Greenpeace

We're pulling back to Birmingham, AL tonight as Hurricane Rita moves into the gulf region and the parishes of Louisiana are once again evacuated. As much as we'd like to stay on hand and help during the storm, we don't have the proper equipment to offer first response.

The team is dispersing, regrouping and getting ready to dive back in. Christian and Mark will return to the gulf after Rita, with new activists to replace Stephanie and Mike, who are pulled away by other commitments.

We drove north on Interstate 59. Going our way were the various contractors and cleanup specialists also removing themselves from Rita's path. In the oncoming lane along the Mississippi line, we saw a convoy of empty buses heading south, presumably to evacuate gulf residents.

Rita will be the second major hurricane to hit the gulf in less than a month. The news today was full of stories of Houstonians trapped and running out of gas on gridlocked freeways as they attempt to flee their city.

It's as if it were a scene from a movie whose director can't help ladling on the ironic overstatement. In Houston, the oil capital of America, the oil addicts scramble to flee from the monster given life by their behavior.

Yet the Bush administration seems to grow more heedless with each passing catastrophe. In Katrina's wake the administration and its cronies are calling for a relaxation of environmental laws and building codes so New Orleans can be rebuilt "as quickly as possible."

It's a sad day when tragedy is seen by our leaders only as an opportunity to advance the interests of the corporations that financed their election, but it seems that day is upon us.