As NOLA goes, so goes the nation

Drowned in the bathtub, that is.

But let's look on the bright side! Jodi Will Whore 'Em actually did some reporting! The Times:

Calling the Federal Emergency Management Agency "numbingly insensitive" and "unduly callous," a federal judge ruled yesterday that the agency must pay the hotel bills of hurricane evacuees until Feb. 7, handing a

But--But--Don't the refugees evacuees realize they are part of a great Republican experiment in social engineering? Don't they understand they're part of the Republican Ownership Society? Meaning that they "own" complete reponsibility for the Katrina recovery, since the Republicans drowned the government? Surely that is a noble cause!

I guess not.

[Judge Duval, an appointee of President Bill Clinton] said he based his ruling on the federal law that authorized FEMA. It requires the government to ease suffering and damage caused by natural disasters. The arbitrary deadline violates that legislation, Judge Duval wrote, and discriminates against victims based on their economic status.

"Underlying FEMA's position is a theme that every person ultimately has to take care of him or herself," he wrote. "Certainly as a general rule this is true, but perhaps that position is unduly callous under the circumstances wrought by Hurricane Katrina."

I wonder how long it's going to take the Republicans and the SICs and the shouting heads and the VRWC to start yammering about "activist judges" and calling for Judge Duval's impeachment.

And all because he wanted citizens to have housing for the, erm, holidays.

Gosh, it would be a shame of there was "no room at the inn" for American citizens, wouldn't it?

And just out of curiousity: The Katrina diaspora is what, 500,000? Suppose half of them don't come back. Would that flip Louisiana to becoming a completely Red state? I certainly hate to be that cynical about Republican motivations, but experience has shown it's never possible to be cynical enough with these guys.