The incompetence continues...

As early as Sunday, Chicago mayor Richard Daley offered the federal government the following resources for the hurricane effort:

36 members of the firefighters' technical rescue teams, eight emergency medical technicians, search-and-rescue equipment, more than 100 police officers as well as police vehicles and two boats, 29 clinical and 117 non-clinical health workers, a mobile clinic and eight trained personnel, 140 Streets and Sanitation workers and 29 trucks, plus other supplies.

What the government accepted: a single tank truck. Insane... (Update: apparently that's not all. CNN reports that "Nine stockpiles of fire-and-rescue equipment strategically placed around the country to be used in the event of a catastrophe still have not been pressed into service in New Orleans, five days after Hurricane Katrina.")

Why are they turning down free help and at the same time quickly inking a Navy repair deal with Halliburton?

The BBC writes, "The only difference between the chaos of New Orleans and a Third World disaster operation... was that a foreign dictator would have responded better." And one did: on Tuesday, when Bush was still out west a-strummin' his guitar, Cuba's Fidel Castro made an offer--refused!--to send us no less than 1,110 doctors.

And: "If Katrina had happened last year, Bush would certainly not be President right now."