Katrina was a real tragedy. A region I was about to visit (and perhaps sail in), where friends and family live, is reduced to rubble. Far worse, people have died in what turned out to be a worse disaster than 9/11. Whether it was a fluke, or the beginning of a new era in caribbean climate, only time will tell. Either way, New Orleans will not be the same again, not for a long time.

If there has to be lefty finger-pointing, we shouldn't yet focus on speculation on global warming effects - which may prove true, but currently are speculation until Katrina becomes a regular occurrence. The real outrage is our nation's inability protect a major domestic metropolis from a Cat 4 hurricane. When both the Army Corps of Engineers and New Orleans Corps of Engineers were massively short-budgeted by the feds in 03 and 04 to help subsidize Iraq; when they decided that Cat 3 protection was sufficient because that's all they had funding for; and when a state's national guard is drafted into active military duty in a foreign country and not enough guardsmen are serving at home... THAT is an outrage.

The "war on terror" (or whatever it really is) isn't the only obstacle America faces. And for this reason, I DO blame this disaster at least partially on the Bush administration. They need to get their priorities straight.