Free Republic

Beds sat empty at Tyler Street United Methodist Church in Dallas. Pots of spaghetti sat uneaten at Houston's Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church. When hurricanes Katrina and Rita swamped the Gulf Coast last year, Texas churches wanted to help, but they didn't know how. So they did what they normally do - have food and shelter ready for whoever needed it. Now many religious leaders acknowledge their response wasn't well-organized. This time, they'll be ready. Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, sending hundreds of thousands of Louisiana evacuees to Texas. Hurricane Rita slammed southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana just...

A congressional committee wants to know why many nursing home residents were left behind before Hurricane Katrina hit, and Louisiana's governor was called upon to answer the committee's questions this morning. Gov. Kathleen Blanco finished her testimony before the committee just before noon. According to the state's emergency plan, the Department of Transportation and Development was responsible for the evacuation of the state's most vulnerable residents, like nursing homes and hospital patients. At least 140 patients at New Orleans area hospitals and nursing homes died during the storm and its aftermath. On Capitol Hill today, two senators told Blanco they...

JAKARTA, Indonesia - The minister who led Indonesia's aid effort in the aftermath of the tsunami has a message to those who say the Bush administration was too slow to respond to Hurricane Katrina - it's not as easy as it looks. "Any country in the first two weeks, they are always criticized," said Alwi Shihab, who took charge of the aid operation three days after the waves hit Aceh province on Dec. 26, killing a staggering 130,000 people and leaving 500,000 more homeless in Indonesia. "The first 10 days we were cursed for being sluggish. If the government satisfies...

The Sons of Mary seldom bother, for they have inherited that good part; But the Sons of Martha favour their Mother of the careful soul and the troubled heart. And because she lost her temper once, and because she was rude to the Lord her Guest, Her Sons must wait upon Mary's Sons, world without end, reprieve, or rest. It is their care in all the ages to take the buffet and cushion the shock. It is their care that the gear engages; it is their care that the switches lock. It is their care that the wheels run truly;...