MARDY GRAS

The phrase ''pissing in our boots and telling us it's raining'' was made for it. New Orleans found out yesterday that its country's president had been told that their city was about to be washed off the face of the earth by Hurricane Katrina - and did nothing about it.
While Mr Bush successfully (sic) mobilised 120,000 troops into battle half way around the world with no reliable evidence for his actions, he didn't manage to send one bean to New Orleans when proof of an incoming disaster was being shown to him on a live satellite link.
The amazing tv footage of Mr Bush's blank disregard for what anyone was telling him showed a man with his mind on a 4pm donut break rather than New Orleans plight.
But Bush's ultimate boot-pissing moment came later when he then denied to the nation he'd been told how bad the storm would be, when he was being criticized for lack of action.
Today, as the hangovers from the city's successful but bitter Mardi Gras wear off, you can't help thinking that its residents will see that footage sober for the first time, take a sip of their coffee, and think: ''what a complete cunt.''