"...a heck of a place..."

George Bush went back to New Orleans this week and declared a miracle. Do you believe his cheery prattle, or the images of collapsed, mouldy neighborhoods and the great bonfire of Ninth Ward flotsam? What political genius came up with this debacle?

Back in Washington, Mr. Bush opined that Angela Merkel, the new German Chancellor, has "a kind of air about her", or words to that effect, and that "an Iran with a nu-cyu-lar weapon" is a threat. I don't know about you, but I can't get used to Mr. Bush's bumbling. Especially when the performance of our government--in New Orleans and, lately, in the Medicare drug benefit washout--matches it so perfectly.

Can we possibly believe such a person deserves the power to select which of our laws can be ignored in wartime? It is a different kind of war, Mr. Bush. Oddly enough, rededicating our government to our most basic principles is our most effective weapon. We are in a heck of a place.