Many others have said things better than I could hope to:
“Making Light”:http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/006666.html is an excellent source for info, links, and commentary.
See also “Fred Clark”:http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2005/09/the_poor_are_le.html on the predicament of the poor, and “Jim Henley”:http://highclearing.com/index.php/archives/2005/09/01/4579 uttering an inescapable truth: “Every level of authority has failed those trapped in New Orleans.”