Posse Comitatus

Why has Bush sent the 82nd Airborne to the Katrina disaster zone? Are we supposed to be impressed?

Disaster relief is what the National Guard is for. Of course, with so much of the Guard in Iraq, he needs to send somebody, so he sends the Marine Expeditionary Force and the 82nd Airborne.

Or, is this a subterfuge to eliminate the restrictions of the Posse Comitatus Act, which forbids domestic police activity by the military. It will be easy for him to say, "Look, we need to give the Marines the tools they need to keep order. Let them make arrests." And then he'll give that look he has that means he thinks he's smarter than you, and that you're a fool if you don't agree.

But the Republican Congress will roll over and give him what he wants and another bit of our bulwark against dictatorship will be gone.

Once again, Paul Krugman gets it right

Paul Krugman has synthesized many of the reasons President Bush has failed us in disaster preparedness:

A Can't Do Government

So America, once famous for its can-do attitude, now has a can't-do government that makes excuses instead of doing its job.

Start drafting articles of impeachment now for January 2007. We'll need two sets.

Responsibility for the Aftermath

It is President Bush and the Republican Congress who are responsible for the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

It is they who sent half the Louisiana and Mississippi National Guard to Iraq as an expeditionary force, along with much of the heavy equipment and helicopters that could have provided immediate assistance at home in the crucial first days.

It is they who cut the New Orleans District Army Corps of Engineers levee rebuilding and strengthening funds by tens of millions of dollars.

It is President Bush who appointed a political operative to head FEMA and let the professionals go. FEMA has been unable to do two things at one time under this President - save those who need saving and taking care of those who escaped.

It is President Bush's FEMA that zeroed out mitigation - strengthening against disaster.

It is President Bush and the Republican Congress who rolled FEMA into the fledgling Department of Homeland Security without a replacement.

It is President Bush who said, "Nobody could have predicted the levees would be breached," when in fact many had predicted just that.

President Bush and the Republican Congress are responsible for the looting, the chaos, the suffering, the stranded. They have failed New Orleans, they have failed Louisiana, they have failed Mississippi, they have failed the United States.

Gas Prices

Last week Mobil Super was $2.84 per gallon. Tonight, Thursday after Katrina, when we went out to eat it was up to $3.19. When we came home an hour later it was up to $3.29.

Katrina could be the shock of our lifetimes. We thought 9/11 was bad, this may be worse.

Update: By Friday evening it was up to $3.89.