Damage exposure will 'wake America up'

It never ceases to amaze me how much better the foreign press is at covering American stories.

Ray Nagin estimated that it would take three weeks to drain the water, and said he did not know how many bodies the process would reveal. Officials fear that up to 10,000 people may have died.

There's also a report here that estimates upwards of 40,000 dead. Shocking numbers. Of course, nobody could have ever predicted this.

But the best thing here is Jefferson Parish president, Aaron Broussard, who broke down Sunday on Meet the Press in one of the most heartbreaking moments I've seen on national TV in a long time. This guy is a great American:

"Bureaucracy has murdered people in the greater New Orleans area and bureaucracy needs to stand trial before congress today," he said.

"Take whatever idiot they have at the top, give me a better idiot. Give me a caring idiot. Give me a sensitive idiot. Just don't give me the same idiot."

Bush says:

"Bureaucracy is not going to stand in the way of getting the job done for the people."

Of course, he's now sending Cheney to the area to "determine if the government is doing all it can." Actually, he's sending Cheney there to perpetuate the Republican meme that it's the fault of the Mayor and Governer (b/c Dear Leader could never be responsible for ANYTHING). That's bureaucracy in action for chrissake. But now is not the time for fingerpointing, remember!

Luckily, Bush plans on investigating himself. I'm sure he'll get to the bottom of it. This coming from the man who couldn't think of a single mistake he'd made during the Presidential Debates. I'm also sure that Republicans would have been more than fine with Bill Clinton investigating the Lewinsky "scandal" himself. Hypocrites.