New Orleans death toll may be far less than expected.

Previous estimates of 10,000 dead in New Orleans now appear to have been greatly exaggerated. Col. Terry Ebbert, the city's homeland security chief, said:

"Numbers so far are relatively minor as compared to the dire projections of 10,000."

The news coming from New Orleans is mostly good. Police say they are regaining control. Relief efforts have been phenomenal, considering the way the situation looked a week ago. Private donations to relief efforts have topped $700 million. There are plans to reopen the French Quarter in 90 days, and to hold a scaled-back Mardi Gras in February.

Of course, liberals only see the bad side of things. Kanye West is not the only one who continues to blame Bush for the disaster. The state and local governments of Louisiana and New Orleans are generally escaping blame for anything. The Bush administration wants to investigate what may have gone wrong with the federal response, but Democrats are opposing such an investigation. Why? Because it's not bipartisan, they say. The real reason? Probably because too much of the truth would be revealed. Too many Louisiana Democrats would fall under investigation. Can't have that, can we?

First lady Laura Bush has defended federal responses to the multi-state disaster, and has criticized charges of racism against the president. She says:

"I think all of those remarks are disgusting, to be perfectly frank, because of course President Bush cares about everyone in our country. And I know that. I mean, I'm the person who lives with him. I know what he's like and I know what he thinks and I know how he cares about people."

Two liberals I know personally are saying that the war in Iraq is occupying the resources that would have made the federal response more effective. One of them said that National Guard troops should have been here instead of on the other side of the world. (If National Guard troops weren't in Iraq, terrorists would probably be over here instead of at the other side of the world). The other guy I spoke with was repeatedly calling Bush an "a$$#ole", saying "That a$$#ole has the military spread out so far and thin that we couldn't handle anything right now. If South Korea were invaded by the North we wouldn't be able to do a thing about it." Of course, I believe this person would be opposed to Bush doing a thing about that anyway. He next went into a Michael Moore rant, saying "We're only fighting this war for oil. We're fighting this war to prop up the house of Saud". If that were true, gas prices would be much cheaper right now. But anyway, this guy continued: "I served my time in the Guard. Bush didn't even serve his". I said, "Oh, yes he did". And my friend snapped back, "No, he didn't!"

Prove it! By the way, my question for liberals who point fingers of blame over the Katrina disaster is this: What are you doing to help the situation? If you haven't already donated to relief efforts, I suggest you put your money where your mouth is, instead of saying that it's everyone else's responsibility to help. I recommend donating to the American Red Cross or Catholic Charities . Good day.