Thanks to Brian Williams. He needs to keep on keeping on to embarass our national and local leaders into action. One down blackhawk helicopter can rebuild a fire station. We must demand more from our leaders.
Go Brian.

My comment is to express appreciation for David Brinkley's honesty and heart-felt concern for the people in New Orleans. He understands and cares more deeply than any others I've heard about the people there. It's so good to know there are prominent men like him who tell the truth about the devastation of this beautiful city (which I visited in 1976!) and I share his love and appreciation of all its citizens.
Bless You, David Brinkley!!

i think that anyone who blams the president for katrina is wrong because this is american and we have state governers for a reason. to handle that state. this is not a dictatorship.. when katrina hit the governe was responsible for the people that couldn't leave, not the president of the united states. and i also just heard on nbc that people say the leves were exploded and the government was rasist and blew up the leves. what kind of B.s. is that. people who were affected and still are should be asking the governer what he/she is going to do about it. NOT the president.

Bear with me for posting a second time, but Michele Cunha's post got me to thinking:

I've often expressed my view that detailed Katrina recovery coverage should be regular and consistent.

However, I feel the same way about reporting out of Iraq as long as the US has troops on her soil. I feel for people like Michele who have family or friends in harm's way there when they aren't able to find out from newscasts what's going on.

In my opinion, NBC Nightly should reserve regular slots for reporting both from the storm zone and out of Iraq.

Another thought-provoking post--thanks. I'm also very concerned about the slow pace of progress getting vital infrastructure such as water, electrical, and sewerage services up and running in New Orleans because of what this would mean for her repopulation and recovery. Not to mention New Orleans' lack of sufficient schools and day care, and the fact that her few remaining hospitals are not up to serving even her diminished population.

I cringe at the thought of Ernesto or any other major storm hitting Louisiana this season--especially with the shortage of medical care--a human tragedy could result when all sorts of people needing emergency care start flooding hospitals.

I also read yesterday a Times-Picayune article that describes New Orleans' economy as being in a "coma" which I also find worrisome. I wonder where some people have gotten the idea that New Orleans has "beaucoup bucks," because I recently read that she has a cash flow problem...

And I've already brought up the bureaucratic red tape holding up aid for homeowners in Louisiana.

What New Orleans (and Mississippi and the rest of the storm zone) really need to get rebuilding going is a Marshall Plan, but evidently the Bush Administration is more interested in a Marshall Plan for Lebanon.

My husband is part of a team of architects and urban designers from around the country who have been working intensely in New Orleans for past five months, retained by the NO City Council. He confirms that progress is extremely slow in terms of restoring the basics, the scope of the devastation is greater than anyone outside the Gulf area could ever comprehend. Combine this ruin with both deep and historic roots in local political corruption and fiscal mismanagement, and federal government abandonment and what hope does this city have of ever coming back to life? (My sentiment, not my husband's!) On the other hand, the news media has been quite diligent about showing all that goes wrong or is not being accomplished in the Gulf, but I am extremely disappointed that there has been no national coverage (and very little local) of this significant re-design effort commissioned by the City Council.

On Sunday, August 27, there will be a dedication of a "Katrina Memorial" in the Lower Ninth Ward and there has been no news about this anywhere (unlike the exhaustive and often irritating news coverage of the planning for the World Trade Center site). It is a memorial that is being built with completely donated services and materials, no cost to the citizens of New Orleans, and the design was endorsed by the community and the City Council. It would be a shameful missed opportunity if this event and the back-story went unacknowledged by the media, like so much of the good work that has been going on for quite awhile.

Thank God .. the Whole world hasn't lost thier mind.. My hat goes off to the people who wrote in regarding how our Press has lost thier way.. We have thousands of young men and women {including} my 19yrs old son fighting in Iraq every day .. in a lot of cases dying in Iraq everyday ...However over the past 3 weeks Iraq hasn't even been a footnote in the newspaper or on the so called news programs. I as an American find this totally disgusting.. are we just suppose to foget about our troops because Tom Crusie lost his contract and some nut confused to a 10yr old murder.. I think not.. let's get it together boys and girls our lives depend on it, and more importantly our troops need our prayers and support every moment of every day.. Please don't loose sight of what this is all about.. Focus..
Americans aren't stupid so please don't treat us that way.. The war isn't going away anythime soon.. Especialy if our Journalist don't stand up and report
what American really care about.. Our troops .......
After all they are thier for US....