FROM WAGGING THE DOG

by Laura Rozen in the current Village Voice:

"FEMA management has been revealed in multiple news reports as staffed from top to bottom by Bush-Cheney campaign veterans, advance men, and political appointees rather than those with emergency management experience. Perhaps predictably, they defined their duties in the aftermath of Katrina as being about making the Bush administration response look effective. Indeed, a memo by FEMA chief Michael Brown leaked to the press directed employees to “convey a positive image of disaster operations to government officials, community organizations and the general public.”