Galveston was all but wiped out. Very little left. So here is the history:
After Ike, Texas spent our emergency funds to clean up Galveston Island. We were promised federal emergency funds for clean up, for reconstruction of utilities and to help people rebuild. Just hold on, we were told, funds are coming.

Here is an article that should be of interest to all who live in a red state as it seems the Obama administration is not interested in helping those citizens of a state he did not carry:

http://www.texasinsider.org/?p=8864

Two and 1/2 weeks ago I was at a dinner with Governor Rick Perry. I had a chance to talk to him about a couple of things; Marcus Littrell and Galveston. He told me he had contacted FEMA to ask them where the promised funds were for the people who lost everything during Ike. And just what do you think he was told?

Gov. Perry was told that there was no money for Texas as the economy was in such bad shape that other states needed it worse than Texas since we were not feeling the recession as badly as say, Michigan or California. Are you understanding what I am telling you? Since we have a balanced budget, since we are not facing the forclosure rates of other states, since we are still at least 2% under the national unemployment rate, we are considered so well off that we can just pick up the tab for our own natural disasters. A few days after Gov. Perry was told this, Janet Napolitano went to the “gulf” coast (read New Orleans) to see what else they needed. Apparently, Galveston Island is not considered part of the “gulf coast”.

New Orleans losers get free trailers; Texans get told to pound sand. Well, since most of the homes on Galveston are gone, we do have a lot of sand.

I cannot tell you how angry this story makes me. I gave a year of my life trying to help these people when Katrina hit. And for what? So my fellow Texans can just pound sand? I will NEVER, NEVER do it again for anyone outside of my own state of Texas. NEVER.

There has got to be a way to give proper kudos to people who work hard and benefit from that hard work (a la PR’s nephew-in-law) and embrace the American way as opposed to propaganda about people like the proposed SC justice who wants us to think she worked as hard as said nephew-in-law and faced nothing but adversity. She’s chock full of the entitlement, what’s in it for me, and what can I get out of this mentality.

Think about it—simply being born in the U.S.A. is a huge advantage! You are starting out ahead simply by being here—it’s the stuff parents instill into those children that nurtures the welfare, “poor me” state of mind. My mother, her parents and her siblings came to the U.S. in the 1950s and there was no question of getting government freebies (you don’t do that) and learning English as quickly as possible. They came here to become Americans, not Germans living in the United States. I am an American of German and Irish (my father’s father’s ancestors have been in the United States for 200+ years!). Really it’s not hard to become an American …

It is very sad that many “leaders” are more intent on causing division than building their people up.

Your blog is very good Caligirl, you have a true talent.

He came to this country as a teenager, taught himself English, got a decent job, worked his butt off, and hit the jackpot with my niece, who any man would die for. Now they have two amazing kids and he’s a citizen. They aren’t rich, but he has a life he couldn’t possibly have imagined 20 years ago. Really, it’s the American dream from the 1920′s when people from other countries were pouring in. Let me tell you, he doesn’t run around kissing the ground, but you don’t hear any whining out of that young man either.

I’m sure I sound racist to a lot of people, but that’s only one example of many I’ve seen where people have had great success by following the path we all advocate. Maybe it’s why I get so po’ed at the ones looking for hand-outs instead of hands-up.

It’s not about color. It’s about values, work, brains and responsibility. Why that message isn’t shouted from the rooftops in any minority community 20 times a day is beyond my comprehension.

njyankee, I know what you are saying. Some people have a victim mentality and enjoy being able to exercise it. Katrina was a fine excuse. They’ll find another one soon enough …

My friend commented it was quite a contrast in some of those neighborhoods—nice middle and upper-middle class housing, brick ones pretty much all restored, other ones roofless, wall-less, and being repaired. There were families who’d moved back into their homes (or the garage itself) and the trailers hasn’t yet been removed.

Media types should and could be telling us about those kind of people; instead we get pix of baby mamas and their flat-screen televisions waiting for the government to do EVERYTHING for them—gimme job, gimme house, gimme food, gimme money for my HD TV!!! There were other ethnicities who suffered losses during the flood—do we ever see stories about them?

Well that’s just perfect, isn’t it? A win-win-win.
The “victims” have a program funded to help them. The bloodsuckers in the social services offices have their own welfare program disguised as a job. And by simply failing to do that job, and match the “victims” with the money, their welfare funding gets extended until at least August (for now). The wonderful magic of caring.