To be fair...

... it's not ALL his fault. But I've never seen a truer caption either, so I can't resist posting the image that will appear on a thousand blogs by the end of the day:

I was sort of waiting for Naomi Klein to weigh in on the Katrina catastrophe and bring to bear her perspective on disaster capitalism -- how war, tsunami, and now a hurricane represent a huge payday to the usual (corrupt, wealthy, connected) suspects at the expense of the intended recipients of aid.

And the vultures--and their friends in high places--have trouble containing their glee at the opportunities a catastrophe can offer. In "The Rise of Disaster Capitalism," written in the wake of the tsunami, Klein wrote:

In January Condoleezza Rice [who notoriously called 9/11 an "enormous oppportunity"] sparked a small controversy by describing the tsunami as "a wonderful opportunity" that "has paid great dividends for us." Many were horrified at the idea of treating a massive human tragedy as a chance to seek advantage. But, if anything, Rice was understating the case. A group calling itself Thailand Tsunami Survivors and Supporters says that for "businessmen-politicians, the tsunami was the answer to their prayers, since it literally wiped these coastal areas clean of the communities which had previously stood in the way of their plans for resorts, hotels, casinos and shrimp farms. To them, all these coastal areas are now open land!"

Disaster, it seems, is the new terra nullius.

The Katrina aftermath might be different. Here she warns the poor residents of New Orleans that they stand to be victimized all over again when the aid money finds its way into the pockets of developers and gentrifiers:

There are already signs that New Orleans evacuees could face a ... brutal second storm [similar to the one faced by post-tsunami Sri Lankan refugees]. Jimmy Reiss, chairman of the New Orleans Business Council, told Newsweek that he has been brainstorming about how "to use this catastrophe as a once-in-an-eon opportunity to change the dynamic".

But what if, she wonders...

Here's a better idea: New Orleans could be reconstructed by and for the very people most victimized by the flood. Schools and hospitals that were falling apart before could finally have adequate resources; the rebuilding could create thousands of local jobs and provide massive skills training in decent paying industries. Rather than handing over the reconstruction to the same corrupt elite that failed the city so spectacularly, the effort could be led by groups like Douglass Community Coalition. Before the hurricane this remarkable assembly of parents, teachers, students and artists was trying to reconstruct the city from the ravages of poverty by transforming Frederick Douglass Senior High School into a model of community learning. They have already done the painstaking work of building consensus around education reform. Now that the funds are flowing, shouldn't they have the tools to rebuild every ailing public school in the city?

Read the whole article...

And for those seeking to brace themselves for the torrent of misinformation sure to come, just to keep things straight, here is a nice summary of Eight Big Lies About Katrina from mediamatters.org:

1. Bush: "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees"

2. Chertoff strained credulity in defense of Bush, claimed levee breaks and massive flooding came as a surprise -- more than 12 hours after local media reported them

3. Brown: "We've provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they've gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day"

4. Chertoff: "Apparently, some time on Wednesday, people started to go to the convention center spontaneously"

5. Chertoff pointed fingers: "New Orleans officials and the state officials ... called for the Superdome to be the refuge of last resort"

6. Chertoff falsely minimized federal government's role in Katrina response as subordinate to states

7. Wash. Post, Newsweek, Gingrich falsely claimed that Blanco did not declare a state of emergency

8. Gingrich falsely claimed that Nagin could "have kept water pumped out" of city had he ensured that pumps worked

Go here for the rebuttals to the 8 big lies...