A Chilling Lack of Empathy

My esteemed Penpal, the one responsible for hipping me up to the wonderful Sarah Vowell, has been diligently sending me articles by Maureen Dowd, and now I am really getting a thing for her as well. This latest article (United States of Shame - New York Times) really sums things up. Allow me to quote a few of my favorite parts, but do go read the piece in its entirety.

Stuff happens.
And when you combine limited government with incompetent government, lethal stuff happens.

and:

Michael Brown, the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA - a job he trained for by running something called the International Arabian Horse Association - admitted he didn't know until Thursday that there were 15,000 desperate, dehydrated, hungry, angry, dying victims of Katrina in the New Orleans Convention Center.
Was he sacked instantly? No, our tone-deaf president hailed him in Mobile, Ala., yesterday: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

and finally:

It is a chilling lack of empathy combined with a stunning lack of efficiency that could make this administration implode.

If only.