Aid arrives in New Orleans, media doesn't seem to care.

Well, the theory that the Federal Government was going to leave New Orleans wallowing in its misery just went out the window. The troops have arrived, the Superdome and convention center are evacuated, and we are witnessing the largest airlift ever on U.S. soil. It may have taken a little while to prepare, but the efficiency with which victims are being rescued from the Big Easy is nothing short of stunning. Kudos to to everyone involved in this relief effort!

Now, the bad news. While the cable news channels are covering this very positively, some in the print media seem to still be hellbent on portraying the the government relief efforts (and hence the Bush Administration) as inefficient and uncaring. When I checked out Yahoo! News tonight, I was appalled to find that the Associated Press, Associated Free Press, Knight Rider, and Reuters are all portraying this positive development as a bleak picture of suffering and death caused by aid that arrived too late. Instead of "Thousands Rescued in New Orleans", I read headlines such as "Rapes, killings hit Katrina refugees in New Orleans", "Survivors describe week of horror in New Orleans ", "Guardsmen 'played cards' amid New Orleans chaos: police official", and "Away from the coast and cameras, victims cope without much help". I was especially disgusted by the AP's "New Orleans Left to the Dead and Dying". This is, to say the least, a very creative way of saying that New Orleans has been evacuated. Instead of saying much about the evacuation itself, the story talked about how so many people had died in New Orleans because the aid had some so late.

The Government is staging a very efficient relief effort, the American people are pulling together to donate unfathomable amounts of aid, and all that the news services can think to do is constantly criticize those in charge of the relief effort. This makes me want to vomit!

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