FEMA Official Gets Dunked in New Orleans

[DoYouEverWonder]

Nov 11, 2006

NEW ORLEANS — For $5, residents of one of the city's hardest hit neighborhoods received three tennis balls Saturday — and a chance to vent 15 months of frustration at the slow pace of rebuilding since Hurricane Katrina.

The object of their annoyance sat perched atop a dunk tank — Bob Josephson, director of intergovernmental affairs in Louisiana for the reviled and much-lampooned Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"C'mon, the water's warm. Let's go!" Josephson cried out, as he shivered above the tub of frigid water.

It's a reminder that in spite of the devastation and lingering anger at government failures, New Orleans maintains its quirky sense of humor. Money raised was to go toward rebuilding efforts in the Broadmoor neighborhood, including planning and community activities.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/shared-gen/ap/National/Katrina_Politicians_Dunked.html

I think we should do this to everyone in the Bush Administration. It would be a lot more fun then impeachment proceedings.

[Olney Blue]

1. Not sure there are enough dunk tanks!

:rofl:

[Hand]

2. For $50, you get to waterboard Brownie! nt

[aquart]

4. No. Chertoff.

[Hand]

7. That's $100! nt

[dubykc]

12. How much to waterboard Bush, he appointed...

BOTH of those a$$holes

[Hand]

14. Two dollars..

That's all he's worth. :evilgrin:

Actually, make that five dollars. Might as well pay off the national debt while we're at it. :rofl:

[Maddy McCall]

3. I vote for tarring and feathering.

:evilgrin:

[aquart]

5. Good. But who pays for the tar and feathers?

I favor putting them in the stocks and raising money by selling bags of rotten fruit to throw at them.

[krispos42]

13. Gimme some time to make a catapult

Or perhaps a trebuchet. A nice table-top model, perhaps. Use lead birshot for the counterweight... hmmm, yes. Some time at work, I could probably do it...

[aquart]

16. Oh, you want to mechanize it.

I was thinking of the satisfaction of personal throwing. Still, precision launching would assure more direct hits.

[krispos42]

18. Oh, not precision. Velocity! :-)

Maybe a potato/tomato/orange gun. They had how to in Popular Mechanics a couple of months ago...

[wickerwoman]

6. Did they fill the tanks with those Navy dolphins trained to kill? nt

[Sgent]

8. Hmmm....

did the water have mutated seabass with lasers on their frikken' heads?

If so, I'd pay $100.

[LiberalFighter]

9. Shoot the apple off their heads

[WatchWhatISay]

10. I wonder how humorous those who lost relatives/property in Katrina found this little exercise

It reminds me of the media making light of Bush's incomptence

[Divernan]

11. If y'all care about NOLA, read the whole article for a change!

I'd like to see the political appointees at the top of FEMA, the ones who successfully facilitated Albaugh-Brown-Chertoff in Bush's drive to gut the agency, get dunked, water-boarded or whatever. But this guy is one of the professional civil servants who put in 15 hour days, 7 days a week for months after Katrina hit - like most of FEMA's beleagured career civil servants. Don't forget that around the nation, FEMA employees were packed and ready to head for NOLA at least 4 days before the hurricane made landfall, as was their usual practise re: major natural disasters during Clinton administration, but Brown refused to take the responsibility to approve their deployment, and bucked it to Chertoff, who blocked deployment until several days after the storm had hit. Many who drowned would have been persuaded and helped to evacuate by FEMA professionals, but for Chertoff's decision.


FEMA Official Gets Dunked in New Orleans
By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI
Associated Press Writer

Nine-year-old Robert Weiss, who lost his toys during Katrina, stepped up and handed over a crumpled $5 bill. In a single, graceful motion, he slammed the ball into the dunking wall, releasing Josephson into the water with a splash. The crowd roared. In less than an hour, residents shelled out $250 to dunk Josephson. Several took repeat turns.

The dunking booth, a mainstay of county fairs, took on a political dimension a year after the Category 3 storm punched through the city's protective levees, submerging 80 percent of New Orleans.
Politicians invited to be dunked who politely declined included Mayor Ray Nagin and Gov. Kathleen Blanco. No shows included City Council President Oliver Thomas and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in charge of fixing the city's levees.

Wearing sweat pants, newly elected city councilwoman Stacy Head took the bone-chilling plunge. Her colleague, freshman councilwoman Shelley Midura, arrived wrapped in a warm jacket. "Please don't make me do it. I'm chicken," she pleaded — and organizers agreed to accept a $50 donation to the Broadmoor Improvement Association in exchange for her no-show. An hour later, she braved the cold water, raising more than $100.

After spending nearly 45 minutes in the dunking booth, FEMA's Josephson took off his sopping shirt and tried to warm himself with a towel. He explained that FEMA is a part of the community and allowing himself to be dunked was an attempt to show that he and his much-criticized colleagues are not so different from their neighbors. "It's all in good fun," he added, as residents thanked him and offered dry clothes and a place to change.

[Tesha]

15. Three words: PotUS over Piranha!

"I'd buy *THAT* for a dollar!"

[Divine Discontent]

17. I'd watch for at least $2 n/t