As the pumps continue to drain New Orleans, authorities are finding what lies beneath the murky Louisiana waters.

We can't imagine what it's like down there - our homes are intact and our lives are scarely altered by this extreme tragedy.

The volunteers, citizens and journalists who are presently in the area are the only people who know the reality of this event because they see it.

They're living it.

When politicians and public figures, such as former first lady Barbara Bush at the Astrodome in Houston, say things such as "So many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them," it shows the disconnect between leaders and the people they represent.

Bodies lie in the streets of New Orleans. Criminals are pillaging the ruins of homes and businesses. Citizens who survived the hurricane are being forced to evacuate the city for sanitary reasons.

The same conditions found in a Third World nation exist in America.

Barbara Bush's intended meaning might be very harmless and empathetic, but it really isn't the time. Despite the poverty that existed in the New Orleans area prior to Katrina, it was still home to many Americans. The victims' possessions are destroyed or stolen, their family members are missing or dead and their futures remain uncertain.

It really doesn't sound as if they're better off. Let's not make light of the situation.

This is an event that shouldn't be forgotten and certainly not trivialized. Understandably, the government is getting a lot of unwanted attention for not taking action while the hurricane was approaching. Politicians are trying to sugarcoat rescue efforts with cheery dispositions and implore the public not to look at the past but toward the future.

There really isn't a way for these public figures to understand the strain unless they experience it for themselves. We don't suggest they actually recover bodies, or sleep in the streets like most of the volunteers in Louisiana. But shaking a few hands of the victims at the Astrodome just doesn't really cut it.

This was a test run of our Department of Homeland Security. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, our government implemented a special department to deal with domestic emergencies. Here we are, with an emergency on our hands and officials are still struggling with what should be done.

Efforts by the Federal Emergency Management Agency are faltering as New Orleans remains lawless and uninhabitable. About 25,000 body bags were purchased by FEMA to accommodate an unknown body count.

This isn't handling an emergency - it's cleaning one up.