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Sticking my oar in

It occurs to me that I am not particularly well qualified to comment on Katrina. I am safely ensconced on the other side of the ocean. I am naturally left leaning in my politics, so the urge to indulge in a bit of knee-jerk Bush-bashing without being in full possession of the facts is almost overwhelming (and thus to be resisted). But there are a couple of facets which are worth pointing up, just in case they get lost in the overall noise.

First up: the egregious and cadaverous U.S. Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff stated "That 'perfect storm' of a combination of catastrophes exceeded the foresight of the planners, and maybe anybody's foresight" in short, there was nothing that could be done, it was a storm of unimaginable proportions. Leaving aside the argument that no storm is of unimaginable proportions, and that a city lying below sea level should perhaps be prepared for the worst case scenario, it's also worth pointing out that Katrina's western eyewall collapsed, and it turned away from N.O. before impact, thus making it WEAKER THAN EXPECTED.

Second up: it is an inalienable fact (at least according to Reuters, who aren't the most biased) that Louisiana's flood defence budget has been cut by 49.3% over the last four years. The money was needed elsewhere. Possibly for a costly foreign war.

Third up: the shitstorm of finger-pointing and blame shifting from senior Republican figures over the last few days really has been a thing of vigorous, disgusting beauty, an unholy mix of denial, counter-accusation and complete and utter fabrication, I'll leave the last word on this to Senator Ted Stevens (Republican, Alaska), who took the Chertoff view that this thing is far to big for even the most superhuman of regimes because

"This is the largest disaster in the history of the United States, over an area twice the size of Europe," Stevens said. "People have to understand this is a big, big problem."

Have a look at an atlas, then tell me that Replicans on the run aren't a bunch of lying shitweasels.

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