Congress has approved spending $500 billion on the wars/reconstruction of Iraq+Afghaniston since 9/11. About $14 billion has been approved for restoration of the Louisiana coastline–far too little and it took a lot of argument to get it. (See today’s Times-Picayune, Section A, pages 2 and 5. And, yes, when you add up everything related to Katrina we are in line to get more than $14B.)

The point is that Congress approved another $70B for Iraqistan almost as a matter of course yesterday. The money seems to be conjured out of thin air for defense–but budget limitations seem to apply here (and elsewhere) when it comes to funding domestic restoration and recovery.