A quote seen in another place, and quite worth repeating here: "Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice."

Sorry if I'm just in a spammy sort of mood, but I wanted to show how deserving Bush is of a big thunderbolt from God hitting him and leaving a greasy spot in the Oval Office, with this quote:

"Many are angry and desperate for help. The tasks before us are enormous, but so is the heart of America. In America, we do not abandon our fellow citizens in our hour of need. And the federal government will do its part."

I submit Exhibit A in The People v. Michael Brown:

[link]

"Saturday and Sunday, we thought it was a typical hurricane situation -- not to say it wasn't going to be bad, but that the water would drain away fairly quickly," Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Mike Brown said today. "Then the levees broke and (we had) this lawlessness. That almost stopped our efforts.... Katrina was much larger than we expected. Am I frustrated? Yeah, I'm frustrated. You have to remember, this is a war zone. I can assure you we're doing everything we can. It is unacceptable to look on TV and see those people stranded. It breaks my heart."

Anyone who read the NWS/NHC discussions and forecasts on FRIDAY would have known there was a chance that this thing was going to be a monster. Anyone watching the Weather Channel on SATURDAY would have know this thing was going to be a monster. Anyone watching ANY news channel on SUNDAY would have known this thing was going to be a monster.

A category 5 at landfall IS NOT TYPICAL. A high category 4 at landfill isn't, either. And a direct or indirect hit on New Orleans by at least a category 3 ran the risk of "filling the bowl," something Brown should have been familiar with if he'd paid attention to the Hurricane Pam tabletop exercise. If he hadn't, he could have READ IT in, oh, EVERY SCIENCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHED IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS.

But, no, this was a typical hurricane situation, and thus he had every reason to ignore this alarmist urging people to get out while the getting was good over the weekend:

"We cannot stress enough the danger this hurricane poses to Gulf Coast communities."

That alarmist? George W. Bush.

Mike. Brown. Must. Go. Now.

Mike. Brown. Must. Go. Now.

But, you know, he's a GOP activist. And Bush has said what a great job he's doing.

He'll probably get the Medal of Freedom.

He'll probably get the Medal of Freedom.

I reckon I know how they got that name, I'm beginning to think they have "Get Out of Jail Free" stamped on the back.

ION, Fuddruckers.com is back. Now without that burger Flash game....

I've no money to donate, but I'd like to let the megahot diver I saw on CNN know that he's welcome to come over for a shower.

ION, Fuddruckers.com is back.

Yeah, I imagine somebody's having crappy long weekend.

ETA: Forget I said that. I imagine the victims of Katrina are having a somewhat worse time than the fuddruckers.com webmaster.

Mike. Brown. Must. Go. Now.

But, you know, he's a GOP activist. And Bush has said what a great job he's doing.

It's a little known fact that Brown is actually his middle name.

Ha!