good job so far, George

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=1086311&page=1

Bush returned to the White House on Wednesday, two days early from a monthlong Texas vacation, to oversee relief efforts. Bush dismissed criticism that he didn't return sooner as political sniping.

"I hope people don't play politics at this time of a natural disaster the likes of which this country has never seen," he said.

To say that it's only political opportunism, implies that we don't really believe he's doing a bad job as president. He's wrong. This is one more item for the list.

In addition to food, water, shelter and other aid, Bush said the federal government would, if asked, send troops to stop the rampant looting in New Orleans.

If asked? Who is there to ask? Take charge and send every damn thing you can!

"I think there ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law," Bush said, "Whether it's looting or price-gouging or insurance fraud."

What does that mean, exactly? Zero tolerance for looting? When this is all over, I expect the FBI to review news footage and try to determine the identities of all the thieves they can find. I hear there were hotel employees in a drug store taking food and medicine. They shouldn't be hard to track down.

I don't get it.

Posted: 10:02 a.m. ET
CNN's Jim Spellman in New Orleans, Louisiana

I don't think I really have the vocabulary for this situation.

We just heard a couple of gunshots go off. There's a building smoldering a block away. People are picking through whatever is left in the stores right now. They are walking the streets because they have nowhere else to go.

Right now, I'm a few blocks away from the New Orleans Convention Center area. We drove through there earlier, and it was unbelievable. Thousands and thousands and thousands of people spent the night sleeping on the street, on the sidewalk, on the median.

The convention center is a place that people were told to go to because it would be safe. In fact, it is a scene of anarchy.

There is absolutely nobody in control. There is no National Guard, no police, no information to be had.

The convention center is next to the Mississippi River. Many people who are sleeping there feel that a boat is going to come and get them. Or they think a bus is going to come. But no buses have come. No boats have come. They think water is going come. No water has come. And they have no food.

As we drove by, people screamed out to us -- "Do you have water? Do you have food? Do you have any information for us?"

We had none of those.

Probably the most disturbing thing is that people at the convention center are starting to pass away and there is simply nothing to do with their bodies. There is nowhere to put them. There is no one who can do anything with them. This is making everybody very, very upset.

Okay, so there are thousands of people stranded at the dome, and the convention center. And they're starting to take them out by bus.

A Louisiana National Guard official told CNN Thursday morning that between 50,000 and 60,000 people had converged at evacuation points near the Superdome hoping to get on one of the buses out of town.

"It's no longer just evacuees from the Superdome, as citizens who were holed up in high-rise office buildings and hotels saw buses moving into the dome, they realized this is an evacuation point," Lt. Col. Pete Schneider of the Louisiana National Guard said.

If the buses can drive in, why don't the people start walking? And don't tell me they've got no place to go. If they stay, they'll die. I read somewhere that the people are being "allowed to walk out," but I can't find that quote now.

satellite photos

CNN has satellite photos of New Orleans from yesterday.

see them

gas

It seems like it was this year that I posted about breaking the $25 mark on a tank of gas. I just paid $29.54. But the tank was at just under half full to begin with. Ouch. The last time I filled up, the price had risen by twenty five cents since the time before. This time it rose by fifty.

I wonder if the US situtation will have any effect on the prices on the world markets.