We're all seeing pictures of the damage in New Orleans, but

[hedgehog]

how recent are those pictures? I think that New Orleans is still in a shocking state with debris all over residential neighborhoods, but I don't know that for a fact. Someone else seeing the same footage may assume that those are old pictures and everything is fine today. Networks need to indicate when they are using old footage from a year ago and footage shot today.

[Horse with no Name]

1. I haven't seen it with my own eyes

but my friends on the ground in those areas say there is very little progress being made.:(

[nashville_brook]

2. you could always read the newspaper.... nola.com

LATEST UPDATES
• Reppel appointed to coastal commission 10:59 a.m. CT

• Deputy education secretary to announce book donation in Chalmette today 10:45 a.m. CT

• Work on East Jefferson levees nearing completion 7:22 p.m. CT

• Hannan High students' vacation extended one week 6:33 p.m. CT

• Baton Rouge mayor wants greater say in city's role as relief center 6:29 p.m. CT

• Bush says recovery will take time 6:25 p.m. CT

• HUD plans to use revitalized Fischer as model to rebuild Lafitte complex 6:21 p.m. CT

• Gonzales man booked with hate crimes in St. Charles Parish 5:46 p.m. CT

• Feds sending help for law enforcers 5:20 p.m. CT

• Overturned truck blocks road in LaPlace 2:48 p.m. CT

[Jacobin]

3. Depends on where you go

I go there about once a month.

New Orleans East is miles and miles and miles of desolation. No electricity, no water, no sewerage service, just flooded and wind damaged houses and businesses.......MILES of them.

Uptown looks good, except that the streets are in really bad disrepair because the water lines are all leaking like sieves and they cause sink holes in the streets.

The Quarter is about back to normal.

Lower Ninth Ward hasn't changed much since the storm. Miles and Miles of devastation, flooded and wind damaged houses, some upside down on top of cars.

Parts of Lakeview are being worked on.

It will take a decade or more to get things back to near pre-storm condition, and some areas will never come back.

Its fucking awful. Pictures can't convey the sense of it.

[BOSSHOG]

4. I drove through

New Orleans East and the lower ninth ward last weekend. Little progress in the ninth ward. There are signs of progress in New Orleans East with a great deal of cleanup having been done in the past two months and there is a lot of apartment construction being done. Also in Slidell, 25 miles to the northeast there are spots which look like the hurricane happened yesterday. Progress is slow but everyday a little more is being done. People in the city have been handcuffed by government regs and tap dancing insurance agents. The French Quarter is virtually the same as it was before the hurricane, except there is less effort being put into cleaning up the trash (imagine the smell and multiply it.)

[LynzM]

5. There are recent pics up at RudePundit

rudepundit.blogspot.com

Not sure about the ones we're seeing on TV, since I don't watch...

[Swamp Rat]

6. Believe your eyes.

I live here.

[LSK]

7. watch CSPAN this week

Theres plenty of LIVE footage of damage to view.

[hedgehog]

8. I'm not sure how many people understand how little has been

done. That's why I think it needs to be emphasized that when we see footage of devastation, that footage was shot today, not right after the hurricane. I think people assume that the city has been repaired and returned to normal.

[qwlauren35]

9. As recently as Spring Break

(Last April), I helped fund a group of teachers from a Baltimore High School who were going down to help out. They said it was painful to see how bad it was. I wish I could remember the specifics. I will wrack my brain to see if I can remember what they saw that was so upsetting.