"Our Tsunami" is a good summary of this weeks headlines. The disaster in Louisiana and the neighboring states is on everybody's mind. And it's heart breaking to watch the news. You can only take but so much misery at one time.

The blame game started early. New Orleans is a city of a large poor population; and the majority of the population is black. Color really doesn't matter - human misery is the same regardless of skin-color. But the way it's portrayed you would think that white-people had this planned just to spice the black!! Man, I didn't know Caucasians were that powerful!

It's like with conspiracy theories .. They're so intricate that I find them laughable because of their extremes. Why is it so more difficult to believe in people's incompetence instead of having them execute these extremely complicated plans requiring thought, intelligence and purpose?

First - this has nothing to do with racism. Maybe "poorism". You get the officials you elect in this country and if you don't participate, which most poor do not, you get what other people want. So who are the electorate accountable for - they will not get re-elected if they spend all the resources on the people who didn't elect them?

I don't think that excuses ignoring a problem that's been identified for at least 5 years (like this) - and given the history of the area, this is no news, no surprise. Very sad indeed. The levees have been negleted as much as putting in a simple plan to bus out the areas of the city who could not provide transportation for themselves.

But with our system of government where only the ones that yell the loudest or participates in the process in some way are heard, it's no wonder poor people are being sent to the back of the bus when it comes to resource allocation. How a mandatory evacuation can be called WITHOUT providing for transportation seems to be a real screw-up. Using the dome for evacuees in a city that's predicted to get 10-15 feet underwater is pure craziness too.

Let's hope that people wake up from this; realize that setting the X once every other year actually makes a difference. Calling your congress man and keeping informed is a civil duty, not a privilege. And government must be made responsible for their actions. Since the current administration has gotten rid of the "The buck stops here" sign on the presidents desk, it's up to the public to make them responsible. When you vote, look at the actions - not the words. Actually, words these days are empty phrases so that's not too hard. Don't look at the party affiliations but what they actually do. Who do they serve - you or the special interests with the deep pockets?

We start by keeping up to date and keep who-ever got elected into power, accountable. Don't let them eat you off with "too little too late" issues. When scientists point out, that the levees will breach and the storms are getting bigger, WE should demand action and not accept cuts in the budget for the Army Corps of Engineers who's responsible for maintaining the levees. Where were all the attention and complains when the services were cut back - or when there was no plans to show (except of course the usual talk "we have a plan"). SHOW ME THE MONEY as they say; why is it enough to just claim you have a plan?

Now we're faced with years of cleanup - and the big question of should there actually be a town submerged 8-10 feet below sealevel in the hurricane alley? The fact that warnings were overheard must be addressed - but don't blame the politicians alone. The population of the area carries part of the blame. Plenty of warning before the storm. It took more than one person's incompetence to make this amount of mess. And it will take a lot more than one person to clean things up.