The testimony being provided this week by former FEMA chief Michael Brown, and others, gives us yet another opportunity to examine the lying and incompetence of the current administration.

There is growing evidence that the White House was receiving eyewitness accounts of levee failures, fires and stranded citizens even as the storm was still raging across the gulf coast. This contradicts the claims, at the time, that they had no way of knowing the true severity of the situation. As you noted, the president claimed he was lulled into a false sense of relief by initial media reports on Katrina. "I myself thought we had dodged a bullet," the president said on Sept. 12. "You know why? Because I was listening to people probably over the airwaves say, 'The bullet has been dodged.'"

Of course, even at the time, the president’s statement was patently ludicrous on its very face. This administration has continuously gone out of its way to claim that the media is inherently unreliable and prone to portray everything in only the most negative light. They have repeatedly argued that the media has mis-represented the situation in Iraq, failing to report all of the wonderful “progress” being made there. They have repeatedly argued that the media has mis-represented the situation here at home on the economy, failing to report all of the good financial news. Yet they want us to believe that they blindly relied on the media when it came to the situation in New Orleans? The absurdity of their position is further proof that they believe any lie can be passed off as the truth if they repeat it long and loudly enough.

It is obvious by now that this administration has “lie” as it’s default setting. It continues to operate in that default mode, even after being forced to admit that earlier statements were lies. One of the most glaring examples: the repeated early claims that the individuals who attacked us on September 11, 2001, were directly traceable to Saddam Hussain. Later, the president himself was finally forced to acknowledge that there was no connection between Iraq’s regime and the 9/11 hijackers. Yet the vice president and others in the administration continue to infer such a connection, and the constant repetition of the lie has convinced many that the lie is the truth.

As the Katrina hearings are held, another congressional committee is hearing testimony regarding the NSA’s warrantless eavesdropping program. The administration claims that the program is necessary, despite overwhelming evidence that there was no burden in getting the almost automatic – even retroactive – warrants from the FISA court. The administration says “trust us,” the program was necessary. The administration says “trust us,” we’re not gathering information on anyone other than known terror suspects. The administration says “trust us,” we would never use any of the mountains of information swept up in their broad net for any purpose other than protecting us from terrorists. Yet the administration proves, time and time again, that they simply cannot be trusted to tell the truth, and cannot be trusted to protect average Americans.

Tim Howe

Wauconda, IL

One amazing aspect of this story (hinted at in Matalin's idiotic comment) is the huge number of republican-inclined hunters jumping into the blogosphere to insist that this is "no big deal," and that "people get shot while bird hunting all the time."

Two points:

First, as a long-time hunter, my personal experience is that the vast majority of hunters are responsible and safety-conscious and that this does NOT happen "all the time." Some of the statistics I've seen bear that out. When people do get shot, the only acceptable reason is that somebody was horribly negligent and disregarded the most basic rules of hunting safety.

Second, is that really the message you want to spread about our sport? Doesn't that just reinforce the (inaccurate) stereotype of hunters as a bunch of liquored-up yahoos indiscriminately filling the air with lead?

Tim Howe

Wauconda, IL

I don't know whether to be glad so many dedicated, devoted pilots (and other airline workers) are still sticking it out with ever-decreasing compensation packages . . . . or to be scared to death the airlines have decided that the man or woman holding my life in their hands isn't worth much more than an electronics salesperson at Walmart.

Tim Howe

Wauconda, IL

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

A revolutionary idea, indeed.