I don't even know where to begin.

The more I read about what is going on in the Gulf Coast, and specifically in New Orleans, the angrier I get. I simply cannot fathom how our rescue efforts could have gone so badly.

There are a million homeless. There are possibly 10,000 dead. (Bear in mind that the toll from 9/11 turned out to be lower than initially feared; with refugees scattered over many states it will take months to account for all the missing.)

Here is a situation where anyone in the world can go online and read the pleas of the trapped, and get their exact addresses -- and yet no rescue comes.

A navy ship, the USS Bataan, has been stationed nearby for days -- but is still awaiting word from FEMA to help with its water, food, medicine, and helicopters.

The Red Cross, while able to distribute aid to the region, is prohibited from entering New Orleans itself because its "presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city."

First Mother Barbara Bush thinks that the refugees are doing very well because they may get to move to Texas: "What I’m hearing which is sort of scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. . . . And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this -- this [she chuckles slightly] is working very well for them." (Here's the audio clip.)

More: watch this video of Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish. He starts by saying that "the bureaucracy has committed murder" and then completely breaks down toward the end:

Sir, they were told like me. Every single day. The cavalry is coming. On the federal level. The cavalry is coming. The cavalry is coming. The cavalry is coming. I have just begun to hear the hooves of the cavalry. The cavalry is still not here yet, but I have begun to hear the hooves and were almost a week out.

Three quick examples. We had Wal-mart deliver three trucks of water. Trailer trucks of water. Fema turned them back, said we didn't need them. This was a week go. We had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a coast guard vessel docked in my parish. The coast guard said come get the fuel right way. When we got there with our trucks, they got a word, FEMA says don't give you the fuel. Yesterday, yesterday, fema comes in and cuts all our emergency communications lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in. he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards said no one is getting near these lines.

...

The guy who runs this building I'm in. Emergency management. He's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said. Are you coming. Son? Is somebody coming? And he said yeah. Mama. Somebody's coming to get you.. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday. And she drowned Friday night. And she drowned Friday night. [Sobbing] Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The Secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For god's sakes, just shut up and send us somebody.

More: Watch this clip of Geraldo Rivera and Shepard Smith reporting on Fox from New Orleans. Geraldo breaks down, Smith refuses to let Hannity spin his "perspective."

On the political front: David Brooks is ashamed of the President. Michelle Malkin calls for the head resignation of Michael "Brownie" Brown, head of FEMA..

Further to the right, the American Spectator blames black culture, the ACLU, and the NAACP. And then there are those who blame New Orleans' sinfulness, abortionists, etc. And of course gays. Oh, and witchcraft.

Heroes: Three Duke students drove down to NOLA, went to the Convention Center, and rescued seven people. Of course to do that, they had to pretend to be journalists, since volunteers aren't allowed in. (Via pesky'.)

Heroes: 6-year-old Deamonte Love who held together a group of five toddler refugees.

Heroes: Jabbar Gibson, the kid who rescued a bunch of refugees when he commandeered an abandonded schoolbus. Too bad they're calling him a "looter" though.

Meanwhile, Condi Rice advises that "The Lord Jesus Christ is going to come on time.... If we just wait."

Meanwhile, President Bush can't wait to see Trent Lott's rebuilt house.

Meanwhile, the director of homeland security for New Orleans says that"it's criminal within the confines of the United States that within one hour of the hurricane they weren't force-feeding us. It's like FEMA has never been to a hurricane."

More reading, if you can bear it:

No Quarter points out that despite the White House spin that local and state governments were slow to act, FEMA did not follow its own National Response Plan.

Laurie Garrett, a Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations, has some thoughts on the health ramifications of Katrina.

Kerim has written lots more on Katrina.

More on FEMA's failures here, here, and here.

And all for the want of a nail.

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