Re: PING: RicSeyler Re: [SPAM] Please help [OT]

"CMP"

|
| > >One of the most frustrating things about Katrina, as far as New
Orleans
| > >goes, is that it was largely a man made disaster; the levee failures
| > >combined with the distructive negligence of the wetlands creatd the
worst of
| > >it. The citizens learned the hard way that the agencies entrusted
with
their
| > >protection were not trustworthy. They were negligent and incompetent
(I
| > >think, to a criminal degree), and it seems next to impossible to
demand
| > >accountability on any front. Ofcourse, as citizens, we are guilty of
| > >complacency. I'm guessing that this can be said about most of the US.
|
| Do things seem to changing where you are? Are they taking *honest*
| steps to make sure this doesn't happen again to you all?
|
| > >
| > >I hope people around the country who live near lakes, rivers, dams,
etc.
| > >have been ****ged out of complacency and don't *assume* that their
local
and
| > >federal agencies are protecting them. I fear not though, since most
media
| > >continue to characterize it as a natural disaster and concentrate on
the
| > >*drama* of the storm and the rescues and such.
|
| Not much of the REAL news is trickling down - mainly exactly what you
| said - the drama. Are you all actually rebuilding? The news says you
| are, but I'd rather hear the truth from someone who lives there - and
| doesn't have a cor****ate bottom line to protect.
|
| What do you think of Nagin? He seems to have placed all the guilt
| squarely on FEMA's shoulders . . .

Hard to get supplies, equipment and qualified help.  We had two funerals
and
had to pay a $1900.00 'fee' to have each of the graves opened in less than
6
months.  Normal cost is ~ $300.00

We have a large extended family that about covers all necessary skill sets
and we have the equipment as well.  We have to truck building supplies
from
over a 1000 miles when we can get them without paying exorbitant prices.
Most of the family work time is spent on family/friend related projects so
profit is not an issue or an option.

I've live though any number of serious hurricanes and FEMA is in my
opinion
a criminal activity.  Red Cross is not much better.  the only formal
origination I have anything positive to say is the Salvation Army.  There
were a lot of private groups that did yeoman's work.  Still there was the
occasional dumb a** like the group that would not pass out fresh water
because it was supplied in beer bottles (from a brewer from somewhere up
north) and had the firms label on the bottle saying pure water donated by
such and such beer company.