Katrina: How government was drowned in the bath tub

From the NY Times (excerpted and paraphrased by The Huffington Post):

President Bush made a doggedly optimistic appearance today in Biloxi, Mississippi today as part of the White House public relations effort leading up to the one-year anniversary of catastrophic Hurricane Katrina and the government's botched relief efforts.

Facing criticism that his administration has made little progress in rebuilding areas affected by the storm, Bush admitted that the recovery efforts have been slow, but insisted that "things have changed" since his visit a little less than a year ago. Standing in front of recent construction, cameras that recorded the President's speech did not capture the rows of destroyed houses, the beach that is still empty, or the hotels and motels that remain deserted.

It is apparent that Grover Norquist has achieved his goal of drowning government in the bath tub. Katrina swept right on over the shore demolishing everything in its path. The levee failure in New Orleans did the rest. And so we see the affect of ideological demagoguery, stupidity, and inhumanity on the land of a once great nation and in the lives of its people.

Given the circumstances of this photo op, there can be no doubt that what we can see with our eyes at home bears witness to the lies being told about Iraq. What we see at home is what is being done abroad. It is for this reason that Jefferson gave us all a duty to find new guards for our future safety.