OK, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say the mainstream media has so totally missed the boat on the reporting of post-Hurricane Katrina that, in my view, it ranks near the top of the most incompetent so-called “journalism” ever foisted on the American people. (And, given the “yellow journalism” of the early 20th century, that is saying something.)

If one were to get his/her news solely from the MSM, they could hardly be faulted for thinking the following:

1) Hurricane Katrina is solely responsible for the deaths and continuing misery in New Orleans;
2) Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans dead-on, inflicting horrible damage only on the city and the poor people of New Orleans;
3) President Bush and FEMA are solely responsible for the continued suffering of the people of New Orleans, and has done nothing since his speech to alleviate that suffering;
4) Despite the desperate pleas of Governor Kathleeen Blanco and Mayor Ray Nagin for help, President Bush and the federal government have turned a blind eye to the people of New Orleans.

Understand, I haven’t been to New Orleans since the hurricane (although I plan to be there in little over a week), but it doesn’t take more than a easy scratch beneath the surface to see that there are more than a few villains in this awful escapade, and more than a little blame to go all around. That being said, from this vantage point, I ask the following question: isn’t a calamity that occurs on the city and state level the primary responsibility of the elected officials in that area? I mean, where the hell in all this is Mr. Incompetent (Mayor Nagin) and his cohort, Ms. Incompetent (Governor Blanco)? And, for that matter, what role are their elected congressional officials doing other than pointing fingers and crying “woe is me” poor mouth?

I’ll put it to you plain. The MSM hates President Bush, hates the Republican party, hates the Republican-led Congress, and cares not a whit about what happened in Biloxi, Gulfport, and Bay St. Louis. The drumbeat is “poor New Orleans, poor New Orleans, poor New Orleans”, and frankly, as a taxpayer and a passionate lover of New Orleans, I’m sick to death of it. The truth is, the MSM could care less about what happens to New Orleans and its people, and I’ll say what no one else seems willing to say – it hopes nothing is done to help New Orleans.

Surprised to hear something as brash as that? You shouldn’t be. Truth be told, the MSM cares only about about New Orleans because its mayor is African-American and urban population is primarily African-American and for generations dependent on federal spending and entitlement programs. If neighboring Mississippi had the same demographics, you’d hear about them too, but the fact is, the MSM considers Mississippi and its Governor Haley Barbour a bunch of dumb, white, Christian-conservative rednecks. This, my friends, is a perfact example of the most pathetic and cynical form of modern liberalism as espoused by the likes of Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid, Howard Dean, and Nancy Pelosi. It is nothing more than the soft racism of low expectations and the most cynical political peddling to a significant percentage of the Democratic base.

Here’s what I think should happen: every time an article is written about the failure of the federal government to provide for the people of New Orleans, accompanying links should include this, and this, and this, and this, and this, and this.

Look, I understand it’s easy to point fingers, but the fact is (and I’ve said this before), if New Orleans continues to embrace the corruption of its elected officials, the stupid configuration of individual levee boards, and the pathetic “woe is me” act, it will never, and perhaps should never, recover from the gross mismanagement and incompetence that caused the widespread destruction that occurred as a result of Katrina’s rains.

And don’t think I’m letting FEMA off the hook, but for God’s sake, you can’t even get the truth on FEMA’s recent decision to pull their a$$e$ out of New Orleans. Is FEMA to blame? Or is it city officials? The fact that, less than a month away from the start of the 2006 hurricane season, you have two sides pointing fingers at each other tells you everything you need to know.

I’ll say it again: I love New Orleans – in fact, I’m passionately in love with New Orleans, but like a close friend or loved one whom you love in spite of the self-destructive road they have chosen for themselves, all you can do is offer support where you can and hope for the best. Mississippi has chosen to roll up its sleeves and get the job done. New Orleans waits like a pathetic, penniless drunk on the side of the road at 3 AM, waiting for someone or something to rescue them from themselves.

Unfortunately, in these days of illegal immigration rallies, soaring gas prices, Iran going nuclear, and the Global War on Terror, America has got other things on its mind. New Orleans’ time in the sun was late ’05 and early ’06: the telethons, Red Cross drives, and charity events have, by and large, run their course. It’s not necessarily right, but that’s the way it is. If New Orleans wants, or is meant, to survive, it’s going to have to radically change its ways and ideas of what it wants or is to be. Pure and simple.

BTW, my good friend and AZ rapper Dollar Bill rcently returned from NO and files this report.