A good book that may help to put this tragedy in perspective...

[Dastard Stepchild]

Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago
by Eric Klinenberg

This is an excellent book that details the manner in which the city of Chicago, my little hamlet, completely bungled the emergency response for the heat wave that ended up killing a disproportionate number of African-Americans in Chicago. The author does an excellent job of explaining how it happened, posits some interesting questions about why events unfolded the way that they did, and makes a subtle, but powerful, point about the manner in which race and class intersect with emergency response and propensity for decreased health/survival.

I think that it may shed some illumination on the struggles that New Orleans is facing at this time.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. But I do believe that Rove's Machiavellian touches added a bit more

intentional evil to the New Orleans situation.

[Dastard Stepchild]

2. Never underestimate the Daley. :)

No, it's true that this situation is not identical. But it is an excellent read, and provides some fodder for thought.