The cost of the "War on Terrorism", combined with the tax cuts resulted in profound funding cuts that were to be used to prevent a Hurricane disaster in New Orleans.

Today I heard from Rachel Maddow (substituting for Al Franken on Air America) that in 2001, FEMA identified 3 potential national disasters that should be top priority in the United States: A hurricane/flood in New Orleans, a terrorist attack in New York and an earthquake in San Francisco. Certainly 911 speaks for itself. Now New Orleans. Hope the The N'Olins rich are happy with their tax cuts today! Before this natural disaster struck, I can just hear them talking about the unimportance and inefficiencies of government.

An exerpt from the above article:
"The 2004 hurricane season, as you probably recall, was the worst in decades. In spite of that, the federal government came back this spring with the steepest reduction in hurricane- and flood-control funding for New Orleans in history. Because of the proposed cuts, the Corps office there imposed a hiring freeze. Officials said that money targeted for the SELA project -- $10.4 million, down from $36.5 million -- was not enough to start any new jobs. According to New Orleans CityBusiness this June 5:

The president told us that we needed to fight in Iraq to save lives here at home, and yet -- after moving billions of domestic dollars to the Persian Gulf -- there are bodies floating through the streets of Louisiana. What does George W. Bush have to say for himself now?"