Reporter Brett Koshkin just called in from Ball High School in Galveston, where Michael Chertoff recently finished speaking with reporters.

Here's some of what the United States Secretary of Homeland Security had to say:

"The big challenge besides food and water is getting power and sewage."

"We're working with the local city and governments to make sure the people have food and water."

"The key issues right now are to make this habitable, and sewer and power."

"People are working with us without sleep."

"This is not pleasant nor a pleasant situation."

"We're doing our best to make it as less a burden as possible."

True words of wisdom. Like all good aphorisms, these sentences could apply to so many situations.

-- Keith Plocek