Finally, some good news..

Our ham radio group worked with the Coast Guard during the '97 flood, here in the Red River Valley (N.D./Minn.). They knew what they were supposed to be doing and did a good job of it.

I don't know. The fact that they're not saying he did anything wrong rankles me more than leaving him in charge.

I'm relieved they actually have someone who has proven competent and qualified in charge, to me that's more important than the villification of someone who desperately deserves it. Villification of Brownie isn't going to save any lives at this point, whereas having someone who is competent at what they do actually could.

Besides, the message behind this "staffing decision" couldn't be any clearer. This whole debacle has become quite a nasty public-relations problem for the Bush adminstration, and Brownie has apparently been designated as the lamb that will be sacrificed to appease the public. The writing's on the wall, and if Brownie has any brains at all, he'll read it and resign before they sack him.

I think they should all be fired, frankly. The fact that thousands of people were left dehydrated, sick and starving to death while perfectly good food, water, supplies and medical personnel were left sitting in staging areas for days instead of being distributed is just inexcusable. The incompetence of the governmental response to what was (to the best of my understanding) a relatively foreseeable disaster boggles my mind. If they can't marshal a better response with days of warning and preparation time, what are they going to do in the event of a truly surprising disaster?