I have been collecting together some interesting snippets from around the web that show up the very corrupt nature of the Shrub’s administration. No surprises there of course but some of these items are almost priceless – except, of course, in the light of Katrina, the humour quickly fades to disgust.

1. From ‘Irregular Times’ – 3rd September: An Index of Stupidity:
   

   Amount the Army Corps of Engineers requested for hurricane and flood programs in the area around New Orleans last year: $105 million.
   Amount the Bush Administration gave: $40 million.
   Amount the Bush Administration approved for building a bridge the size of the Golden Gate to a tiny, remote island in Alaska with 50 people living on it: $231 million.

2. From ‘Harry’s Place’ – 4th September: From horse shows to national emergencies:
   

   …contrary to what some claim, it is the federal government, not state and local governments, that are primarily responsible for cooridinating emergency management of disasters the scope of Hurricane Katrina. The federal government has the expertise, resources and capacity that state and local governments lack, and is in a much better position to coordinate responses of various governments. It is on the Department of Homeand Security’s own website that it will “assume primary responsibility … for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort.”

   And from the same piece – the real punchline:

   When Bill Clinton became President in 1993, he appointed James Lee Witt, a director experienced in emergency management, as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Witt was highly praised by Republicans and Democrats alike for his reforms of FEMA. President Bush, in contrast, appointed Joe Allbaugh, who had absolutely no experience in disaster relief but had served as George W. Bush’s campaign manager in 2000. Allbaugh’s successor was Michael Brown, whose experience prior to joining the Bush Administration was– I’m not joking– “commissioner of judges and stewards for the International Arabian Horse Association”.

   According to this article in the Boston Herald (which, FWIW, is a conservative newspaper that endorsed Bush in 2000 and 2004): “Brown was forced out of the position after a spate of lawsuits over alleged supervision failures.” In the article, the president of the International Arabian Horses Association confirms that Brown was asked to resign.

3. From ‘New York Daily News’ – 4th September: Team Bush Spins the Crisis:
   

   The Navy announced yesterday that Vice President Cheney’s former company, Halliburton, which has handled much of the repair work as well as support services for the U.S. military in Iraq, was hired to restore power and rebuild three naval facilities in Mississippi that were wrecked by Katrina.

Business as usual in the White House then.