1100 Dead, George. Photo-Ops Won't Change That --->>>

[Stephanie]

THEN >>>



















NOW >>>

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1141891647276650.xml

The president arrived at Louis Armstrong International Airport at 8:30 a.m., about a week after a bipartisan delegation of congressional leaders began its own three-day tour of the region. Bush boarded a helicopter bound for the Port of New Orleans' France Road terminal. By motorcade, he crossed the St. Claude Avenue bridge, then hung a right onto Lamanche Street and stopped at the corner of North Rampart Street for about 20 minutes.

In perhaps his most intimate view of the damage wrought in New Orleans by Katrina, Bush stepped out of his SUV and approached a debris heap of the kind that has remained a common sight on city streets: a mass piled several feet high with couch cushions, a child's sneakers, moldy clothing, an oatmeal can, a bed frame, several television sets and a mattress, all set next to a flooded-out Chevrolet Cavalier.

Houses lining the street bore the telltale signs of the hurricane. "Dead dog" was spray-painted on the outside wall of a brick home. An X painted on another house showed that it had been searched by rescue workers on Sept. 11, with no one found inside.

Wandering away from the entourage, Nagin peered into the wide-open front door of a house cleared of much debris but not gutted since the storm.

"Mr. President! You ought to come see this," the mayor called to Bush, who stepped onto the porch and gazed into the dim space. Neither of them entered.

Outside, Laura Bush peppered Gil Jamieson, FEMA's deputy director of Gulf Coast recovery, with questions. "Is this debris out of one house?" she asked, pointing to the pile. "It was just put out on the street? What about the homeowners who are gone?"

http://www.nola.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1141544377113820.xml?nola

Even under subpar conditions at St. Gabriel, mortuary team members examined 897 of the 1,069 bodies recovered from the storm zone before moving to Carville. The statistics have changed only slightly since December, according to the state Department of Health and Hospitals. Of 1,103 bodies recovered, 910 had been examined by morgue personnel as of Wednesday.

[global1]

1. And CNN Is Reporting That They Sent Cadaver Dogs Home Today......

is *Co still trying to keep the death toll down?

[Stephanie]

2. I was just reading about the $17 Million FEMA morgue

- which has been shut down. They said that at the time it was planned the disaster scenario predicted 60,000 dead. Yet George still went on vacation. (it's the article at the second link above)