Just over two weeks ago the neighborhood looked like this: http://www.pbase.com/johncrossphotography/image/103288391 . A day or so ago they finished picking up all the debris from Hurricane Ike and this is what it looks like now. All you hear on the news is people bitching and moaning about the poor response, the crappy services and other baloney because that is the kind of crap that media thrive on. There is always some poor sot who doesn't have this or that. They are easy to find because there are over 4 million people in this area and some poor SOB feels screwed. You have to remember that 95% (!!!) of the customers lost power here. That is a hell of a lot of repair work. They are still at it. They are still fixing traffic lights. They are still removing debris. They are doing all this in an orderly manner rather than going willy nilly after the individual squeaking wheels. I think all the agencies involved, and certainly private groups like University Baptist Church and many others should be congratulated. Everybody did a good job and they should be proud of it. Here, after utter devastation on Galveston and the Bolivar Peninsula, you don't hear about it much any more. That is because people here are committed to recovering on their own initiative with the help of others.

I am sick of hearing about New Orleans still. Ray Nagin was a disgrace and they re-elected him. That should tell you something. All the bleeding heart liberals are trying to throw money at NO and put the blame on Bush and FEMA, but there was ample blame to place on Ray Nagin and Governor Blanco. The state of Louisiana didn't even go through the formality of requesting assistance (an important consitiutional thing because of protection of states' rights) until it was too late.

Of course, I am sometimes a little opinionated, but I am always right. As a matter of fact some will say the extreme right.