The images of boats out-of-place are always some of the strongest for me, I suppose because they're silly and dreamlike while still being a great punctuation point for Big Disaster. Boats lodged in decks, in roofs, stranded in the middle of streets. Satellite photos of boats strew about parking lots like dead fish. Boats lodged in trees, like echoes from Aguirre, The Wrath of God.

When I was reading a lot by and about various extreme conservative movements last year I was surprised to come across repeated vilifications of FEMA lumped in with other, more predictable targets like welfare, and so usually lacking an explanation. I worked with FEMA during my time with state gubmint (repairing earthquake damage) and was always amused by how they'd swoop in with their blue raincoats with the big yellow letters across the back, like they were in The X-Files or something, their hardhats and clipboards and steely miens. I suppose this is enough Fed foofarah to put off any Bircher but I never followed up on the more invisible sources of their paranoia. Disaster Relief Queens in hydrofoil Cadillacs? Who knows, but given this history I'm hardly surprised Bush used the DHS to gut them.

Paul & Melinda: I wonder if that dildo is still on the roof... (laughing through grief: I am sososo sorry. I truly loved that city, your city.)