Bush Ignores His Own Plan
The Bush administration has spent much of today blaming Louisiana and New Orleans officials for its slow response in managing the aftermath of Katrina. One of the White House's claims is that the federal government is legally unable to respond until requested to do so by local authorities. This is, in fact, bullshit, thanks to the 2004 National Response Plan, which was implemented by the Bush administration last year. It says, in part, that the federal government can preempt the authority of state and local government in the case of:

any natural or manmade incident, including terrorism, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the population, infrastructure, environment, economy, national morale, and/or government functions

I'd say Katrina applies, wouldn't you? You can read it for yourself here.

Meanwhile, the President's mother, Barbara Bush (the former First Lady), demonstrates as much sensitivity as her son, who lamented last week that Trent Lott's house had been destroyed (yeah, boo hoo, I'm sure all the survivors trapped in the Superdome were real sympathetic), when she says these poor people are better off now anyway.

And for some great television, here's a bitter commentary by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.

And where the hell is Dick Cheney anyway? We know Condoleeza Rice is busy seeing Broadway shows, but has anyone seen Dick lately?