I was so proud of my class. They welcomed Abbi with open arms. She came in this morning with red eyes and dark circles; she left this afternoon with a “friendship bag” full of symbols of friendship (gum to remind us that we should all stick together, a rubber band to remind us to hug each other, etc.) and a huge smile on her face.

I think the thing that is so shocking is how much the affected areas resemble conditions normally found outside of the U.S. People are literally dying in the streets because there is no food or medical attention avaiable. In addition to the devestation to homes, businesses, and infrastructure, there seem to be thousands of people trapped with no food or clean water and no way to get to places where supplies are plentiful. And it’s everywhere.

When Houston was hit with Tropical Storm Allison several years ago, the flooding did tremendous damage, especially to medical, educational, and cultural facilities in the city. But not all areas of Houston were affected in the same way; some places didn’t flood at all and had electricity the whole time.

This is a case of entire cities and towns being flattened, with no relief in between neighborhoods. I think that’s why people are comapring the devestation to the tsunami or Hiroshima (although comparison to a man-made disaster just isn’t appropriate.)

The theology of those who think catastrophes of this sort are punishments from God saddens me. They don’t know a loving, compassionate God; only an angry, vengeful one.

After reading Jim Wallis’ post on Sojourners about 28% if New Orleans resident live below the poverty level (twice the national average) and reading what has been going on at LSU, and hearing that they had to stop evacuating the superdome (or whatever) because shots were fired…I’m realizing there is another world out there I cannot even imagine. The thing that makes me the saddest is that, in other disasters one of the things we have been able to hold onto is the kindness we offer one another. That is not the case in New Orleans today.

As far as Christians who are crazy, I thought the storm was God’s retribution on the casinos. The clouds looked like a huge slot machine to me and certainly those casinos took a beating… having nothing to do with their proximity to the water of course, only that they house evil.

I heard someone from CDC on CNN (letters much?) saying that he envisions an enormous refugee camp north of Lake Pontchartrain. Too bad no one envisioned this need before a hurricane hit.

from Salon

As the folks at the Center for American Progress note, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a report in early 2001 that identified the three catastrophes most likely to hit the United States: a terrorist attack on New York, an earthquake in San Francisco and a hurricane in New Orleans.

As of this week, FEMA is now two-for-three. That leads us to think that the residents of the city by the Bay might think about scoring some flashlights and bottled water just about now. But it also leads us to wonder what the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress did with the warning that FEMA provided.

Here’s what: They cut funding for flood and hurricane projects planned by the New Orleans district of the Army Corps of Engineers. According to one published report, the New Orleans district had $147 million to spend on such projects in 2001. In fiscal year 2005, which ends next month, the district will have had about $82 million, a drop of about 44 percent. As we reported earlier this week, the Bush administration proposed further cuts for the district for fiscal year 2006.

Is this article politicizing the tragedy, or is this another My Pet Goat moment? You decide.

But I’ve said enough about that; these poor folks are caught in a desperate situation. Any way you look at it, it’s just sad, sad, sad.

Here in tornado alley, “sane” is a realtive term. Local metreorologists have a tendency to inflate how bad a storm system is. I should say it seems like they inflate, and generate anxiety and fear, in order to drum up ratings.

If tv weather reporting in the affected area was similar, I can understand how some might have been skeptical.