LordOfEntropy

That's what I hear as well. My house was in Lakeview, near the Plantation Coffee House on Canal Blvd. I left the day before the storm hit, when the evacuation went mandatory. I have not been back since - so I haven't seen anything firsthand.

But may parents house was in Lakeview as well - and they've told me horror story after horror story. They were one of the "fortunate" ones given a FEMA trailer. But they've given up on trying to live in it though - not like you could fit a family inside that little thing anyway. But they've given up on New Orleans entirely, have made an offer on a small house in Jena (near Alexandria). They just can't make it in NO, no work, no livable house. They're gonna sell what's left of the main house as soon as they can, though they know they're going to get financially raped in the process. They have no choice.

Also, another close friend of mine had two houses in Lakeview - the one she lived in the whole 70 years of her life, also another one that she rented out to live off of. She told me that there's no other option than to bulldoze what's left, that they houses simply can't be salvaged. But the problem is no one, whether charity, government, or insurance company - is willing to help cover the costs. Though she had full flood insurance, just like my parents, no one is paying the true value of the damage. Well, she can't just live in a wheel barrow, so she's purchased a smaller place out in Metairie with what's left of her savings, and is trying to get her houses bulldozed on her own. But she's making no progress, according to what she's told me. She'll likely lose both houses for little or no recompense whatsoever.

So the story is consistent, though I haven't seen it with my own eyes. But the bottom line is nothing's getting fixed in Lakeview, almost a full year later. It's disgusting. You can bet my ass if this had happened in NYC, it's already be cleaned up and rebuilt by now. I'd bet my limbs on it. There would at least be significant progress on rebuilding.

At least there's one gleam of hope, even in light of the miserable national embarrassment Katrina was to the world. Payton's trying to fix the Saints.

But I remember being in England a few months back, with locals there telling me how surprised they were with our own government's lack of response. I remember getting told by Pakistani's how they manage to get food into Bangladesh every year after the monsoon, year after year, and they're just a third world country..... so why can't the US? It was uncomfortable trying to explain it to them. Hell, there -IS- no explanation for it. Only the locals really give a schitt about Lakeview. Or the 9th Ward. Or the Guld Coast.

It's a national embarrassment.

can anyone help me id this tune? it goes thwap thwap boom tch boom tch boom tch.

Qui a laissez sortir les chiens!