Why can't we trust our governments?

I link to the New York Times a lot, and I make no apologies. They do the best job of reporting and writing and thinking of any newspaper in the country. Today, they have reached the inescapable conclusion that any observer must make, regardless of your politics. That the New Orleans city government, the state of Louisiana, and the U.S. government have all failed the people of New Orleans, and hundreds of thousands of citizens of Mississippi and Alabama, utterly.

President Bush has reluctantly allowed that the federal response has been "not acceptable." Talk about preposterous understatement. For our president, ever reluctant to acknowledge mistakes or apologize for them, or to hold responsible lieutenants accountable for their mistakes or misbehavior, calling this federal inaction and lack of preparation "not acceptable" is an amazing breathrough. But it doesn't encourage me that he will now transform himself into a paragon of candor. He remains the prime candidate for Slow Talking Champion of the District of Columbia--you can see the wheels turning during every pause between single-syllable words when he speaks to us on the latest crisis, always just a little late, always weighing every word for long seconds, then choosing the least descriptive word, one unworthy of a ESL student.
--and always saying things we already know, as if he's just discovered these facts, as if he's the first to report them to us, as if they aren't real until the president announces them. But, I ramble.

Read Paul Krugman's column and the Times editorial, "A Man-Made Disaster." Read opinion that grows out of the self-evident facts. Then, let's all get started making basic changes in this country's behavior.