what does "rational" mean?

The title of this post is a rhetorical question, because nobody can actually answer it. "Rational" to you is not necessarily "rational" to somebody else, given the wide variance in background, bias, situational awareness, etc.

That being said, please keep the following "facts" in mind as you listen to the talkshows bash the federal government's response to Katrina:

- Katrina was a cat 3 (i.e. MAJOR) hurricane almost 48 hours prior to landfall, and its projected path at that time had the storm strengthening as it came right to New Orleans' doorstep. I'm talking about Saturday morning, when the vast majority of people probably weren't at work and hopefully had been alerted to the presence of a MAJOR storm just to their south.

- The city's predicament looked entirely different on Tuesday morning than it did on Monday night. On Monday, words like "lucky" and "spared" were being tossed around when describing New Orleans' fate (neighbors to the north and east had clearly received the brunt of the storm). . .and then the levees broke.

And now for the ultimate in rhetorical questions: who/what do you think is the first line of defense against threats to you and your family?