Quote of the day: No doubt Justices Roberts and Alito applaud as another judge shakes a fist at his powerlessness to check gross government abuse

I suppose it quickens the pulse of Chief Justice Roberts and Hench Justice Alito every time they hear about yet another judge who, despite fact-based outrage, does what the New Supremes think judges are supposed to do when the powerful want to use the law to run roughshod over the powerless: wave 'em on!

Now it's U.S. District Judge Stanwood R. Duval Jr. of the Eastern District of Louisiana, who ruled that FEMA hadn't actually broken the law in its gross failure to provide information about benefits available to Hurricane Katrina victims and the application process. Nevertheless, the judge sounds pretty steamed in his ruling:

"While FEMA may not be legally required to notify applicants or recipients of assistance about what FEMA provides, much less provide any data regarding its availability or the requirements for obtaining such assistance, one can only wonder why FEMA would choose to not do so, as has so often been the case herein.

"It defies reason that a federal agency whose exclusive provision—and indeed, sole reason for existence—is to assist fellow Americans in a time of natural disaster in meeting their utmost needs would fail to notify people of the available services and the requirements for engaging those services, in some clear, consistent, and accessible way.

"It also defies reason that such an agency would be seemingly more concerned with fraud on the individual level than with actually helping those persons whose lives have been literally turned upside down through no fault of their own. It is the Court's determined opinion that the vast majority of Americans, including plaintiffs, do not expect the federal government to right all wrongs nor support them indefinitely, nor even attempt to make them anywhere near 'whole' after a disaster. Clearly such outcomes are simply impractical.

"However, certainly it would seem that FEMA would at least try to make things clear for those for whom it was created to serve. . . . [D]efendants must not forget that the foundations of all of these institutions, including our own government and FEMA itself, are individual people—human beings who must also be cared for, equally, equitably, and fairly.

"Rather than hiding behind bureaucratic double-talk, obscure regulations, outdated computer programs, and politically loaded platitudes such as 'people need to take care of themselves,' as the face of the federal government in the aftermath of Katrina, FEMA's goal should have been to foster an environment of openness and honesty with all Americans affected by the disaster. Sharing information in simple, clear, and precise terms and delineating the terms and conditions of available assistance in an up-front and forthright manner, does just that.

"Despite the voluminous 'administrative record' provided to the Court by FEMA, and despite FEMA's stated good intentions to the contrary, the Court has seen scant evidence that any such desire for openness and clarity guided any of FEMA's communications, and this obfuscation has acted much to the detriment of plaintiffs, and indeed, the entire country.

"Nevertheless, the Court finds that FEMA is not legally required to notify applicants or recipients of assistance about what FEMA provides or how to obtain such assistance. Regrettably this Court must leave any dissatisfaction with the law in this regard for those in the legislative branch to remedy."

Sorry, I tried to extract a shorter chunk from the extract available on washingtonpost.com, but I kept going back to the judge's text and feeling that, gee, his argument really needs to be heard.

What's more, it's hard not to think—even though Judge Duval had no reason to raise the issue, since it wasn't involved in the legal issues he was ruling on—that the Bush administration spared no effort to provide information about disaster-related plundering opportunities to its Old Crony Network of war-and-disaster profiteers, to make sure that they could profit as fully as possible from the tragedy and ongoing misery of their fellow Americans.

Isn't that, after all, what America is all about to the people who are running the country now?

I assume, by the way, that everyone is familiar with the New York Times's recent reporting that essentially the entire hierarchy of the Dept. of Homeland Security has moved straight from its stellar government performance to private companies doing "security" business with the department and other federal agencies. If it wasn't clear at the outset, it should be by now that the mission of the department never had anything to do with "homeland security." It was just a neat way of combining nakedly cynical political propaganda with a shiny, fat new boondoggle, a vehicle for Bush administration cronies—and I imagine, in fairness, for new "entrepreneurs" willing to "pay to play"—to cart off as much loot from the U.S. Treasury as their greedy clutches could manage.

[Note: Considering how long QOTD has already run, and the level of outrage it's got me running at, I'm going to save today's HONORABLE MENTION for later in the day. Jon Stewart had some nasty fun on last night's Daily Show with the Senate's rejection of the proposed minimum-wage hike. Just now I'm not in such a "fun" mood. Check back later.]