Water rising in New Orleans as levee systems fail

Water rising in New Orleans: "'It's the lake. The lake is in the city,' one woman whispered in a horrified voice yesterday as she watched the waters cover formerly dry land. "

Atrios is pointing out the stereotyping in the coverage (note the two captions on the AP photos - black=looter; white=found these groceries) and Think Progress says that Bush cut hurricane funding for New Orleans.

How many times are we going to hear that people didn't leave because "they had grown cynical of hurricanes." PEOPLE DIDN'T LEAVE BECAUSE THEY'RE FRICKIN POOR! They had no car, or they had to go to work, or they had nowhere to go, etc. etc. It's amazing the stories Americans will tell themselves so they can continue to believe we live in a classless society.