What we learn from history ...

From a column by Bradley Burston in Ha'aretz, the Israeli daily newspaper, that somehow combined his musings on the 2008 election, New Orleans and the lessons of history into a coherent whole:

At the weekend, The Associated Press released the results of an investigation into the federal government's efforts to safeguard the Crescent City from a catastrophe such as that which followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

"In a yearlong review of levee work here, The Associated Press has tracked a pattern of public misperception, political jockeying and legal fighting, along with economic and engineering miscalculations since Katrina, that threaten to make New Orleans the scene of another devastating flood."

Concluded flood protection official Tim Moody, "What we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history."

Cross-posted from The Mackerel Wrapper, my journalism blog.