No Funny Title

I can't link to this AP story because it is on AOL and I can't find it anywhere else yet, but:

In a stunning example of how desperate the situation has become, 25 babies who had been in a makeshift neonatal intensive care unit at New Orleans' Ochsner Clinic were airlifted Wednesday to hospitals in Houston, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Birmingham, Alabama. Many were hooked up to battery-operated breathing machines keeping them alive.

Their parents had been forced to evacuate and leave the infants behind; by late in the day, most if not all had been contacted and told where their babies were being taken, said hospital spokeswoman Katherine Voss.

"We actually encouraged them to leave. It would just be more people to evacuate if there was a problem," said Dr. Vince Adolph, a pediatric surgeon.

When Peanut was taken to the NICU after she was born, I was willing to risk my life to get up and get to her. I can't even fathom what these parents were feeling.

My good friend and boss, Dana, has all of her extended family in New Orleans. Well, had, as most of them evacuated. One family member that stayed behind to help those he knew were going to need help has been rescued (after helping others that couldn't leave be rescued), but the fate of her grandfather, seriously ill in a nursing home that did not evacuate, is still not known. All of these people have lost their homes, their jobs and businesses, everything.

Please send a donation to your local Red Cross. All the local branches donate to the effort, and these people are going to need the help. There is no insurance that covers the rebuilding of an entire major city.

I can't even start about the tragedy in Iraq--it's just too much to comprehend.