WHAT IS THE HOLDUP?

We are approaching the half year mark...

Louisiana lawmakers are gathering for just their SECOND special Hurricane Recovery Session. Just the second! The U.S. Congress has gathered longer than Louisiana lawmakers.

This session won't be long, either. Just over two weeks.

It started with Governor Blanco hauling lawmakers down to New Orleans for a bus tour of the damage.

First, it is beyond human comprehension as to how or why some lawmakers in this state have NOT already seen the damage?!?!?! My Word! How can a policymaker in this state make policy if you haven't seen the very subject of the policy?!

Second, half of the legislature failed to even go on the field trip. It's their choice - some have already seen it, others were just refusing to go along with the grandstanding. I completely understand. However, the rest of the country woke up to read lines like this in their morning papers:

LA TIMES: But a significant chunk of the Legislature
wasn't there to listen. Almost a quarter of the state's 144 lawmakers didn't
show up

That doesn't bode well for our reputation - which, as some of you know, aint the best!

Third, will Governor Blanco open the next session in Southwest Louisiana, the site of Hurricane Rita? Hmmm....

And finally, there is this...the last portion of the above LA Times article.

At the Industrial Canal breach there, a straggling crew of residents
greeted the tour buses with cries for help and chants of "We are here to stay.""We don't have water. We don't have power. We have concrete slabs and front steps and no house," Alice Craft-Kerney, 48, told Blanco. "Folks are living outside because they don't have trailers. When will you help us?"Blanco shook Craft-Kerney's hand and replied, "We're trying. We're moving as fast as we can."Craft-Kerney clung to the governor's hand. Her eyes grew teary as she said, "I just don't know how much longer some people can last."

Hope all is well where you are....