Hypocrisy, Thy Name Is Congress

Today Congress held "hearings" on the Hurricane Katrina response featuring as a highlight the ritual torture of Michael Brown, former head of FEMA.

AOL News reported that during the proceedings, Rep. William Jefferson, D-La. told Brown: "I find it absolutely stunning that this hearing would start out with you, Mr. Brown, laying the blame for FEMA's failings at the feet of the governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans."

Well, Mr. Kettle meet Mr. Pot. You see, Congressman Jefferson (who is also a "person of interest" in an on-going FBI corruption probe) has been in the news before regarding Katrina.

AP News said, "After touring the flood-damaged city from the air and visiting evacuees at the Louisiana Superdome and the city's Convention Center, Jefferson said he asked his National Guard escorts to drive him to his Uptown neighborhood, several miles from the Superdome.

'I was intending to go to my neighborhood for sure if I could get there. I didn't know what the condition was,' Jefferson said Wednesday. 'I was curious to know and everybody in my family was curious to know: What was the condition of our house? Was it underwater? Was it looted?'

While Jefferson was checking out his house, the military truck that brought him there got stuck in the mud and a second truck had to be sent to rescue the congressman and his National Guard escort, said Maj. Ed Bush, a spokesman for the Louisiana National Guard.

Jefferson said the visit to his house, first reported Tuesday night by ABC News, would have been over quickly if the truck had not gotten stuck. He said the only things he removed from his house were two suitcases and two laptop computers belonging to his daughters, who were preparing to leave for college and an internship when the storm struck."


For this guy to critique anybody else regarding anything to do with a poor response to Katrina when he was more than willing to comandeer scarce resources to retrieve his personal property and slow recovery efforts is the height of hypocrisy--or in other words, business as usual for Congress.