Ava's Katrina Video: Accountability, Action, and a Challenge

Once again, Ava Lowery, young editor of peacetakescourage.com, reminds us of what's at stake this November.

Please watch Ava's latest video which marks the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the tragedy that followed.

Over 1800 people lost their lives because of Hurricane Katrina, over 1800 families ripped apart.  Many who survived lost the lives they had built for themselves, their homes, their jobs, their dreams. Leaving aside the global warming debate, catastrophic acts of nature cannot be prevented. But what happened afterward was a shameful act of negligence. Ava reminds us:

Also please remember that victims of Hurricane Katrina are still struggling to recover almost a year later. At least 1,836 people lost their lives and hundreds of thousands of Americans lost their homes. Peace Takes Courage has put together a list of organizations that are still working to help victims of the storm. Even the smallest amount helps, so please donate.

Please visit www.peacetakescourage.com/aid for information on how you can help Katrina victims.

As a high school teacher, there will always be a tender place in my heart for teenagers. Their idealism, their capacity for hope, is so dear and precious. In my own work, it's a challenge to operate with that level of optimism, yet I believe that better days are ahead, that the today's darkness is just a prelude to tomorrow's opportunity. We can hold the  Bush administration, along with its Republican and schizo-partisan enablers, accountable.

• Accountable for abandoning New Orleans.
• Accountable for their mis-adventure in Iraq.
• Accountable for precious life wasted.

Patriot Ava Lowery is holding our elected officials accountable, and since she introduced herself to us at YearlyKos, she's had a lot of success.

• Ava was interviewed by BuzzFlash.com and received their Wings of Justice Award.
• Ava came out on top in a needlessly hostile interview on CNN.
• Ava was featured in Rolling Stone Magazine.
• Ava was interviewed by the New York Times.

Ava has done some big things lately, and is an inspiration and a reminder that we all are capable of doing something to move our country forward and hold our mis-leaders accountable. Everybody can do something, big or small. You can:

• Help Ava in her mission by visiting www.peacetakescourage.com/aid for information on how you can help Katrina victims.
• Write letters to your representatives in Washington DC praising or panning them for their actions.
• Donate to a netroots candidate.
• Write letter to the editor.
• Volunteer for a local campaign or your local Democratic Party.
• Drink Liberally.
• Register a friend (or yourself) to vote.

You don't have to do something as big as what Ava does to have an impact. A peppering of $10 donations can add up when we all work together. What is important is that we all do something, that we hold ourselves accountable for furthering the change we want, because holding our leaders accountable begins with us.