Dear George,

We've all been watching in horror and pity, and doing what we can. These two turns of news are, for me, the lowest and worst of all now being revealed of the wickedness of Bush and his cronies, "the totem pole that should be chainsawed down" for all the suffering and death they have allowed to happen. (You know they've already turned the slime machine on Blanco and Nagin.)

The first is that, according to German TV, "Along [Bush's] travel route aid units removed debris and recovered corpses. Then Bush left and along with him, all aid troops left too. The situation in Biloxi remains unchanged, nothing has arrived, everything is still needed."

The second is this speech by Antoine Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, to Tim Russert this morning. This will break your heart.

These wicked people must go away from us.

Katherine McNamara (electronic mail, September 3, 2005)