From Bush's speech last night:

As all of us saw on television, there is also some deep, persistent poverty in this region as well. And that poverty has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America.

Because poverty and racism don't exist unless you see them on television. (Apparently, Bush didn't "get" the extent of the problem on the Gulf Coast until his staff made a DVD of news coverage for him.) And hey, as Bush's mother pointed out, the poor folks are better off now -- living high on the government hog in shelters. So she's resting easy about the problem.

It seems that the continuing narrative of the Bush administration is: "I had no idea." They thought the oceans protected us from terrorists. They didn't know terrorists would use planes as missiles. They didn't know there would be resistance in Iraq. They were shocked that there were no WMD. They didn't know about the abuses at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo. They couldn't conceive of an Iraqi constitution that would replace civil rights with fundamentalist Islam. No one could have anticipated the breach of the levees.

It's too bad that Know-Nothing Party has already been used -- it would be a fine description of the current administration.

For a useful timeline of the disaster and the response, check out Salon.

Finally, it goes without saying that whatever you can cough up for the Red Cross or the charity of your choice would be appreciated.