Whats that old quote,"the first casualty of war is the truth?" The Net is rife with urban myths and sensationalism reporting out of New Orleons that has largely been shown false. No mass rapes in the Superdome, black men wearing high end men's clothing (racist images of carpetbagger ex slaves bumping Scarlet off the sidewalk) or some brit's contribution of burned MRE's. It all may good copy, but was to journalism what Benny Hill is to Shakespeare.

Amen. What happened to the huge bonfires greased with fine British mutton while poor starving southern folk looked on? What happened to the Triple A being taken by relief workers? I even recall hearing about cannibalism in the Big Easy. All BS. I guess the New News Creed is: "When the facts become rumor, (or rumour), print the rumor."

As long as it sells.

Regards, Vince

P.S.: For our foreign friends who sent aid, especially the British: Thank You. It will be used. Maybe not in New Orleans, but somewhere. We all know how bureaucracy works and sometimes it ain't pretty. But don't let the press sell you on the idea we are not grateful--we are. God Bless You.

I'm just as cynical as the next guy about the press, but I wouldn't be so quick to label the original UK Daily Mirror article about a plan to incinerate the rations as "hysterical B.S." or "sensationalistic journalism". The original article didn't say the rations were already burned, just that they were trucked to an FDA incinerator in Little Rock to be burned.

It is certainly plausible that the original plan was to incinerate the rations. The prions responsible for causing Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease in humans are extremely tough. Incineration is pretty much the only large-scale method of destroying the prions (although there's some debate even about the effectiveness of incineration). So it makes perfect sense that incinerating the rations was the original plan if the USDA was worried about mad cow tainted beef, but once the press got wind of the plan and people were outraged, the gov't decided to hold onto the rations until they could figure out a more politically acceptable resolution. Now they're trying to quietly pawn them off onto other "more needy" countries like Guatemala. So far, there are no takers.

I bet that if the rations sit unused until some of the rations expire next year, the US gov't will still end up quietly incinerating them because that's the accepted way to dispose of potentially BSE-tainted meat.

I share norad45's gratitude to the UK and all the other countries that sent us supplies. That generosity just makes this particular situation all the more regretable and embarassing.