Katrina: Iraq, Environment, Politics, Race, Infrastructure, Fossil Fuels, Economy, Class…

For the first time since Monday, Brian Williams‘ BlackBerry works. He is outside FEMA headquarters in Baton Rouge, and blogs his trip from New Orleans:

“In the backseat of the rental car (with water and frame damage) is a case of Vienna sausages we had to give away in case we were stopped on the streets at night — emergency collateral. We all just used a bathroom for the first time in about a week, and yet I don’t think it had any impact on us. We’ve become used to seeing our fellow Americans living in a state less than human…”

More: “It is ever more apparent — and remember, we’ve been seeing only limited media coverage of this — that before this is over (perhaps when my own children become parents themselves), this hurricane and the response will involve issues as wide-ranging as Iraq, the environment, politics, race, infrastructure, fossil fuels, the global economy, class and our social comnnectedness.”