The truth is out there re: Katrina; it's just not being reported

The MSM has pretty much successfully established the meme that the federal government was exceptionally and scandalously slow in its response to Hurricane Katrina's mauling of the Gulf Coast.

The truth is out there, but it is beyond the reach of those who passively consume whatever CBSNBCABCMSNBCCNNetc. and their colleagues in the print and electronic media dish out.

You have to go to media sources like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, rejected by MSM elitists as an organ of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

In a September 11 article there, Jack Kelly systematically smacks down many of the falsehoods that the left has been advancing about the disaster and its aftermath. For example:

Jason van Steenwyk is a Florida Army National Guardsman who has been mobilized six times for hurricane relief. He notes that:

"The federal government pretty much met its standard time lines, but the volume of support provided during the 72-96 hour was unprecedented. The federal response here was faster than Hugo, faster than Andrew, faster than Iniki, faster than Francine and Jeanne."

For instance, it took five days for National Guard troops to arrive in strength on the scene in Homestead, Fla. after Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992. But after Katrina, there was a significant National Guard presence in the afflicted region in three.

Journalists who are long on opinions and short on knowledge have no idea what is involved in moving hundreds of tons of relief supplies into an area the size of England in which power lines are down, telecommunications are out, no gasoline is available, bridges are damaged, roads and airports are covered with debris, and apparently have little interest in finding out.

So they libel as a "national disgrace" the most monumental and successful disaster relief operation in world history.

The entire essay is a good read.