We are being governed by a gaggle of idiots:

End Report Slams Passivity Over Katrina

By LARA JAKES JORDAN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Government at all levels took only an indifferent stance toward disaster preparations after the 2001 terror attacks, leaving the Gulf Coast unnecessarily vulnerable to Hurricane Katrina, a House inquiry concludes.

Finding fault with the White House down to local officials, the House investigation determined that authorities failed to move quickly to protect people - even when faced with warnings days ahead of the storm last Aug. 29.

The final report, written by a Republican-dominated special House committee, was obtained The Associated Press on Tuesday night ahead of its scheduled release Wednesday. Parts of the report were released Sunday.

"Passivity did the most damage," concluded the 520-page report by the committee, chaired by Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., charged with investigating the sluggish response to Katrina. "The failure of initiative cost lives, prolonged suffering, and left all Americans justifiably concerned our government is no better prepared to protect its people than it was before 9/11, even if we are."

"The preparation for and response to Hurricane Katrina should disturb all Americans," the report said.

The House report is the first to be completed in a series of inquiries by Congress and the Bush administration about the massive failures exposed by Katrina, which left more than 1,300 people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama dead, tens of thousands homeless and billions of dollars worth of damage in her wake. Despite President Bush's accepting full responsibility for the federal government's shortfalls, the storm response continues to generate finger-pointing.

In Senate testimony last week, former Federal Emergency Management Agency Michael Brown singled out the Homeland Security Department and its chief, Secretary Michael Chertoff, as a muddled bureaucracy that slowed relief to the Gulf Coast. The White House and Homeland Security have hit back, describing Brown as a renegade who failed to follow a chain of command.

The House report also finds fault with Chertoff, for failing to activate a national plan to trigger fast relief, and Homeland Security, for overseeing a bare-bones and inexperienced emergency response staff.

It also concludes that Bush could have speeded the response by becoming involved in the crisis earlier and that he was not receiving guidance from a disaster specialist who would have understood the scope of the storm's destruction.

"Earlier presidential involvement might have resulted in a more effective response," the report found.

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Remember that George Bush canceled his vacation to interfere with a private family dispute involving a single brain-damaged woman, yet he kept playing golf while hurricane Katrina threatened the lives of millions of American citizens. His response to the former was simply the awful pandering of the GOP to the right wing Christian theocrats who want to invade your bedroom. His lack of response to the latter was simply the utter and blantant disregard and disinterest of the best interests of the American people.