Beyond incompetence

Via Crooks and Liars comes this -- Bush orders FEMA to protect Upsidedownland:

Picking up on a thought bouncing around back at TMW after a Chris Floyd post, I thought I'd find out for myself exactly which Louisiana parishes were and were not included in George W. Bush's declaration of emergency effective August 26th, which you can also reach by clicking the map itself.

I checked the parish map against the White House's own press release, posted on their own site. I have tried to figure out how this is my own mistake, but I can't find it. And the results are frankly so bizarre I had to make the graphic in order to properly show you.

Welcome to upside-down-land: the areas at risk for Katrina were quite remarkably the areas not included in Bush's declaration of emergency.

What the hell?

Compare and contrast with the full and specific statewide list of parishes and the services they will receive issued after the storm hit.

Is this really what Bush authorized before the storm hit? Are they really that incompetent?

I am speechless. At first, I thought it might be a joke, a hoax. It is not. Check the WH press releases (linked above in the quote) for yourself.

So, I checked Gov. Blanco's declaration of a state of emergency. No mention of specific parishes. I also checked the governor's request to the president that he declare a state of emergency. No mention of specific parishes.

Did thousands of people die because of a $%#@! clerical error? Who the hell is responsible for omitting the very parishes that were most at risk according to every single alert issued by NOAA? How the hell did the very parishes at most risk of devastation get omitted from the president's declaration? Does this minor detail somehow explain why things went so fubar in New Orleans and the surrounding parishes along the coast?

Demand answers. Write your congress critters.