Here goes

Well, here goes.

I begin my first blog with great trepidation. Wondering what I might add to the bloggersphere already rich with articulate and knowledgeable voices and not wanting to disappoint my articulate and knowledgeable husband. Finally I decided perhaps what I lack in articulation I can make up for with passion. And so humbly I begin.

This evening as I listened to W. speak, I thought for the first time he sounded as if he actually had blood running in those veins! That notorious smirk was absent and he sounded as if he felt pain for the victims of this horrendous disaster. Then I returned to reality. This is the same man that suspended the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 on Thursday, September 8th. The average hourly wage in Louisiana of 9 bucks an hour would not apply. He handed out no bid contracts to Haliburton, Bechtel, Fluor, and Shaw. Yep, the fab four will rake in obscene profits on the backs of the victims of Katrina. Since Louisiana has no minimum hourly wage, perhaps they will be payed the whopping national minimum wage of $5.15 per hour.

Instead of W.'s good ol boys running the reconstruction, why not appoint Jonathan Reckford the C.E.O. of Habitat for Humanity or Paul Leonard, their Managing Director? Why not let Louisiana contruction companies have the contracts and have a combination of paid Louisiana citizens and unpaid volunteers?

If I'm gonna cut ol W. an iota of slack he needs to give a little sumpin. I'd like to see him...

• #1 Appoint an independent commission to investigate government's handling of Katrina, not the laughable one the Speaker of the House is going to appoint.

• #2 Return F.E.M.A. to its own agency. In addition to replacing "Brownie", replace other executives who were political appointments with former experienced F.E.M.A. employees pushed out by W.'s regime.

• #3 Rescind the 70% tax cut for the wealthiest of Americans. Over three years that will just about pay for the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast.

• #4 Appoint someone such as Paul K .Leonard to oversee the rebuilding. We need someone like him who has a business background, management skills on a large scale, and integrity as well.

As minority leader Senator Harry Reid said today, "the desperate are still waiting."