It means for a person or an institution to become totally incompetent to carry out their basic functions. It suggests a deterioration over time rather than a stillbirth. Someone or some institution DRIVEN to incompetence by political meddling or other destructive influences.
Acceptable variations may include, but not be limited to:
go FEMA
going FEMA
went FEMA
Thank you.
How about “gone totally fucking FEMA”?
“This place has gone totally FEMA”
Thank you. I now have a short, descriptive phrase to describe my current job situation.
I’ll let you know how it goes over in my eventual exit interview. 
Yes, absolutely.
What’s its origin?
You’re welcome. I’d love to hear the story. Remember, when you leave it will be YOUR victory.
FEMA is the (US) Federal Emergency Management Agency. The agency’s complete incompetence, mismanagement and epic cluelessness did a lot to make Hurricane Katrina into a bigger disaster than it otherwise would have been.
What an interesting ad at the page bottom! I get a pitch for the Bush(senior)/Clinton Katrina Relief fund.
You can find numerous threads here about Michael Brown, the former FEMA director whose previous job was arranging horse shows.
FEMA’s catastrophic and VISIBLE failure during hurricane Katrina was the first major event that opened the eyes of a lot of Americans to a disfunctional government and the botched creation of the Department of Homeland Security. I know it’s hard to imagine it took so many of us so long to see it. Aside from Iraq, this is so far the boigest factor in the Republican slide downward since the 2004 election.
Michael Brown is one of very few Bush appointees to be pretty openly dismissed for incompetence. Even though just a couple of days earlier, Bush was on TV saying, “Great job, Browbie!”
He actually said, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” That was three days after the storm hit, too. Brown resigned a week and a half later.
Sorry to nitpick, but I think it’s important that Cunctator and others hear it. It’s my firm conviction that this quote (although it’s popularly rendered as “Heck of a job, Brownie”) is on par with “let them eat cake” or “peace for our time” in terms of great historical quotes that reflect a total divorce from reality on the part of the speaker. And I know Marie Antoinette never actually said “let them eat cake.”
FEM-fuckin’-A.
Actually, FEMA just reverted back to form; prior to James Lee Witt, it was a cesspool of political-appointee mismanagement of good on-the-ground resources.
Clinton had the “good” fortune of seeing how bad it was with Andrew, and had the political savvy to not only exploit it during the '92 elections, but also followed through and appointed a real emergency manager (Mr. Witt) to the post.
DISCLAIMER: James Lee is from my hometown and a friend of my family, so I might be a little biased here.
FEMA was a curse word around our house long before Katrina. Papa T. had been living on Guam and was totally wiped out during Typhoon Omar. FEMA came out to help, but before providing any assistance to anyone, first Inoki hit Hawaii and then Andrew hit Florida, so they just pulled up stakes and left Guam, and left everyone there to fend for themselves – no voters there, after all. Which is why, three months after Omar when Papa T. was transferred to Japan, he was able to ship a whopping 400 lbs of household goods. :rolleyes:
So we were utterly unsurprised when FEMA totally fucked up in Katrina, too. Disappointed and horrified, but not surprised.
Perhaps you could write a Wiki article about it to get it out there, at least.
I see that you already have made a good start in your thread entitled,
“You didn’t have to tell ME that vegetables are dangerous.” Well done! I’m going to try to slip it in where I can too.
Oh come on, even I knew what the yanks were talking about!