My Pet Goat.

In “recent years:”

In recent years, Bush repeatedly sought to slice the Army Corps of Engineers’ funding requests to improve the levees holding back Lake Pontchartrain, which Katrina smashed through, flooding New Orleans. In 2005, Bush asked for $3.9 million, a small fraction of the request the corps made in internal administration deliberations. Under pressure from Congress, Bush ultimately agreed to spend $5.7 million. Since coming to office, Bush has essentially frozen spending on the Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for protecting the coastlines, waterways and other areas susceptible to natural disaster, at around $4.7 billion.

Wednesday:

On his way to Washington, Bush had Air Force One fly low over the hurricane-ravaged area. His plane flew over New Orleans at about 2,500, and it descended even further, to about 1,700 feet, over Mississippi. Bush surveyed the damage from a couch near the left front of the plane.

The plane flew over New Orleans and saw the Superdome, downtown areas and outlying neighborhoods, then traveled along the coast to Mobile before turning north toward Washington.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan quoted Bush as saying, “It’s devastating, it’s got to be doubly devastating on the ground.” Among other things, the president saw an amusement park with the tops of wrecked rides protruding over bridges covered by water.

Today:

We’ve got a lot of rebuilding to do. First, we’re going to save lives and stabilize the situation. And then we’re going to help these communities rebuild. The good news is — and it’s hard for some to see it now — that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house — he’s lost his entire house — there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)

You all have heard, I hope, the 15-minute interview with the mayor of New Orleans — as damning a condemnation from a public official as anything I’ve heard recently. It’s on the New York Times website, in the Multimedia sidebar. (There’s a transcript here, but the audio interview drives the point better — it’s uncensored, for starters.)

(I should have taken a screen clipping of how the webpage originally looked — it was to the right of another sidebar that had Bush’s photo on it with the caption, “‘Hang in there,’ he told refugees.”)

But folks, all criticisms above aside — anything will help: 1500 blogs (now 1501) are participating in Blog Relief Days. There’s more information at Instapundit’s roundup page and the TTLB Katrina Relief page. I recommend the American Red Cross, and, if you want log your contribution here.

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