Hmmm.

This is causing me to (a) go "Awwwwwww!", and (b) become mired in mental struggle about pets and the New Orleans disaster. It's horrible to think of the dogs and cats (and probably birds and ferrets and gerbils and what have you) who died in the flooding, although presumably all the pet alligators are doing quite fine, thank you. But pics of stalwart soldier-types rescuing kittens, when thousands of people are undergoing horrendous suffering and deaths, is a disgusting example of the human tendency to latch onto fluffy sentimentalism as a substitute for actual critical thought. Also, one small kitten probably didn't get much in the way of the rescue operations, or take an actual human place, but it's an extremely dicey precedent.

I suspect, however, that if I were in New Orleans at the psychological moment, I'd either be one of the stubborn types refusing to leave because of the animals, or would be trekking out on foot with a large, mewing basket.