I'd like a moment of your time to share some information on the nightmare taking place in New Orleans. I was just going to link some articles, but since most of the information came from Salon I'll just copy and paste.

The U.S. Senate approved $10.5 billion in emergency disaster relief for Katrina last night, and the House of Representatives is expected to approve the measure this morning.

Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman has other priorities in mind. In an e-mail he sent yesterday, Mehlman called on the Senate to eliminate the estate tax. And he urged his supporters to call their senators -- "today" -- to demand that they get on board with the plan.

The message arrived in our in box at just about the same time Scott McClellan was pushing away criticism of the president by saying, "This is not the time for politics."

The current plan is for Bush to visit Mississippi but limit his New Orleans tour to a flyover; the Big Easy isn't safe for the president, physically or politically. Although there are some signs this morning that conditions may finally be improving in parts of New Orleans, much of the city remains in dire straits, and the rage over the government's response is growing. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said yesterday that state and federal officials need to stop having "goddamn press conferences" and get relief efforts moving. "We have an incredible crisis here and [the president's] flying over in Air Force One does not do it justice," Nagin said in a radio interview last night. "Excuse my French, everybody in America, but I am pissed."

NPR's Robert Siegel seemed equally stunned Thursday when Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff suggested that the stories reporters were filing on conditions at the convention center amounted to a "rumor" that shouldn't be believed.

Joan Walsh notes in Salon today, CNN's Anderson Cooper laid into Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu when she used time on his show to start thanking government officials for their relief efforts. "Senator, I'm sorry," Cooper said. "For the last four days, I have been seeing dead bodies here in the streets of Mississippi, and to listen to politicians thanking each other and complimenting each other -- I have to tell you, there are people here who are very upset and angry, and when they hear politicians thanking one another, it just, you know, it cuts them the wrong way right now, because there was a body on the streets of this town yesterday being eaten by rats because this woman has been laying in the street for 48 hours, and there [are] not enough facilities to get her up. Do you understand that anger?"

Landrieu said that she was angry about the storm but that she wasn't angry at anyone. Cooper didn't let up. "Well, I mean, there are a lot of people here who are kind of ashamed of what is happening in this country right now, what is -- ashamed of what is happening in your state. And that's not to blame the people that are there, it is a terrible situation, but you know, who -- no one seems to be taking responsibility. I know you say there's a time and a place for kind of, you know, looking back, but this seems to be the time and the place. There are people that want answers, and people want someone to stand up and say: We should have done more."

George H.W. Bush, appearing with Bill Clinton on CNN today, said that he thinks that members of his son's administration are "taking all the right steps" on Hurricane Katrina. They'll certainly look good doing it. As conditions continue to deteriorate in New Orleans, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was spotted today in New York, where she reportedly spent several thousand dollars on new shoes.