The post at the top of the most influential right-leaning or center blog is a list of charitable organizations that are providing relief for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Thanks, Glenn.
The second most influential right-leaning blog has been all-Katrina, all-the-time all week.
From kos:
I just wish that the president gave a damn about what’s happenend. Unfortunately, he’s too busy playing ‘country rock star”.
From the Daily Kos diaries:
The absence of large portions of the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama National Guards is dismissed as unimportant, because after all, 3,500 guards are available in LA, 1600 in MS, and 750 in AL…those numbers are perfectly sufficient! Or maybe not. Oh, and what about their equipment, trucks, helicopters, halftracks, and etc?
But even more, Trevino states “Show me, please, that the funds were diverted specifically for the war; and that they would have averted the present disaster. 
So, Trevino, Cole, Erick, and the rest of you shameless, heartless, blind idiots, here’s the data…
So, Trevino, Cole, Erick, and other lickspittle, lapdog, sycophantic propagandists…them’s the facts.
A city is destroyed, and in large part this disaster was eminently preventable…but the money, planning, coordination, and people necessary to accomplish that prevention and mitigation were diverted from already identified urgent needs and projects and sunk into the bloody sands of the Iraqi desert and siphoned into the bulging pockets of your campaign contributors and rich beneficiaries of your stupid tax cuts.
Happy now?
Bourbon Street in New Orleans is relatively unscathed. Amid so much death and destruction, that New Orleans did not take the full fury of the storm, and so many lives were spared, is one small consolation.
But let us consider what this means in light of the twisted logic of notorious Christian terrorists Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell (I once saw Falwell advocate assassinating Muammar Qadhafi). Their shameful attack on the United States and its values is below.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in The Huffington Post:
As Hurricane Katrina dismantles Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, it’s worth recalling the central role that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour played in derailing the Kyoto Protocol and kiboshing President Bush’s iron-clad campaign promise to regulate CO2.
To my friends on the Left: there is a time for counting political coup. This is not that time. One of the most universal of human values is compassion. This is the time for compassion, for taking care of those injured, hungry, and homeless, for burying the dead. There will be time to score political points later.
UPDATE: I note that Josh Marshall has a link to the Red Cross at the very top of his blog and his criticisms of disaster response have been temperate; Brad DeLong had a prominent post urging donations (and a rare graphic) yesterday. These are the signs of good hearts.
Doug and I are both so mad we are spitting bullets. I want to see some huge motorboats (don’t we have motors in this country?)—instead of little johnboats out there—-taking these poor people out and moving them to air conditioned tents with water, toilets and food and medical care— somewhere in safety/the hinterland.
The sluggish and glassy-eyed response on all levels is unfathomable to me—as the TV commentators and the governor of Louisiana express dismay over people looting TV’s, saying “why do they need that (TV), there’s no power!” (this is just cockamamie logic/not logic).
As Doug points out: “They’re going to need that to trade for a loaf of bread soon”.
Disappointed in our nation in this disaster/relief effort. Ann
Ann, the only organization in the country with the discipline, structure, and organization to do the job is the military. Here’s what the military is doing and that’s just the beginning.
Large motorboats are useless for the purpose that you’re suggesting: they require too much draft.
As to the looting. How do you know that it’s poor people who are looting? I just know it’s dishonest people. There are no excuses for looting. They’re not just looting appliance stores. They’re looting hospitals and pharmacies as well. Those are resources that may be desparately needed.
Your take on the Left’s response to Katrina –i.e., to villainize Bush — is only too true. I was told they were doing this so I went to check it out myself and was taken aback. The site –I’m too lazy to look in the History and besides I should be over at Watcher finishing my non-council readings — was comparing the compassionate Dems and the callous Reps because the Dem website had up pictures of Katrina on Wed and the Reps had Bush’s commemoration of VJ Day…I give up. It’s all so politicized.
BTW, a big thank you for Pundita. How did I miss *her*? She’s brilliant.