Rachel Maddow is doing a fantastic job of connecting the dots -

[DURHAM D]

about the poor choices made by Bush and Repugs and why this is not a natural disaster.

I wish she had Al's time slot everyday.

[demnan]

1. So do I

She's incredibly good. I always enjoyed her coverage and take on things.

[LisaM]

2. Rachel Maddow is a star

She is scathingly intelligent. I would love to hear her debate Mustache Annie.

[chicagiana]

7. I hope Springer's contract lapses soon ...

Because Rachel Maddow has ALWAYS been so much better and so much more interesting.

Springer on the radio is SOOOOO BORING!!!! It's like NPR without the high powered intelligence.

Though, I do have to say that Jerry has done a good job during the disaster. But normally, Jerry is just a snoozefest.

[TheUnspeakable]

3. She's Awesome-and my blood is BOILING!!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[faithnotgreed]

4. do listen to rachel - she is pointing out strongly that the hurricane

yes is a disaster that we cant prevent (well that is another issue global warming but anyway)

she points out though that the flooding and the horrible aftermath was preventable and is a man made disaster that neednt happen

[melissinha]

5. Her callers doing a good job too

Rachel, as usual, is going for the jugular. We must remember to download her morning show on Ipod... i miss having her on UNfiltered.

Way to go Rachel!

[chicagiana]

8. The Democrats "played nice" after the last disaster ...

As Bush was shaking hands and posing for pictures with Dems after 9/11 he was simultaneously jabbing knives in their backs. Dems have to come out with guns blazing this time. The feds were incompetent and didn't do their job.

Bush SHOULD have lept into action by contacting the mayor of New Orleans directly and CUTTING through all the red tape via telephone to get the resources there necessary to plug up the levee breaches while parts of the city could have been saved.

If Clinton was President, he would have flown back to DC while the storm was approaching. He would have sifted through all kinds of contingency planning and made sure that federal agencies were marshalled and ready to go in with IMMMEDIATE relief after the storm had cleared.

It's all too fucking late now. The helicopters with sandbags were diverted for rescue operations. How stupid!!!! They could have averted the need to rescue THOUSANDS by plugging those leaks while the breaches were still relatively small.

[CatWoman]

6. her show led me to this article

Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen? 'Times-Picayune' Had Repeatedly Raised Federal Spending Issues



By Will Bunch

Published: August 30, 2005 9:00 PM ET

PHILADELPHIA Even though Hurricane Katrina has moved well north of the city, the waters may still keep rising in New Orleans late on Tuesday. That's because Lake Pontchartrain continues to pour through a two-block-long break in the main levee, near the city's 17th Street Canal. With much of the Crescent City some 10 feet below sea level, the rising tide may not stop until it's level with the massive lake.

New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.

Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.HURRICANE COVERAGE

Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001051313