Not Even a Pot to Piss In

There's a lot to be outraged about when it comes to the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, but for some reason, this story really got to me:

It was the moment when the portable toilets were taken away that almost took the fight out of Tony Earl.

For six weeks, ever since Hurricane Katrina destroyed his trailer home and his town, Mr. Earl and his family have been living in a tent, with no sign of the housing promised by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and President Bush.

So when FEMA, without explanation, carted off the portable outhouses the Earls had been using, he realized he had little choice. He is now struggling to build a free-standing bathroom out of the slabs of wood and tin that have washed up nearby.

The official reason?

As for the portable toilets that were hauled away more than a week ago, they had been provided by a company whose federal contract expired, according to FEMA, which is trying to shift contracts to state and local governments.

So let me get this straight. If we need to pay $11 million per day to house refugees in hotels, no problem. And if we need to spend $236 million to house refugees for six months on some luxury cruise ships docked at port — double what it would cost to actually send these folks on a real six-month cruise — that's a done deal. But pay a company some minuscule amount to provide toilets to people living in tents? Sorry, no can do.