Lott: Govt not going to rebuild my house; don't even have a FEMA trailer.

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT: Senator's Lesson in Frustration
Months after Katrina damaged their homes, Trent Lott and his neighbors are voicing the same anger as thousands of others awaiting some relief in the hurricane-ravaged region.

By Elizabeth Mehren, Times Staff Writer


PASCAGOULA, Miss. — Four days after Hurricane Katrina flattened 65,000 Gulf Coast homes, President Bush promised that at least one would rise from the rubble.

Where Sen. Trent Lott's 154-year-old home once stood, the president said, "There's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm going to look forward to sitting on the porch."

Not only is there no porch five months later, but Lott's house on Beach Boulevard is nothing but a concrete slab and a neat stack of bricks. Lott, counting himself fortunate to own two other homes far from the destruction, said he was tired of hearing that he and his neighborhood might get some sort of special favors.

Lott's neighborhood is a narrow enclave, stretching about half a mile along the coast and only two or three blocks inland....The homes, which looked out on the beach, had deep lawns, impeccable gardens and in many cases, entrances marked by grand columns. But as the months go by with no relief, Lott and his neighbors are voicing the same frustrations as thousands of other families around the hurricane-ravaged region.

"The government is not going to rebuild my house," said Lott. "I don't even have a FEMA trailer."...


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-lott28jan28,0,6998892.story?coll=la-home-nation


ON EDIT: Lott has apparently learned something from this experience. Further in the article, he blasts FEMA, Michael Brown, the government, and insurance companies, one of which he formerly represented and is now suing in a lawsuit he undoubtedly does not consider "frivolous." He also states that he does not presently have the money to rebuild the Pascagoula house.

[Greeby]

1. My heart bleeds

:nopity:

[greenbriar]

2. po baby

:rofl: :evilgrin:

[robbedvoter]

3. Waaah! Poor little rich boy! Maybe he should move to the Astrodome

improve his situation, drive Babs nutz....
That someone like him would even expect FEMA help is typical of the "small guvmunt, rugged indivisualists" party.
Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, Trent!
OTOH, glad it comes to light that W's FEMA is for shit.
What did W boldly say? "If the federal Government did anything wrong, then I am responsible..."

[tularetom]

4. Normally I'd avoid being happy at someone

elses misfortune, but in this case, well, you know.....

[rateyes]

6. Schadenfreude....

From Avenue Q: "makes me feel glad that I'm not you." (Lott that is.)

[babylonsister]

5. Wait! Wasn't MS supposed to be getting all their needs fulfilled

due to the valiant efforts of their esteemed repug governor? :sarcasm:

[pitohui]

26. the media lies, hot news flash

they are getting more $$$ than louisiana w. our democratic senator & governor but they are getting nowhere near enough

[sasha031]

7. typical repuke

all he can think of is himself, 2 other homes?:nopity: Has it entered his little brain that there are 100's of 1000's in far worse shape!

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. And let me tell you, when they fall into the cracks in the system,

which they created AND justified, there is NO ONE who can outdo their whining. My Republican relative lost more than ten thousand dollars in hurricane damage that he could not recover due to high deductibles which is something he once supported; he lost his job from a military industrial company NOT because of Affirmative Action, but because his young white male boss made life miserable for him. In the end, the man didn't even have money to pay for his daughter's wedding.

And let me tell you, he went from complaining about minority groups and Democrats in this country, to whining about how mean this country has become and so unwilling to help those in need.

[pitohui]

27. he's actually doing a pretty good job

mississippi is getting much more of the rebuilding $$$ per capita than louisiana which was harder hit over a wider area

lott is bringing home the bacon as much as any man humanly can, hate him for being a fascist or a bigot but i won't fault him on trying to get $$$ to his people

[leesa]

28. And why do you suppose that is??? Because there's an R after his name?

He is not "doing the job", it is being done for him and against the other dem governors and Senators. It is disgraceful politicking

[pitohui]

33. i don't feel the job is being done for him

lott is correct, beach blvd has been left in disgraceful condition and not just at pascagoula, all the way up the coast

becaue he is a senior senator, because he is an R, yeah, he's been at least able to get people something, but no way is the job being done for him and clearly he's being shit on by insurance cos. just like the rest of us

crap, don't make me defend trent lott now, the man is trying to bring home the $$$ against powerful and cruel opponents in his own party

as an example of what we're up against, the casino industry, which is vital to the economy of the coast, has been explicitly denied $$$ from federal gov't, not by trent lott or other mississippi politicians, even those formerly anti-gambling such as the governor have worked to try to revitalize this important industry, why were they denied the aid? because some republican shithead in virginia don't like gambling and thinks people in mississippi should be without jobs forever

[oregonindy]

8. must suck when reality hits.

[hatrack]

9. Senator, meet chickens. This is Bushworld, Trent, and you made it happen

So why don't you go find a fallen tree (I'm sure there are a few in your neighborhood) and sit on it? You don't really need a porch, and your neighbors seem to be getting along without them.

[tanyev]

10. Trent, you of all people should know better

than to believe anything George Bush says. Doesn't feel too good, does it?

[Pirate Smile]

11. I hope he can use his position to make the suffering and problems

more widely known.

I thought this part was interesting and demonstrates the problem in Congress: Last month, the Senate approved $29 billion in additional aid for hurricane relief. Lott said he had to "get agitated" with some of his colleagues to make them understand the severity of Mississippi's suffering.

What complete idiots and assholes. Those are Republicans, not Democrats. It is the difference between indifference and empathy - that IMO is one of the huge chasms between the Republicans and Democrats.

Of course, not all Republicans lack empathy but it certainly seems to be a trait widely shared by many in the GOP.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

19. Gee this wouldn't have anything to do with shrubco DOWNPLAYING

the severity of the Katrina disaster's effect, would it? :shrug:

[Auntie Bush]

20. "Republicans lack empathy". That's why my daughter says she

could never marry or fall in love with ANY Republican. Even if they stayed out of politics...they have basic flaws in their personality.
Lack of sympathy, lack of charity, lack of compassion, lack of understanding, selfishness, easily manipulated and gullible, lack of critical thinking for themselves. basically racist at heart...just won't admit it. Who in the world could fall in love with someone like that?

[DeepModem Mom]

24. Same in my family! nt

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. Like I said in another post, when bad things happen to bad people...

[CAG]

13. The repubs are in favor of the govt rushing in to help when its THEIR

misfortune. Of course, if its not, then the victim should "pull up his bootstraps" and let the free market work.

[Gato Moteado]

15. exactly what i was thinking

i know so many repubs just like that.

[Ladyhawk]

16. All the republicans I know are like that.

:grr:

[Gato Moteado]

17. they have this sense of entitlement....that the government....

....should help them when they're in trouble but if the government helps the poor then it's socialism.

[Ladyhawk]

30. It goes for lawsuits, too. Any lawsuit they file is just; any lawsuit

another person files is frivolous. My mother filed a lawsuit when my father died of colon cancer. As a firefighter he breathed and swallowed a lot of smoke. I suppose it could have been a contributing factor, but my paternal grandfather also died of colon cancer. Of course, my father died a lot younger than my grandfather did. In fact, my grandfather lived for several years after my father died.

My grandfather was a vegetarian for most of his life and he still developed colon cancer. My father ate a lot of meat, including tons of beef and bear stew. I think heredity and diet played a big factor in my father's death, although he was probably exposed to carcinogens at work, both smoke and other things.

I was actually shocked that my mother wanted to sue over my father's exposure to smoke. She's always called other such lawsuits frivolous. In my opinion, if she wanted to sue someone, she should have sued my father's doctor. My father went to him complaining of colon cancer symptoms and the doctor told him not to worry about it. It was just hemorrhoids. He didn't even order a colonoscopy!

A few years ago, I developed symptoms and immediately had a colonoscopy. The damn drugs didn't work. I was awake and felt the entire thing. Ouch. :) No colon cancer or polyps, though. I am not looking forward to my next encounter. Ungh.

[CAG]

22. "Give me good roads (but don't make me pay for it), give me good schools

(but don't make me pay for it), give me good flood insurance (but don't make me pay for it), give me good security and defense (but don't make me pay for it), give me good social security (but don't make me pay for it), give me clean air (but don't make me pay for it), give my elderly parents good health and prescription drug coverage (but don't make me pay for it), regulate our banks so that they don't rip me off (but don't make me pay for it), give all the Terry Schiavo's life support at $1,000-2,000 a day for the rest of their life (but don't make me pay for it).

The republican mantra.

[Ladyhawk]

32. Make women carry every child to term, but don't make me pay for it.

That's another one.

I have very mixed feelings about abortion, but the goddamn Republicans want to force people to have children they can't afford to take care of, then they don't want to help the mothers or their children.

Druing the Terri Schiavo fiasco, I noted that Republicans only care about people before they're born and after they die. For all intents and purposes, Terri Schiavo was dead. They have conniptions over the rights of the unborn and the undead, but they don't give a shit about you and me. I'm disabled. I can't help the fact I'm disabled, but I'm not given enough to live on and still have to rely on my Republican/fundy family. It puts me in a very uncomfortable situation, to say the least.

Edited: I actually created one of those apostrophe errors! I must not have had enough sleep last night. I'm going back to bed!

[Gato Moteado]

18. has pat robertson come out yet and let us in on why.....

....god destroyed trent lott's house?

maybe trent needs to call pat robertson so the rev can teach him how to exploit the taxpayers and get government money to enrich himself even further so he can rebuild his mansion.

[XOKCowboy]

21. Them crocodile tears are flowing for poor ol' Trent

He should have known that Bush was just there for a photo op. I'm glad he's finding out how the rest of us are treated by this administration. Looks like poor ol' Trent is obsolete and not needed by the Bushies or his half of MS would be rebuilt by now.

[rooboy]

23. Manchurian Candidate Bush always hated Trent Lott. n/t

[pitohui]

25. tell it senator

make a little noise, what happened on the gulf coast is beyond comprehension, and it's time for GOP owned media to stop lying abt it, the gulf coast nowhere near fixed

if it takes trent lott to pull down the party, so be it

and i do love to see a good cage fight between elephant and elephant

[Lefty48197]

29. Trent why don't y'all pick y'all self up by the bootstraps?

instead of sucking on the American teat?

[DeepModem Mom]

31. LOL!

[Cleita]

34. Love to see it when these bastards get their own

rules stuck to them.

LOL :rofl:

[Mutley]

35. I can totally imagine Trent Lott living in a tiny FEMA trailer.

:rofl:

[UTUSN]

36. He owns TWO other homes. He could NOT run & make $$ lobbying n/t

[frustrated_lefty]

37. The replies in this thread

disturb me as an evacuee. Lott says little, if anything, in the article which comes across as whining. He doesn't appear to be abusing power to obtain special consideration; moreover, if he IS attempting to obtain special consideration, even that is failing (in which case, what chance does the average citizen have?). What seems like an article which underscores the systematic failure of government relief efforts appears to be taken as an opportunity to gloat? How screwed up is that?

[DeepModem Mom]

38. You're right. I admit I've laughed at some replies to the thread --

but the reason for the information I edited into the OP was to make the point you made. The LA Times has published this article, IMO, primarily to inform its readers of the Bush administration's failure to respond to Katrina, in this location.