New Orleans Flooding was Mitch's Fault!

A big thank you to Steph at www.commonplacebook.com (Steph has been following Katrina for days and has a great collection of information) for sending me this link.

Ex-Army Corps officials say budget cuts imperiled flood mitigation efforts - GovExec.com

Mike Parker, the former head of the Army Corps of Engineers, was forced to resign in 2002 over budget disagreements with the White House. He clashed with Mitch Daniels, former director of the Office of Management and Budget, which sets the administration's annual budget goals.

"One time I took two pieces of steel into Mitch Daniels' office," Parker recalled. "They were exactly the same pieces of steel, except one had been under water in a Mississippi lock for 30 years, and the other was new. The first piece was completely corroded and falling apart because of a lack of funding. I said, 'Mitch, it doesn't matter if a terrorist blows the lock up or if it falls down because it disintegrates -- either way it's the same effect, and if we let it fall down, we have only ourselves to blame.' It made no impact on him whatsoever."

Daniels, now governor of Indiana, did not respond to a request for comment.

Aren't we all just so lucky to have Mitch running, or is that ruining, our fine State?