Speechless

Watching the news and reading email since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast is like living in a post-apocalyptic movie.

• Press release from Senator Mary Landrieu
  "But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast -- black and white, rich and poor, young and old -- deserve far better from their national government."
• Fox News reporters all but crying with frustration (video at site)
  "Shepard Smith and Geraldo Rivera were livid about the situation in NOLA as they appeared on H&C. When Hannity tried his usual spin job and said "let's get this in perspective," Smith chopped him off at the knees and started yelling at him saying, "This is perspective!" It was shocking."
• And then there's the email I received from a friend from an acquaintance in Baton Rouge.  It seems that the criminals from New Orleans have fled to Baton Rouge.  According to the email, carjackings and rapes have escalated, and home burglaries have increased.

In the case of the reporters not knowing anything, and of people being locked in the New Orleans convention center, where are the military-style briefings of what is going on and why the Red Cross is being kept away?  If the problem is the incubation and spread of disease, wouldn't it be better for the Red Cross to start treating these people as quickly as possible?