Thousands feared dead in New Orleans

The city's mayor, Ray Nagin, has said that Hurricane Katrina is thought to have killed hundreds, probably thousands of people.

Mr. Nagin said there were significant numbers of corpses in the waters of the flood-stricken city, while many more people may be dead in their homes.

There would be a total evacuation of the city, he said, warning it could be months before residents could return.

MONTHS. And what did our President do?

Mr. Bush flew low over the affected states to survey the damage, on his way to Washington from his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

"It's totally wiped out," spokesman Scott McClellan quoted him as saying.

"It's devastating. It's got to be doubly devastating on the ground."

So, to recap. We knew about this storm last week (it developed over the Atlantic on August 23rd, then hit Florida on the 25th and was expected to hit New Orleans, as it did, on Monday the 29th.)

The President, famous for "staying the course," keeps his busy schedule of bike riding and wood chopping until Monday morning when, instead of flying back to DC to take charge of the dire situation, flies to Arizona to eat cake with McCain and give a speech at a Country Club.

Then on Tuesday, after the hurricane has hit and wreaked havoc, he flies to California to give another speech and play the guitar.

Then on Wednesday, when thousands have already died, and after having gone back to his ranch for one last restful night (gotta get his beauty sleep I guess) he flies back to Washington and, on the way, he casually takes a look out the window (God forbid he actually makes a special trip to the area, let's just take a detour while we "stay the course") and then has the audacity to state: "It's got to be doubly devastating on the ground."

Well, I guess he'll never know for sure, will he.