"We'll not just rebuild, we'll build higher and better."

-Fantasy:

"Tonight I propose the creation of a Gulf Opportunity Zone, encompassing the region of the disaster in Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama. Within this zone, we should provide immediate incentives for job-creating investment, tax relief for small businesses, incentives to companies that create jobs, and loans and loan guarantees for small businesses, including minority-owned enterprises, to get them up and running again...

...The work that has begun in the Gulf Coast region will be one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen. "

From a speech by President George W. Bush in New Orleans- Sep 15, 2005

-Reality:

With no clear direction on whether to raze or rebuild, the 300,000 residents who fled the region are frustrated—and increasingly indecisive—about returning. If they do come back, will there be jobs good enough to stay for? If they do rebuild, will the levees be strong enough to protect them? They can't shake the feeling that somehow they did something wrong just by living where they did. And now the money and the sympathy are drying up. People just don't understand. You have to see it, smell it, put on a white mask and a pair of plastic gloves, and walk into a world where nothing is salvageable, not even the mildewed wedding pictures....

...But congressional Republicans are picking up strong signals from the White House that the Administration is not going to move forward with any grand coastal plan. "There's not a sense of urgency anymore," says a senior House Republican aide.

From: Time magazine-
"New Orleans Today: It's Worse Than You Think:
Neighborhoods are still dark, garbage piles up on the street, and bodies are still being found. The city's pain is a nation's shame"

Not that anyone cares, though. New Orleans is soooo last September.