'Zero experience'.Byline: The Register-Guard President Bush continues to do a heckuva heck·uv·a adj. Slang Used as an intensive: You've done a heckuva good job. [Alteration of heck of a.] job installing unqualified cronies in key government posts. Even though the Michael Brown debacle at the Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the federal agency responsible for coordinating emergency planning, preparedness, risk reduction, response, and recovery. The agency works closely with state and local governments by funding emergency programs and providing technical is still good for a few laughs on the Leno and Letterman shows, Bush may inject new life into late night TV monologues with his recent appointment of Ellen Sauerbrey to head the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. Sauerbrey lacks Brown's keen knowledge of Arabian horses, but in all other respects she appears just as unqualified to handle disaster relief efforts as was the disgraced former FEMA FEMA, n.pr See Federal Emergency Management Agency. director. During her October Senate hearings, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., tactfully told Sauerbrey what was on every senators' mind: "It doesn't appear that you have very specific experience." The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times was a bit more blunt: `Ms. Sauerbrey has zero experience in emergency management and refugee resettlement Re`set´tle`ment n. 1. Act of settling again, or state of being settled again; as, the resettlement of lees s>. The resettlement of my discomposed soul. - Norris. ." Zero experience. That's an astounding a·stound tr.v. a·stound·ed, a·stound·ing, a·stounds To astonish and bewilder. See Synonyms at surprise. [From Middle English astoned, past participle of astonen, benchmark, impossible to beat. There is no less-than-zero level of experience. What kinds of disasters and refugee situations does the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration address? Rwanda. Darfur, Sudan. Kosovo. Iraq. Gaza Strip. Southeast Asia tsunami. Pakistan earthquake. It's the last place anyone wants to see a director with zero experience. Previous directors of the bureau have served as U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, director of foreign disaster assistance at the Agency for International Development and senior deputy assistant secretary of State for Refugee Programs. One of them was a Republican appointed by President Clinton. There's actually something even worse about Sauerbrey's back-door recess appoint to this post than her zero experience. She is revered by the religious right for her strident opposition to sex education, safe sex initiatives, emergency contraception Emergency Contraception Definition Emergency contraception or emergency birth control uses either emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) or a Copper-T intrauterine device (IUD) to help prevent pregnancy following unprotected vaginal intercourse. , abortion and the entire range of women's reproductive health services that are absolutely vital to refugee populations. Fully 80 percent of refugees are women and children. Because of the extremely high rates of sexual violence, coercion and disease risk in refugee camps, women must have access to effective reproductive health, contraception and sexually transmitted disease sexually transmitted disease (STD) or venereal disease, term for infections acquired mainly through sexual contact. Five diseases were traditionally known as venereal diseases: gonorrhea, syphilis, and the less common granuloma inguinale, prevention programs. It might not matter if the president of the United States The head of the Executive Branch, one of the three branches of the federal government. The U.S. Constitution sets relatively strict requirements about who may serve as president and for how long. wanted this television show host and two-time loser as the Republican candidate for Maryland governor to be the Minister of Silly Walks. But Bush has tapped Sauerbrey to head an agency with 100 employees and a $700 million annual budget that regularly confronts more complex and difficult global crises than FEMA typically faces in the United States. This is a disastrous appointment that reflects poorly on the president and the nation. It deserves to be undone at the first opportunity, immediately after this year's congressional elections. |
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