The bungling continues

The Bush administration isn't quite through fucking up in response to Hurricane Katrina:

Last week a group of survivors filed the first of what are likely to be several lawsuits alleging that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has failed to live up to its responsibilities.

The same basic question is this: Why did the Bush administration focus on trailer parks built by FEMA - which is actually not a housing agency - instead of giving the lead role to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which has so much experience on this issue?

The administration rigged up a hastily thought out program that is less flexible and less helpful than Section 8 - and confusing in the bargain. Still focused on tax cuts for the wealthy, the administration is apparently hoping that people who need housing will be frustrated by the difficult process of applying for federal relief dollars and simply give up and go away.

If you keep in mind what I've said before, that the administration isn't interested in results, just the appearance of results, this kind of bullshit makes sense.

So all those wire stories that describe George Bush's woes and refer to "the bungled response to Hurricane Katrina" (for example, this one) should, instead of just cutting-and-pasting from previous stories, adopt language that shows the administration's up-fucking isn't quite complete yet. Something like, "the ongoing bungling of the response to Hurricane Katrina."

After all, Bush still thinks Brownie still has something to contribute to FEMA. Why else keep him on as a "consultant?" Based on his e-mails, maybe he can offer tips on good restaurants and haberdasheries in the Gulf region. Then again, maybe it's because Brownie is Bush's buddy and Bush doesn't see anything wrong with Brownie's collecting a federal paycheck while doing nothing of value to anyone. And after all, just because Anderson Cooper, Oprah and Geraldo have packed up their cameras and headed north, things are still hard in the Big Easy, and the people there still aren't getting the help they need.