WINDS OF CHANGE

Hurricane Katrina's aftermath: from natural disaster to national humiliation

The presidency, the Congress and both the Republican and Democratic parties - all have displayed an astounding lack of concern for the hundreds of thousands of people whose lives have been shattered and who face the most daunting and uncertain future, not to mention the tens of millions more who will be hard hit by the economic aftershocks of Katrina.
In the figure of the president, George W. Bush, the incompetence, stupidity, and sheer inhumanity that characterize so much of America's money-mad corporate elite find their quintessentially repulsive expression.
It is now clear that his administration made no serious preparations to deal with the dangers posed by the approaching storm.
On the "Good Morning America" television program, Bush reprised his miserable performance of the previous day, adding to earlier banalities the declaration that there would be "zero tolerance" for looters.