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Saturday, September 03, 2005

Dirty work

Editor's Note: Our friend Chriss is posting from the hurricane devastation using his Blackberry device. We will be adjusting spelling which can go awry on these devices. His home is north of Lake Pontchartrain and his mother and brother live(d) in Slidell.

I am fortunate to live outside the direct impact of year storm that did hit New Orleans. For those that do not know, the government has employed many brilliant people to run this scenario since 1970. Let's just say when NOLA was much smaller they knew this would be exactly what happened.

Today, as we cleared three large trees from my brother's roof, a person had the nerve to say that the President had to wait to be asked to help. When questioned about his policy on Iraq he boasts that leaders do not wait for things to happen, they take charge, they are proactive.

Like I stated I am on the verge of the destruction and everything is different. My street is affluent but we have never had street lights. I have discovered that the ambient light of front porches and windows glowing with various cathode ray tubes can make the character of a neighborhood. Tonight, these familiar lights are replaced by the drone of generators. The soundtrack of ruined lives, destroyed homes and the lucky trying to make certain looters do not steal what Katrina left behind.

My brother identified three friends today who drowned while trying to bring in their shrimp boat into protected waters. In Slidell, where he lives, there is destruction so random and varied it can being you to your knees. My mother's home is beginning to stink. The flood waters are so saturated in every pore of the home you think it will never dry and the wind chimes seem more like they are mocking you. The mosquitoes are moving in and we hold out hope for progress in infrastructure improvements. You can not believe how comfortable a fan can be until you realise how close you are to not having the power to run it. Or the ceiling from which it hangs. My blessings are far to many to count. I wish you all my good fortune.

Good night Chriss Cazayoux

Sent via BlackBerry from Cingular Wireless.

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