Agence Vleeptron-Presse: Not Fair & Skewed / Mighty Mike gets the hook

AGENCE VLEEPTRON-PRESSE BULLETIN: Ding! Ding! Ding! New England Cable News just announced (13:30 US East Coast) that Mighty Mike is being removed as head of FEMA's disaster relief efforts in the Gulf Coast. He'll be replaced by a US Coast Guard Admiral. But he's still, momentarily, the head of FEMA. So nobody wins the Bubble Gum yet. Pick the calendar date on which Mighty Mike is removed (resigns or is fired) from FEMA, win Bubble Gum, maybe with besbol cards inside.

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Taken out of context. Or not. Anyway, it's from a Houston (TX) Chronicle article about the relief effort after Tropical Storm Allison caused floods in the Houston area in June 2001, what FEMA's relief efforts looked like on the ground through the eyes of survivors.

The Houston Chronicle
Friday 15 June 2001

FEMA can't keep pace with demands
Flood victims swamp agency

By LISA TEACHEY
Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle

Three women so desperate just to talk to someone about flood assistance chased a Federal Emergency Management Agency car through their northside neighborhood.

The driver never stopped, leaving the women and their families still guessing about what kind of help they can get and when.

"It would have eased my mind if the representative had just stopped to explain what's out there, what we can get," Noelia Neal said Thursday as she and others continued to clean out their once flooded homes in the Glen Forest subdivision.

"We're not expecting them to hand us a check today," her sister, Maria Cruz added. "We just need information."

But at least the two women and Neal's daughter, Natalie Sadler, have already registered with FEMA. The frustration of wading through the constantly clogged phone lines to register, they say, is just the first step in a recovery process that may seem more confusing once it begins ...

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On my old computer, if I tried to open a .pdf document, my computer would explode, sending hot shrapnel flying all over my office. Just wanted to warn you that the following is from a .pdf document.

I think Jim Olsen once tried to explain to me why .pdf documents are Good Things, I still don't get it.

As far as I can figure, Mighty Mike of FEMA is an undersecretary of the cabinet Department of Homeland Security, that's what determines his annual federal salary. If I got that right, then according to this document prepared for Congress, US citizens pay Mighty Mike $149,200 a year.

1 CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Order Code 98-53 GOV
Updated January 11, 2005
Salaries of Federal Officials: A Fact Sheet
Barbara L. Schwemle
Analyst in American National Government
Government and Finance Division