Floods

President Bush has a chance to redeem himself for history by responding with skill and urgency to the disastrous flooding in the Midwest. Let us pray that he does, if he hasn't already broken the disaster-response infrastructure so badly that this would be impossible. (Let us recall that the president released a signing statement signaling his intention to ignore the provision of the 2006 homeland security law requiring the next FEMA chief to possess "a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management."

From Daily Kos, on Mason City, Iowa:

I am in Mason City. Our levees broke Sunday morning. Flood stage is 7 foot and waters are now at 19 feet. Hundreds of homes and businesses are underwater. The City's water plant was flooded and the entire city of 30,000 is without potable water. A couple of hours ago the main electric substation flooded and failed and much of the city is without power. People remain in flooded homes. Early tonight I saw people wandering the streets not knowing where to go. There are entrie areas of the city with NO emergency personnel on hand.

NOBODY from the outside has come to help. Our local first responders are exhausted and overwhelmed. Small rural towns downstream tonight are being devasted. Levees everywhere are failing. Calls for help in these small towns have been unmet. Portions of our local guard are in Iraq.

The homeland has been left unprotected and people are suffering horribly.

I have seen no evidence of any kind of effort to check houses and check on persons welfare. The only emergency people here are the local authorities. NOBODY from outside has come to help.... You would think our government would have learned after Katrina. Where in the hell is FEMA? There are 30,000 people here without water. There are still people in flooded homes. People are wandering the streets not knowing what to do and where to go.... An hour ago the main electrical power substation serving downtown Mason City was flooded and has failed. The entire central part of the city is in the dark where the flooding is the worst. More then 2,000 homes are now without power. There are no expectations that power will be restored until sometime tomorrow.

But this isn't about Bush. It's about conservatism. Recall one of our hobby horses here: the epidemic of sinkholes that have been opening up across the nation, swallowing buildings, vehicles, and people, as decrepit underground pipes (rated a D-minus, recall, by the American Society of Civil Engineers rot under the pressure of conservative tax-cut mania. Ideas have consequences, folks. They're often triggered by heavy rainfall.

And, lo and behold, here comes the deluge.

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