Make a note: WELCOME TO NEW ORLEANS

Check out David Sirota's article of October 24 in In these Times titled, "WELCOME TO NEW ORLEANS;How the Katrina catastrophe proves that conservatives' tax cut zealotry has left America vulnerable to disaster."

This is a reality visible in the numbers. Year after year, the Bush administration insisted on massive tax cuts for the wealthy. And year after year, the White House refused to provide the funding government experts said was needed to strengthen levees, beef up hurricane preparedness and get federal emergency response ready for an onslaught from Mother Nature. America's budget surplus, built in the '90s to serve as a rainy day fund, was robbed to provide more and more giveaways to the rich. When the rainiest day of them all came, our country was left totally -- and unnecessarily -- vulnerable.