It’s been a while since I’ve posted here. I’ve been busy work mainly. Not much new as far as recovery from the Hurricane goes. Our Lady of Lourdes did have its parish reunion last Saturday (Oct. 8). It was the first time I have seen a lot of people since Katrina. The people of St. Mark in Gonzales were very friendly and the Knights of Columbus Council there did a great job cooking the food. There is also the K of Cs will be having its “Day of Unity” tomorrow (Saturday Oct. 15) in Baton Rouge, so I am looking forward to that as well since I haven’t seen many of the KCs since the hurricane. Next Saturday (Oct. 22) one of my friends is getting married. It was suppose to be in St. Bernard but will now take place in Lafayette. Robin and I are supposed to be getting married in July but we are not sure where things are going now. We are meeting with Fr. Frank tomorrow night to discuss things since Katrina messed them up some.
Rep. Charlie Melancon (LA CD-3) proposed the House version of Vitter and Landreui’s bill. His asks for more money and includes putting up flood walls around MRGO, but not closing it. It’s a step in the right direction, but it is not enough. Also going on in Congress, when New York (for Sep. 11) and Florida (for the Hurricanes that hit last year) were given federal money, it was a grant meaning it does not have to be paid back. Louisiana will be given money, but it is a loan meaning it needs to get paid back. Vitter supported making this a loan believing that if it was not made a loan, Louisiana would get no money, while Landreui wanted to fight so we would not have to pay it back.
Giving money away is probably not Constitutional, but Congress needs to be consistant.
Bush nominated Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. Miers was given the task of finding the nominee for the Supreme Court and ended up with the nomination herself. Dick Cheney was assigned by Bush during the 2000 Campaign to find his running mate and ended up with the job. Alberto Gonzales was given the task of finding the first Supreme Court nominee. Had it not been from pressure from conservative groups, Gonzales probably would have been the nominee. John Roberts still has many many question marks, but he is a brilliant man and it showed during the hearing. We know even less about Miers who is Bush’s personal attorney. She could be good, but is lacking experience. I think we should at least wait until the congressional hearings before deciding. Also of note is the fact that several people on the list of potential nominees asked to have their name removed because they did not want to go through the public scrutiny of the nomination process. Still I would have prefered if Bush would have nominated someone with a proven originalist background. Instead we get someone we are unsure about who is also approved by several Senate Democrats who aren’t exactly conservative.
One of Robin’s cats (Moochie) was alive in her house, five weeks after the storm. Another (Boozie) was found dead. The third (Snowball) is missing. We think an animal rescue group picked her up.
My parents have moved out of the hotel and are living with my grandparents on the West Bank. LSU’s temporary housing (the ship FinnJet) has arrived and I can move in whenever I am ready. Not sure when Robin and her parents will be leaving the hotel. They are planning to go live with her Grandma in Metairie, but her house had about three feet of water so it is not livable yet.
Not much else to say. Things have not been as hectic as I thought they would be. Still a lot of uncertainty, since we don’t know what the future holds.