BrandonHendricks.com

Well yesterday we went back to the house. Mud everywhere. Words and pictures can not describe it. You need to walk through it yourself. Doors are hard to push open because of mud, insulation, or other stuff block it. Insulation is hanging from the ceiling. You need to watch where you are going as it is dark and hard to see where you are going. The smell is not quite as bad as I thought it would be but needless to say was not pleasant. Most of my clothes made it out in good shape. We found some pictures on the ground that were hanging on the wall. Some made out in better shape than others. We took some things with us, which was more than most people I am sure to the camp in Slidell. The bottom floor was destroyed. All 4 walls knocked down. The second floor looks almost normal. Of course it will be a while before we have water or power or anything. The levee around Six Flags was broken apart to let the place drain. The smell there was bad.

More than likely we will have to come back with a UHaul or something and get everything out of the bedrooms. Sounds like we may be better off having the house bulldozed after we get everything out rather than repairing it from its current state.

Found out that Our Lady of Lourdes will be having a mass on Oct. 8 4:00pm at St. Mark in Gonzales, LA. If you are from OLOL, let someone like myself know that you will be going.

I have sent a message to Congressman Melancon in regards to the Katrina Bill. No reply from him, or Landreiu or Vitter. Hannity and Colmes talked about how the amount of money requested was rediculous (and it probably is to a certain degree) but left out the fact that MRGO gets ignored, again. They also mentioned that the bill comes out to $55,000 per person in Louisiana. Just a bit nuts. Perhaps MRGO would be better off in a seperate bill that would have a better chance of passing by itself.

Well I am at work. Just posting now because I meant to do this last night and did not get a chance.

OK. I’m sure you are getting tired of seeing that title.

We were suppose to be able to visit our house Wednesday (tomorrow) and Thursday. But Hurricane Rita is a threat, so no one can visit until this storm passes. And Katrina destroyed all protection, so a weaker or indirect hit from Rita can still do as much damage. I think we’ll be spared, but I’m still worried. Strangely enough, many people evacutated Louisiana went to Texas and now will have to evacuate from there. I am still off work tomorrow which is my first day off after 9 days straight. Hopefully everyone gets things right from Rita this time.

More F*** FEMA News. I was reading this on the DownsizeDC blog. A doctor was doing CPR on a women who was dying and FEMA made him stop because he was not part of FEMA.

Blacks are complaining the levee was purposely blown up to hurt black people. We were told by Parish Councilman Joey DiFatta the levees were not blown this time. I don’t blame people for thinking the levee was blown, but people who blame this on race are completely stupid. People are (once again) ignoring St. Bernard Parish which is 90% white. Does this mean the media is racist?

Not much else. Keeping it short. Stay safe. Pictures are coming. I just need to make thumnbails.

Damn Blog lost all the text.

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. LSU called on Sunday and I had to go back to work on Monday. 10 hour days with 1 day off a week. My parents also were able to go to our house this weekend.

I missed Monday’s meeting because of work. Go http://www.stbernardparishgovernment.com/page12.html for the details. Good job to Ms. Hutter for telling the media to stick it.

The house has mud everywhere. Fridge is on the ground and the kitchen table is where the fridge was. My mom’s car is 6 or 7 houses down the street and the truck is between two posts in the car port that we don’t know how it go there or how to get it out. Ceiling and insulation is coming down. Water did not get to the second floor so we are extremely lucky. My parents took pictures and I will post them later.

Work has been exhausting, but at least it is only 15 minutes from our hotel (while two other guys are coming from Covington which can take two hours if the traffic is bad). And they are buying us lunch.

It’s after 11:00 (regardless of what the display says) and I got work tomorrow, but only need to work 8 hours since the weekends are slow. I am taking off next Wednesday to go see the house for myself. More later as time permits.

Last night we there was a meeting for Residents of St. Bernard Parish in Baton Rouge. But this was not just among people in the Embassy Suites. This was for people staying all over Baton Rouge, which ended up being about 250 – 300 people. We didn’t find out a whole lot new, but there were people there who I have not seen since we evacuated from Katrina.

At the meeting were State Senator Walter Boasso and Parish Councilman Lynn Dean. When they walked in, people gave them an ovation. These weren’t people clapping as a courtesy. These were people clapping because during this trouble some time, these men were heroes. Boasso runs his own business in St. Bernard and had to use some of his own companies materials to help rescue people. There was no federal help and a group of men stayed to help rescue those who for whatever reason did not evacuate. They said there was some looting in St. Bernard, but some of it was the rescuers taking food, water, and medical supplies since none were available. (I don’t have a problem with that and don’t really consider that looting.) Former Parish Councilman Mike Bayham was there and he also got an ovation.

Boasso said his home and his business were both underwater and that he had lost everything. But we will be able to go look and take things from our homes that are savagable. The plan will be to go in sections as the water recedes.

Ms. Dysart from the School Board said St. Bernard schools will probably not open until next August, but students who are graduating this May should be able to get a diploma from their St. Bernard school.

Sen. Landreui was in Washington taking care of business, business that will help the areas destroyed by the storm. Landreui is on the Senate Appropriations Committee which deals with how to spend your money. Sen. Vitter was in Lafayette for another meeting as there are people displaced all over the country, but he did send a staff member to this meeting. (This meeting was set up in less than a day and Vitter already had plans for the other meeting.) Rep. Charlie Melancon flew to Washington yesterday (Thursday) morning to vote on a bill and then was on his way back to try to make it to our meeting, but didn’t make it in time. However, his wife was there and gave a good talk. A semi-quote: “Things are not going to get fixed because Walter Boasso is a Republican and Charlie Melancon is a Democrat…. Things will get fixed because Walter Boasso and Charlie Melancon are good people who will work together to help everyone and don’t give a crap about who is a Democrat and Republican.” (Judge Sanborn (Democrat) got mad at Lynn Dean (Republican) over comments Sanborn said Dean said and ended with “you and your Republicans”. Sanborn later apologized for his comments and said that he saw people dying in person and the past week has been very emotional.)

FEMA also had to people there. These were two people at the bottom, not Mike Brown who is at the top. (More on him shortly.) Some people were rude to them, but they don’t make the decisions. To quote someone, they were brave for being there.

The parish government would prefer rebuilding be done by local companies when possible. But I don’t own a business.

Overall, not very informative, but good to see some people.

Earlier today, Mike Brown was removed as the main guy in charge of the recovery from Katrina. Good move in my opinion. You can’t blame the FEMA disaster on Bush, just people under him, with Mike Brown being the main guy. From Jay Leno: FEMA = Fix Everything My Ass.

www.DownsizeDC.COM has a few suggestions to help fix things. I also have my own suggestions. Here is what you can do to help:
Ask your Representative and Senators to:

Support a bill closing the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO).

a) Spend more money on the levee system or b) get government out of the levee system and privatize it.

Remove FEMA from the Department of Homeland Security to how it was before the rearranging of the Government as a result of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks.

Stop FEMA from interfering with private organizations such as Red Cross who are ready to help when FEMA is not.

End Federal control over the National Guard, and confer all authority over the National Guard to the states.

If the country does not have enough troops in the country to do its job, then bring some home. We should not be using resources in Iraq when they are needed here.

Support HR 2864 (passed) and S 728 (still pending a vote) – Water Resources Development Act of 2005.

LSU is trying to figure out how many employees they will need to provide housing for. So things are slowly starting to get rolling with that. Hopefully they can manage something, because housing around here is scarce. Baton Rouge’s population has almost doubled in the last two weeks. Traffic has been horrible as well. BR was the second largest city in the state. New Orleans was first but is now a ghost town. It will be a while before Southeast Louisiana recovers. I might as well get used to living in BR. But I am tired of being in this hotel room. We only have 30 tv stations and is skipping some numbers. $10 a day for high speed low quality internet is a rip off, but someone like me needs internet access. Else, you would not be reading this. That leads me into something else, wireless internet.

Verizon Wireless has been advertising Wireless Broadband here a lot. And I like that idea. But I am a Cingular customer. Cingular also offers the service, they just are advertising as much. Verizon is charing $60 / month but you must have a voice plan. Cingular is charging $80 / month for unlimited bandwidth. But you need to purchase the pc card (Sony Ericsson GC 82 or something) for about $200 or get a two year contract. Well the nearest Cingular did not have the card in stock so I am not worried about it. I have already paid $100+ for network access. And we will be getting two week free through FEMA (I think, but it may be Red Cross). Still I may look into the wireless internet a little bit more. Also speaking of Cingular, I am curious what my bill will be this month as I have made a lot of calls and sent a lot of text messages.

There will be another meeting for St.B. Residents on Mon. Sep. 12. I will post here after that. Probably on Tuesday the 13th, but I may find time to post on Monday night. Until then, take care and thanks to everyone for their continued support.

Added a new section for Hurricane Katrina.

Last night our State Representative Nita Hunter and Parish Councilman Joey DiFatta Sr. came to the Embassy Suites Hotel and had a meeting with St. Bernard residents, probably about 25 or so people there. I’m going from memory so here is what they said. When the Hurricane itself came Monday morning, the worst of the weather was done by 4 or 5 in the morning. But shortly after that, the flooding started, and the water was going up at a rate of a foot every 10 – 15 minutes. The only house in the parish that did not get any water was Wayne (I think that’s his first name) Cresap’s house, who was built on a hill. The Mississippi River Gulf Outlet http://www.ccmrgo.org/ resulted in another 10 feet of water getting in the parish, but had it been closed, we still would have gotten water in the parish. The water inside the parish is toxic and everything must be decontaminated before people can go back in. The parish council along with Jack Stephens and others worked hard to rescue people. In my previous post I mentioned Wildlife & Fisheries turned people away and would not let them bring food to anyone. That is false. We were also told no one blew any levees to sacrifice St. Bernard and save New Orleans. They will probably blow the levee as doing it will now drain water (and probably have already done so by now). Senators Landreui and Vitter and Representative Melancon are supporting us 100% (quote from DiFatta). St. Bernard OEP Director Larry Ingargiola’s wife is from Canada and this resulted in Canadian Mounties coming down to help. FEMA didn’t do shit (a semi-quote from DiFatta). Some of the help that was meant from St. Bernard never made it there because it was hijacked to help New Orleans first. Village Square burned down. They closed by saying that St. Bernard will be rebuilt better than ever and we will get the money we need to build bigger and stronger levees.

Edit: DiFatta said and outside company will come into decontaminate the place. There is a high number of expected dead. He got to see the state 911 log for that day and there were a lot of calls from St. Bernard saying people were trapped in the attic and the water was rising quickly.

My parents visited our camp in Slidell. Second Floor is in pretty good shape. To get inside, my parents walked through the front side of the building. There is no door or wall. We moved the barbeque grill inside. It went flying through the back wall and ended up under the stairs outside. A camp down the street was gone. Completely except for a few pollands.

More athletes and celebrities are doing things to help out as well as some foreign countries. Even Cuba is trying to help, but it seems their help is not wanted or appreciated.

10 Ways You Can Help: http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46109

John Roberts has now been nominated to replace Rehnquist as Chief Justice. O’Connor will serve a while longer until a new replacement can be found. What we really need though is for Souter, Breyer, or Ginsburg to resign. O’Connor is in the middle, not the best or the worst while Rehnquist was amoung the best.

There is no shortage of topics to talk about when discussing the storm.

1. Article from the LA Times. While their editorials are a bit left leaning, they actually do a good job reporting the news. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-chalmette4sep04,0,6604565.story?coll=la-home-headlines

2. My parents found a website HurricaneHousing.org . I then noticed that the site was set up by MoveOn.org. Though I am not sure I have mentioned it here before, I have a very negative opinion of MoveOn.org. However, I do have to give them credit where credit is due and thank them for this service.

3. We went to St. George today for mass. http://www.st-george.org/ Must have been 600 or 700 people in church. It’s a big church and there were people standing. My good friend Don from Lourdes found Robin and I while getting up for Communion but we weren’t able to find him after mass. Glad he is ok. The people there were very friendly and a family sitting behind us offered to let us live with them for a while. Very touching and a very nice community.

4. Robin’s dad heard this on on WWL Radio. A man went down to St. Bernard Parish with his own boat to offer some much needed help. Wildlife and Fisheries told him he could not enter the Parish. So he found another way in the Parish. He saw some people stuck on roof tops and he gave them food. The WL&F people saw him. The pulled out a gun, told him to leave and made him take the food back. He was going to feed a starving person and the WL&F made him leave. The way I see it, those guys are endagering people’s lives, so if someone needs to shoot those guys to help protect life, then do it. Hopefully with this being on WWL Radio, more people will make a bigger deal about it.

5. Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard was on the radio again. This time he was very upset. He went to rescue people and told them food was coming. Then he had to go back the next day without food which got the people very upset. People everywhere in the Metro Area are starving and everyone who has the power to do something is so disorganized that nothing is getting done and by the time something does get done, it will be too late. Almost makes me wonder if any money sent to Red Cross or the Salvation Army will actually help anyone since the government is not letting people get there and help. But I can say that our Congressmen are at least doing their part. Mayor Nagin of New Orleans and Governor Blanco probably could have done a few things better and President Bush probably could have as well, but probably thought whoever he put in charge of this would be doing a better job than they are. The President is coming back to the area tomorrow. Hopefully it is not too little, too late.

6. While it’s easy to think about the bad examples many professional athletes set, don’t forget about the good ones. Joe Horn of the New Orleans Saints went to the Astrodome to visit New Orleans evacuees, signing autographs. Peyton (Colts) and Eli (Giants) Manning are also helping gather supplies for those that need them. If you guys ever read this, keep up the good work.

Well we have been here for a week and it looks like we will still be here for a while longer. There are two stories which I was planning on commenting on, but I don’t feel like it right now.

The first is about Michael Marcavage of Repent American said God caused Hurricane Katrina to stop the Southern Decadence (a homosexual) festival http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46076 . Fortuneately, Kyle Williams responded to this non-sense in his most recent commentary http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46126 . I have posted on Mr. Williams’ Blog and thanked him for his comments condemning Repent America’s non-sense. Some have posted and disagreed with Mr. William’s view point but I will be the first to defend him here. http://kewilliams.blogspot.com/ for his blog.

The second is the claim that the evacuation effort has been racist. Some rapper named Kayne West said George Bush hates blacks during the fund raiser last night. Jesse Jackson and the Congressional Black Caucus is causing a ruckus. Most of the people who did not leave New Orleans, either because they those not to do so or were unable to do so were poor black citizens. They are having all of their problems because they did not leave, not because someone chose not to help them because they were black. As I stated before, federal aid should have been their sooner, and many people could have managed the situation better, but to blame this on race is ridiculous.

Just say U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist has died. As a conservative, Rehnquist was one of my three favorite Justices. He was one of the two dissenters in the Roe v. Wade case in 1973 and I was hoping he would be here to help overturn the decision. Many believe that Bush will replace Rehnquist with someone who is pro-life, but that can not be taken for granted. Reagan, Ford, and Bush 41 all were Republicans who appointed at least one pro-choice Justice. And John Roberts who was nominated to replace Sandra Day O’Conner has shown mixed sign on how he would vote as far as Roe v. Wade goes.

More news. This morning, someone fired a gun at a helicopter either bringing supplies or helping evacuate people. Now there are people sitting in the streets with no where to go. It seems no one will help out until they have the military there to protect them. However, the people out there suffering are not the ones who attacked the helicopter.

As far as the looters go, law enforcement need to do whatever is necessary to ensure the safety of everyone and if that means killing anyone committing an act of violence, so be it. The people of New Orleans desperately need help. Planning should have began last week when the threat was imminent. Too late now though. We just need people ot move as quickly as possible. I may have mentioned this yesterday (I think I did in an e-mail): if a disaster happened in a foreign country, help would have been here already.

The Senate is having an emergency session to appropriate money to help out. We pay federal tax dollars, bout time we get something in return. $10B. Hastert says rebuilding New Orleans would be a waste of money. Further clarification of his comments means not building rebuilding the city below Sea Level. I have not had a chance to see his original comments, but Gov. Blanco tore him a new @$$hole with her comments.

Once again St. Bernard is being overshadowed by New Orleans. 100 dead in St.B. and 30 confirmed dead in a nursing home that either collapsed, flooded, or was hit by a Tornado. http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_09.html#076001 Also about St. Bernard http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/wwl090105stbernard.16d78f1c.html

We also get our own benefit concert. Aaron Neville of New Orleans among others will be a part of it as will Leonardo DiCrapio. Oh well. One dollar from him is worth as much as one dollar from anyone else.

Watching CNN right now. Foreign countries are coming to help us out. About time.

http://www.redcross.org/

http://www.kofc.org/un/news/releases/detail.cfm?id=23198

Again, if you know me, e-mail me. If you are from Our Lady of Lourdes, go here: http://www.ololccd.org/book/ and post that you are ok.

Not sure where to begin. Looters are trashing what is left of New Orleans. People in St. Bernard are trapped on roofs or buildings and have no food. Hundreds of people. It will be at least a month before we can look at what may be left of our home. Most of my family is safe. Robin and her family is safe. Half of my friends I know are safe and the other half I can not get in touch with. I can’t imagine what tracking people would be like without modern technology like the Internet and cell phones. Even now though, the technologies have limits. I know of no confirmed deaths of people I know. But I have heard that people in the St. Bernard Manor (on Hannan Blvd.) has been either damaged or destroyed. I have also heard that bodies are floating all over the place. And trying to save the living takes priority over taking care of the dead.

I got to talk to Senator Mary Landreiu in person on Tuesday. Only for a minute or so. The Landreiu family camp was destroyed, but she said that (based on location) ours probably survived somewhat. Now on my list of politicians I have met: Billy Tauzin Jr. (The Father who serverd for 20+, not the son who ran and lost last year); Bobby Jindal at the KC Convetion; Jindal and David Vitter spoke at the two graduations I went to in Dec. 2000 and May 2001 (my graduation at SLU). I think Jindal spoke at mine, but I did not get to talk to either one at the graduations. And now Landreui. I have gotten three replied from e-mails to Vitter. Ironically one was from this past Tuesday.

Internet access runs out at about 3:50pm tomorrow and then it will be another $10 if I want more access. But I can check e-mail from my phone. If you know me and want to tell me you are alive, send me an email: brandon @ {this domain – cut out to fight spam}.

Good read from Lew Rockwell – New Orleans a victim of the War in Iraq – http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts119.html

Keep an eye on this: http://www.nola.com/forums/stbtownhall/

1:30 in the morning. Take care, stay safe, and good luck.