You say Hurricane, I say Hisicane, let's call...

In the aftermath of Hurrina Katrina, you've no doubt seen the flood (pun intended, though plague would be a better word) of Republicans and their lackeys at Faux News claim that Democrats are just playing politics with the devastation. It's interesting how outraged the Republicans were after Janet Jackson exposed a breast during the Superbowl halftime show so much so they had Congressional hearings within a month to berate t.v. executives as being vulgar and disgusting.

Where's the outrage for a 1,000 people drowning? Where are the hearings for Hurricane Katrina? And I mean true hearings. Not the show trial preceeding the "mistakes were made" but no one will be held accountable report issued by House Republicans. Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) was typical of the "heaven's to Betsy" GOP (excluding of course, Henry "youthful indiscretion" Hyde, Bob "that's my kid?" Livinston, Newt "honey, meet my mistress" Gingrich to name a few) during the hearings. With her voice cracking, (do they have an Emmy for best phony outrage in a congressional hearing?) Wilson berated Viacom CEO Mel Karmazin saying she thought the incident was planned and that it was "vile, disgusting and nasty." Oh dear. Oh my. And what was she doing a week after Hurricane Katrina? Speaking out against x-rated spam e-mail. "Priorities" doesn't seem to be a word with which Church lady Wilson is familiar. Thanks to Wilson and her flock now if you say something that offends the holier than thou FCC you could get a fine larger than dumping nuclear waste in the town square or revealing NSA codes to the North Koreans. All three of which I was planning on doing before I die.

But the real digusting use of the destruction from Hurricane Katrina lies with W. At a luncheon for the Republican Jewish Coalition, W "for the first time linked the American response to terrorism and its response to Hurricane Katrina, declaring that the United States is emerging a stronger nation from both challenges, and saying that terrorists look at the storm's devastation 'and wish they had caused it'."

And I wish these clowns weren't setting policy and making laws that are not only wrecking the country but more importantly making me very cranky.

BONUS POSTING: David H. Safavian, the Bush administration official arrested Monday also had a link to some war on terror persons of interest. The record of Safavian's confirmation shows extensive questioning by the committee staff about his alleged lobbying for local Muslim leader Abdurahman Alamoudi, who in October 2000 made widely publicized comments supporting Hezbollah and the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, at a rally in Lafayette Park. In fact, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee held up Safavian's nomination for more than a year, in part because of lawmakers' concerns about lobbying work for two men later accused of links to suspected terrorist organizations. Ethics and war on terror in a nutshell for this adminstration. (By way of Josh Marshall and WaPo.)