Like many, these last days have been a roller-coaster of emotion, pain, and prayer.

I have been inspired by the incredible work being done by men and women all across the South and Mid-Atlantic, by the "loving your neighbor" that has truly been a manifestation of the gospel.

But I have also been horrified by the chaos and lack of preparedness of the government to respond to this. For the President to say "We didn't know the levvies would fail" when I've heard folks, including my relatives who used to live in NO, talking about how inadequate they are for over 20 years. When I hear that people were being told to go to the convention center and the Superdome, but there was little advance placement of emergency supplies or security personnel in those places, resulting in anarchy, death, and rape, it makes me weep.

The poorest of the poor were abandoned in this crisis, told to leave though they live paycheck to paycheck (if they are employed), don't own cars, and could not get out of town, let alone afford the cost of a motel room if they did escape.

When I hear that we've cut funding year after year for the preparation for disasters like this, when Homeland Security has been concerned almost exclusively with the spectres of external human threats instead of preparing for the threats like this that we KNOW we must prepare for.

In his first speech a couple of days ago, the President announced admirable efforts, many of which have been slow in coming for reasons that will surely be addressed in time....but for some bizarre reason he also went out of his way to say that all of this would be done without raising taxes.

Let me make this clear...if it is going to take higher taxes to help meet the basic needs of these hundreds of thousands who are devastated...if it is going to take higher taxes to insure that the safety net for the poorest of the poor is in place....then it is my duty and my expectation to pay those taxes.

We weep, and we pray, and we hope...and we seek inspiration in the thousands who have shown such love and compassion...who continue to save lives and restore hope to thousands in desperate need....