FEMA: Find Every Mexican Available

At least that's what the Hispanic comedian George Lopez says it stands for. THEY got put to work quick after Katrina, that's for certain.

For the first time in recorded history I have nothing, and I mean NOTHING ill to say of your post Titus. How could I? Each of us (and it would seem you more than I and James) have went through some level of private and/or govt bureaucratic BS. Remember the home in Long Beach you guys helped me make "presentable" for sale? Not sold yet. Why you ask? The type of sale attempting to be conducted by me is legally termed a "short sale." It allows me to sell it for the best market price I can get after the 15K in repairs were affected, and no matter what price that is, the lien holder - Chase Manhattan - will consider the loan paid in full. Fine, it's not a bad deal. Problem is that the mounds of receipts and paperwork I have to fax in to get "approval" is endless. And by the time they send me each list of what ELSE they need, the last package of check stubs and account info has "expired" because it's now more than 3 mos old! And during the whole time - since the collections dept has no contact with the homeowners assistance division - they are reporting my monthly mortgage to the credit bureau as "unpaid" - over 24 months worth of being late on my mortgage!! Anyone want to guess what my credit score is by now? Even with all the money I'm making now I couldn't get approved to finance a down payment on a jaw breaker (as my Dad would say during his first and most costly divorce).

Sallie Mae, my student loan lien holder? Well, it's federal law that if you spend more than 6 continuous months out of school that the lender can require you to start making the notes, otherwise they aren't applicable until you graduate. I called and explained to the guy - whom undoubtedly lives in a very nice subdivision of Calcutta - that the storm impacted my ability to maintain a current credit schedule, but now 14 mos after the storm I am ready to resume my schooling and I was requesting an extension on the 6 month rule. His response, "Sir, 6 months is more than ample time to restart your education." To which I said in less than a calm tone - "My satellite campus of USM was 50 feet from the Gulf of Mexico on August 29th, 2005. The Mother F***ing school isn't there any more! Oh, I'm sorry, one front wall is still there so if you drive by real fast and blink a lot it looks like there is some sort of structure standing. Do you want to tell me where I was supposed to register? Where my first class would be at? In fact my dear Indian brother, the only problem I would NOT have were I to attend that school is finding a parking spot because the whole damn thing is a vacant lot now!"
Nothing, no answer, and sure as hell no help. And both of those were private sector malfunctions - I can only imagine dealing with the feds on a large scale. All of my charity, save one 1,200 check I got for living expenses from FEMA after the move to Las Vegas even though I applied long before, were donated by my father in IL, and cousin in AZ. My cousin works for DR Horton, a large national construction corp, and their private fund set up for Katrina victims - for which I qualified as a relative of one of their employees - cut me two checks after ONE PHONE CALL for 4,500 each, and then they gave me one of their newly built Las Vegas home's to live in for 6 months free of charge. Between that and a used car given to me by my father - which he drove out to me from Illinois God bless his soul, caused my transition to go better than others and I considered myself blessed for the good fortune.

As far as the govt's responsability after a natural disaster - I think evryone here could guess my views on govt assistance to private citizens, HOWEVER, if they are going to have these assistance programs, and publicly claim they are available - not to mention collect taxes to run them - then they sure as hell better deliver on that promise when the salt water drenched sh** hits the fan. But a 65k grant Titus? Your neighbors qualified for that? What the hell did we do wrong? We should have been all over what ever form they filled out ... he he.

I'll let you know when I get the house sold. But unless you're contemplating suicide, I wouldn't hold my breath.
Ryan.