Burnt Orange Report

I think its commendable that people are taking a a personal interest in the evacuees. Troy should have made it clear that someone from BOR took him to the picnic. People make assumptions and draw conclusions. And blogs are full of "anonymous" bloggers who are really working for campaigns. That said, there is still a big difference between taking an interest in their situations and turning their situations into political platforms. I believe most are merely turning their situations into political platforms.

My real point is that there are tens of thousands of Texans out of work and some of them are homeless as well. Some are former professionals. Not just blue-collar workers who were laid off. People who lost careers. Not just jobs. They are victims of circumstance just as much as the people driven out of their homes and in some cases, albeit temporarily, their lives by Hurricane Katrina. What have any of the politicians, not just Barbara Radnofsky, offered for Texans in their situation? Nothing.

My other point is that New Orleans is not dead despite everyone attempting to kill it off. The city's "movers and shakers" are working on their own to bypass the government for a change and make sure what needs to get done gets done. They want the lights on, the water on, and the slow process of "reviving" the parts of the city that were flooded begun as quickly as possible. They want Mardi Gras in 2006. Not 2007. Many of the people employed in New Orleans may not be able to go back for months. But the point is most plan to. This is not the first hurricane to do major damage to New Orleans and not the first time there has been major flooding in New Orleans. The real damage this time seems to have been done by the politicians in Lousiana, in Washington, and sadly in Texas as well. The politicians could have prevented this, and probably other "natural disasters" just waiting to happen in this country, had they paid attention to what was happening to our infrastructure instead of the "bridges to nowhere" in their home districts that serve no one but their campaign contributors. The best example of that is Halliburton already moving into New Orleans with a blank check. The way it did in Iraq.

I will stand by my comments. And you can delete them if you wish. Again, gumbo in New Orleans is a cultural treat. Gumbo anywhere else is just gumbo.

Here's another problem with the generosity of our politicians and with those displaced whom we are now taking in. What about those whom they may in turn displace? It illustrates my point and brings up the question of what we are doing for our own. Does charity begin at home? Or end there?

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3349333

"Tom Parker, 46, has been staying in the rented portion since June after completing the recovery program and getting a job. Parker, a former Enron employee caught in the company's demise, worked for more than 17 years as a consultant for oil giants including Amoco and El Paso Corp. He is trying to get on his feet."

""I start a new professional job in two weeks. I have to wear a suit and tie, be clean and look neat," Parker said. "Moving in the dormitory section with 200 homeless transients sharing the toilets and showers is not a viable alternative.""

"Schisler, Parker and other affected tenants think Salvation Army officials are moving them out of their beds because the VA pays considerably more for veterans than regular shelter tenants pay."

Do we need more corporate tax break zones which have a mostly poor record?

Are there better solutions?