Questions of Leadership: FEMA Execs, Media Firms, Former First Ladies

Seems the storm following the storm is getting as much attention as the actual cleanup and relief efforts of post-Hurricane Katrina. Today's blogosphere is rife with accusations against FEMA -- the Federal Emergency Management Agency that, in a post-9/11 world, was supposed to streamline and coordinate response efforts to major catastrophes.

Let the scrutiny begin
A timeline by Right-Wing NutHouse (lots of traffic, slow to load) is today's most cited blog post, while other bloggers and news stories are pointing specific blame at FEMA, including the lack of disaster experience by anyone in charge (today's No. 13 top post), the New York Times' initial examination of finger-pointing that's already starting (No. 6 link), Daily Kos' examination of volunteer workers (No. 6 link) and volunteers in boats (No. 21 link) being turned away by FEMA, while the Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette weekend reports of Red Cross food deliveries turned away in New Orleans (No. 15 link).

Perhaps not surprisingly then (sigh), today's 18th-most-shared link is from FEMA's own web site three days before the hurricane hit, basically saying: don't come unless we call you first. Cosmic Variance blogger has terms for a new FEMA acronym: Flagarantly Egregious Malfeasance Agency.

Media grows spine: outside world notices
The BBC has noticed something interesting: an American mainstream media that seems to have awakened from its spin-induced, war-embedded fog. Reporters and anchor folks are finally asking hard questions and demanding answers, and MSNBC's Keith Olberman is just one of the news peeps getting attention.

Oh, Bar....
Discourse.net is calling it a "let them eat cake moment," and it happened when former First Lady Barbara Bush actually told NPR this from the Astrodome in Houston: "And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this - this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them." Did the acorn fall far from the tree, asks MetaFilter?