….And, you are one of those wonderfully gracious Tennesseans that I was referring to in my diary. God bless you and every one else from TN during this terrible disaster. Please stay safe.

X0X0, Suzi

….And, my heart goes out to the other Tennesseans who didn’t fare as well as you. You all will be in my prayers.

….And I’m glad to hear that you are doing OK.

I donated to the Salvation Army with the express stipulation that the money be used for relief efforts in Tennessee.

I am going to be following up with the Massachusetts office of the Salvation Army on Berkeley Street to make sure that my money actually gets to Tennessee, because they are listed as the responsible party on the receipt I received – specfically:

The Salvation Army Massachusetts Division
147 Berkeley Street
Boston, MA 02116
tel: (617) xxx-xxxx.

I donated from Massachusetts to the Salvation Army using the link on Michelle Malkin’s website and if the money doesn’t get spent in Tennessee, I’m going to be very, very upset.

I’ve heard that this or the oil spill should be Obama’s Katrina. Truth to tell, Bush should have never had a Katrina in that meaning. Yes, Obama is absent except for signing a document declaring TN a disaster area, but so what? So what if he doesn’t care?

When Katrina happened, everything was hunky-dorry, nothing to say really until the levees broke. The levees broke AFTER the hurricane had passed. Mississippi was devastated along it’s entire coast and further inland. It survived and rebuilt without Bush having to hold the Governor’s or Mayors’ hands. Nobody paid much attention to MS and still don’t. Still less was paid to Mobile AL which also suffered some damage. All eyes were on N.O. and a lot of nasty and completely false things were said about Bush and the HHS response to the disaster.

There is no looting going on here like there was there. Of course, you’re always going to have some, few or many, who will complain that everything isn’t being handed to them. That’s one of the drawbacks of the response to N.O. It now sets the standard to disaster response and it shouldn’t. People have the expectation of everything being handed to them, no questions asked, because that is what was done in N.O.

But we will get through this and we will rebuild, regardless of whether Obama utters a statement or hops on a plane to make some toadying campaign speech in a dry spot of downtown, which is all he can really do without a hundred other toadies to do the heavy lifting of his agenda, and we’ll be better and stronger for it.

If anyone really wants to use this against Obama, use it in campaigns not as a “he doesn’t care” but as a measure of the resilience and fortitude of a people who don’t need a government overseeing every little step of our lives. Why do we always look to Washington, D.C. for the answers when the answers are truly inside each and every one of us who makes a decision to be independent and self reliant? Use as proof that Obama’s claim that we are needy and stupid is simply wrong for the majority of Americans and use this as proof of that. Use as well all the other states which suffered this disastrous weather and other disasters before this.

I’ve lost everything in my life before. It is only sticks, bricks, and mortar, after all. I could lose everything again but if I lose my freedom and and the right to exercise my own free will, there’s no coming back from that.

It would be so easy to engage in the same kind of rhetoric used against Bush. Too easy, in fact. But it wouldn’t stick to Obama like it did to Bush anyway, not just because Bush is a Republican but because Democrats never accept responsibility for anything and never will. They can make all the decisions and control all the power but when what they do utterly fails, it will still be someone else’s fault. They have been that way for decades… or a century. Tough to tell these days, they’ve gotten so good at it.

So, let’s try to use this in a positive way for conservatives and the American people and whatever negatives fall on Obama as a result, well, they will be well earned.

I wonder where FEMA was hiding? Somebody ask these officials if you see them.

Thanks for the laugh, too. We need ‘em wherever we can get ‘em right now.

Thanks so much for posting it on my blog.

By the way, long time no see. I was worried about you. I assume that you escaped the flood unscathed. Anyway, it’s great to hear from you, and I’m so glad to see that you’re OK.

Take care.

X0X0, Suzi