..........Iowa flooding.

This is, at the very least, a tragic situation. The levee failures along the Mississippi River will leave massive destruction of homes and farmland for hundreds of miles. How will the government respond? Unfortunately, no matter what happens, the response will be widely criticized. The entire response will be based on the New Orleans disaster. If FEMA responds at the same level or at a lesser level of competence, the entire institution will be on the chopping block as "ineffective". The result will be change of leadership, reorganization, etc. If the response is much greater than that shown in New Orleans, the response will be; "you helped them because they're white!" This certainly won't be the time to pull out the race card; but, I'm almost sure it will happen. I don't really know what the plan for getting the water out of the flooded areas will be; but, there does seem to be a place for the water go in this case. I hate to see anyone go through something like this. The Army Corps of Engineers is already telling everyone that the levees were not built to withstand a flood of this magnitude. In other words; "it's not our fault!" I really don't care who's fault it is, and I don't want to point a finger at anyone. These people need help! I know the volunteer response will be swift and sincere. I hope the government can organize, cut through the red tape, and get the job done in the most efficient way possible. I do hope the response by FEMA is better than that in NOLA. I certainly don't want our government to fail these people by not being organized enough to get the job done. It's in the best interest of the people involved to leave all the politics out of this one. Let's just get the aid to the people that need it, and get them back on their feet.