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"Screw em" is what George Bush should have said in his Jackson Square charade. Instead, he lied to the nation as well as those homeowners and business owners in Louisiana whose lives have been put on hold now for almost five months.

Katrina was a catastrophe. Rita was a catastrophe. Blanco was a catastrophe, an on-going one at that. Nagin was a catastrophe, about as bad as you can get. FEMA is a catastrophe. The overall federal response is a catastrophe. There is no excuse for the amount of time being taken to settle certain basic points having to do with what to do from here. Category five protection or not? What to do about houising? Imagine putting YOUR life on hold for five months with no home, no possessions, no job, and nothing but the runaround from one agency to another, your insurance company putting the screws to you and the Bush administration sitting on it's ass. Add to this mixture all of the ill-informed jerks of the world (like you, for instance)passing judgement on their fellow American citizens as though they are nothing more than fecies.

The citizens of Louisiana don't deserve what this nation is doing to them. I hope we tell the feds to go screw themselves and resort to a "self-help" approach. This country wouldn't like the gas processing taxes we implement, or the land-use fees we charge the oil and gas companies to run their pipelines through our wetlands, nor the taxes we place on every item shipped into and out of the port of New Orleans but you know what? Screw em.

"Add to this mixture all of the ill-informed jerks of the world (like you, for instance)passing judgement on their fellow American citizens as though they are nothing more than fecies."

I'm informed enough to know that Louisiana has wallowed in the filth of corrupt, incompetent and greedy politicians for as long as I've been able to read....If Louisiana was satisfied with the status quo -- then shame on them... Actions have consequences, and electing crooked ignorant assholes is not smart.

I'm informed enough to know that Louisianans are as much to blame for their current problems as the storms that dealt heavier blows to other states - that are BUILDING not BITCHING.

I'm informed enough to know that too damned many Louisiana "citizens" have spent too many generations on the taxpayer's backs - and to this day too damned many are still living in hotels - jobless but living better than at any time in their life.... How can ANYONE be jobless in New Orleans - and WHY must illegal immigrants be brought in to work on the clean up?

I'm informed enough to have reached the point that I'm sick and tired of giving, enduring insults, being blamed for everyones failures, problems and hardship....and still expected to give more to people that despise me and wouldn't cross the street to help me.

I'm certain there are good folks in Louisiana deserving of help - but frankly, I feel my charitable giving will be better and more honestly effective in Alabama or Mississippi. Perhaps Louisiana need to clean up it's politics and get rid of their incompetent, ignorant and corrupt politicians to earn some respect.

Life hasn't been a bowl of cherries for me, either.. But not ONCE did I expect the Fed's or taxpayers to come restore my life..... NOT ONCE..

I'm also informed enough to know how to spell judgment and feces, correctly..

Semper Fi

"The citizens of Louisiana don't deserve what this nation is doing to them. I hope we tell the feds to go screw themselves and resort to a "self-help" approach. This country wouldn't like the gas processing taxes we implement, or the land-use fees we charge the oil and gas companies to run their pipelines through our wetlands, nor the taxes we place on every item shipped into and out of the port of New Orleans but you know what? Screw em.

Sadly, of late, yours is a sentiment shared by many here still struggling to hold on. Venting helps us deal with the frustration. That said, I hope that no one, including those who so easily and consistently find fault in everything to do with New Orleans, ever, ever experiences even a small amount of some heartbreaks that we have endured.

" Imagine putting YOUR life on hold for five months with no home, no possessions, no job, and nothing but the runaround from one agency to another, your insurance company putting the screws to you and the Bush administration sitting on it's ass."

We had a hurricane or two and we are not waiting for a federal bailout. You need to quit whining. Building below flood is stupid. Move to high ground or take your chances.

I understand the frustration in Louisiana.

However, what has turned people off afterwards has been the attitude of your elected officials towards the US taxpayer.

People are more than willing to help. But when you have Louisiana asking for $250 billion dollars, when you have Louisiana's history of political corruption, when it becomes clear that levees were not properly constructed and that is why they failed under Cat 2 conditions, when Louisiana failed to plan adequately to evacuate and then failed to follow even its inadequate plan, and then the pols have spent the time since Katrina blaming the feds while taking junkets to the Netherlands - they are simply alienating the taxpayers in other states.

And any rebuilding needs to make sense, both in Louisiana and Mississippi. If American taxpayers are going to pay over a 100 billion to help rebuild, it does not make sense to simply set up the bowling pins again in the same place. Any reconstruction paid for by taxpayers needs to include risk remediation, as the poster who suffered from Charley has done. When Louisiana pols want hundreds of billions to repeat their mistakes, it's the people of Louisiana who suffer. And it's up to the people of Louisiana to drive the bums out of office and replace them with competent leadership.