I Have So Many Directions I Can Go Off On...

I'll try to stay on point, but I could go 'Ray Nagin' at any time.

Well speaking of the Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, did you hear him go ballistic?

"They flew down here one time two days after the doggone event was over with TV cameras, AP reporters, all kind of goddamn — excuse my French everybody in America, but I am pissed," Nagin said.

Nagin said he told Bush in a recent conversation that "we had an incredible crisis here and that his flying over in Air Force One does not do it justice ... I have been all around this city and that I am very frustrated because we are not able to marshal resources and we are outmanned in just about every respect."

OK, reel it in a little bit here Ray, and don't you worry about any comparisons to Rudy Giuliani, there won't be any.

And here's why, you knew your city was going to be hit, and hit hard, you had a warning. New York had no warning.

You, as the Mayor, had some responsibility here to set your city up, as you knew this was coming, you did very little.

With no warning, Giuliani made a name for himself as a great leader.

With days of warning, Ray, you've shown yourself to be a man that can point a finger.

I know this man is panicking, and I say that shows his love for his city and his people, and I respect that.

But hold it together man. How are you going to lead your people when you can't even hold it together?

I asked a question just before Katrina hit, who out there would be coming out to help us?

Well, thankfully, my pessimismm was not warranted.

The help coming from all over the world, from Governments and the private sector alike, is nice to see.

Early reports were saying that GW Bush was declining aid.

That disappointed me.

If we had to go it alone, fine, we could have done it, but let's not be snobs.

How can you say to a friend? Yes, we can use the help, but we're too good for your money.

Enter Condoleezza Rice.

I want to express the heartfelt thanks of the President, the United States Government and all Americans, to the leaders and citizens of the many nations and international organizations that have already offered kind and generous support. Organizations like the United Nations, NATO, the Organization of American States, the European Union, and others are showing their solidarity with us during this time.

You have the updated list of countries from every corner of the globe that are offering their help, countries like Canada and Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Israel, China, Azerbaijan, the Philippines, El Salvador, Australia, Turkey and many others. I want to note in particular that we received a generous offer of support from Sri Lanka, a country that, as we speak, is still recovering from its own massive natural disaster. Every contribution is important; and over the past few days, I have been in contact with a wide range of officials from other nations and international organizations to respond to these offers of support.

I believe it was Pastorius that said Conde Rice was the best, next Republican Presidential Candidate out there, I thought he was very optimisticc at the time, and now I am too.

Let me take you in just one more direction, and thank you for sticking with me so far.

Every Friday I have the privilege of talking to a distubutor for my restaurant. He asked me a question today.

'If you were in need, would you start shooting at the people trying to rescue you?

I let out a small chuckle, not because I found the question funny, but because I knew where this was going.

You see, Marcus is a black man, and he and I can relate on so many issues.

He is one of only two friends that I can talk about Black people, White people, Asians, whatever, without being called a racist.

If Marcus and I had the same conversations we have about life with my white friends over the phone, they would call us both racists.

Sorry, I'll get back on topic, Marcus was so angry that anyone could be so selfish as to shoot at rescue people just so they could continue to loot.

I had to ask what he considered looting, as in, if you need food and water, and a store has been abondoned, is that looting, or survival? (BTW, CUANAS pointed that out the day after Katrina).

He said, NO! they were stealing sports equipment!

I didn't see that, but I'm not saying it didn't happen.

He was really upset that these people were so foolish and they just caused more deaths in their own community, and for what?

I have little more to say, and I don't know how to end this post.

But I guess I just want to say that Marcus and I must be the 'Regular Guy' meter for the United States, he is a black, working family man, and I am a young single white man, and we've never disagreed on any topic, and believe me, we've tried!

As this is actually a slow weekend for my restaurant, and Marcus was going into a 3 day weekend, we spent about an hour just chit-chatting, I will post many of our topics in the upcoming days.