Free Republic

BILOXI, Miss. After Hurricane Katrina roared in, Gov. Haley Barbour quickly convened a special legislative session and, just 10 days after the storm, appointed a commission to study rebuilding Mississippi's coastline. The former Republican National Committee chairman and influential Washington lobbyist also traveled to the nation's capital several times to extract promises of federal aid from friends in the Bush administration. Because of the Barbour's take-charge approach to the disaster, even some of Mississippi's staunchest Democrats are saying he may be tough to beat if he seeks a second term in 2007. In Louisiana, it is a different story: Some...

As one who suffered through the devastation of Hurricane Charley, I know that, as bad as our situation was, the people on the Gulf Coast have suffered much more due to the flooding that followed Katrina. Every effort ought to be made to alieve their suffering and stabilize their situation as quickly as possible. The American Red Cross and the National Guard saved us in Florida by bringing us ice, bottled water and hot meals every day. Even so, it is over a year later, and very little rebuilding has been done in the areas of Florida that were hardest...