FEMA director fired from previous job

the daily kos found out that FEMA director Mike Brown was fired from his last job managing the International Arabian Horse Association:

Well, for 3 years Michael Brown was hired and then fired by our IAHA, the International Arabian Horse Assoc. He was an unmitigated, total fucking disaster. I was shocked as hell when captain clueless put him in charge of FEMA a couple of years ago.

Update: The Boston Herald is confirming this:

The federal official in charge of the bungled New Orleans rescue was fired from his last private-sector job overseeing horse shows.
And before joining the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a deputy director in 2001, GOP activist Mike Brown had no significant experience that would have qualified him for the position.
The Oklahoman got the job through an old college friend who at the time was heading up FEMA.
The agency, run by Brown since 2003, is now at the center of a growing fury over the handling of the New Orleans disaster.

“I look at FEMA and I shake my head,” said a furious Gov. Mitt Romney yesterday, calling the response “an embarrassment.”

bush jokes about lott’s house

As boing boing reports, Bush joked about Trent Lott’s new house during a press conference:

We’ve got a lot of rebuilding to do. First, we’re going to save lives and stabilize the situation. And then we’re going to help these communities rebuild. The good news is — and it’s hard for some to see it now — that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house — he’s lost his entire house — there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)

bush, cheney, rice vacation while NOLA floods

what do you do in the face of one of the greatest natural disasters in the history of your country? go shoe shopping:

The criticism is all the sharper because the President did nothing to alter his holiday schedule for 48 hours. Vice-President Dick Cheney remains on holiday in Wyoming. Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State, returned to Washington after being seen shopping for $7,000 shoes in Manhattan as New Orleans went under.

Clinton to smack Hastert

Hastert Tries Damage Control After Remarks Hit a Nerve:

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert began his day yesterday explaining that he really does not want to see New Orleans bulldozed, and he ended it defending his absence from the Capitol when Congress approved a $10.5 billion hurricane aid package.

In Syracuse, N.Y., former president Bill Clinton was discussing New Orleans’s dilemma when someone described the speaker’s comments. Had they been in the same place when the remarks were made, Clinton said, “I’m afraid I would have assaulted him.”

most overvalued housing markets

Why Californians can’t afford to buy houses:

Most of the most overvalued markets, according to DeKaser, are in California and Florida. Number one is Santa Barbara, where home prices, at a median of $564,100, are 69 percent higher than they should be.

Close behind is another Golden State city, Salinas, where home prices, at $515,231, are overvalued by 67 percent. Naples, Fla., came in third at $276,827, 62 percent higher.

The only town to crack the top 15 from outside Florida or California was Medford, Ore. The median home price there was $228,201, overvalued by 55 percent.

Of cities with populations of more than one million, San Diego was judged the most overvalued. Homes there average $443,445, according to the report, and are 53 percent higher than they should be. Los Angeles was 48 percent higher, with a median price of $405,668.