media in love with its own template of the story

MI had not planned to say anything about the wall to wall coverage of "the Fifth Anniversary of Katrina" which happened this weekend.
But this morning I saw an interview of Harry Shearer who has

produced a documentary film, "The Big Uneasy" , the theme of which is (based on the conclusions of two independent forensic engineering investigations) that the flooding of New Orleans was caused, not by Hurricane Katrina, but by almost five decades of engineering design and construction errors in the "hurricane protection system" built by the Army Corps of Engineers. Read the article written by Harry Shearer this quote came from.

Note: I saw the interview on Morning Joe this morning, but the video I've linked to is from Hardball last Friday night.  Watch the video, it is very telling.  The truth as I see it is this;
it made a better story to bash Bush if they could blame it on his lack of commitment.

Read this from Nola.com:

"As the authors of the Berkeley report say, this was not a natural disaster, " Shearer said, calling to discuss the movie recently after a screening in Washington. "This was a man-made disaster, and therefore it could have been prevented -- and therefore its repetition can be prevented. But it won't just happen by wishing."

The quote is from down in the body of the article, so be sure to read the whole article.

Katrina Scandals are Still Surfacing

On a weekend in which Ray Nagin is replaced by a Democratic party machine candidate named Landrieu, the New York Post has this story.

Soaked by pols' Katrina charity

By Melissa Klein and Isabel Vincent

It's the Big Sleazy.

Devastated Hurricane Katrina survivors from New Orleans were left high and dry by a charity set up to help them by state Sen. Malcolm Smith and Rep. Gregory Meeks of Queens.

Only $1,392 of at least $31,000 raised to help Katrina families was paid, tax records show, and just about everybody involved with the charity -- including the two Democratic pols -- claim ignorance as to where the rest of the money went.

Meeks said in a statement that "the funds were utilized to help sustain displaced evacuees," but refused to provide further detail. He said money was administered by an unidentified director and that "a committee of community representatives functioned as advisers to the fund."

But three of those advisers said they had no idea whether cash was given out by the group, New Yorkers Organized to Assist Hurricane Families, or NOAH-F.

Read more here.