Trust in Our Government ?!! whatttttttt????

Ok folks here it goes. The truth really does hurt.
I'm sure that you all have heard the news in the Washington Post and in Wall Street. ( good paper by the way...I love Wall Street ).
Federal agencies used only a small fraction of the more then $800 million in hurricane Katrina assistance offered by foreign governments.
The rejected offers included: MEDICAL TEAMS, SEARCH & RESCUE UNITS, BODY BAGS, BOTTLED WATER, FOOD, FUEL, and even specially trained rescue dogs from Poland.
Also turned down or stalled by bureaucratic delays were offers of two cruise ships by the Greek government for use as medical facilities and to house workers and displaced residents.
Hummmmmmmmmmm.....
The state department instead signed a contract with Carnival Cruise lines to provide two large ships at the cost of about $249 million. Yaaaaaaaaaa great going...spend, spend, spend those taxes wisely why don't cha.
The reason ? The United States didn't have a system to process so many simultaneous offers of assistance. Uhmmmmmm...hummmmmmmmm...ok and..........it's been two years and still the united states government doesn't have a mechanism in place to deal with offers of foreign assistance. WHAT?!!! Say that again? and if this happens again else were...uhmmmmmmmm...were screwed.
The united states turned down 54 of the 77 offers from three of it's biggest allies: Canada, England and Israel.
Ok...so maybe we just didn't need the help right?
In all fairness of this situation....let's hear what Condoleezza Rice had to say regarding the situation... You ready? ok...she said " The United States "Frankly is not accustomed to receiving large scale foreign assistance offers" hummmmmmmm...good thing she didn't live here ha?
Rice also said' much of the problem according to documents, rested with the Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA for those who need to know ) which was already overwhelmed trying to coordinate the U.S. response to Katrina and couldn't decide which offers of foreign aid to accept and reject".
With so much aid being rejected, some of the materials that did get through weren't properly handled.
Like uhmmmmmmm....medical supplies, including gauze from Italy that was left unusable after being "exposed to the elements"
Hummmmmmmmmm....
In all, the U.S. government says it has committed about $125 billion to emergency response and recovery efforts for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Hummmmmmmmmmm.....
Huston...I think we have a problem here.
Now if any of you folks claim to know better, or differently please write our local paper and say so...this information was taken from The Times Picayune.
Now as I said earlier, I lived in the 9th ward.
I do not and did not own a car. What did I lose? my pets didn't make it out...some of my neighbors didn't make it out...all of my personal property.
What did I get? Well let's see...I finally got FEMA assistance in mid September of 05'.
The initial $2000.
Then I got six months of rental assistance ( from the red cross & city of Chgo..not fema).
And a whoppin' $2500 for property loss that didn't cover what I lost, but I took it and was thankful.

In Aug of 2006' FEMA wanted all of that money back from me.

Why? They claim they gave me and my room-mate money for personal property.
Uhm...like ok..They only gave Terry the $2000.00 emergency money they gave everyone.
They didn't cover her property loss...They never gave her anything from that point on, and she never asked...she instead worked her ass off in Chicago.
Just to get us back home.

Me? I'm on disability. I have CRPS/ RSDS.
Anyone out there familuare with this knows it is no joke and quite painful.

I recieved no medical help after the storm.
No one would touch me without insurance unless I paid up front.
Despite the fact that I did have insurance. That sucks man.

So there I was.
In the same damn boat as everyone else,
just trying to pull my head out of my butt and see the light.

Well I did....
I sent in a letter of appeal to FEMA, in regards to paying back the money they claim I owe them...hummmmmmmm never heard back.
I guess no news is good news ha.

Am I angry?
yes I am, but not for what happen to me.
I am angry for what has happen to all of those good people out there who got no help.
For all of those folks that are living in poverty on the streets of New Orleans right now.
For the fact that our Mayor didn't get involved and yell louder when he should have.
For our lovely governor Blanco and senator Landrieu who also are responsible for dropping the ball.
For all the stupid costly mistakes our government made, and what it is costing us as a community...
as a country.
Is it worth it to you? to us?
So ask yourself...

How many disasters have happen.
How fast did the people get help?
Were the disasters with in the United States or outside of our back yard?
Do you feel the people were helped promptly, with food.
Water.
Medical supplies.
Shelter.

If so, I'm happy for you.
If not.
Well then I associate with you.
FEMA made "food drops" of diapers & baby formula to areas it was not needed.
Some spots only got mustard or katchup condiments man.
When our Mayor, Senators and Governor begged for help from the surrounding communities.

It was FEMA who turned them around.
While thousands of people hung in the balance between life or death.

Too many died in vain.
Friends, neighbors, brothers, sisters, cousins...babies...animals...the elderly...
all the helpless who had no way out.
Who worked their fingers to the bone just to have a life.
Who worked two and three jobs just to pay their house note.
...am I angry?...

So all that time...we watch as Bush tells "Brownie" what a good job he is doing.
...are we angry?

Since then let's see....in 2006 FEMA waisted over 2500 REM's , by letting them spoil.
Did the same in 2007.
Not to mention the waste of money for Ice in 06' & 07" .
The mess with the trailers...guee...wonder how much that also cost us.

Now don't you think they would rotate that surplus .
If it is getting close to the exparation date..uhmm...
maybe donate it to the food shelters and help feed the needy?
Nope now that is just thinking way too much and also expecting too much of our government.

Ok now......... I guess I have given you too much to think about for now.
On a lighter note...hey.........

Mayor Nagin waited until today to write a letter to our President " Georgie Boy" Bush.
Asking him not to veto that bill because it would devistate our rebuilding process and really hold us back in our recovery...
ok........uhmmmmmm...hell could he have waited any longer?
you know like another day maybe?

Now for the biggie.........
We now have trash pick-up on a regular basis ( thanks to SDT) in the entire Orleans Parish..and ST. Bernard Parish has also been added to the list of pick-up. Yaaaaaaaaaaay....yawl will be getting your twice a week pick up on the regular days you are use to...hey man...your also getting free garbage truck friendly cans.

Now don't get too excited. The rest of yawl will have to pay for your services and for the garbage cans...heehe
I bet you thought they were going to use vasaline and at least give you a kiss now didn't you?

Now aint' that ginchy?

Way cool............yep......we're making progress here man...were doing it to it that's for sure.
Oh and FYI...I will be adding on more info regarding a food pantry in the lower 9th ward.
I want to get all the details first before I put anything online o-tay?
Until next time...
Power to the People man.............!!!!
MAKE THE DAMN GOVERNMENT PAY INTO THE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM PEOPLE.
START YELLING NOW...DON'T LET THEM HAVE A FREE RIDE TAX FREE ON YOU.