Folks up and down the Gulf Coast are warily looking at their televisions and listening in on radio wondering where this storm is headed (South Florida seems the likely target this time).
So, how are things going in TX, LA, MS, and AL? Well, it would depend on who you ask.
In what should be an earth-shattering surprise to no one, people who are economically better off were able to return home sooner than those who were poorer. And in other news, the sky is still blue, the sun is still hot, and Karl Rove's weather machine is still set on overdrive.
Gateway Pundit runs through a bunch of the common urban legends and myths surrounding Katrina like a hot knife through butter.
Tourism is a major component to the Gulf Coast economy, and many folks head down there for the golf. A review of the region's courses finds that some of the courses in and around New Orleans may take years to reopen due to the extensive flooding. Some courses were flooded for nearly two weeks and thousands of trees were downed. While other courses have offered assistance, it will take time to assess the damage and rebuild.
Cleaning up from the hurricanes continues, but some folks need reminding as to whom to call to pick up debris from along roads.
And someone get me a new monitor, because Mayor Nagin and Gov. Blanco say trust me with the reconstruction efforts.
They didn't exactly say "trust me," but Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin tried Tuesday to persuade House members that fears the state and city will waste federal Hurricane Katrina recovery aid through corruption and ineptitude are misguided.Sorry, but I wouldn't trust either of them with anything more important than garbage collection. Wait, strike that. Nagin and Blanco can't even do that! Dog catcher? Nope, that doesn't work either since there's that problem with pets that were forced to be abandoned because shelters were unable or unwilling to accept them and no alternative provisions were made for people unwilling to part with their pets.
"Why not just take a minute and Google me and you will see that since I have been in office almost four years my whole focus has been on reform of government, honesty and integrity," Nagin said at a meeting of two House transportation subcommittees looking at strategies for rebuilding New Orleans.
Blanco, by video hook-up from Baton Rouge, also dealt head-on with the suggestions that state governments lack integrity. The latest accusation was from Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, who complained last week about what he called a culture of corruption in Louisiana not unlike Iraq.
Blanco said that on top of its own team of auditors, the state will hire a Big Four accounting firm to go over every Katrina-related expenditure and then will hire a second Big Four firm evaluate the first's firm's findings.
Meanwhile, Whiplash Nagin strikes again. He's pulled his downtown casino project as quickly as he announced it. Go figure. And the communication between the Governor and Mayor is astounding:
Testifying Tuesday before two House Transportation subcommittees on Capitol Hill, Nagin said he has given up on his idea to let a handful of the city's largest hotels develop on-site casinos.
"The governor didn't much like the idea, so it is pretty much dead," Nagin told a House hearing on "a vision and strategy for rebuilding New Orleans."
Though Nagin expressed confidence that the areas of the city that lie west of the Industrial Canal can and should be rebuilt, he left open the question of how extensive the reconstruction should be in eastern New Orleans and the Lower 9th Ward, which suffered the worst flooding.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco, on the other hand, told committee members that the city and state are far from determining if any area of the ravaged city should be returned to flood plain.
Technorati: flood aid; hurricane katrina; katrina aid; hurricane rita; slidell; biloxi; gulfport; pascagoula; nagin; blanco; barbour.
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