Catching Up

Sheesh! I go out for the afternoon and come back to all sorts of things I guess I'd better at least mention:

- President Bush called in the big guns (his father and former president Clinton) "to lead a nationwide fundraising effort" to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Good move. Let them lead this.

- Bush also noted the "issues" that the nation's having with gasoline prices, and for I think the first time in his presidency actually asked Americans to sacrifice something: "Americans should be prudent in their use of energy during the couse of the next few weeks. Don't buy gas if you don't need it." Could have been a little stronger, but I guess it's better than nothing. Again today though, Bush's speech seemed pretty flat.

- Congress is coming back to town tomorrow [correction: the Senate will be in at 10 p.m. Thursday night], well before their scheduled Tuesday return, to quickly debate and (presumably) approve an emergency aid package somewhere in the vicinity of $10 billion for the Katrina-affected regions. Another good move.

- House Speaker Dennis Hastert went off into La-la Land this afternoon, telling a Chicago paper "It doesn't make sense to me. And it's a question that certainly we should ask." The question? Should we rebuild New Orleans. Said former senator John Breaux (and rightly so) "That's like saying we should shut down Los Angeles because it's built in an earthquake zone. Or like saying that after the Great Chicago fire of 1871, the U.S. government should have just abandoned the city."

Hastert's comments are ridiculous. Dennis at The Moderate Republican has more, pointing out yes maybe building New Orleans where it is wasn't the best of planning way back when, but that ship has sailed, and yes, that city will be rebuilt - bigger and better and stronger than it's ever been before.

- I agree with Byron York: this is the best aerial photo of New Orleans I've seen so far. Horrifying.

- The chaos continues in the Gulf region; the mayor of New Orleans issued a "desperate SOS" this evening as his city remains in the throes of an unimaginably hellish nightmare.

- Please, please, please, give as you are able.