The Storm, Again – NYTimes.com

“Between 2010 and 2012, House Republicans forced a reduction of 43 percent in the primary grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that pay for disaster preparedness. That is $1.8 billion that will not be available for evacuation equipment and supplies, communications gear that lets first responders speak to one another, and training exercises. (House Republicans tried to cut $354 million more in this year’s homeland security spending bill, but Democrats restored the money in a conference with the Senate.)”

Heck of a job GOP, heck of a job.

I, like many others across this great big country of ours I imagine, am watching that much gentler storm bear down on the Gulf Coast and seeing in my minds eyes the indeliable pictures of trauma and suffering during the aftermath of Katrina.

New Orleans is, in many ways, my home and the memory of wacthing in numb, powerless horror as her people were turned on by the police and forgotten by the government in their time of dire need pushes tears down my cheeks as I try to focus on Isaac.

Please, please, please Army Corp of Engineers, please no shoddy work this time!

…Luckily the Prez is in a reelection campaign so if anything does happen I’m betting he’ll get his ass down there a lot quicker than he did for the oil spill. Or better yet, send Michelle. she’s better with connecting with people on the fly.