There’s been some interesting debate on the ‘Blogs I read about the slinging around of blame in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Before hosting a more-heat-than-light comment scrap, Harry’s Place has posted a couple of extended contributions from readers, one broadly critical, one trying to put events in context. Yesterday Norm drew attention to a National Geographic article from last year warning about the increased chance of such a disaster, which (unknown to me before I commented there) prompted civil mechanical engineer Tim Newman to make some points about acceptable risk. Before doing so, he rounded up some of the partisan nonsense being written about the US government response. Judy at Adloyada does the same and suggests a new PooterGeek competition…

…for the best blame-quote on Katrina. Just to start you off, Damian, my entry would be Ahmed Qurei speaking on behalf of the Palestinian Authority:

“Whilst we regret the tragic loss of life in Katrina, we must remember that as long as the brutal Israeli occupation of Palestine continues the Palestinian Authority will be powerless to prevent its ally Jesse Jackson from making damnfool statements blaming President Bush for the disaster.”

I have a feeling some of the real blame quotes yet to come will trump even that suggestion. And I also have a Kanye West post brewing.

How about this “quote” from Nelson “the US wants a holocaust” Mandela:

“This racist storm was deliberately caused by George W Bush’s policies to promote global warming. It was designed to kill black Americans and leave the oil wealth of New Orleans for white imperialists.”