In the rational world — which the "reality-based"
     community increasingly does not inhabit — governance is
     an exercise in prioritization. Was it rational and
     defensible to shift funding from any source toward
     defense- and war-related activities in the aftermath of
     9/11? Of course. Did that shift leave the levees unready
     to handle Katrina's deadly burden? No. The levees were
     inherently unready: even at maximum proposed funding,
     their design was only for a Cat 3 storm, not the Cat 4/5
     that Katrina was. It is true that in 2004, proposals were
     floated to upgrade to a Cat 4/5-capable levee system; it
     is also true that even in an ideal situation, the
     studies — not the construction! — necessary to assess
     what that would entail would not be finished before 2008.

     This madness is all of a piece with the "Bush was on
     vacation when this happened" idiocy. Yes, we could have
     used his heat vision to seal some of the levees at weak
     points, and his superhuman strength might have been
     enough to save some collapsing concrete. But what we
     really needed was for him to get the rest of the Justice
     League out there, especially Green Lantern. Or at least
     to reverse the Earth's rotation and save us from this
     disaster.