Katrina knocks out grain shipments

On top of the refinery and pipeline issues, now this:

Katrina's economic impact is being felt far from the Gulf Coast. Barge operators in Missouri and farmers in Iowa are worrying about how long the Mississippi River might be closed to barge and ship traffic.

"A lot of our grain here goes down the river to the Gulf of Mexico, and we don't know how long it is before the ports down there open," said LuAnn Robinson, a grain negotiator for the National Farmers Organization in Ames, Iowa. "There's going to be piles all over if we can't ship down the river."

Barge operators don't have anywhere to drop off the last stored grains, and the fall corn harvest begins in less than a month.

"All the facilities are knocked out. We can get everything but there are no facilities down there," said Bruce Engert, the general manager of the Missouri Barge Line Co. in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

An economic disaster right up the middle of Red America.  Bush's diversion of funds to Iraq that made this disaster possible is criminal.