news crackdown?

Look, they won't let reporters take pictures in New Orleans.

Raise your hand if you're surprised.

Yeah, I didn't think so.

On the upside, I think the presence of media can make people - i.e. guardsfolk - who really are trying to do good act like defensive asshats. And there's been some pretty opportunistic footage of survivors taken (although a decent portion of those photos are actually coming from their rescuers, not official press) to feed our appetite for the real image of destruction.

now for the good news

In the interest of us all not crying ourselves to sleep every night, I'm instituting a new rule for myself: for every piece of desperate news I post, I must post something happy. It's sort of a point-counterpoint of the human condition. Cause life is horrid and sad and brilliant and scary and gorgeous and complicated, even at its worst.

So, your good news today: the ASPCA is starting to reunite survivors with their pets; see photos. Awwww.

And, stories of people who smuggled their pets out of dodge (cause buses and such wouldn't take animals).