Stonewalling the Katrina Victims

Word coming out of New Orleans is that progress towards recovery is very slow. One of the major reasons is that those who evacuated can't come back to help with recovery because of the lack of temporary housing.

According to this story in today's New York Times, the effort to provide temporary housing has become a victim of government mismanagement.

With its lackluster recovery effort, the Bush Administration is apparently hoping the people who need housing will simply give up and go away.

I'll be able to see for myself when I visit Louisiana later this month.


Update:

I just heard Cookie Roberts on NPR talk about her visit to her hometown of New Orleans. She paints a picture of a city with a landscape that is mostly brown because of the toxic water... and a population that's mostly white because many black people are now part of the diaspora. Ms. Roberts says our government needs to help in a big way to get this city back on its feet.