Thanks for the article. And how awful for you when you couldn't get to your animals during the floods!

The National (and individual state's) Veterinary Reserve Corps has been working with 'the powers that be', including FEMA and the Red Cross, for years trying to address the problem. It's criminal how slowly buracracy works, and tragic that it took "more than 235,000 animals" to wake up a few hundred politicians.

Reading MSNBC this evening, I see this Newsweek article titled: Can Nagin Save New Orleans?

Things that make me go hmmmm! This has to take the cake for the dumbest question of this young millennium.

With a category 5 storm looming in the Gulf and most forecasters putting that region at the eye of the storm, he sat on his a$$ and did almost NOTHING. Then, once the death and destruction had already devastated the entire city, he goes on an endless rampage of finger pointing as only a sleazy, worthless, weasel politician could. So why would ANYONE believe that HE could save New Orleans now????????????? Only the good people of New Orleans and caring people such as Ademink and Sir Nappy can save New Orleans. They will. Of course, in the end, I have absolutely no doubt that Mr. Nagin WILL take full credit. So be it.

Maybe one day I'll tell ya'll how I REALLY feel about this! LOL!!!

LOL...You beat around the bush SO badly, Semper!

Pass the gloves...I'm goin' in! (Going back in January, by the way. Yippee!!!!)

Thank you SO MUCH for posting exactly what I've been thinking all along, Fi man! I was shouting, "AMEN!" at 4am this morning (along with a few other choice words) while reading it. DH knows I get worked up about certain things, but he forgives me. :D

You get 'em, Andrea! Instead of gloves, I'll take one of those (sports) foam hands...with the BIG finger up instead. "Hey, Nagin! Number one, man, number one!"

Brenda

Here is a link that might be useful: Lean On Me, Inc.

Another thing that I remembered after my previous rant was how a large number of HIS police force turned their badges in right when the going got tough. We were taught that leadership starts at the top; so those deserters spoke volumes about the "man" who is suppose to save New Orleans. Then again, the likes of those cowards are probably how this idiot got re-elected. The old saying: "Blind leading the blind" is very apropos.

Ademink, best wishes on your 2nd tour of duty in January. Let me know what ounce gloves you prefer before you leave. LOL! LETS GET READY TO RRRRRRRRUMBLE!!!!

I got a little sidetracked and forgot to say thanks for your post, Sarah! It's so true what you said about bureaucracy, too.

Brenda

Musicians' Village Aims to Keep the Music Alive in New Orleans

New Orleans is renowned as the birthplace of jazz and for a rich musical culture. To keep that unique heritage alive, two famous musicians with roots to the Crescent City, and Habitat for Humanity are combining forces to build a Musicians' Village for displaced musicians.

When New Orleans flooded, the city emptied. Several thousand musicians called the Big Easy home and they had to evacuate with everyone else. Not much remained after the floodwater was drained.

"Seventy percent lost their homes, lost their instruments, lost their clothes, lost their cars and have to literally rebuild their life one step at a time, and where do you begin? The first thing you begin with is housing," said Ben Jaffe of the city's Preservation Hall, which is dedicated to preserving the music.

Last December, New Orleans native singer Harry Connick Jr. and saxophonist Branford Marsalis announced a project with Habitat for Humanity to address the crucial need for housing. The Musicians' Village is a 5-block development in the Upper Ninth Ward, the largest housing project to date in the city since Katrina. The numbers vary but between 75 and 81 colorful new homes are under construction for musicians. The village will also have a performance center.

The homes are a hand up, not a hand-out. The musicians who will live there are each putting in 350 hours of their own labor to help build the houses. In turn, musicians are eligible for an interest-free, $75,000 mortgage loan.

"It's a happy place, very hopeful," Village spokesman Billy Puckett said. "In fact, the corner of Alva and Roman we call the most hopeful place in New Orleans."

One of those working on the project is saxophonist Dan Oestreicher. He agrees having a place to call home comes first, saying, "People can't play music until basic needs are taken care of."

Nearly three dozen of the homes are about complete, thanks to Habitat volunteers like Adam Moreland who left Sacramento to help. "I'm doing amazing work, working with amazing people, meeting volunteers from all over the world who want to help rebuild."

The new community is funded by contributions to Habitat and numerous performance benefits by musicians. It's one way some are trying to preserve music's integral role in New Orleans. As trumpeter Wynton Marsalis said, rebuilding New Orleans without consideration for its jazz and rhythm and blues culture is like a having a body without a soul.

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Thanks for that one too Brenda! That lifts my heart when I'm still hearing and seeing how much still needs to be done. Keep 'em coming - we can't forget how many people still need help!