So what in the hell have you been doing for the past four years, George?

"If we can't respond faster than this to an event we saw coming across the Gulf for days, then why do we think we're prepared to respond to a nuclear or biological attack?" asked former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. (cnn.com)

I know the world has been turned upside down when I read a Newt Gingrich quote and think to myself, "man, couldn't have said it better myself."

Right now President Bush is sitting on a pile of buffoons that has passed for a government for some time. From the blow-hard New Orleans mayor to the Louisiana governor on up, these folks are all culpable for this shit storm.

To Bush, all this is just seems like a total buzz kill. This past week he came off as this highschool kid in his last year of school who caught senioritis a little too early. And then out of nowhere, he gets handed a major assignment. Waging war, that's fun. But having to explain himself in the shadows of thousands of dead Americans and the complete destruction of a major U.S. city, now that just plain sucks. To think that FOUR YEARS have passed since Sept. 11 and the government's performance was what it was is mindblowing.

"Our priorities are clear," he said today. That sounds about right. Our priorities have been crystal clear for some time now.

To anyone who says "well it's easy to criticize" the response of FEMA, DHS, etc, I say yes, it's totally fucking easy. There's nothing easier in the world right now. (And it's my God-given right as an American to bitch by the way.) When you read stuff like this: Thousands of frustrated people waited for help Thursday amid dead bodies, feces and garbage with little food and water, and in 90-degree heat and rain. How can you not be blinded with rage toward our government? And when you hear stories that you hope are just lies like the convention center having no medical personnel going into the storm save for a lone nurse who was an evacuee herself, you can't help but wonder what the local New Orleans officials were smoking when they set that up to begin with? I mean can any Chicagoan go to any public event and not encounter scores of police, paramedics and ambulances just hanging out on the off chance someone might get hurt? And that's just a summer festival where the object is to have fun, not to brace yourself for a catastrophic event.

My god, what the fuck were these people thinking?

And they had this braintrust who thought that putting 20,000 people in the Superdome and not having sufficient supplies to last a few days, let alone a week, was cool. Dudes, 20,000 people=20,000 mouths to feed, 20,000 bladders and bowels to empty, and most importantly 20,000 attitudes to deal with. Here's what the John Wayne dude had to say on this:

"If you ever have 20,000 people come to supper, you know what I'm talking about. If it's easy, it would have been done already." Lt. Gen Russel Honore from the National Guard said.

Real cute, and I'm glad the media has found a star in this story.

For those who want to try and counter with: "Well, they're looting, and shooting at the helicoptors, and raping, and pillaging. . " Go ahead I dare you to try. The vile, unconscionable behavior of these criminals carrying out these acts will never justify us leaving the rest of those folks behind to fend for themselves. When the cops were walking off the job and even committing suicide, how could anyone believe there was a chance to survive.

We were supposed to have their backs.