Everyone, I want to take a minute out of my chaotic and random journal to ask that you pay attention for a moment.

Hurricaine Katrina, which I'm sure you've heard of by now, has wraught terrible damage on several large population centers in the US, including the very historic and fascinating New Orleans, which has been pretty much completely drowned. Good coverage/pictures/video can be found here

Thousands of lives have been lost, and many survivors have lost their homes, all their possessions and their livelihoods. The flooding will continue for months and the city will not be rebuilt for years or even decades to come. Massive looting, food shortages and even snipers have turned what is already a bad situation into chaos.

In addition, aid to these areas has been extremely slow in coming. National Guard resources and manpower are low, and the geography of the flooding makes it difficult to reach victims that are still trapped on roofs and roads. Food and water supply shipments, as well as shelters, are inadequate. Please donate to an disaster relief organization, such as the Red Cross, and help support all the victims of this terrible natural disaster as you (hopefully) did for the South Pacific tsunami last December. Donation information (including scams that have cropped up) can be found here

As we send soldiers to die halfway around the world, we cannot ignore our own security matters. Oil reserves, food supplies, the economy and the Department of Homeland Security was not prepared, even though there were several days of advance warning of the storm. The US Government is not showing strong leadership, instead letting small organizations squabble with each other and dole out the red tape on an issue that is affecting a large number of its citizens. International help has also been reluctant. (After all, the US polices the world, why doesn't it police itself?) Please tell your senators and congresspersons, was well as your UN representives, that this kind of departmental lack of preparedness/reluctance is not acceptible. The United States needs to take responsibility for caring for its own citizens. We must be able to do this for ourselves before we can ever hope to provide for other nations.

Through the economy, our precious oil supplies, and hopefully our hearts, Katrina has affected us all. Please take some time to contribute, in one way or another, to helping the victims. Thank you.