Dad called my brother Kurt yesterday. He and my stepmother are safe and sound in Alabama with some of her relatives. Their property was not flooded by the levees bursting, but they have not yet been back to see how much damage they suffered from the wind and rain. The neighbors they have spoken with said that the neighborhood came through “okay”.

So that is a tremendous relief. What an amazing change from visiting New Orleans two weeks ago, to the city now being essentially gone. If I had any inkling, I would have taken more pictures when we were in the French quarter.

The reports coming out of NOLA, of rape gangs and gang rapes, of looters and people shooting at rescue workers, makes me want to throw up my hands and say, “To Hell with you assholes!!!!!” Wall off the city, let them get that bullshit out of their systems, and then go in and arrest the survivors in October.

Then I hear the reports of people towing their sick parents or children on rafts made out of doors, through miles of flooded streets while watching out for snakes, alligators, fire ants and sharks, and I realize that the love and willpower in that sustained act of courage is so powerful, so awe-inspiring, that nothing I have ever done can come close.

And those people are stuck in a dying city with the scum who are busy finishing the job that the hurricane started.

So what is to be done? Pray. Donate money. Support the rescuers and the rescued however we are able. Don’t take sides trying to cast or dodge blame. The decisions which kept the city unprepared for this emergency are the result of decades of politics, not merely one or two administrations sitting on their hands. This is not remotely as devastating a disaster as the tsunami at the beginning of the year, but it will probably end up being worse than 9/11/2001.

And this time, we can’t blame it on our enemies.