OK, enough self-congratulations. Hurray, we really did it right this time. No stranded souls on roof tops. No abandoned citizens outside of the Convention Center. And the levees held. It is so obvious that we learned every necessary lesson from that last disaster. Aren’t we wise?

Nope, folks. Truth is, we got lucky this time. The levees barely held — as you saw on every channel — and this one was only a category two. Was it just me, or did that thin little levee holding back the storm surge look pathetic?

By the way, check out this picture I found of Geraldo saving our city. He’s the little one.

Yes, the evacuation went pretty well, even though everyone I know has some sort of horror story about the pace of traffic. Still, they got the people out this time.

But FEMA still sucks. Don’t ask me why. I just feel it.

As long as FEMA remains some sort of subsidiary of Homeland Security, it will be lost among all the anti-terrorist BS of that department. Just look at the Homeland Security website. Somewhere on that sloppy page you may be able to find FEMA.

Now there is all sorts of confusion about who will get reimbursed for hotels, how they will be reimbursed, what constitutes a home that is unlivable. Is it simply having no power? Does the home have to be damaged? Who gets da money?

Evacuating is expensive, folks. Gas, hotel, food. If Ike had come this way, a whole lot of people would have stayed home this time. Lessons learned from Katrina? I think not.

FEMA: pay up, pay everybody, and make sure that we can evacuate again next week if necessary. For those of you who cringe from this and call it socialism, I say it is the bare minimum a government can do for its people.

See this video of thousands waiting in the heat for food stamps.

The people of New Orleans are the best in the world. Look at the resilience, the smiles. We deserve better.

Let’s have some music. Below, some blues from Professor Longhair. I made a stop in the Mississippi Delta while returning from evacuation, and it got me in a blues mood.