Thanks George

September 2. Maybe it's not a date that will live in infamy, but it's a date I'll always remember for a couple of reasons. Why? Hard to put into precise words. How would the great columnist Cindy Adams write about this date? Let me try.

September 2, 2004. Madison Square Garden, NYC. The august Mr Bush stands before the convention of his Grand Old Party, accepting re-nomination for a second term as President of these United States. Part of his speech's high-flying rhetoric: "People will look to the resurrection of New York City and they will say: Here buildings fell, and here a nation rose."

September 2, 2005. The Aftermath: Hurricane Katrina, the Gulf Coast. The re-elected Mr Bush surveys damage from the biggest natural disaster in US history, followed by the biggest failed Federal response to a natural disaster in US history. He looks at the former horse association lawyer Michael D. Brown, lately Director of FEMA, and declares, "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job!"

Based on his statements and actions, I can only conclude that the President's mind works like this:

A. NYC = a good political backdrop (thanks to a terrorist event "we never saw coming") that will help me maintain power and responsibility for the security of the American people

B. Hurricane Katrina = an annoying natural event not in any way caused by global warming

C. New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region = black people and poor people and poor black people who don't vote or don't vote for me and who aren't campaign contributors therefore have nothing to do with me getting and/or maintaining power and responsibility for the security of the American people

A + B + C = a good time to play the guitar