It's their own damn fault, right? I mean, the government ordered an evacuation. Why are these people still there? They had their chance. Now look at the mess they've gotten themselves into. Why am I not surprised?

This is the argument I put up with listening to tonight.

It came not from Sean Hannity. Not from Nancy Grace. Not from Bill O'Reilly. It came from my friends. A few of them. Disgusting.

Angry and confused — though surely not as much so as those in New Orleans — I phoned a friend, a lifeline, someone who could assure me that compassion still existed, no questions asked.

He said he agreed with me. That there was no way the city could have been evacuated on such short notice. But — there is always a "but" — I should be "open-minded" to differing "opinions." Opinions. Not racist misconceptions. But opinions.

Right.

There is no point in arguing. The actions of our president have already made it quite clear. The hurricane has created a "temporary disruption." Temporary to those fortunate enough to live no where near the Gulf, to be middle class, to be light skinned. It is not temporary to the faces you see on CNN.

Get used to those faces. You'll be seeing them every day for weeks to come.