"The White House, shifting Katrina blame to state and local officials, says the governor of Louisiana still hasn't declared a state of emergency. She did -- while Bush was on vacation."

"ZDF News reported that the president's visit [to New Orleans] was a completely staged event. Their crew witnessed how the open air food distribution point Bush visited in front of the cameras was torn down immediately after the president and the herd of 'news people' had left and that others which were allegedly being set up were abandoned at the same time."

Mainstream media has noticed the disconnect between what Bush and other administration officials are saying, versus what their own reporters are seeing right there in the thick of things. I just hope that my fellow Americans can cast blame in the rightwards direction.

"...the federal government's lethal ineptitude wasn't just a consequence of Mr. Bush's personal inadequacy; it was a consequence of ideological hostility to the very idea of using government to serve the public good. For 25 years the right has been denigrating the public sector, telling us that government is always the problem, not the solution. Why should we be surprised that when we needed a government solution, it wasn't forthcoming?"

But that's not all. "Katrina may seem like the last word in hurricanes, but the possibility remains very real that another major hurricane may hit New Orleans or some other portion of the 200-mile coastline devastated by Katrina in the weeks to come."

I'll leave the final words to Johnny Cash, singing (as he often did) in a way that applies to all forms of adversity:

Well, the rails are washed out north of town
We gotta head for higher ground
We can't come back till the water comes down,
Five feet high and risin'.