Asshole of the week:

Brigadier General Michael D. Barbero, commander of the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, for his response to Hurricane Katrina:

The report states that Brigadier General Michael D Barbero, commander of the Joint Readiness Training Centre at Fort Polk, Louisiana, refused permission for special forces units who volunteered to join relief efforts, to do so. General Barbero also refused to release other troops.

This asshole also refused permission for temporarily housing Katrina and Rita refugees in the hundreds of empty barracks bunks on the Fort Polk reservation (most of them are destined for demolition, but they're still better than nothing -- one of my friends was sleeping in them less than ten years ago), and refused to share water with the City of Leesville when falling trees fell on the power lines to their deep well and knocked out their water system.

For all that he's done to prove that assholery is not limited to Bush Administration civilian appointees, this penguin hereby declares Brigadier General Michael D. Barbero as this iceberg's official ASSHOLE OF THE WEEK.

-- Badtux the Snarky Penguin