Like many of you, I suspect, I have been hoovering the news since Katrina struck, but since we still haven't had any need to unpack the TV, I've been getting all of it online. Out of the huge number of pundits and bloggers out there, John and the folks over at AMERICAblog seem to have taken the Fed's screwups personally, and have amassed a truly staggering collection of headlines, transcripts, video links, and so forth that frame the enormity of the debacle. They're also all over any piece that comes out in the mainstream media which breaks from the current (unfathomably lame) party line Rove wants the country to swallow, which is fascinating in its own right. It's a daily good read, if you have a strong stomach.

Speaking of the...well, closer to mainstream media, check out this video of Keith Olberman on MSNBC, or go and read the (mostly accurate) transcript.

Lots of interesting blowback going on these days for the Bush administration, but this article may have slipped by you. It points out that the National Response Plan, signed and put into effect in December 2004, *specifically* directs the feds to take proactive steps in response to natural disasters. The talking points about "the state/local governments didn't ask for help/didn't manage the situation/didn't prepare adequately" that we have been hearing? Pure bullshit. The NRP allows for the suspension of any and all such protocols for events of "catastrophic magnitude", which is sure as hell what we have here.

So, Homeland Security has proven conclusively that it hasn't accomplished jack shit since 9/11 except for a nifty color coding scheme, plus adding a deadly level of bureaucratic incompetence to the operations of FEMA. This NRP is suposed to be the ONE plan for domestic incident response, but it looks like NOBODY got the memo.

In other news, Bush is sending more troops and "several cabinet members" to the region tomorrow. Oh, that's just dandy, cabinet members! I better see Rumsfeld and Rice personally handing out food and/or picking corpses out of the convention center, or WHY THE FUCK ARE THEY THERE?

I wonder what Bush's approval rating in the South is right about now?

Good stuff over at Tom Tomorrow's blog.

I find it fascinating that an LJ post got interdictor a load of diesel fuel faster than he could take advantage of it.

Uselessly angry about the utter failure in the government's response to the-- let's not forget, expected and predicted-- disaster. That may be me transferring anger about work things to an easy target, but I don't think so.