I don't like to do a lot of finger pointing, but if there ever was a case for pointing some fingers, this would be it. Four days after the levees broke, New Orleans residents are still waiting for buses to get them out, for fresh water, for food. Others are succumbing to dehydration. According to a report I heard this morning, at one shelter, of the 1500 people waiting for aid, 100 are already dead. In America. I have no idea wtf could possibly going on in terms of our emergency response. AndrewSullivan has this to say: THE MESSAGE TO AL QAEDA: I have to say that one of the worst potential repercussions of this calamity and the Bush administration's response is to show how utterly unprepared this country still is for some kind of terror attack, how little coordination there is between local and federal authorities, how evacuation plans are chaotic, how we have a president divorced from reality, and a Congress more interested in doling out pork than protecting the country. The message is this: come and get us. If al Qaeda had blown up the levees, can you imagine the chaos? **The scale of this disaster is only just starting to become apparent. Thousands are now predicted dead in New Orleans. 23,000 refugees are stinking and suffocating in the roofless Superdome. Police are asking refugees for their weapons, as they are outgunned by the looters. Two levees are broken, and one of the top tourist destinations in the world is going to be completely evacuated, and essentially closed, for 3 months. Much of the city is still underwater, with hundreds, maybe thousands, still trapped in attics and on rooftops in the baking New Orleans heat. I don't care what your personal politics are. When all is said and done, the US may never have seen a disaster as severe as this one. No one could have predicted this. I don't think this is the appropriate time to shout out, it serves you right. Wow, this sounds horrific. 20 feet of standing water in parts of New Orleans...with damage even worse elsewhere.