New Orleans – Hot Air VS. Hidden Truth

August 20th, 2007
So it’s that time of year again. The time when the Weather Channel is abuzz with warnings of new disasters in the Gulf Coast, the experts once again start talking about Global Warming’s effect on hurricanes, and finally Anderson Cooper and the rest of the tearful network elite make their trip to the Big Easy. Clad in their linen suits they will talk to the people, sympathize with them, and show all the progress the has occurred in the past two years. Happy stories sell.
There will be little or no discussion of why there was no evacuation plan, why the White House never did tell the locals about the levee breaches or why are people still two years later living in Guantanamo-like camps. We can be sure that the words ‘right to return‘ won’t pass the lips of the talking heads.
It’s stories like that that get reporters in trouble, you lose access, you lose your precious seat in the press conference. Well we find press conferences boring, and we never get called on anyway. The last time we were in Louisiana, Homeland Security was called on us… so we figure we must be doing something right.
You can read a full review of Palast’s writings on New Orleans and Katrina here. Also you can see a clip from the film Big Easy to Big Empty, listen to podcasts and read excerpts from Armed Madhouse.