reality bites

Another non-land-rent story. I'm watching the New Orleans situation with great interest. Atheists have a saying (short enough for bumper stickers) - "reality bites." Meaning that, reality is reality, and will affect us even if we ignore it. New Orleans seems to illustrate this. Flood defenses were cut back in previous years. A large proportion of U.S. National Guards and their equipment are in Iraq. Government decided that terrorists were a bigger threat than nature. And now reality has bitten back.