"Neglect takes many forms. The one I feel most clearly now is the neglect caused by apathy and inaction. I am still fighting to find explanation why one million people can march in New York or Washington DC to protest the war, but not even one hundredth of that number can't break away to help provide hope for people who have lost everything in the government's war against our own people. Please, help me understand.

I've recieved a fair number of emails that chastise me for being so hard on those progressives who have decided not to come. I'm working on this project they say, or this issue is important too. Guilt manifests itself in many ways. I acknowledge my guilt that I can't help more people by calling for a stream of volunteers. If you feel guilty for not doing more, how do you cope? How do you avoid just getting in your car and driving down?"

Sorry, but you are misdirecting your anger at the wrong people. Have you READ about who is helping? Cindy Sheehan and other progressives redirected their tour and started a huge Lousiana outreach in Covington, Louisiana. Other folks have organized relief efforts and have paid a lot of money to haul relief and supplies to other parts of the country. Moveon.org organized a housing resource for people and last I heard, had 60,000 offers of housing available for people across the country. Personally, I've worked for several days straight on an aid drive and took time off my job without pay.

I've yet found a call for help that specifically requires the skills that I have. For me to come down there without skills that they need doesn't make any sense. Why would I take up precious housing resources to do that? I also know that evacuees have many skills to contribute to grassroots aid efforts.

We need to stop blaming ,and continue to fight the Bush Agenda and work for real help for the people left homeless by his policies. That means the Katrina evacuees, the already homeless and disabled, the soliders/guardsmen trapped fighting in an immoral war and, yes, the Iraqis and Afghanis. We need to do all we can to shut down this evil empire so money starts going to rebuilding people's houses and stops funding bombers used to destroy houses.

By all means, we should all be doing as much as we can to help evacuees, but we also shouldn't call off a "Stop the War" rally because we need it now more than ever. We need people to scream -- "FUCK THIS WAR! PEOPLE come first!" We need people to scream to congress -- "AID FOR PEOPLE'S needs, NOW!" Obviously, they are not getting the message, so we need to tell them and keep on telling them until they understand that they are accountable to the people of the United States. WE NEED TO PUT SOME FEAR IN THE HEARTS OF WASHINGTON FAT CATS!

Note: You say that there is supposed to be one million in DC, but recently I heard the corporate press say that over 100,000 are expected. It sounds to me like many *have* changed their plans.