I have trouble understanding the devastation that Hurricane Katrina has left in its wake. Imagine tens of thousands of people homeless, thousands dead and unaccounted for, and millions without electricity or guarantees of clean drinking water. The destruction is almost peerless in American history. And it is times like these that true Democratic values such as teamwork become critically important.

And while I have difficulty getting my mind off the parents whose children or missing, or the elderly who are trapped in attics, I cannot help but be outraged that President Bush was busy playing guitar instead of responding to the emergency or visiting the Hurricane's destruction.

And as I dug into the story, I realized that the damage didn't have to be this bad. As Josh Marshall notes, "But there are just too many examples out there of the ways in which [Bush's] policies have contributed to and accentuated this crisis: systematic cuts in levee and pump construction around New Orleans, phasing out FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) and apparently the whole concept of national coordination of the response to natural disasters."

And as this article makes clear, Bush's tax cuts and his war in Iraq took money away from "shoring up levees and building pumping stations" that are desparately needed. "The [Army Corps of Engineers] never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars."

And lets not forget that this kind of disaster is where the National Guard typically steps in to help with relief, rescue, and crime-stopping. Unfortunately, many of Louisiana's and Mississippi's National Guard members are in Iraq, causing them to ask for specialists and equipment from other states.

Is anyone surprised that President Bush's incompetency and bad decisions would cost lives? Think about it, the combined number of deaths from the Iraq War (Bush's bad decision) and the deaths from flooding because Bush cut funding for flood control (I'm not talking about the deaths from the hurricane itself, which number in the hundreds, but from the post-hurricane aftermath, which might number in the thousands and probably could have been avoided with proper planning) amount to more than the total number of people who died on September 11th.

It's time this President gets held accountable for his terrible decisions that are bankrupting our nation and causing people to die unnecessarily.

The unfortunate mess of the hurricane also hides the trouble we're having in Iraq; the large peace vigils in Crawford; the recent warnings by Greenspan that we're headed for another economic bubble; the politicization of the morning- after-pill, which would reduce unwanted pregnancies and abortions in America (another victory for politics over science); and a whistleblower against Halliburton's corrupt contracting processes being demoted.

Well, despite all that, there's some good news. First of all, most Americans are now thinking more clearly about President Bush and the war and so now feel the way we did several years ago. And, the good news is that Progressives and Democrats are standing up to fight. As a part of that, one of our very own members, Steve Young, is running for Congress in the 48th Congressional District (including Irvine, Newport Beach, etc.). He's a successful defender of the little guy and an articulate spokesman for the progressive movement. A few weeks ago, our sister organization OC Grassroots endorsed him, then a week and a half ago the Swing Districts Committee of SoCal Grassroots endorsed him, and on August 31st, the State Democratic Party endorsed him. So that means one of our own grassroots activists has a chance to go to Congress, and we can help him. His campaign kickoff is this Friday in Irvine (see below)=97 please go if you can. And, if you can, give $50 to the Red Cross here, and then give $25 to Steve Young's campaign here. It would be great to support the Red Cross in its natural disaster relief efforts, and to support Steve Young in his political disaster relief efforts.

Let's hope and pray for quick relief and recovery in the hurricane region.