Seemed like a Good Idea at the Time...

I called it, didn't I? Didn't I say heads were gonna roll??? told you (edited for content by Ivent)

Briefing Costs FEMA Spokesman New Job
source
WASHINGTON (Oct. 29) -- The man who oversaw public affairs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency when it held a fake news conference last week will no longer be taking over as head of public relations for the director of national intelligence. Pat Philbin, FEMA's external affairs director, was scheduled to become director of public affairs for National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell on Monday. It was not immediately clear whether he offered his resignation or was fired just as he was set to begin the job.

As of Sunday, officials only said that they were aware of concerns. But Monday, the director of national intelligence office issued this statement: "We do not normally comment on personnel matters. However, we can confirm that Mr. Philbin is not, nor is he scheduled to be, the director of public affairs for the office of the director of national intelligence." FEMA Director David Paulison said Philbin sent him an e-mail in which he took full responsibility for last week's staging of the news conference. FEMA, part of the Department of Homeland Security, called a news conference Tuesday in Washington on the agency's handling of the California wildfires. The agency said no media representatives showed up because the conference was announced at the last minute. Instead, reporters called in on a phone line but couldn't ask questions The agency released a video of the conference with FEMA employees asking less than hard-hitting questions. Deputy Director Harvey Johnson, who was fielding questions, gave no indication at the time that staff members were asking the questions. He later apologized, calling the fake briefing an "error in judgment." "I am calling to apologize and say it will not happen again," Paulison said in a phone call to CNN. He said rules are changing to prevent any reoccurrence. Reporters will be given at least an hour's warning before a press conference and those calling in will be able to ask questions in the future, he said. Paulison said he is continuing to investigate. He said he understands that FEMA officials did not plan to ask questions and did so only when reporters failed to appear.

Disciplinary action is being taken against some FEMA employees, he said. Another official said that reprimands have been issued and more may be coming. Johnson "really didn't have an awareness" of what was taking place, according to Paulison.The FEMA director said Johnson wasn't familiar with everyone in the press office and did not recognize staffers asking questions. "He just feels sick about it," Paulison said. "He feels his credibility has been hurt." However, reporters noted that Johnson called on at least one person by name. FEMA generally received high marks for its response to the California wildfires after fierce criticism over its handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but Paulison said he was sure the conference flap has had a bad effect on morale. "The last two years of planning for a major disaster fell in place," Paulison said. "Things were working as they were supposed to ... and that just killed everything you tried to have happen." The head of homeland security also has blasted the fake news briefing and said those behind it showed "extraordinarily poor judgment." "I think it was one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things I've ever seen since I've been in government," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Saturday. The White House said it was unaware of the briefing beforehand. "It is not a practice that we would employ here at the White House," said press secretary Dana Perino. "We certainly don't condone it."

***

What did he think would happen, if caught?

A Macy's Parade??

That was very stupid, and careless.

And right on the eve of assuming a new position?

Hmmmmm, that sounds suspect.

Just a smidge.

I believe that winners never cheat, and cheaters never win...

having said that, I'm playing angel's advocate-

If he'd go to such lengths as putting on a fake news conference,

what kind of devilment has he done in order to assume his formerly new position as head of public relation, for the director of National Intelligence.

Ohhhhhh, if walls could talk. :)

House Party Ends in 7 Deaths

Seven Students Die in Beach House Fire
source

OCEAN ISLE BEACH, N.C. (Oct. 28) - An intense fire ravaged a beach house packed with college students early Sunday, killing seven and leaving little left of the structure but its charred frame and the stilts on which it stood.


Photo Gallery: 'A Very Sad Day'
Brian Brough, Wilmington Star-News / AP An early-morning fire ravaged a beach home in Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., Sunday and killed seven college students who were vacationing there. "There were three kids sitting on the ground screaming," said one witness.
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Six survivors were hospitalized and released, including one who jumped from the burning home and into a waterway, Mayor Debbie Smith said. The cause was being investigated.

"There were three kids sitting on the ground screaming," said newspaper deliverer Tim Burns, who called 911 after seeing a column of smoke rising from the house. "There was one guy hanging out the window, and he jumped in the canal. I know he got out because he was yelling for a girl to follow him."

Burns said he didn't know whether that girl was able to escape.

Officials at the University of South Carolina said six of the students who died were from the school in Columbia; the seventh attended Clemson University. The six who survived were also from USC. The private home was being used by the owner's daughter and a group of her friends, Smith said.

"These are young people in the prime of their life," USC President Andrew Sorensen said at a news conference. "They had so much to look forward to, and it's just profoundly tragic."





Students will have access to counselors, residence hall advisers and clergy members, Sorensen said. Classes will be held Monday.

Dennis Pruitt, dean of students, said the fire appears to have affected two Greek organizations — the Delta Delta Delta sorority and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Earlier in the day, a campus minister at the sorority house declined to comment, as did an adult who answered the door at the fraternity house. Messages left with the national headquarters of the organizations were not immediately returned.

The fire struck sometime before 7 a.m. and burned completely through the first and second floors, leaving only part of the frame standing. The waterfront home — named "Changing Channels" — was built on stilts, forcing firefighters to climb a ladder onto the house's deck to reach the first living floor. Smith said the house was a total loss.

"We ran down the street to get away," said Nick Cain, a student at the University of North Carolina who was staying at a house about 100 feet away. "The ash and the smoke were coming down on us. We were just trying to get away."

Cain was one of the dozens of college students who filled at least four houses within a block of the burned home. Neighbor Jeff Newsome said the students were going back and forth between the houses all weekend long.

"We didn't have any big complaints," Newsome said. "The lights were on all night. They were having a good time."

Winds blowing flames over the water, and not toward any of the other residences on the tightly packed row of vacation homes, kept the fire from spreading. The intense heat kept Burns and others from attempting a rescue, although he said he had to fight to keep several of those who escaped from trying. When he approached the front door, he said, it was too hot to open.

"When I was going up to the entryway, you could hear the windows above me explode," Burns said. "When I knew the flames had taken over, I don't think I've ever felt as helpless in my life."

Some of the people in the house had been friends since high school, said Rick Wylie of Greenville, S.C., who identified his son Trip as the young man who jumped from the burning home.

"He's in shock," Wylie said. "It's just an incomprehensible thing for these parents."

Authorities erected a blue tarp to block the view of the fire scene, but neighbor Bob Alexander said he saw investigators removing bodies from the remnants of the home early Sunday afternoon.

"It's terrible to see somebody's children come out of that house this way," Alexander said.

The victim's bodies were to be taken to the state medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill. Authorities from the State Bureau of Investigation and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are leading the investigation, said Randy Thompson, Brunswick County's emergency services director.

The home had working smoke detectors, Smith said.

Ocean Isle Beach is at the southern end of North Carolina's Atlantic Coast, about 30 miles north of Myrtle Beach, S.C. Only about 500 people live there year-round, but the town is home to several thousand rental and vacation homes and condos.

The burned home sits on one of a series of peninsulas, all tightly packed with homes, that are about two blocks from the beach and connect with the Intracoastal Waterway.