Bush returning to New Orleans, Democrats too

Strange that the only place the media and
politicians focus on is New Orleans, which is a bottomless pit. The rest of the Gulf
Coast, also devastated, has more effectively recovered because the citizens and civic leaders were organized and
committed to that recovery and dived in immediately to get the job done. By the way, is Mayor Nagin still holed up in the Holiday Inn?

Is Bush bringing Brownie along so they can talk about what a heckuva job he did?

I think it's great that Republican Prez Nitwit finally figured out where New Orleans is at, at least that's a start.

All the $$$money$$$ that's being wasted on Iraq and New Orleans still looks like a war zone.....pathetic.

"The rest of the Gulf
Coast, also devastated, has more effectively recovered because the citizens and civic leaders were organized and
committed to that recovery and dived in immediately to get the job done."

Wrong Shaka. Sadly and tragically wrong.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/05/25/mississippi/

None of the affected areas are doing as well as they could be otr should be. The failures continue.

Tony, the "salon" is not a good resource. They have no objectivity whatsoever. Pretty lame outfit actually.

I heard Sen. Lott will appear at the Bush event with the president from State Farm in a headlock in one arm and a check for his home in another. Does anyone know if that's true?

John D- Once again you attack the source, not the facts or issues. Pretty lame actually.

"BATMAN BUT NO ROBIN"

WHERE IS THE KATRINA ZCAR WHEN YOU NEED HIM. OH WHERE OH WHERE HAS KARL ROVE GONE.

KARL YOU ARE DOING A HECKUVA JOB BUT CAN YOU LET BROWNIE GO HOME, HE LOOKS A LITTLE TIRED.

NO MEDICARE PHOTO OPS THIS YEAR, NO MEETINGS WITH DICK CHENEY, NOAA REGARDING THE DEVASTATION TO COME.

NO JUST MORE NO BID FEDERAL CONTRACTS. BUSH WILL PLEDGE HIS CONFIDENCE AGAIN AND AGAIN.

SAME PLACE SAME TIME, BATMAN AND NO ROBIN. SAME PLACE SAME TIME, HURRICANE SEASON. STILL NO SIGNS OF TRUE RECOVERY. "PHONY ACHEIVEMENTS"

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE TIRED OF PLACING BLAME, WE NOW JUST FEEL GUILTY.

CENSORSHIP OR IMPEACHMENT
OR BOTH IS THE COST OF THIS TYPE OF FAILURE AT THIS LEVEL AND MAGNITUDE. TWO YEARS LATER, AND INSTEAD OF BS LIGHTING, ITS NOW JUST BS.

THATS ALL WE GOT FOLKS, VOTE REPUBLICAN AS THEY ARE THE ONLY ONES THAT CAN KEEP YOU SAFE!

Roger Morris should feel guilty even if he can't run his computer because of super sized caps.
Rogers idea of impeachment is not in the constitution thats a big book that takes time to read and understand obviously, Roger is not cool with that.
Roger for you to blame all the world's problems and yours on W is a stretch.
When you keep saying long live Nancy Pelosi does that mean she is going to give you and your loony left people perks--just because your loony left doesn't that bother you. I'm sure not you want the gravy train. That is socialism. America was founded by our founders who could only have imagined what good things we could achieve if only we stopped regulating your life and just let you and your business and corporations to reach our great potential without taxation and regulation. Roger you could achieve your dreams if you would stop whining like all liberals do and just be productive. Somehow, I have a feeling you think you are a victim that is in the DNC playbook. Stop reading it--breathe a sigh of relief and you will live your American dream--these liberal Dems want to steal your dreams that is a crime punish them at the the polls in 08. Jerry White, Springfield, IL

Shaka posts:
'Coast, also devastated, has more effectively recovered because the citizens and civic leaders were organized and committed to that recovery and dived in immediately to get the job done. By the way, is Mayor Nagin still holed up in the Holiday Inn?'

No, that ain't the reason New Orleans lags. Our total devastation was universal less 20%. That is the reason. Everything - everyone's home, business, place of employment, school, church, groceries, gas stations, drug stores, hardware stores -even bars- were totally ruined and unoccupied for miles and miles and miles - an area about 140 square miles or about 26,000 city blocks with twenty properties per block in just Orleans Parish - wiped out. It took quite a while to get back just a few drug stores, groceries, gas stations, etc. Everything soaked in salt water for weeks. Over 100,000 New Orleans families are still in some kind of temporary living situation trying to find a way to return home. Most everyone's immediate and extended family are still displaced all over the place making it extra hard for family to help family.

My family has been very lucky. Our home was in the heart of Lakeview and we should be moving back into our rebuilt home within a few weeks. We rebuilt with our living space above the Katrina flood line. The neighborhood still lacks a public school and grocery store, but otherwise is being rebuilt and repopulated. I think at least 10% of us have completed our rebuilding and another 25% have permits and are in process and many more still need their Road Home Program check before they can start. It seems about 30 or 40 percent of destroyed homes have been demolished in preparation to be rebuilt - in my neighborhood anyway.

The hundreds of thousands of New Orleanians that lost everything to the floods that resulted from structural failure of the Corp's levees are not being compensated for all of their losses. There is a 'Road Home Program' that offers a grant to most damaged homeowners to try to cover some of their gap between their cost to rebuild and insurance payments. But, since the program is severely underfunded, in an effort to stretch the money, the program's policies aggressively error on the side of program administration rather than the homeowners and grants are often low-ball settlements of an amount that would be fair.

Although our family is soon going home despite the 'Road Home Program", I really worry about my neighbors still waiting to find out what they can use for their rebuilding budget. Some are still living in FEMA trailers on their front lawn and worried the road home program will run out of money before they get their grant - which it is expected to do before the last 50,000 close on their grant in about October or November if the program keeps up its current pace. Some are losing hope.

-Ray

Some are still living in FEMA trailers on their front lawn and worried the road home program will run out of money before they get their grant - which it is expected to do before the last 50,000 close on their grant in about October or November if the program keeps up its current pace. Some are losing hope.

-Ray

Posted by: Ray Broussard | August 24, 2007 9:06 PM

Hang in there, Ray.

People all over the country are fed up with the corrupt Republican party, come 08 the Republic party will lose more of Congress and the White House and then the rest of the country will be able to move forward.

When your live in a city (New Orleans) six feet below sea level and your warned 4 days in advance that a cat 4 is coming....
LEAVE!
BUT,Ray(Mayor)Nagin(D) and (Governor) Blanco(D)did nothing,but point the finger at President Bush.
And 'The Swamp' helped beat the drum against Our President.
Hey,if it happened during B.J.Clinton's term...
You'd Hear Nothing!

Paulo

I don't believe everywhere else has recovered. Listen to this NPR story about how these people who are stuck in FEMA trailers...they may never recover.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12592168

Ray= All the best to you and your neighbors.

If I were a candidate, I'd be headed up north with Al Gore at my side.

Paulo wrote: 'When your live in a city (New Orleans) six feet below sea level and your warned 4 days in advance that a cat 4 is coming....
LEAVE!'

First: Please acknowledge that about 90% of us did evacuate before the storm.

Second: There was no report that Katrina might hit New Orleans before Friday evening. It didn't look like a sure thing until Saturday morning.

Third: Forget government's failure to help levee failure victims two years ago - that is not our current problem. The same victims, including most of the 90% that evacuated, are still suffering government's continuing efforts to block recovery in South Louisiana and particularly in New Orleans.

Fourth: Most of us levee failure victims are outraged that our suffering has been manipulated into a partisan issue by morons of every political affiliation. The solutions to our problems are simply a matter of differentiating between right and wrong and taking appropriate action.

Meanwhile, our homeowners are desperate for much deserved help and the program that is supposed to help our homeowners will run out of money after about 60% are served. We don't need to talk about blame for how that happened. Every party involved would share that blame. We do need to keep these victimized families, caught in the middle, from losing hope. They deserve financial help to rebuild their homes. Furthermore, they (me too) should get money to elevate their homes above the Katrina Flood Line. Congress should finish funding the Road Home Program.

IMO, the organization whose engineering mistakes caused our losses, our federal government, should compensate flood victims for all of their losses - including contents. That is normally what happens in our justice system - the party responsible for causing a victim's damage is responsible for making the victim whole. I reckon that our fate is going to be an exception to normalacy as far as justice goes.

Ray Broussard
New Orleanian

"IMO, the organization whose engineering mistakes caused our losses, our federal government, should compensate flood victims for all of their losses - including contents. That is normally what happens in our justice system - the party responsible for causing a victim's damage is responsible for making the victim whole. I reckon that our fate is going to be an exception to normalacy as far as justice goes."
Ray Broussard

I have been saying this since Day 1. The disaster that destroyed New Orleans was MAN-MADE, and caused by a generation of mismanagement by the constistently appalling Army Corps of Engineers. If the Corps hadn't built those levees, people would not have even been living in the very low lying areas, thinking they were protected by Dutch-style water management (read: effective). The Corps was profoundly negligent even though all the risks were known.

Enough sticking it to New Orleans. Enough politics. The best solution is to "buy-out" the residents in exchange for moving them to higher ground in other areas. But the Feds will never accept the responsibility and accountability implied in such a move.

For shame.

P.S. I will be building the first truly hurricane-proof, floodproof housing in Lakeview in the coming weeks. Factory tested to winds of 180+ mph and able to rise above Katrina-type levee failure. This will be delivered at current market price, but with wider use this is a design that can make any flood-prone area essentially impervious to flood and for little more than the cost of traditional construction.

Come check it out.

Paulo,

Where is your typical pithy and thoughtful response to Mr. Broussard?

i hate that bush did not help us the way we needed help i live on tupelo street and i lost every thing but dont mind me because u not gonna help me so dont worry there is going to be the big pay back for us be cause i am sure our next president will help us better than u did ya dig for get you bush u herd because of u not helping us have a better home before katrina happen the lev would not have broke because u want to fix up places 20times as better than' L' so when u read this feel real sorry because i know you dont but u should now keep hope alive bush

i hate that bush did not help us the way we needed help i live on tupelo street and i lost every thing but dont mind me because u not gonna help me so dont worry there is going to be the big pay back for us be cause i am sure our next president will help us better than u did ya dig for get you bush u herd because of u not helping us have a better home before katrina happen the lev would not have broke because u want to fix up places 20times as better than' L' so when u read this feel real sorry because i know you dont but u should now keep hope alive bush