link here
full text in the post continuation. But the last statement of it says it all. It should be our mantra. Every single citizen of the U.S of A should be chanting this...

Incompetence is bad enough; not taking responsibility for it is shameful. Blaming it on others is a national disgrace.

If the human misery that followed Hurricane Katrina has been
shocking and painful, the federal government's shifting explanations
for its needless severity have been utterly shameful.

That
assessment is not part of some political, postdisaster "blame game,"
but an insistence that accountability for preparing for and responding
to a major U.S. disaster be placed squarely where it belongs: the
federal government and its emergency-response program, FEMA.

The
Bush administration's attempts to shift accountability elsewhere --
first to the victims stuck in New Orleans for not leaving, later to
Louisiana officials and "bureaucrats" -- are an appalling use of
political tactics in the highly inappropriate realm of human suffering
and pain, of lives saved and lives lost.

That realm requires that
officials accept responsibility, express true and deep understanding of
the dislocation and misery being experienced, and redouble efforts to
make up for a sickeningly bungled start.

While efforts have been
redoubled, effectiveness is still in question; genuine, deep
understanding hasn't been apparent despite two presidential visits to
the area. And accountability? Accepting it would involve, at the least,
making clear that critical changes will be made, and rolling
appropriate heads at FEMA and its umbrella, the Department of Homeland
Security.

Instead, the White House organized a PR effort directed
by political adviser Karl Rove, master of political attack-machine
tactics. The New York Times reported Monday that the administration,
alarmed at the potential political fallout of its poor performance,
regrouped over the weekend and mapped out its strategy. The plan has
rolled out exactly as the Times' report said it would:

Administration
officials appearing in public have downplayed the need to quickly
assess failures, and have tried instead to discuss what's being done
now. To the extent that they -- and allies who appear or write in their
stead -- do discuss failures, it is to point the finger at local and
state officials or "bureaucrats." Officials doing just that include
Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff, whose accountability is right
up there with FEMA director Michael Brown's.

These tactics are
beyond outrageous. No state, no locality can take the lead in dealing
with an emergency like Katrina. That's why FEMA was created. That is
why Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco declared a state of emergency on
Friday, Aug. 26, when Katrina was a Category 2 hurricane. It is why the
Gulf Coast states requested help from the Pentagon that same day.

It
is why the next day, as Katrina was upgraded to Category 3, Blanco
asked President Bush to declare a federal state of emergency in
Louisiana. It was declared. Thus FEMA had full authority and
responsibility from the White House "to identify, mobilize, and provide
at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the
impacts of the emergency."

Over the following week the world
watched as an even more powerful Katrina hit on Monday and victims
pitifully waited for help without adequate (or often any) food, health
care or water. Meager boats rescued a few as doctors pleaded for aid,
as newscasters struggled to share the story -- and as ships, trucks and
outside aid waited, and waited, for approval to help, frequently
thwarted, incredibly, by FEMA.

Exactly what went wrong, in both
the planning and the response, must be assessed in short order. The
ability of the United States to prepare for and respond to disaster --
whatever the origin -- is vital to its security. No less, it is
critical to America's ability to honor its shared values, which include
attending to the poor, the sick, the vulnerable -- the very people who
suffered most from the government's incompetence last week. Yet the
White House delays the reckoning while pointing fingers at others.

Incompetence is bad enough; not taking responsibility for it is shameful. Blaming it on others is a national disgrace.

Around a year ago on this day..

• Just a few pictures - 2008
• See, I have been knitting - 2006