Daily Dose

So I've had my daily dose of Katrina coverage, since the tvs at the gym are pretty much permanatly tuned to CNN (unless they're on Fox, in which case...well, I think we all know how I react to Fox News). And what I'm seeing is a lot of mad spinning by this administration, rather than, I don't know, any actual compassion for the victims who seem to be out of a home, and anger at the obvious failures in our emergency response system. However, what I saw today was Tom DeLay giving a totally bogus explanation that the emergency response system works from the bottom up, so it was the responsiblity of the local authorities to ask for help from the state, and the state ask for help from the feds. So, does this mean that I am to assume that the feds just don't pay attention to weather reports and the news until the governor of a state picks up a phone and calls and formally requests assistance? How does that conversation go? "Hello, Mr. President. I don't know if you're paying attention to the news right now, but we seem to be flooded out, and are sort of desperate for someone to coordinate relief efforts, and to actually get some relief. Oh, you haven't seen it? I see. Well, we do seem to have people sort of starving to death here. Three or four days you think? Okay. Great." Like, do they think that the state is going to turn down the federal aid? "No, no, thanks Mr. President, but we don't think we need it. Yes, we are under fifteen feet of water, but we're a very proud people, and prefer to do this with our meager state resources." I mean, come on.

I'm pretty angry at the administration, but really, Miss Alli said it best over at This is Not Over on September 6.