Homeland Gridlock - Updated

Houston Chronicle, Friday Sept. 23

"A mass evacuation ahead of Hurricane Rita became its own disaster on Thursday as traffic backed up for at least 100 miles when a million people tried to flee the Texas coast."

-- Reuters News Service

From Wikipedia:

• Houston is America's fourth largest city
• It is "the second-largest economic area of the Gulf Coast region."
• The Port of Houston is ranked second in the world in foreign tonnage.
• "The city is the largest petrochemical manufacturing area in the world."
• "Houston is second to New York City in Fortune 500 headquarters."
• Two of the world's "top 20" electricity generating nuclear power plant units are within 90 miles of Houston

Update

• "Acknowledging that "being on the highway is a deathtrap," [Houston] Mayor Bill White asked for military help in rushing scarce fuel to stranded drivers. Mr. White and the top official in Harris County, Judge Robert Eckels, admitted that their plans had not anticipated the volume of traffic."

From 2002 to the end of this month, the Bush administration has budgeted $114.1 billion on "homeland security," including disaster preparedness, and an additional $10.2 billion in supplemental appropriations.

Where did it all go??