Day five of this natural disaster, we see the true mettle of our president and federal government under republican rule. Our president was still on vacation a day after the hurricane hit the gulf coast. How can we expect leadership from Washington when they are on vacation and not responding to the needs of the people? Also, how can a president take a one month vacation when so much is needed from him: Iraq, energy,

I feel president Bush has lost touch with most of American and with reality. How can a man with so much power just sit idly when thousands are suffering and dying?

We need a strong president to lead our nation to meet this crisis. The politics and smoke the administration are blowing in our face with numbers of ice and generators means nothing when thousands of people need food, water and to be evacuated from New Orleans.

Please support the American Red Cross, as it seems we will need to support our ngo's in the wake of poor leadership and response from our government.

One last point, how can our president sleep at night when his is cutting budgets to help improve New Orleans levees to give a tax break to the wealthy. It is time Americans need to make a sacrifice. I am willing to pay more taxes to help those in New Orleans and give our troops the needed equipment they so desperately need.

I want to help in a concrete way but cannot leave the DC area (nor do officials in the stricken areas want untrained and unexpected volunteers). Does anyone know of organizations that need volunteers in the area?

Thanks!

How can a president and government of one of the richest nations on earth let their own most neediest people suffer and die like this? It is no better than what this nation accused Sadam Husein of doing. Such hypocrisy!

Okay, call me a dreamer or even call me nieve, but I
think there may be one possible long-term response to
the Hurricane Katrina crisis that may be being
overlooked. Yes, FEMA and other organizations must be
first-responders to carry out search and rescue
operations and to coordinate short-term emergency
response to feed, clothe and provide immediate medical
care to survivors. But what is the plan for the
thousands of families for the long-term? I'm talking
about months and years. How can we best support these
families and help get them back on their feet?

As of yet, I have not heard any mention of involvement
of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community
Initiatives. I don't think it is any exaggeration to
say that nearly every faith-based community in the
United States is more than willing to step-up to the
plate and volunteer to support at least one family for
as long as necessary. Support comes in many forms -
financial, medical, mental health, job training,
possible relocation, etc. FEMA and other organizations
were never intended to provide the life-long type of
support that may be required in this unprecedented
catastrophic event. Is anyone exploring a scenario by
which White House Office of Faith-Based and Community
Initiatives coordinates a national system of support,
perhaps an "Adopt-a-Family" model? I know for a fact
that my faith-based community could raise funds to do
whatever it takes to support a family in need. If that
means hiring an ambulance service to drive to Houston
to pick up a sick person and their family members and
bring them back here to the D.C. area to provide
life-sustaining services for months and years, then so
be it. This is also likely true for thousands of
similar communities around the country.

As a Federal employee, I know that it is not easy to
transfer funding or obtain new funding for offices
such as the White House Office of Faith-Based and
Community Initiatives; however, with the stroke of a
pen, it is easy to detail Federal employees on an
as-needed basis. Is it possible that Federal employees
in every state might be able to make a significant
difference in some unique way by working at the
Federal AND faith-based community levels to find
long-term support for those devastated by hurricane
Katrina? As a community, I think we would all be
willing to adopt a family in need.

Just a thought...

I would think that those states that undergoes hurricane threats on an annual basis would have "Hurrican Disaster Plans" in place. Even as a hurricane is imminent, an Emergency Operating Center would be activated. This center would have an "in charge" person with support people. This Center would also be manned by various relief agencies incuding local utilities - power, telephone, water, etc.and FEMA, media people as well with communication links including dedicated "hot lines" from the center to the EOC agencies' control rooms for notification-status data. I never heard of one in place and hence according to news reports, the eventual concern of repeated "who is in charge " reports.

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katrina has opened up the seamy underbelly of the american third world. as pics of americans left desitute in their own city shouting for help were flashed on tv screens all across the globe, one thing became clear the US of A is not heaven on earth as ppl wld like us to believe...

Why don't you people quit playing the blame game and do something for these people if you are so concerned.

Get a Life and grow up. No one really knew where Katrina was goin to hit exactly.

Where is all our monies thar Pres. Bush sent La. for levees?
He has sent more in the past 5 years than the previous 8.
Again, get a life and know your facts.

Why aren't we hearing about the massive oil spills as a result of Katrina?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/katrina/story/0,16441,1571591,00.html

As G Corum stated, Mr. Bush must be responsible, since he is so in tune with God, the parting of the seas, the Great Flood, and many other acts of natural disaster of being such a hypocrit and on the level of Saddam Hussein. I find this most amusing, since Mr. Bush has neither tried to influence, run weapons of mass destruction on his own people and bury them in mass graves. I don't believe I have run into any underground tunnels that have collapsed under the Potomac that he has built tunnels, so he and his minions can move about underground like moles secreting the largess of much of the Smithsonian and other Museum Booty from Iraq that went missing, but wasn't. I haven't seen or heard evidence that his most trusted associates, have been controlling the population by having the men watch as their wives are raped and beaten, then been put in prison for crimes against the government, murdered or sent to the front lines to surrender at the first, second, or upon return from Iraq, cower and surrender upon having to deploy to New Orleans.

Now let's not forget that every year, we have mudslides and fires in CA, and thousands, not all are wealthy in CA are trapped or killed there, go through the same events. The forests burn and people are trapped as winds change and an area of homes end up encircled by fire.

Let's not forget about, never mind hurricane strength storms, but the aftermath of them, in Appalachia, the VA, KY, NC, WV, VA borders where people are just as poor, aged, mostly coal miners living on SSDI, with black lung and losing limbs, due to diabetes, also with heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and can't get over the mountain or off of the mountain, or out of the hollow, and homes are washed away, mostly motor homes, mobile homes, and far from hospitals or services. And the aid provided never got to the people.. No, no. It went to line the pockets of the governing body of the elected officials, with very little going to anyone.

Now, we seem to be stuck on New Orleans, when the most cost effective shipbuilder in the United States in Pascagoula, MS, must have gotten obliterated, and Biloxi took the GREAT hit. Most of those who are the technical design and electrical engineers, live in Biloxi, Pascagoula, and some in Mobile, AL. Don't forget that Mr. Bush was out to get Florida, too, and he just can't help but hit the south of TX every chance he gets. Houston is one big mess, when the water hits, because the storm drains in certain areas aren't properly maintained and cleaned. Now, I've seen this, with my very own eyes. Now, I'll just bet Mr. Bush was out on his last day of his vacation plugging up the drains, SOMEWHERE, SOMEPLACE, for SOME REASON, to MAXIMIZE the damage of Katrina, Ophelia, and now Rita.

You had better watch out for that guy. Just maybe he was getting arrangements prepared for any overflow that would be necessary in TX. I don't ever recall anyone ever being denied access to the President, vacation or not.

Or did anyone ever stop and think that maybe, just maybe, Mrs. Bush may not be feeling well. We've seen Barbara Bush, but not Laura. Now I am not getting the Rumor Mill going, but he does have a family and I'm sorry things can happen to people, and they can become ill, or injured.

So, as a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists, anyone who is not lobbying for cleaner gas, alternative sources of fuel, like the old coke ovens that turn coal into clean burning coke used in the production of steel as well as to heat the steel mills. Lobbying against the Gas Pumps that tell us, "We are just have to get it through our heads that we are going to be dependent on foreign oil"... Because they are so heavily invested in the middle east, but don't put additives to their gas so it runs cleaner....

When we talk about El Nino and El Nina, and Global Warming, and the affects of the destruction of the ozone layers, the wetlands, massive deforestation, the destruction of massive areas of the rain forests, and jungles particularly by Occidental Exploration and Production Company (OEPC). One particular effort was in Ecuador as a trial to determine how much colonization, roads, etc. was necessary or allowable without having an impact on the regrowth after testing for natural gas and oil, on their leased site. Much as was noted ten years later.

Much of the forests are being cut down for use as production for soybeans, particularly in the Amazon, but in fact is causing the deaths of two tribes from an ancient Hepatitis B. The rate of the deforestation in Peru and Brazil and the lack of funding to harvest the Natural Gas and export it will cost a great deal of money. The poor along the river, since there is no money for the infrastructure to support this effort, become poorer.

There is much going on in the world and other countries and cultures treatment of the world's resources that is not consistent with what we would like. These are also very poor people, who are trying to make a living, and are destroying the oxygen producing, as well as some of the best medicine producing areas found by science. We cannot stop them. Areas of deforestation include Canada and Indonesia, as well as others.

In actuality the Rainforest in Brazil could dry up within the next 50 years due to Global Warming. As such, the weather is and will be more bizarre, in the future.

Maybe the next time the Mayor of New Orleans is told to evacuate the city, he will listen. He did not. I am sorry, but he DID NOT LISTEN. HE IS LISTENING to the warnings about Rita, and is rescinding his statement allowing people to return to their homes and businesses.

Next time, When in doubt, get out!!! And do the best you can to get yourself out. Don't just sit around and say, "Someone will come get me if I am supposed to go somewhere!" Be proactive and get up off of your duff and get moving. Get those young kids I saw hanging off of those balconies to help the older ones out of the houses, and move it. The older ones raised you! The government didn't wipe your behind when you were little and care about you when you were out of sight, they did. Now take some pride in yourself, and some responsibility for what YOU can do, for somebody else, and don't make everything about "me, mine and I".

HELP NEEDED WITH 'PROJECT BACKPACK' FOR KATRINA'S KIDS -- Weds, Thurs, Fri - September 28, 29, 30 - 10am-6pm - Sodexho, Inc., 9801 Washingtonian Boulevard, Gaithersburg MD -- We still have 1000+ backpacks to process before the truck leaves this Friday, 9-30! Please come for an hour or more. -- After you volunteer, nearby you may enjoy a stroll around the pond, have a bite to eat at one of the restaurants, shop or see a movie. -- Free parking in garage next to 9801 -- Backpacks are shipped directly to school, school systems or the social service agencies providing direct services to those schools. -- Let's get these packs to the kids who need them.