A week after the levees broke in New Orleans and the last busloads of refugees had been moved from the Morial Convention Center and the Superdome into a nationwide diaspora, the P.R. divisions of the disaster-industrial complex were at last fully deployed. The entrance of Harrah’s Casino had become a staging area for thousands of law-enforcement personnel, FEMA flacks, EMTs, insurance claims adjusters, construction contractors, and the hordes of media whose satellite trucks bloomed like a row of poppies for four blocks down Canal Street. Scientology Volunteer Ministers doled out backrubs, chewing tobacco, and cartons of cigarettes. Anderson Cooper was interviewing Dr. Phil interviewing Anderson Cooper, both men’s camera crews recording the scene for posterity, rivulets of sweat running down Dr. Phil’s face in the subtropical heat. ... [pdf]