It should come as no surprise...

that our government's main concern in emergency management, as in all things, is to avoid blame:

A decision by the Bush administration to rewrite in secret the nation's emergency response blueprint has angered state and local emergency officials, who worry that Washington is repeating a series of mistakes that contributed to its bungled response to Hurricane Katrina nearly two years ago.

...

Federal officials, Ashwood said, appear to be trying to create a legalistic document to shield themselves from responsibility for future disasters and to shift blame to states. "It seems that the Katrina federal legacy is one of minimizing exposure for the next event and ensuring future focus is centered on state and local preparedness," he said.

This is quite in keeping with the ethics that informed FEMA's decision not to test the trailers in which they were housing displaced Americans for formaldehyde because "once you get results and should they indicate some problem, the clock is running on our duty to respond to them."

Meanwhile:

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused far more dislocation to Louisiana's population than previously estimated, with tens of thousands more people being forced to relocate than previous population counts have suggested, according to a study released Tuesday by the Louisiana Recovery Authority.

Remember when the government was actually on our side?

Aren't we special?

Ego much?

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Wednesday defended his five sons' decision not to enlist in the military, saying they're showing their support for the country by "helping me get elected."

Look, I know you have to have a pretty high self-esteem to run for Prez in the first place, but we've already experimented with ONE chief exec who thought he was on a mission from God and look where that got us.

Among the phrases you never want to actually hear in your life...

"Your application for reincarnation has been denied" has to rate up in the top ten, at least:

Buddhas told to apply for reincarnation

FROM next month, Tibetan living Buddhas will have to apply for reincarnation to the Chinese Government.

The new rules are "an important move to institutionalise the management of reincarnation of living Buddhas," the Xinhua news agency said.

According to the regulations, which take effect on September 1, all reincarnation applications must be submitted to religious affairs officials for approval, Xinhua said.