Just thought that I would personally thank all of you from around the world for the support that has been offered, and given, to my fellow citizens who have been greatly affected by Hurricane Katrina. Since this forum is hugely popular and read worldwide, this seemed like a good place to post at least one "Thank You" note.Too often, we Yankees are prone to saying that "We help everyone else, but they never help us!". Well, you have proven us wrong on that! The outpouring of support in the wake of this mess has been very heartening to see, and will not be forgotten. On the other hand, I would also like to share the sense of distress that many of us here in the States have regarding the actions of some of our fellow citizens whose behaviour has been, well, shall we say, less than stellar. Some of the scenes of looting, burning, and God knows what else have been hard to watch. We like to hold ourselves to a high standard, and this is not what we have had in mind. I assure you all that most of my fellow countrymen are much more like the wonderfull rescuers, volunteers, soldiers, and charity workers that you see on your TV's.One other note. Many of us here have watched in horror at what certainly seems to have been a lousy first response to this crisis. I am sure that few of us expected to see some of the things that happened in New Orleans. I hope we learn from this disaster and get our act together before the next big event happens, whatever it may be. I just bet some of you are wondering how these things could happen in America. Well, WE ARE TOO !! Anyhow, thanks from the bottom of our hearts. We owe you a big one.Todd

would also like to share the sense of distress that many of us here in the States have regarding the actions of some of our fellow citizens whose behaviour has been, well, shall we say, less than stellar. Some of the scenes of looting, burning, and God knows what else have been hard to watch. We like to hold ourselves to a high standard, and this is not what we have had in mind. Well.. the media was focusing on the .00001% of the looters and diverting the attention of some folks away from the the 99.99999% of the folks who were suffering. Like some punk carrying away a $200 TV from wallmart which would have perished in the storm anyway was the big story of that day.too bad.

Greetings Todd!The Americans have always been VERY generous to my country (The Netherlands) and others, when we found ourselves in dire circumstances. So I think of my modest contributions not so much as just giving something, but as actually giving something BACK.If you state "we owe you a big one", I can only reply: "WE owe YOU a far bigger one"!Oh dear oh dear, let's not have this thread deteriorate into a "mine is bigger than yours" discussion (wide and wicked grin)!Be well!Jaap Verduijn.

indeed,just get your country going again,and New Orleans and the other cities/states back to normal.that'll be the best reward for all that helped and help out.we'll keep you in our thoughts and prayers in any case.as for the looting bit,the people were desperate,and i'm not going to condemn any of them,who knows what we would've done given the circumstances.cheersJP.

Todd makes a good point about our lousy first response. I am Operations Manager for a radio group and we got so frustrated with it we took matters into our own hands. We asked our listeners to help out... and they did. We filled 14 semi trucks full of water and supplies and my morning guys drove down with it to make sure it didn't end up in some warehouse. Their journey has been rocky (flat tires, $4 a gallon gas) but they are there and helping. Their blog is quite an interesting chronicle. You can check it out here - http://923krst.com That's the beauty of America. If we don't like how things are going we roll up our sleeves and do it ourselves. EddieKABQ