A New York Times article today quotes a lot of people who want to complain about the government's response to hurricane Katrina.

For those who have built themselves a stylish cross for the occasion of the disaster, I challenge you to get off your cross and do something besides bitch about how bad things are. Get off your ass and actually DO something.

The situation in New Orleans wasn't just the result of this administration. FACT is, the situation in New Orleans has been underfunded for almost 20 years - through both Republican AND Democrat congresses and presidencies. Bush has only been in office 4 1/2 years. And it's congress that sets the amount of aid given -- not once did President Bush veto funds for New Orleans' levees.

America was not built on the notion that the government is our mother and therefore takes care of us all the time. Our history is founded in the belief that AMERICANS - the people - take care of their own. Americans are, after all, the government.

We have become exceedingly lazy as a result of our properity, and apparently, many in this nation are under the belief that we are entitled to kick back and tell everyone else what they are doing wrong, rather than rolling up our sleeves and volunteering to do whatever needs done ourselves.

I say, "Bullshit!"

Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana are the responsibility of EVERY AMERICAN. Not just the president (who is doing a hell of a lot more than his detractors who sit at their computers and run him down). Not just congress. Not just the rich.

According the the New York Times:

Priscilla Turner, 55, of Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., is a registered Democrat, but she said President Bush was being saddled with some unfair blame. "There is an instinct to be so negative," Ms. Turner said, "to wish for the worst, to anticipate the worse, to glory and wallow in the worst." If Mr. Bush had sent troops to New Orleans too quickly, she said, his detractors would have portrayed him as "going in with guns blazing."

Right on, Priscilla! The whiners are going to whine and bitch and moan no matter what President Bush does.

You know, it's easy to get pissed off at other people who the pissed perceive as not doing all that can be done, or not doing it fast enough, or not spending enough money on it or whatever.

It takes courage and commitment to take responsibility yourself and get in there and get your hands dirty, go without a couple trips to McDonalds or a movie so you can donate a few bucks to the relief effort.

I know to some blacks, Condoleeza Rice isn't "black enough" (that's called racism in its truest, ugliest form), but this is what Ms. Rice is quoted as saying in the New York Times article:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in an unusual foray into domestic affairs, sharply disputed any suggestion that storm victims had somehow been overlooked because of their race. "We're all going to need to be in this together," she said in announcing offers of foreign aid. "I think everybody's very emotional. It's hard to watch pictures of any American going through this. And yes, the African-American community has obviously been very heavily affected."

But noting her own roots in Alabama, and her father's in Louisiana, Dr. Rice announced plans to visit the region this weekend and said, "That Americans would somehow in a color-affected way decide who to help and who not to help - I just don't believe it."

Hey, she's right. I'm white, and I donated money and sent off clothes, knowing damn well it would probably benefit anyone who needs help - be they white or black. And that's how I want it.

Can the complainers say the same?

 Complaining on your blog about how everyone else is doing it wrong doesn't accomplish anything.

One more time, I challenge y'all to get the hell off your crosses and do something that actually makes a difference in the lives of others.