Pot and Kettle Conundrum?
Today Michael Brown pointed fingers back at city and state officials for their failures to respond properly to Katrina. He's right, but a more humble approach might have been more appropriate, because he's not entirely innocent here either. The most appalling--and funny--thing that happened today though was that after Brown spoke, he was attacked--screamed at really-- by a Democrat Congressman from Louisiana--William Jefferson.

Maybe you don't know who this dude is, but I do....and the National Guardsmen working in NOLA after Katrina do too....

William Jefferson is a dude who put his own needs and desires above his duties as a public official....who took advantage of his position to make sure that his home and its contents in a wealthy neighborhood were secure from the effects of weather and looting. The story of William Jefferson's willful abuse of the National Guardsmen sent to NOLA to help save people has been reported by the press, albeit very quietly because this dude is a Democrat and so his selish--possibly criminal--behavior wouldn't help them nail Cousin George. AND he's a black man, so his transgressions don't lend themselves to the accusations of racism.

Anyway, here's the William Jefferson story

Five days after Hurricane Katrina struck--while the city was in crisis...and lockdown....when no one was being allowed to go into their flooded neighborhoods to retrieve personal items....when armed looters were running around the city, helping themselves to whatever they wanted in stores and houses (especially in the more affluent areas) ....terrorizing any unarmed civilians who tried to interfere... Rep. William Jefferson (D-Louisiana), whose district includes New Orleans (and who is a long-time member of the Congressional Ways and Means Committee), asked the National Guard to take him on a tour of the flooded portions of his congressional district. A five-ton military truck and 6 military police were sent to pick him up---authorized to take him into restricted areas only because he was on "official business".

According to Lt. Col. Pete Schneider of the Louisiana National Guard, during the tour, Jefferson asked that the truck take him to his home on Marengo Street (which is in an affluent mixed-race neigborhood). Colonel Schneider says that this was not part of Jefferson's initial request.

The Colonel's account goes on to say that, while many of Jefferson's constituents were stranded.... suffering....the Congressman instructed the National Guardsmen to pull the truck up onto the front lawn of his house--that was flooded part way up to the level of his porch--so he could enter the home without walking in the water. Jefferson went into the house alone....while the soldiers waited on the porch for about an hour.

According to an ABC News report, Jefferson came out with a laptop computer, three suitcases, and a box about the size of a small refrigerator, which the Guardsmen loaded up into the truck.

Everybody in the story of Katrina is dirty....it just remains to be seen how dirty they all are.

(with thanks to Chairman Tao [www.chairmantao.blogspot.com] for the subject line of this entry that I ganked from one of his comments on an earlier one)