Here are a few of the thousands of words I’ve read about the post-hurricane situation in New Orleans.

I was in New York during September 11 and the weeks that followed and I say the following with complete certainty: this disaster is so much worse than September 11 that they are not even comparable.

Things were so bad “you almost wonder if Donald Rumsfeld is in charge,” said Marshall Wittmann, an analyst with the Democratic Leadership Council.

On Wednesday reporters listening to horrific stories of death and survival at the Biloxi Junior High School shelter looked north across Irish Hill Road and saw Air Force personnel playing basketball and performing calisthenics. Playing basketball and performing calisthenics!

Nagin blamed the outbreak of crime and violence on drug addicts who are cut off from their drug supplies and wandering the city “looking to take the edge off their jones.”

Third question: Did the Bush administration destroy FEMA’s effectiveness? The administration has, by all accounts, treated the emergency management agency like an unwanted stepchild, leading to a mass exodus of experienced professionals.

…I’ve already made a donation to Red Cross and I’m just not sure what else I can do but sit and hope and get angry.