Every time I check the news, it infuriates me. I mean, it's pretty plainly obvious that the Bush administration dropped the ball and is now trying to cover up their mistakes, even though their energy should be going towards actually doing something for the people affected by Katrina. Sometimes you just have to step back and breathe deeply (literally or metaphorically) in order to maintain some sanity. For a lot of people, including me, that means falling back on routines. The daily New York Times crossword puzzle goes a long way towards calming me down (even though the rest of the paper regularly drives me crazy) and when I combine it with a pint it makes for the perfect post-radio show tradition.

I'm not even going to try to cover all of the Katrina-related news, but I will point you towards some sources of news and (liberal) commentary that I've been checking:

• AmericaBlog has been on top of breaking news better than anyone else I've seen.
• Oliver Wang a.k.a. O-Dub is actually a music writer, but he's an educated man (Ph.D.) who writes coherently, and has been touching on a lot of the social issues implicit in Katrina's devastation (poverty and race).
• The usual suspects: Daily Kos, Political Animal, and Eschaton.
• Update: Check out this timeline of events put up over at Talking Points Memo.

I was heartened by the way that the media tore into the Bush administration last week, but all signs are pointing toward the media reverting to their natural sycophantic ways and regurgitating Bush administration talking points. We'll see what happens - when all is said and done I expect that Katrina will have an unprecedented body count, ecological damage beyond imagination, and an economic impact that will last for years.