EVERYTHING IS GETTING BETTER, RIGHT? ESPECIALLY IN NEW ORLEANS AND IN IRAQ AND THEN THERE'S THIS GREAT ECONOMY...

The Bush Regime says there is progress in Iraq and soon, despite all the epirical evidence to the contrary, they have the media repeating it as if it were obviously true. Even Democrats of a certain bent and persuasion-- a Brian Baird (D-WA), for example, comes back from a few dizzying, jetlagged hours in the Greed Zone declaring that the war is-- lo! and behold!-- being won.

I just drove home from dinner and I heard Bush on the radio, broadcasting from New Orleans where he was celebrating the tremendous progress he-- and he alone-- claims his regime has made in rebuilding the city. The only president to have ever lost an American city, Bush stood up and, with a straight face, said this to the long-suffering citziens, and ex-citizens of the once thriving and beloved city of New Orleans:

When Hurricane Katrina broke through the levees, it broke a lot of hearts, it destroyed buildings, but it didn't affect the spirit of a lot of citizens in this community.

...It's sometimes hard for people to see progress when you live in a community all the time.

Laura and I get to come-- we don't live here. We come on occasion. And it's easy to think about what it was like when we first came here after the hurricane and what it's like today. And this town's coming back. This town is better today than it was yesterday. And it's going to be better tomorrow than it was today.

Is he really as clueless as his speech- writers make him sound? Does he believe this heartless drivel? Is he blind? Maybe he needs to go to Australia and get the perspective he claims the citizens of New Orleans don't have. Or perhaps he could just watch Katie Couric's video report on New Orleans.

Two years after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, people in New Orleans are still frustrated with the slow place of recovery.

At the time the wild storm left thousands of residents stranded on rooftops, while others made do in sub-standard shelters.

America was criticised for initially mounting a Third World response to a massive domestic crisis.

...In New Orleans two-thirds of the residents are back - the French Quarter survived Katrina and the music and restaurant scenes are recovering.

But few neighbourhoods are thriving, much of the city looks like a wasteland and businesses and homes are still abandoned.

With bells ringing to mark the moment the levees began to break, many residents have a lingering sense of abandonment and frustration at the rebuilding efforts.

Everyone I know who has visited beyond the Quarter and every TV report I've seen, shows the same thing: utter neglect and devastation, a complete lack of vision, competence and will from the top to actually accomplish the daunting task of reviving and rebuilding the Gulf Coast and New Orleans. Many years ago I used to smoke dope to this when it was first released. Maybe Bush did too: