Riffman - you are saying that you are trying not to be morally judgemental then you say it's a no-brainer that people with big houses should open their homes to complete strangers. I can see why people would not want to have 100 complete strangers staying inside their homes.

The importance of the "they chose to stay arguement" is that these people are now consuming resources that could have been used to save the less fortunate or even those that are taking care of young children.

I can see why Bush is not asking for foreign help yet - we still do not know what kind of help we need. It is better to have a plan than to send resources ad hoc.