005 14:28
Well, that's part of the problem, Tim. Our information is very incomplete.
Competency, in LA, seemed tied to whether or not they supported the political crony structures already in place - regardless of the effectiveness. You know as well as I that chains of command aren't supposed to be sidestepped - so when the Mayor and Governer dropped the ball it took a while to figure out what the proper response should be. The mayor, for what it's worth, has been doing some heavy-duty fingerpointing at the Governer. Frankly, if she'd ever been in the military I'd be surprised if she made it past First Lt. The leadership just wasn't there when it was needed.
Plans are only as good as the people who carry them out. The best evac plan in the world is worthless if there's nobody who'll do what it says.
J.
Posted by JLawson | September 8, 2005 10:40 PM
Posted on September 8, 2005 22:40