This says a lot. It took me several hours to fill out this form. And this is what I got. I live in St. Tammany Parish but apparently the tree in my house isn't a big deal. Most people in our parish have zero power and yet it isn't a disaster. We were told it was a MANDATORY evacuation, but we don't qualify for disaster assistance.

I forgot how much I hated FEMA. If you call them, you go through several minutes of touch tone service and then it tells you they are busy and "you will now be disconnected". During the automated info, they tell you more than 10 times about the fema.gov website. If you try to use the website you get this messae. However, just to mess with you more than normal, they let you get through the website at various pages THEN it throws that message in at you again.

So a blogger that I read DadGoneMad twittered about a documentary and the government failure of Katrina I think. He said "Just saw an extraordinary documentary called Trouble The Water. Have never been so embarrassed by the way the US govt treats its poor."

I disagree with laying the blame solely on the Govt. I mean, where is the personal responsibility of the people? Why can at least some of the blame lay on the people who should help themselves? What about this mentality that we always need to rely on the government to help us and bail us out? My family does not have thousands of dollars to spend on a trip that I didn't want to take. That's just the hotel. What about the food for a family of four? It all adds up but you know what? We find a way to keep our family safe.

Another thing that irritates me is that people who are not from Louisiana always lay the blame for Katrina solely at the feet of Pres. Bush. I don't think he is the greatest president ever but the blame without a doubt lays squarely in the lap of (thankfully) former Governor Blanco and the Mayor of New Orleans. The Feds needed a formal request from the Gov to come in to New Orleans and take over the rescue. She didn't want to give up control to the feds because of party politics and thousands of people lost their lives and millions suffered.

In short, I don't think we can blame the govt for a lack of personal responsibility on our part to help ourselves. It was an act of God people...how can you blame George Bush for an act of God? You can't unless your the president of party politics and you need a reason to blame one party over the other.

Rant over for now.

My mom just showed up.  She was stuck in contraflow which is when they turn all the interstate lanes in both directions into one direction.  http://www.lsp.org/pdf/HurricaneGuideSE.pdf     What would have normally taken an hour and fifteen minutes took her 6 hours and 10 minutes!   My dad is still at his house, stubbornly riding it out.  

We are heading out to eat Red Lobster for dinner.  My people like their cheese biscuits and we most likely won't be able to leave a lot tomorrow because of the rain.  

Just wanted to let everyone know that we (Kenny too this time) are evacuated to Hattiesburg, Mississippi (did you say that with the right accent?).  We are safe and sound for now at the Microtel Inn.  We'll keep updated.  We had a live feed from our house but it doesn't work now.  Hope all our friends and relatives are safe. 

Jen