National Day of ... What?

That's not what????? by the way. It's just a question.

What day is tomorrow, and what does our choice of its name say about us and which direction we're going? Is our hurricane response really starting with praying for no more hurricanes? How well has that worked in the past - does anybody really think no one was praying as Katrina bore down inexorably upon the Gulf Coast?

Not to stir up trouble, but remember how well Bush's FEMA worked - no, seriously - how well it worked in Florida in 2004? Four hurricanes, $22 billion, less than 100 dead. No praying - just work. For instance, just one of them:

Hurricane Charley in August 2004 saw FEMA, National Guard troops, relief supplies and President Bush on stand by before the storm even made landfall. As the St. Petersburg Times reported on August 17th, 2004, "Governor Jeb Bush sought federal help Friday while Charley was still in the Gulf of Mexico. President Bush approved the aid about an hour after the hurricane made landfall." Cargo planes flew FEMA supplies supplies from a Georgia Air Force base to a staging area in Lakeland, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had stockpiled 11 truckloads of water and 14 truckloads of ice. Guy Daines, the former Pinellas County director of emergency services, was pleased and impressed with the rapid response of the National Guard and the delivery of pre-positioned supplies, stating "It amazed me how they got over 4,000 National Guard troops in there that quick. Rather than sit there and react, they are trying to get a jump-start on everything." [read the entire rundown here from perrspectives here]

Anyway ... tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer, if you lean that way.



It's also the National Day of Reason.

That's how I lean. How about you?