This is just a short post to reflect on the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
Katrina put five and a half feet of water into my home in the New Orleans suburbs. For MONTHS after Katrina - my family and I lived a very bizarre life. You can go back through the archives of this blog for idea of what it was like - I'm not going to recap it here.
I will make some observations about how I feel personally - two years after that storm.
1. The human beings that I was exposed to after that storm - were hard-working heros. The vast majority of my neighbors, moved back into the neighborhood and took it upon themselves to restore their lives - they didn't wait on the government help. Help from the government eventually arrived - and those who had been helping themselves all along ended up even better off after that assistance arrived. The few that didn't attempt to help themselves from the beginning - the few that bitched about the government - are still spinning their wheels.
2. 80 percent of my neighbors are Black - so this survival work ethic I'm talking about above - is not the exclusive property of White folk. There was no looting in my neighborhood. People helped each other. People helped themselves. They refused to fail. They figured that government assistance might never come - so they did it themselves. They rightly calculated that if, somehow, the government rode to their assistance - they'd be better in the end for taking charge of their situations themselves early on. They were right.
3. I'm against illegal immigration - but Mexican's truly are the "New Frontiersmen". They have the spirit that our ancestors who crossed the western plains had - the same spirit that most of us have lost. Mexicans came flooding into the hurricane zone because they saw a financial opportunity through plentiful hard work. They didn't shirk it or try to avoid it - they jumped on it. You cannot hold people like that down. Then again, why would you want to?
4. Ninety percent of the blame for the dysfunctional response in Louisiana can be laid at the feet of Governor Kathleen Blanco - the High School teacher who should have never been elected to any political office higher than that of School Board Superintendent. The woman has always been unqualified for high political office and her indecisive actions during, and after the hurricane pretty much illustrate that. Her finger-pointing at Bush and Ray Nagen are evidence that not only is she unqualified for the post she's filling now - but she also doesn't have the moral courage to accept the blame for her failures.
5. I've softened on Ray Nagen (somewhat). In retrospect - it was a huge storm and Nagen was in the middle of it the entire time. He made decisions - he just made a lot of wrong ones. However, I'm fairly convinced now that his bad decisions weren't politically motivated. Everything the Governor did, and everything she didn't do - were politically motivated. This doesn't earn Nagen a spot as the Most Valuable Player of the affair - but at least he's not the guy that fumbled the ball - that was actually a gal - a gal named Kathleen Blanco.
6. Mary Landrieu and David Vitter (Senators from Louisiana - one a Dem the other a Republican) - they can take a long walk off a short pier. They didn't do as much damage as Blanco did - because they didn't have as much power to screw things up as she did. But they did demonstrate their impotence with drama on a daily basis. They were huge embarrassments to the State of Louisiana and continue to be to this very day.
7. Bobby Jindal - the only shining light in Louisiana politics and hopefully we come to our senses and elect him governor this time around. After the storm, Bobby wasn't pointing fingers like Kathy Blanco. Bobby wasn't crying on the national news like Mary Landrieu. Bobby was busy doing his fucking job on capital hill - and getting the votes he needed to put together a huge federal aid package that is rebuilding this region.
8. President Bush - errr, why am I even commenting on him? His role should only have been as a figure-head. The President of the United States is not responsible for fighting hurricanes. That's the job of the State and local governments. The REPUBLICAN led States (i.e. Mississippi and Alabama) understood this and that is why they did so well when compared with the DEMOCRATICALLY led Louisiana. The President is the Chief Executive and the Commander In Chief. Those are his duties - he fulfilled them well.
9. FEMA - it was a big storm - it was a calamity that was predicted - but never understood by humans until it actually happened. FEMA's sins were human sins. The situation they faced was WAY out of the ballpark of the game they thought they were playing. Throw a dysfunctional and unqualified governor (Blanco) into that mix and FEMA had their hands full. Hopefully FEMA learned their lessons about what to do next time.
10. The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT?
Thumbs up from me. It was the Federal Government's relief package that made me and my family whole again after loosing just about everything we had. I'm very appreciative. I recognize that those "Road Home" funds came from the Feds - they didn't come from Kathy Blanco - although she did screw up getting those funds to the people who needed them - and MANY STILL HAVEN'T RECEIVED THE FUNDS - AND THIS IS COMPLETELY BLANCO'S FAULT!!
So to the Federal Government - and to taxpaying Americans throughout the United States - I want to thank you. Thanks to you - this region will survive. Even though Kathy Blanco and her Democrat cronies will do everything they can to ensure it doesn't.
So that sums up my feelings on the second anniversary of the storm. I'm still very angry and bitter at Kathy Blanco and the Democrats. But I'm very appreciative to the Federal Government and American Taxpayers for helping my family through a difficult period in our lives!
Katrina put five and a half feet of water into my home in the New Orleans suburbs. For MONTHS after Katrina - my family and I lived a very bizarre life. You can go back through the archives of this blog for idea of what it was like - I'm not going to recap it here.
I will make some observations about how I feel personally - two years after that storm.
1. The human beings that I was exposed to after that storm - were hard-working heros. The vast majority of my neighbors, moved back into the neighborhood and took it upon themselves to restore their lives - they didn't wait on the government help. Help from the government eventually arrived - and those who had been helping themselves all along ended up even better off after that assistance arrived. The few that didn't attempt to help themselves from the beginning - the few that bitched about the government - are still spinning their wheels.
2. 80 percent of my neighbors are Black - so this survival work ethic I'm talking about above - is not the exclusive property of White folk. There was no looting in my neighborhood. People helped each other. People helped themselves. They refused to fail. They figured that government assistance might never come - so they did it themselves. They rightly calculated that if, somehow, the government rode to their assistance - they'd be better in the end for taking charge of their situations themselves early on. They were right.
3. I'm against illegal immigration - but Mexican's truly are the "New Frontiersmen". They have the spirit that our ancestors who crossed the western plains had - the same spirit that most of us have lost. Mexicans came flooding into the hurricane zone because they saw a financial opportunity through plentiful hard work. They didn't shirk it or try to avoid it - they jumped on it. You cannot hold people like that down. Then again, why would you want to?
4. Ninety percent of the blame for the dysfunctional response in Louisiana can be laid at the feet of Governor Kathleen Blanco - the High School teacher who should have never been elected to any political office higher than that of School Board Superintendent. The woman has always been unqualified for high political office and her indecisive actions during, and after the hurricane pretty much illustrate that. Her finger-pointing at Bush and Ray Nagen are evidence that not only is she unqualified for the post she's filling now - but she also doesn't have the moral courage to accept the blame for her failures.
5. I've softened on Ray Nagen (somewhat). In retrospect - it was a huge storm and Nagen was in the middle of it the entire time. He made decisions - he just made a lot of wrong ones. However, I'm fairly convinced now that his bad decisions weren't politically motivated. Everything the Governor did, and everything she didn't do - were politically motivated. This doesn't earn Nagen a spot as the Most Valuable Player of the affair - but at least he's not the guy that fumbled the ball - that was actually a gal - a gal named Kathleen Blanco.
6. Mary Landrieu and David Vitter (Senators from Louisiana - one a Dem the other a Republican) - they can take a long walk off a short pier. They didn't do as much damage as Blanco did - because they didn't have as much power to screw things up as she did. But they did demonstrate their impotence with drama on a daily basis. They were huge embarrassments to the State of Louisiana and continue to be to this very day.
7. Bobby Jindal - the only shining light in Louisiana politics and hopefully we come to our senses and elect him governor this time around. After the storm, Bobby wasn't pointing fingers like Kathy Blanco. Bobby wasn't crying on the national news like Mary Landrieu. Bobby was busy doing his fucking job on capital hill - and getting the votes he needed to put together a huge federal aid package that is rebuilding this region.
8. President Bush - errr, why am I even commenting on him? His role should only have been as a figure-head. The President of the United States is not responsible for fighting hurricanes. That's the job of the State and local governments. The REPUBLICAN led States (i.e. Mississippi and Alabama) understood this and that is why they did so well when compared with the DEMOCRATICALLY led Louisiana. The President is the Chief Executive and the Commander In Chief. Those are his duties - he fulfilled them well.
9. FEMA - it was a big storm - it was a calamity that was predicted - but never understood by humans until it actually happened. FEMA's sins were human sins. The situation they faced was WAY out of the ballpark of the game they thought they were playing. Throw a dysfunctional and unqualified governor (Blanco) into that mix and FEMA had their hands full. Hopefully FEMA learned their lessons about what to do next time.
10. The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT?
Thumbs up from me. It was the Federal Government's relief package that made me and my family whole again after loosing just about everything we had. I'm very appreciative. I recognize that those "Road Home" funds came from the Feds - they didn't come from Kathy Blanco - although she did screw up getting those funds to the people who needed them - and MANY STILL HAVEN'T RECEIVED THE FUNDS - AND THIS IS COMPLETELY BLANCO'S FAULT!!
So to the Federal Government - and to taxpaying Americans throughout the United States - I want to thank you. Thanks to you - this region will survive. Even though Kathy Blanco and her Democrat cronies will do everything they can to ensure it doesn't.
So that sums up my feelings on the second anniversary of the storm. I'm still very angry and bitter at Kathy Blanco and the Democrats. But I'm very appreciative to the Federal Government and American Taxpayers for helping my family through a difficult period in our lives!
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