And the countdown begins...

If all goes according to the emails I received this morning, I shall have broadband in six days. Whoot!

Impeach Bush?

Yep, it sounds like a good idea, but not for the reasons currently being expressed over the issue of disaster relief in the aftermath of Katrina. As much of a goober as he is, I don't think it's really his fault that relief efforts have been so half-assed. In this case, I'm guessing the fault actually lays with with state and civic disaster planning authorities. After all, it is the job of such agencies to ensure that proper plans and resources (or at least how they can be obtained) are in place to deal with these kind of emergencies and that should have little to do with the president; he has a different set of duties (however poorly he may be performing them) and priorities that carry at the national level. It would sort of be like blaming the president of the Ford corporation for a botched repair job on your Ranger. If Bush is to be held responsible, then that would imply an expectation that he should be micromanaging every aspect of state and civil planning. Isn't that a scary thought!


Amendment: After reading through some of the material provided by browlie, I will state that Bush (and his government (and all those who elected it)), are responsible for contributing factors such as funding cuts, diminished manpower, and, arguably, environmental policies that allow for increased global warming. I will even state that Bush has botched his role as a leader in terms of providing needed leadership on the national level.

Still, in my opinion, the mismanagement of resources and lack of planning reflect some critical failures on behalf of local disaster management authorities. For example, if using a stadium for shelter was part of the planning, why wasn't the sufficient provision of essential supplies also part of it? Bush isn't the only one who should be looking for a new job after all this is dealt with; the sheer magnitude of ineptitude goes beyond one man's capacity for stupidity (even Bush's).

Amendment #2: After reading through this post by dancingwriter, particularly the part where Homeland Security declares sole responsibility for handling large scale disasters, I am willingly to cede that the mismanagement is entirely the fault of the federal government.

Oh, and one other bit of news...

...I got my residence permit today! I'm good to stay in the UK until the end of August 2008. Woohoo!!!