Lake George

It’s bad:

Sadly, No!: Op-ed: The combined strength of the DHS and FEMA, the National Guard, and the Presidency and its powers, not only allowed a disaster to happen as though in slow motion, while warnings shrieked through the press; but even now, days later, they CAN’T EVEN GET IT TOGETHER TO DELIVER SUPPLIES into a major American city. They CAN’T FIGURE OUT how to put boxes on trucks or in planes and drop them off. For days, as the city sinks deeper into chaos. With bodies eaten by rats in the streets. This is our homeland security.

And while I’m afraid the actual causes of the above are systemic, I do like the explanatory economy of this little piece of analysis:

On another blog, I read that Dick Cheney is strangely missing — on vacation in Wyoming, with no expected date of return. Perhaps he’s ill; that would explain why no one in the Executive Branch seems in charge, or even paying attention.

Here’s the actual Washington Post quote on what Cheney was doing while New Orleans drowns:

Vice President Cheney, who has spent part of August at his home outside scenic Jackson, Wyo., remains there today [Wednesday, two days ago] — although
his spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, doesn’t call it vacation. “He’s
working from Wyoming today,” McBride told me this morning.

And when is he coming back? “He will certainly be coming back. I’m
not able to tell you the day right now. I don’t have that handy.”

Once again, though, facts get in the way of a cute theory: it appears that Cheney did return to DC on Thursday, as my brother reports:

Cheney Watch

Vice President Cheney, who had been spending part of August at his home in Wyoming, returned to Washington yesterday, his spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, tells me.

P.S. My brother also passes along this jem:

Blogger Wonkette
yesterday launched a meme that is spreading through the liberal
blogosphere: “A tipster informs us that down in New Orleans, they have
a name for the flood waters that have invaded the city: Lake
George.”

I like it.