Think Progress has put together a timeline of the administration’s actions during this crisis. It needs to be filled out with more recent information, including Cheney ignoring the disaster altogether to go house-hunting, but it’s got some good information.

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I’m noticing that the media is starting to pay attention to language more. They’ve switched from referring to the citizens of New Orleans as “refugees” to calling them “evacuees,” which is a much more accurate term. It’s also a term that doesn’t make them sound like they’re from another country, which it was sure sounding, and looking, like on TV.

The other term being used is “Americans.” As in, “there may be more than 10,000 Americans dead in New Orleans” or “nearly 2,000 Americans have died in Iraq.” Those should be amended to refer to American citizens and American soldiers respectively.

Somehow, after the enormity of the tragedy in New Orleans, saying that only a fifth as many people have died in Iraq takes away from the sacrifice they’ve made and the enormity of that number. Being more specific helps people better identify with our fellow Americans and it also helps provide context. Context not just for their death, but for their life.

Fewer soldiers have died in Iraq, but many of them have lived under the constant threat of death for a year or more, seen buddies die, suffered injuries both mental and physical, and endured hardships. On the other side of the coin, I am a citizen. Knowing that thousands of citizens were left to die by our inept government tears me apart inside.

Let’s be as specific as possible in order to help people better understand what is happening.

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