One Year Later: The Real State of New Orleans

Staff / Truthdig Aug 29, 2006 President Bush may be giving speeches about how the federal government is standing with the people of the Gulf Coast, but as ThinkProgress points out, the facts speak for themselves: Sixty percent of homes still lack electricity. Less than half of the city?s pre-storm population of 460,000 has returned. Nearly a third of the trash is yet to be picked up. Also, check out this superb Katrina timeline. UPDATE: Watch MSNBC footage of Katrina's devastation. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Racial ‘Survivor’

Mike Luckovich / Truthdig Aug 29, 2006 Dig deeper

Jabari Asim: After the Storm

Jabari Asim / Truthdig Aug 28, 2006 New Orleans' sudden death was equivalent to the slow deaths of cities like Philadelphia, Newark and Oakland. So many of the same conditions exist; only the weather is different. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Actions Speak Louder Than Empty Promises

Staff / Truthdig Aug 27, 2006 A year after the levees broke, Bush has again acknowledged his government's failure to protect and rescue the citizens of New Orleans, promising "the federal government will learn the lessons of Katrina." Although the president pledged $110 billion for reconstruction, one of Louisiana's senators has criticized the slow progress of rebuilding: "Countless neighborhoods appear as if the hurricanes were just yesterday, and they serve as harsh reminders of how our nation was so unprepared." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Luckovich – Bush’s Katrina Anniversary

Mike Luckovich / Truthdig Aug 26, 2006 Dig deeper

The Un-Sheehan

Staff / Truthdig Aug 26, 2006 Jon Stewart plays up the irony when a Katrina survivor drives from Louisiana to Washington, D.C., for an unsolicited meeting with President Bush. The contrast with Cindy Sheehan is hilarious. Watch it. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

The City That Care Forgot: Spike Lee and the ‘New’ New Orleans Blues

Sheerly Avni / Truthdig Aug 20, 2006 Spike Lee's new four-hour HBO documentary, ?When the Levees Broke: A Requiem for New Orleans in Four Acts,? which premiered Monday night (and continues Tuesday night), is a haunting, maddening and expertly told story about the signature event in recent American history that showed how little our government truly cares for many of its citizens. Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )

‘Breathtaking’ Waste and Fraud in Hurricane Aid

Staff / Truthdig Jun 27, 2006 Scams, schemes and bureaucratic snafus related to federal aid for Hurricane Katrina cost taxpayers at least $2 billion. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

FEMA Funds Spent on Divorce, Sex Change

Staff / Truthdig Jun 14, 2006 The government doled out as much as $1.4 billion in bogus assistance to supposed victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Sounds like FEMA did a "heckuva job." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Brown Poufed Hair As Katrina Hit, E-mails Say

Staff / Truthdig May 10, 2006 Former FEMA director Michael "Heckuva Job" Brown told an aide he was "sitting in the chair, putting mousse in my hair" as he waited for a media interview immediately after the Aug. 29 disaster began. He also disputed that levees quickly broke -- despite getting reports to that effect. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Katrina and Terror Coverage Win Pulitzers

Staff / Truthdig Apr 18, 2006 Two Gulf Coast newspapers took home the big award for their hurricane reportage; Risen and Lichtblau of the N.Y. Times won for their stories on Bush's eavesdropping; and Dana Priest of the Washington Post earned a Pulitzer for reporting on secret CIA prisons. Full list of winners. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Landrieu Threatens White House to Get Levee Funding

Staff / Truthdig Apr 5, 2006 The Louisiana senator says she will hold Bush's executive-branch nominees hostage until he agrees to more funding for the Katrina-ravaged state. (This was the woman whom Anderson Cooper famously chewed out, saying she was out of touch in the wake of the hurricane. Guess she toughened up since then.) Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )