Katrina Coverage

President Bush visited New Orleans yesterday in what appears to have been a visit designed to bring back tourists and conventioneers. Here's the NYT's first paragraph:
President Bush made his first trip here in three months on Thursday and declared that New Orleans was "a heck of a place to bring your family" and that it […]

The NYT reports on canvas and plywood tent cities being constructed in Mississippi. Frankly, they don't sound that overly bad:
The tents, built by the Navy Seabees at a cost of $1 million, can be heated and cooled, and have plywood floors and walls that create an 18-by-32-foot wooden box inside the exterior fabric. They are […]

From November 4 came the NYT's "In Louisiana, Worker Influx Causes Ill Will". While not as overtly biased as other article reporting on illegal aliens taking jobs from American hurricane victims, it does give unanswered voice to those who support that un-American practice:
…The focus on Hispanic immigrants worries people like Representative Nydia M. Velázquez of […]

Last week we had Bloomberg offering "Bush's Attention Wanders From Katrina as Reconstruction Lags". Then came Paul Krugman with "The Promiser in Chief". Apparently new talking points were released, since there are at least two other recent instances of this same line of thought.
For instance, here's Mike Allen of the Washington Post appearing on Meet […]

According to an NYT editorial, we need to spend $32 billion or so - spread over several years - to improve the levees to Category 5 level. Why, that's just a third of the recent tax cuts! And, while president Bush is largely to blame, local officials must do their part as well:
We are about […]

Leftie icon Paul Krugman offers this (also partially here):
[…comparison with Iraq rebuilding…]
…One FEMA program has, however, been revamped. The Recovery Channel is a satellite and Internet network that used to provide practical information to disaster victims. Now it features public relations segments telling viewers what a great job FEMA and the Bush administration are doing.
But […]

Their coverage of the anti-American scandal is in "In Louisiana, Worker Influx Causes Ill Will".
Needless to say, this putatively American newspaper reports on illegal aliens working and living in unsafe conditions and taking jobs that should go to Americans without emphasizing how much a scandal this is. On the bright side, they don't play the […]

From the NYT's "Liberal Hopes Ebb in Post-Storm Poverty Debate":
As Hurricane Katrina put the issue of poverty onto the national agenda, many liberal advocates wondered whether the floods offered a glimmer of opportunity. The issues they most cared about - health care, housing, jobs, race - were suddenly staples of the news, with President Bush […]

The NYT offers a report on James Lee Witt in "FEMA Leader Under Clinton Makes It Pay":
…Soon after the storm hit, the State of Louisiana signed up with Witt Associates, a disaster consulting firm. Within days, Mr. Witt had become a fixture at the state's emergency operations center in Baton Rouge, advising the governor and […]

The NYT reports on how evacuees fared in Oklahoma:
Tensions rose, and by the end of the month, the Louisianans, grateful though they were, could not wait to get out. And the local people, well-meaning and overwhelmed, were just as relieved to see them go.
Here's a peek inside one of FEMA’s Oklahoma camps.