On doing things in a timely fashion

In the next week or so, Louisiana will receive bills from FEMA for its share of post-Katrina/Rita recovery. The total of all the bills is expected to be $3.7 billion. The federal agency has made it clear to state officials that there will be interest, penalties, and possible ineligibility for other federal funds if the state does not pay the bills in a "timely fashion."

Sure. Like FEMA responded to the hurricanes in a "timely fashion." Will Louisiana be billed for the rows of buses ordered by Governor Blanco but not allowed to enter the state until days after the storm hit, and which then entered from the Arkansas end of Louisiana? Will the state be billed for the multiple trucks of ice that were sent to Maine and South Carolina, where they are probably still sitting? How about the telecommunications equipment ordered by the governor that was never received at all? Or the truckloads of food that had be parked on the side of the road until George W. Bush could make his round of "I knew a storm was comin'" speeches and advise evacuees to go to Goodwill centers that had been blown to oblivion by Katrina?

What about the share of Michael Chertoff's and Michael Brown's hefty salaries and consulting fees that Louisiana's citizens helped pay for? Can that be deducted?

People died in the Superdome and the Convention Center. They died on the street. They died after they finally reached Houston. Their pets were tossed into the street like garbage by "rescuers." Because everything was done in such a "timely fashion."