gumbo, Bush "Rock" (per Bush), Gumbo, and tea.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/an-ill-wind/2006/08/27/1156617208715.html

.......So when Vaccarella parked his small trailer outside the White House and proceeded to cook a Cajun meal of gumbo and fried chicken on the portable stove he had brought with him, the White House sent out Don Powell, the Administration's Gulf Coast disaster co-ordinator, to chat and share some gumbo.

Then, even before Vaccarella and Powell could get stuck into the fried chicken, the summons came from Bush. The President wanted to meet Vaccarella, hear his story and offer him hope and a commitment that Bush would make sure that for the next two years his Administration would remain focused on rebuilding not just New Orleans but the whole of the battered and ruined coastal areas of Louisiana and Mississippi.

And so Bush and Vaccarella stood on the south lawn of the White House, and Vaccarella thanked Bush for seeing him and for the "millions" of trailers that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had supplied to the hundreds of thousands of people made homeless by Katrina.

"I just wish the President could have another term in Washington," he said. At which point Bush laughed and muttered "wait a minute" - perhaps realising that Vaccarella was laying it on a bit thick.

He told "Rock", as he called him, that he was the sort of "plain-speaking guy" that made Bush feel comfortable, the sort of guy that he liked visiting. Then Bush clapped Vaccarella on the back and led him into the White House for afternoon tea.

The White House has issued an eight-page "fact sheet" that sets out what the Administration has done since Katrina to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region - before a two-day visit to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast by George and Laura Bush to mark the anniversary.

for a photo-op.

Camp out in Crawford for two summers in a row and speak truth to power, and get ignored.

Two ordinary people -- two different outcomes.

"The chances are that this Rocky moment will be as good as it gets for Bush during this week of the Katrina anniversary, even if the moment was somewhat spoiled when it became known that Vaccarella is a Republican Party member, active in local politics in New Orleans, who managed to talk FEMA into lending him a trailer for the trip to Washington despite the fact that there are still Gulf Coast residents living in shelters, waiting for trailers."

Gag! Who put this crap here?

Edit: Forgot the quotation marks

here is link to whitehouse Katrina page, includes links to other pages and the "fact page". http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/katrina/

Here is a link to the ever popular "setting the record straight" page also, includes response to the August 28 Katrina videoconference complaints.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/setting-record-straight/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060302-17.html

day in and day out, negociating "blind" with no pain receptors. Irrepartable damage and no feedback.
:shrug: :banghead: