| From the Publisher
When The American Indians saw a horse for the first time when the Spaniards invaded America they assumed, based on their past experiences, that they were actually riding on "large Dogs" Before the Spaniards came, the Indians had never seen a horse before. When the Indians looked at these horses, they had to look up to see them; thus the term "Sky Dog". In a similar fashion, the media presents stories to the public in a manner that is deliberately misleading to the public, based on our general experiences -- or lack thereof.
To this end, the book suggests that federal, state and local governments colluded in redirecting funds in a conspiratorial manner that effectively lined their own pockets. Despite millions of dollars of being supplied to the needy, most of the funds never found their target. Certainly, the people of New Orleans were overjoyed when the president announced that he was sending billions in aid to the storm ravaged Gulf Coast region. It wasn’t until we heard the mayor state that New Orleans was still broke, that we realized that, just as the American Indians had miss- perceived what they were looking at, the American public assumed that the funds were properly directed to the states in need. What did happen, however, was the funds were given to FEMA, thereby returning the money to government agencies: In other words, governments just shuffled the money around and never actually gave any to those in need. But the media presented stories of generosity.
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