Ok, I just can't keep myself away. I heard after the trip that apparently George (W) Bush had been down in New Orleans when we had and he said,

"It may be hard for you to see, but from when I first came here to today, New Orleans is reminding me of the city I used to come to visit," he said. "It's a heck of a place to bring your family. It's a great place to find some of the greatest food in the world and some wonderful fun.

He promised that help was still coming. The article in the China Daily said,

Bush's route to the college took him down a coastal road past thousands of snapped trees, debris still hanging from limbs and lots emptied of their buildings. There were almost no intact structures _ in most cases only concrete foundations were left _ and little evidence of rebuilding.

"There's no homes to repair," Bush said. "It's just been flattened. That's what the people of America have got to understand." Unlike in New Orleans, where most of the population has not returned, the road was lined with dozens of onlookers. Many held signs pleading for help and pledging their determination to rebuild their communities.

Many New Orleans neighborhoods are still abandoned wastelands, with uninhabitable homes, no working street lights and sidewalks piled with moldy garbage. The levee system is as vulnerable as ever. Barely a quarter of the 400,000 people who fled have come back, demographers estimate.

Let's see if he helps the people in New Orleans. It was nice of him to stop by for the first time in 3 months, right before the State of the Union. He's such a great guy.

So they just announced in the news today that the White House had information that Katrina might be a catergory 5, and that it might destroy the levees...and the White House was STILL slow to react, and now they've put a cease of information in the case...which only means there's worse things we don't know. Fantastic!