Good stuff from Eschaton

Atrios has a few good links that I'd like to pass on.

At one point Friday, the evacuation was interrupted briefly when school buses pulled up so some 700 guests and employees from the Hyatt Hotel could move to the head of the evacuation line — much to the amazement of those who had been crammed in the Superdome since last Sunday.

"How does this work? They (are) clean, they are dry, they get out ahead of us?" exclaimed Howard Blue, 22, who tried to get in their line. The National Guard blocked him as other guardsmen helped the well-dressed guests with their luggage.

The 700 had been trapped in the hotel, near the Superdome, but conditions were considerably cleaner, even without running water, than the unsanitary crush inside the dome. The Hyatt was severely damaged by the storm. Every pane of glass on the riverside wall was blown out.

Red Cross blocked from access to New Orleans.

As Atrios wryly notes, FEMA head Michael Brown will likely be a future Medal of Freedom winner. This refers to Bush's habit of rewarding gross incompetence with the nations highest honor, ala George Tenet, who presided over the inept pre-invasion CIA.