Peter:

As far as I have heard, there are large numbers of heroic efforts underway to aid people in New Orleans. The deprived underclass, as you describe them, are victims of this storm, but so are the now-deprived middle class, the drowned hospital patients, and scores of others.

One difference, of course, is that those who had the means got the hell out of town before the catastophe, often landing on relatives in far places and ending up with nothing but good will and what they brought with them. But in MOST cases, those who had that means procured it through the sweat of their brows. And those that left when it was possible todo so did so out of the exercise of their wits.

I think Kirsten's point about this massive exposition of the shameful inabililty of those who have the means to care for those who do not is quite telling, except that she chose to embed it in the most inflammatory and hysterical language. We all make choices, every time we act or speak.

I do not think genocide is a fair word, either; but what this does reveal is the perpetual and discomfiting gap between classes. This is not a race issue, it is a money issue.

A