Don't worry about the Big Easy, says one writer:

[txaslftist]

Below is a column from Sarah Whalen, a Bayoubuzz contributor:

U.S. Congressman Dennis Hastert, Republican Speaker of the House from
Illinois, says the Federal Government shouldn´t rebuild New Orleans.
He says we´re bulldozer material.

If I weren´t so busy tracking down displaced family and looking for a
new job and a new home, I´d laugh.

Go to the history books. New Orleans was built, destroyed, and
rebuilt long before there ever was a U.S. Federal Government. While
Illinois, where Congressman Hastert hails from, was an Indian camp, and 13
tiny British colonies were busy squabbling, drinking tea, and hanging
witches, New Orleans was a thriving port controlling the mouth of the
Mississippi to the Caribbean, Central and South America, and all
points beyond. It had already been destroyed by fire, rebuilt,
ravaged by deadly diseases and foreign wars, and always, forever,
flooded—dried out—and flooded again.

Congressman Hastert doesn´t want to rebuild us? Please, don´t trouble
yourself. We originally didn´t even want to become part of Hastert´s
Federal Government. Napoleon sold New Orleans, along with its vast
territories, to the Americans against locals´ will, rather than have
New Orleans and its strategic port fall into British hands. New
Orleanians—French citizens with self-determination—resisted the
Federal Government. Many paid with their lives.

Congressman Hastert doesn´t want to rebuild us? No problem. Just give us
back full control over our port, our industrial canals, our lands and
territories, and all our oil and natural gas revenues. Take back your
big highways—Katrina showed how flimsy they are, whereas our river
road is about 355 years old, and it´s survived everything except
Federal Government works projects. Then stand back, and watch as we
rebuild ourselves. Always have, and always will.

Send in the National Guard to restore order? Congressman, we ARE your
National Guard. Check your rosters. See who´s from where. Many of
the Guard are southerners, raised to be patriots and citizen soldiers.
We´ve fought in many, many wars. One war defeated us, and still, we
rebuilt ourselves.

Most of us are solid citizens, obedient to the law. When Mayor Nagin
and Governor Blanco and President Bush urged and then ordered us to
evacuate, we did. People without money could have gone to churches,
synagogues, and mosques—so many offered rides. $20.00 would´ve bought
a bus ticket out of harm´s way. On Interstate 12 North, I saw people
walking, running, on bikes—just going. Others decided they´d be
better off at the Superdome, waiting for Federal Government rescue.
That was their choice, and some—the very ill and infirm-- had no
choice. But many able-bodied folks who could´ve left, didn´t.

Local police, besieged by murderous gangs, begged for Federal
Government help. The Feds sent press conferences. When the Feds
finally answered the phone, Plaquemines Parish asked for automatic
weapons…and dynamite. Jefferson Parish just hung up and deputized
every able-bodied man—yes, "man"—who had a gun and training, and put
them on the parish line: "If you´re looting, stealing, raping, killing
or shooting at people, don´t come to Jefferson," Sheriff Harry Lee
warned.

Not rebuild New Orleans?

Don´t trouble yourself, Congressman. Just take away those who want to
live with you in the bosom of the Federal Government, and let us back
in. We´ll clean up and pick through the rubble of our homes and
rebuild them. We´ve done it many times before, and we´ll do it again,
with God´s help. Our levees flooded largely because we stupidly came
to rely on the Federal Government to fix them for us. Our coastline´s
destroyed because of a curious deal, orchestrated by the Federal
Government, allowing Big Oil to cut numerous waterways. Big Oil cut
canals wider than any of our natural bayous, with neither levee nor
shoal protecting adjoining lands, so Big Oil´s barges dragging
drilling platforms and pipelines could head straight out to the Gulf
of Mexico. By law and contract, Big Oil was required to restore our
coast to its natural condition by filling in the dredged canals and
replanting the marsh. A tedious task, but far from impossible.

When Big Oil laughed us off, we stupidly appealed to the Federal
Government for $14 billion to fix it for us.

Liberals may still be waiting and whining, but nobody else is.

Not rebuild New Orleans? Congressman Hastert, don´t bother. Just give us
back full sovereign rights over our coast. We´ll float a bond issue
and fix it ourselves.

What´s Katrina taught us? That a combination of Federal Government,
welfare mentality, Big Oil, and bad weather can be hazardous to our
health.

Congressman Hastert doesn´t want to rebuild New Orleans? Good. Just get
him out of our way. Or, as we say in Texas, my adopted second home,
"Git!" Just git, Congressman. So we can git going.

[Der Blaue Engel]

1. Would have been a great article if she didn't piss on the poor

and diss liberals.

But good on her for giving it to Hastert.

[RagingInMiami]

3. Would have been even better

If she didn't have to throw in Texas at the end.

[Wilber_Stool]

2. What if they don't give it back?