Katrina, Katrina, Wherefore Art Thou?

The hysterical coverage of Hurricane Katrina and her aftermath continues, to the suprise of no-one. Anti-Bush forces are apparently hoping that the American people's political memory is long enough that all the ruckus can be an election issue in the 2006 mid-terms (political memory is almost never that long, sorry . . . but don't worry, there'll be three or four other "Gotcha!" moments between now and next November).

Meanwhile, a more realistic assessment of the situation is summed up nicely in an op-ed by Jack Kelly for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Out of curiosity, I looked up that blog mentioned in Kelly's piece. There's plenty of good stuff there - good analysis and commentary, and the actual post Kelly quoted, which is as trenchant and spot-on a dose of badly-needed reality as I've yet seen. And, as I note with some little pride, "Teflon" even makes a comparison eerily similar to my own.

Here's his words -
4. We do not yet have teleporter nor replicator technology like you saw on "Star Trek" in college between hookah hits and waiting to pick up your worthless communications degree while the grownups actually engaged in the recovery effort today were studying engineering.

Here's mine, for comparison -
What, you think the President has access to a Star Trek transporter and can just push a button to make emergency supplies appear in New Orleans? . . . National Guard troops (who also lack transporter access thanks to Evil Dubya) are arriving in growing numbers.

I tells ya, it's positively scary. Posted, so far as I know, completely independent of one another. This guy (and the other main contributor there) seem to know what they're about, and they document stuff fairly well. Think I'll add a link to his blog from mine. Yeah, blogosphere! Woo-hoo!

Oh, and Bush has now taken responsibility for the mistakes made in the relief effort. Gee, I thought he didn't do that kind of thing . . .

One final note, there's also a good piece on How to Fix FEMA on that blog. It also seems that my prediction that Brown would be shown the door was accurate, tho I hardly expected it to happen so quickly. Probably Cheney swung the axe on that one . . . he seems the type to enjoy that kind of stuff. And no, I don't believe for a moment that Brown resigned of his own accord. I'd bet it was a case of "resign or be fired".

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On another topic, one I've been remiss in addressing, Bush has somewhat strangely put up his nominee to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court for the spot formerly held by the sadly deceased Chief Justice Rehnquist.

I'm not sure what to make of this. Judge Roberts seems to have a decent enough record as a jurist, but I don't know that he's the best choice for the Chief Justice spot. He's only been on the Circuit Court since 2003. He's argued several cases in front of the Supreme Court, but gee . . . I think I'd like a guy who was a little more seasoned for the Chief Justice spot.

Anyway. Prediction time: Senate confirmation hearings on this will be brutal. And there's still Justice O'Connor's spot to fill, which means Bush gets to nominate another Justice. It's the Left's worst nightmare, a conservative President (Bush isn't really all that conservative, at least in the sense I use the word, but hey, that's how it's going to be cast in the public arena, and who am I to argue?) putting up not one but two nominees to the Supreme Court.

I can hear the shrieks and screams already as the ever-popular The End Is Nigh arguments start streaming from the Left. This'll probably heat the filibuster controversy up again, too.

Watch this one carefully, gentle readers. Much will be revealed in the coming weeks and months as this battle plays out.

Should be interesting.