ME OVERWRITING ABOUT THE HURRICANE: I have all kinds of swirling thoughts about Katrina. More than anything, I feel compassion for its victims. My wife and I are going to make a donation through her work, since they're matching funds. I've also stuffed some bills into our local firemens' boots as they've waded through traffic in our neighborhood, collecting funds for the victims.

Beyond that, it also seems clear that our federal, state, and local governments were ill-prepared to deal with the aftermath of the storm, especially the flooding of New Orleans. From what I've read, it sounds like FEMA represents the biggest failure in that it acted as an impediment to relief efforts, rather than a lubricant.

I also haven't been very impressed with New Orleans' mayor, Ray Nagin. Granted, he was presiding over an apocalypse, but were I was a New Orleans resident I would have much preferred the reassuring, positive tone of a Rudy Giuliani to the negative, finger-pointing tone of a Ray Nagin. (I continue to marvel at how calm Giuliani seemed in the face of 9/11, and I wonder if this hurricane might somehow lift his presidential campaign.) I've read elsewhere that Nagin is an impressive guy, so the fact that he's not Giuliani may only reveal how rare Giuliani is.

I'm sure there will be ample time and effort devoted to sorting out who helped and who failed in the months to come. (I'm sure our own JD will be on hand shortly to lay the entire thing at the feet of the president. I don't believe that, any more than I believe those that are arguing that the whole thing is Ray Nagin's or Kathleen Blanco's fault.) I'm sure blame will find nooks and crannies at all levels of our government. For now, though, I'm going to keep the focus on what I can do to help. And the first thing I can do is to make a personal donation. I hope we'll all do that.

The next thing I can do is to read the news stories and the blogs in the months ahead, and to consider how and where my vote might make a difference in '08. Whether it's the war on terror, stem cell research, or an "act of God," I'm looking for a candidate that grasps that his first job is to set a tone and create an environment that inspires and enables Americans to be as healthy, free, and safe as can be reasonably expected in our modern world, so that we can continue our own unique pursuits of happiness in our own idiosycratic, varied ways.

My allegiance won't be to party politics. I hope yours won't be either. In the face of tragedy -- which is intermittent -- and reality -- which is constant -- we are all one people. May that reality unite us, all of us, so that we can meet each subsequent and inevitable tragedy with the combined force of our compassion and love.