I always wondered why a smart guy like Ray Nagin could come off so incompetent

There is a certain mentality that flourishes in beaucracies that allow for the creation of personal feifdoms on the publics dime. The attitude runs essentially like this: "it's not coming out of my budget. Let's find some money somewhere else to pay for this."

Was it that sort of blinkered mentality that lead to the spectacular failure of the New Orleans Emergency Evacuation Plan? Was it budgetary constraints that drove New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (D) or members of his staff to not fire up those oh so famous parked busses and evacuate the poorest of the poor in The Big Easy.

I never wanted to put that out there because, unless you have some evidence, you're opening yourself up to libel. The whole idea is so reprehensible as to be repugnant. I didn't want to believe anyone could be so shallow as to put political funding ahead of people's lives.

Well, get this from the desk of Michael Goodwin and the press of the NY Daily News:

And how's this for preparation? Cops were told not to work on the day Katrina hit, one officer told The New York Times, but "to come in the next day, to save money on their budget."

If this is true, it's bad, real bad and seems to confirm my darkest suspicions. Where ever this attitude / order came from, the person who uttered it should face the wrath of the MSM. And the voters. And the Justice Department. And a thousand trial lawyers. He / she belongs in prison.