Natural disaster? No, this is criminal negligence

I've been watching in utter disbelief the chaos and lack of preparation or coordination in relief efforts in New Orleans for days after hurricane Katrina hit. Five days later, and thousands of people are still stranded, with no food or water, many of them dying --in the streets, in the superdome, in the convention center...

The mp3 link of the day is a clip from an emotional interview with the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, last night on local radio station WWL. Here's a quote:

"After 9/11 we gave the president unprecented powers to take care of New York and those other places.... you mean to tell me that a place where thousands of people that have died and thousands more people are dying, we can't figure out how to get them help. . . Somebody needs to get their ass on a plane and sit down and figure this out."

And here's his call to arms:

"Organize people to write letters, and make calls to their congressmen, to the President [...] Flood their offices with requests to do something. This is ridiculous!
I don't want to see anybody do anymore more goddamn press conferences. Put a moratorium on press conferences. Don't do another press conference until the resources are in this city. [...] Get off your asses and do something!"

Amen.

Make your donations to the American Red Cross or NGO or charity of your choice.