This is war.

[enki23]

How long before it hit did the hurricane change course? Was it four days? It must have been, because it seems that's how long it takes the federal government to mobilize assistance. How can they possibly pretend to hide behind that? Do they think we're stupid?

We knew this was coming. The state had prepared the best it could. Louisiana is *poor*. Louisiana needed help. This storm posed a very well understood threat to New Orleans, and the entire gulf coast. And we knew with almost total certainty that it was going to be bad. Even after it had changed it course--and it was such a small change--we knew it had an unacceptably high liklihood of doing exactly this, or worse. There are no surprises here except the kind that come from human behavior.

We knew. We knew this was going to be a disaster. We feared it might be even worse. This, as unbearable as it is, is not the worst case. Hard to believe, maybe, but sadly, disgustingly true.

There is no credible defense for this lack of response from the federal government, this ineptitude. They had days to prepare for it, knowing it was very, very likely to be a disaster of exactly the sort we're seeing now. They had days, and they did nothing. Nothing. Bush was at a goddamned fundraiser while the waters were rising. He knew they were rising. We all did. He went anyway. I will see him pay for that.

I want to see this entire administration pay everything they have, for the thousands who could have lived, and won't, because of this administration's callous ineptitude. This is criminal negligence multiplied a million and a half times. This is war.

[Eloriel]

1. 6 hours was what I read (undocumented) on DU n/t

[Spazito]

2. It was at the last moment, relatively speaking

When I went to bed Sunday night around 11 pm PDT it had not changed course, when I awoke around 5 AM Monday, it had changed, just after landfall at the outermost point.