Tom: "In the past ten years, did you give one single thought to New Orleans and its levees? Other than when hurricanes were approaching? You hear a lot about fatal floods there. How about the East Texas coast, or critical flood zones along Florida, the Carolinas, and other places? Are you aware of COE projects underway there that may or may not save lives? Why not?"

My Reply: Well frankly, In the past fifteen years I've dealt with earthquakes, floods, wind storms, massive wild fires, ice storms and giant landslides. I've had to tell people to evacuate their homes. I've had to wake up the Governor in the middle of the night to tell him what latest malaise threatened our state's citizens. I've had to tell people that they could never again return to the homes they lost. I've had to make certain resources were mobilized to save lives and property.

Emergency management is all about being prepared. Its about planning ahead for the inevitable from Mother Nature. Its about command and control during and following an event. Its about mobilizing resources. Its about saving lives.

I've worked with FEMA and the federal government during disasters when they were at their finest. We've now observed FEMA and the federal government at their absolute worst.

Everything that followed Katrina was easily predicted. The problem is that the administration was simply asleep at the swith. Bush was on vacation and playing golf in Arizona. Meanwhile, Chertoff and Brown were advising their boss to wait and see what happens. There's no getting around this fact, Tom.

You and your neocon buddies can spin your politcal correctness about "avoiding the blame game," but I'm not going to let you and your sycophant cronies get away with it - neither will the rest of the American people. People died because Bush was playing golf instead of paying attention to the arrival of the largest hurricane in recorded history.

Here is another editorial commentary about this sad state of affairs:

It's Not a "Blame Game"

Published: September 7, 2005

With the size and difficulty of the task of rescuing and rebuilding New Orleans and other Gulf Coast areas still unfolding, it seemed early to talk about investigating how this predicted cataclysm had been allowed to occur and why the government's response was so slow and inept. Until yesterday, that is, when President Bush blithely announced at a photo-op cabinet meeting that he, personally, was going to "find out what went right and what went wrong." We can't imagine a worse idea.

No administration could credibly investigate such an immense failure on its own watch. And we have learned through bitter experience - the Abu Ghraib nightmare is just one example - that when this administration begins an internal investigation, it means a whitewash in which no one important is held accountable and no real change occurs.

Mr. Bush signaled yesterday that we are in for more of the same when he sneered and said, "One of the things that people want us to do here is to play a blame game." This is not a game. It is critical to know what "things went wrong," as Mr. Bush put it. But we also need to know which officials failed - not to humiliate them, but to replace them with competent people.

It's Not a "Blame Game"