"Stuff happens."

I have refrained from commenting on Hurricane Katrina in my blog for two reasons. One, it seemed crass to try and put human suffering to words when most of my entries here narrate my woes of not having enough money to go out on a Friday night. Boo-hoo for me. Second, I try not to drag politics in my posts lest I become just another uninformed blowhard choking up the blogosphere.

That said, I've read some wonderful pieces of journalism over the last week, many of which are op-eds, explaining the horror of the disaster and the outrage of the federal response with an eloquence that I'll never have. Two op-eds that come to mind are "The Greater Shame" by Nicholas D. Kristof for the New York Times and "The 'Stuff Happens' Presidency" by Harold Meyerson for the Washington Post. In addition to being wonderfully written, both highlight one of the root causes of this disaster: poverty, the growing disparity in the United States, and the lack of federal response (ie, the Bush administration) in reversing this growing disparity.

Did you know that the infant mortality rate in the US has risen for the first time since 1958? That the rate of infant mortality in the US puts us on the same level as Cyprus, Andorra, and Brunei? That nearly 30 percent of New Orleans's residents, 67 percent of which are black, live in poverty?

I didn't.

Please donate to the American Red Cross.