As Promised, A Quite-Long Rant About the Government. I Do Go On and On Once I Get Started But You Know Me, I Have Alot To Say.

(Toward the end of my long yet very interesting and thought-provoking rant are some pics)

Anyone who has been reading me for even a minute or two knows that I am not a fan of George Bush. There are alot of reasons for my feelings, none of which I am going to go into now. But what I am going to talk about today, kids, is how our President has screwed up royally. No, silly, not Iraq. Not the Alberto Gonzales thing, or the Harriet Myers thing, or Abu Graib or Gitmo, or...well you get the idea. No, today we are going to learn about hurricanes in New Orleans and their impact, and I am not talking about the ones you drink at Pat O'Brien's with the after-effect being a hangover.

Hurricane Katrina occured in August of 2005. That, for those of you without a calendar handy, was 19 months ago. It was a terrible storm. We all watched in horror as the people of New Orleans struggled for their lives and the lives of their children, their sick, their elderly. While watching all this on tv, I remember thinking that this could not be happening in America. We could not possibly be leaving our own people there to die, to stand on rooftops and beg for help, to stand on overpasses and plead for assistance. Didn't we all come together when the tsunami struck? Didn't we have Americans there, halfway around the world, within hours to help out? Didn't our government pledge (whether we delivered or not is another story) millions if not billions in aid?

So let's skip ahead a bit, so that you know this isn't all just my opinion on our poor excuse for a President. Skip past the part where we learned that FEMA couldn't find the convention center where all those people were stranded, even though it takes up about 5 city blocks and every news organization had been there for days. Skip past the part where we learned that the FEMA director's experience was in organizing horse shows, not managing emergencies. Skip past the part where our President claims he didn't know that there were people living in the Superdome without food or water. Skip past the part where we heard our elected officials questioning whether it was even worth saving a jewel such as New Orleans. Ok, you know I can't exactly skip all of it.

But now let's skip to the part where I travel to New Orleans, nineteen months after the hurricane hit. Nineteen months. The French Quarter, which wasn't hit badly compared to the rest of the city, is looking really spiffy. Sure, that's where the tourists go, that's how they can get those tourist dollars (like mine) pouring back in. But let's travel outward, shall we? Let's see how much progress our government has helped to make in nineteen months.

One parish (which is the equivalent of a county) has lost 77% of its population since Katrina. Can you imagine losing over three-quarters of the people in your county? And its not that the people don't want to come back. Here's the thing: they can't come back. They have nowhere to live. Yep, they can get a FEMA trailer and park it in front of their homes (or what now somewhat resembles what used to be their homes) and live there. Except for this - there isn't even electricity yet in some areas. In many neighborhoods, there are no supermarkets, no convenience stores, no gas stations, NOTHING. Every single store or shop or strip mall is completely deserted. Meaning, yes, you can go and live in your driveway in a trailer with no lights, and not have any food, not have running water, and not be able to gas up your car, but you won't have a single neighbor within miles of you because you would be the only fool to do it.

This is typical of what the houses still look like. Nineteen months later.

In addition to that, the red tape is just insane. You have to "qualify" for one of these treasured FEMA trailers, and not everyone who needs one qualifies. Insurance companies are not always paying out - was it flood damage? wind damage? an act of God? Let's nitpick so we can pay out as little as possible. You can't rebuild without getting your insurance money, unless you have a few hundred grand just laying around. A perfect example of ridiculous red tape causing people not to be able to move back: the government is requiring that all houses that are rebuilt (meaning, knocked down and started from scratch) must be a certain height off the ground to protect from future flooding. That makes sense, right? Yeah it does. Except that the insurance companies will not insure your house if its like that because its unsafe in non-flood situations. So even if you want to rebuild, how can you?

Most of the homes still have the markings on them from the searches they did after Katrina hit to see if there were any bodies, living or dead. Many of the homes have grafitti all over them - not from hooligans making trouble, but from residents trying to communicate with each other since they had no phones.

The graffiti on this house says "Lisa and Donnie are ok" - this was the only way to communicate.

Nineteen months later there are still holes in the roofs where the people had to climb to the attic and hack their way out with an ax in order to survive.

This neatly-cut hole in the roof (upper left) shows that these people were rescused from their attic.


This ragged hole shows that these people had to ax their way out of their attic themselves.


So here is my issue. These people are Americans. New Orleans is part of the fabric of this nation and so are the people, rich or poor, black or white. And we have left them to hang. Should the Mayor have done more? Yes. Should the Governor have done more? Hell yes. But where, my friends, does the buck stop? If the leader of out nation sees this absolute disaster happening in his country, to his people, isn't it his obligation to say - "I see that the governor has said she does not need additional assistance, but she is wrong. I am the President and my people need help." Is that too much to ask from our leader? I mean, it goes way deeper than that; it goes to him appointing his buddies to important positions rather than quaified people. It goes to him being seemingly unable to react in a crisis (9/11 anyone? The country is under attack and he thinks it is still suitable to read to a bunch of kids. 'Nuff said.).

Yes it goes deeper, but at the core to me is that as President, this nation is his responsibility. He overrides everything else. He makes decisions every day that take away our fundamental rights in the name of catching terrorists, but he can't make decisions to send money to save a city in his own country?

And now, nineteen months later, he has had the time to think about it. Time to come up with plans to fix the levees, to get money to those in need, to help the poor and middle class and even the rich come back to their homes, to prepare for the next disaster. Somehow, I am fairly sure that if this were to happen tomorrow in another US city, we would not be any more prepared nor would we get any more guidance from our leader.

I don't only blame Bush; please don't misunderstand me. I am fully aware that there's lots of blame to go around. But again, where does the buck stop? He is ultimately responsible, and he screwed up when the hurricane happened and is continuing to screw up now by letting a beautiful, important city rot away with neglect.

2008 can not get here soon enough.

More About My Trip, Part One

The main reason that New Orleans rules are signs like this. Cheap beer and you can drink it on the go:

We had a great time down in the Big Easy, eating at our favorite restaurants (Crescent City Brewery, Coop's, Maspero's, Bubba Gump's) and drinking at our favorite bars (Lafitte's and Tropical Isle). We did lots of shopping and spent lots of money (that was our contribution to post-Katrina N'Awlins - you were not going to see my ass out there cleaning up or building houses, but I can pump money into the economy like nobody's business!). We really spent most of our time walking around, enjoying the atmosphere down there (so relaxed and casual, jazz music everywhere you turn, good smells on Decatur Street from good restaurants - bad smells that still smell good on Bourbon Street).


Me and Patsy on Bourbon Street, standing with another sign that you only see in New Orleans.

My favorite part, other than the obvious (which would be Voodoo Daquiris, with My Chemical Romance playing on the jukebox) was eating at Nola, Emeril's "casual funky" restaurant. It was not casual in terms of price, that's for sure (my meal itself was $27 - whereas I am used to paying $8.99. Yep, I am a classy broad.). But it was so fantastic - the meal was so scrumpdilliumptious (you heard me) that it melted in your mouth and the service was amazing. Amazing meaning that I asked the waiter where the ladies room was and he took my arm and walked me there. It was worth every penny, and me and Hub decided that we need to start dining in better establishments more often. Of course the next day we went to the place we call "The Drag Queen Diner" - I think the real name is the Cloverleaf Diner. Its in the gay section and is fabulous, in every way. The waiters are flamboyant (example: Mommie Dearest was on the tv) and the food is greasy but delish. Their sign advertising the food says, Check Out Our Weenies! It does not get better than that.


Here's me and Patsy under the sign that bears our name.

Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention I picked up some broad from Nebraska. She was visiting with her mom and was out drinking alone, so I let her join us for a few hours and I do think she had the time of her life. She even got me out on the dance floor which just does not happen. Hallelujah there are no pictures of that. Well, none that I will admit to.

And finally here's me and Hub in the Best Bar Ever, Lafitte's, with the best drink ever, the Voodoo Daquiri (for those of you who have asked - its made with ice, grape juice, bourbon, and everclear. Yep, everclear.)

So again, I will say that if you have not been to this fabulous city, you should go. There really is more to do there than drink and its a beautiful part of America that is truly like nowhere else you have ever been. If you are looking for a great place to travel, consider it. You'll have a helluva time and the locals will appreciate your support.

Coming next time: The Wrath of Katrina: Why George Bush Sucks So Hard and Has Deserted An Entire Region for the Past 18 Months, as observed in a semi-non-partison manner by your pal True. There are pictures you just have to see to believe.

Here's What I Don't Get

There are a lot of things I don't understand about Republicans. I won't even get started on that because listing all the things I don't get could take a long time. But I do want to mention the one thing that's making me insane (other than the big who-ha about gay marriage - who cares?).

Its the war. Now let me step back a few years. I have never supported George W, but when he told me that Iraq had WMD's, and it was just after 9/11, and I had watched the smoke billow out of the World Trade Center from my office - well, I believed him. I had to - I mean, he knows more than me, right? (And, the supposed left-wing media did absolutely nothing to investigate this or question the administration at all, so regular Americans had nothing to go on but the word of our President). So when he told me that we were in danger I was in favor of the war. Nothing scares me more than terrorism, being that I live less than 10 miles from NYC.

Well. Here we are, all these years later. Iraq was not a threat to us then, although it is now. It seemed that we all "got it" when we voted in November. It seemed that we all said, get these morons who obviously have no clue outta there before they do even more damage. So, what does our all-knowing President do? He decides to send in MORE troops. More, yes, but according to everything I have read, still not enough to get the job done. The whole war has been half-assed to this point, so now he's going to send more kids to die but not enough to win.

I want nothing more than for us to succeed in Iraq. I love my country and I don't want us to fail or be viewed as weak. And before you say it, please understand that I support the troops with all my heart (my cousin is a Marine who served in Iraq and I am prouder than I can say). But I don't get how the President can be so blatently told by Americans that we are sick of this war and of his bumbling of it, only to have him say not only are we not leaving but we are going in further.

I don't know what the answer is so don't ask me. I don't know if we should pull out all the troops now or do it gradually or reinstate the draft and get the real number of troops we need over there to win. I don't know. What I do know is that George W. doesn't know either, and that is scary.