Top FEMA leaders short on experience – Yahoo! News Michael Brown, who heads FEMA as undersecretary of homeland security for emergency preparedness and response, already has endured sharp criticism for comments he made last week that seemed to suggest he did not understand that thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina had taken refuge at the New Orleans convention center. Before joining FEMA in 2001, Brown, a protege of longtime Bush aide Joseph Allbaugh, was commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association and had virtually no experience in disaster management. An official biography of Brown’s top aide, acting deputy director Patrick…
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Gay marriage up to governor now / Landmark legislation clears Assembly by narrowest of margins on second try It’s been too long since there was good news to report on the issue of gay marriage. Good from my point of view, that is: I’m in favor of marriage for everyone who wishes to enjoy the bonds of matrimony, especially since yesterday was our 8th wedding anniversary. Just like last year and the year before, I’ll go on record and say this: “My marriage is not threatened if my gay friends and family get hitched.” TOASTERS AND USELESS SILVERPLATE SERVING FORKS…
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Bush breaks HIV funding promise The Replenishment Meeting was widely billed as the first significant test of the promises made by world leaders at the recent G8 meeting, during worldwide MakePovertyHistory protests. The 3.7bn US dollars pledged by donors will be just enough to sustain current programmes. However there is no funding for new prevention, treatment or care programmes for 2006 and 2007. It is suggested that 7 billion US dollars was needed to adequately address funding needs. The US contribution is just 0.6 billion dollars for the next two years. For the first time since the establishment of the…