Free Republic

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - When friends ask Bill Tyler what Hurricane Katrina did to his cottage in Bay St. Louis, he sends them a link to the online video sharing site YouTube. There, for anyone to see, he’s posted a slideshow with images of his flood-stained house, the mangled trees outside and other scenes from the Mississippi Gulf Coast devastated by the Aug. 29 storm. The soundtrack is Angolan musician Waldemar Basto’s haunting song “Sofrimento.”

WASHINGTON — The White House officially rejected a plan that would have created a federal corporation to purchase and redevelop Louisiana homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina. U.S. Rep. Richard Baker, R-Baton Rouge, introduced legislation last year to create the Louisiana Recovery Corp. The panel would use treasury bonds to buy damaged homes on parcels to be repackaged and redeveloped. But Allan Hubbard, the chief economic adviser for President Bush, indicated in conversations with Baker on Monday that the Bush does not support the legislation, Baker said Tuesday. “It’s dead now,” said Walter Isaacson, vice chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority,...

GULFPORT, Miss. --Gulfport and its neighboring towns -- from Waveland in the west to Pascagoula in the east -- were epicenters of destruction when Katrina came ashore Aug. 29. But more than two months later, with the reconstruction in full swing, Gulfport has the feel of a latter-day frontier boomtown. At night, restaurants ... are packed, with hourlong waits for tables and a lively, manly bar scene.... Gulfport has a semi-intact infrastructure of motels, restaurants and retail stores ... shakily supporting the migrants who have flocked here to help rebuild and make a buck. About a quarter of the city's...

New Orleans is a sea of darkness, at night in New Orleans on Friday, Nov. 18, 2005.

Alaska can help finance the recovery from recent hurricanes. It also can secure an energy supply and generate future revenue, thus avoiding tax increases. But first, Americans have to get the facts straight about Alaska. The misinformation is atrocious. For example, Steve Doocy of Fox and Friends reported Tuesday that the 2005 highway legislation appropriated $223 million for a bridge (at Ketchikan) to serve 50 people, or about $4.5 million per person. That is ridiculous and exhibits the sloppy reporting costing major media their viewers and readers. The bridge would replace an expensive and inadequate shuttle ferry to a regional...