Consequences

From Editor and Publisher, which I'm reading more and more:

On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; told the Times-Picayune: 'It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us.'

--and--

The 2004 hurricane season was the worst in decades. In spite of that, the federal government came back this spring with the steepest reduction in hurricane and flood-control funding for New Orleans in history. Because of the proposed cuts, the Corps office there imposed a hiring freeze. Officials said that money targeted for the SELA project -- $10.4 million, down from $36.5 million -- was not enough to start any new jobs.

Meanwhile, much of Louisiana's National Guard is in Iraq... and FEMA has been all but dismantled, with no immediate replacement. Truly a visionary administration. Ready for anything.

Meanwhile, the news just gets worse.

I know we all think of donating to the Red Cross in times of disaster, but two other effective agencies are Lutheran World Relief and Church World Service.