The evacuees in the shelter in the People's Republic of Austin were pleased to see the Vice President of the United States.

At the convention center, where some 1,500 evacuees remained Saturday, Cheney met briefly with 23-year-old Telisha Diaz, who told him she spent four days at the New Orleans convention center before being brought to Austin a week ago.

"It's overwhelming that the state of Texas is giving so much, just giving us everything — jobs, food," Diaz told the vice president, who was surrounded by local officials and congressmen.

Cheney said Diaz's sentiments of gratitude were echoed by all of the evacuees he had spoken with in the two weeks since the hurricane pummeled Gulf Coast communities in Louisiana and Mississippi. He applauded Texas' response to the disaster and the outpouring of support from the state's leaders and residents.

"I was impressed with the caliber of the effort that was mounted here, and it's a good place to come learn some valuable lessons," Cheney said.

But for about two dozen residents of the state's officially designated sanctuary city for endangered socialists, it was an opportunity to take a national tragedy and expolit it for political purposes, chanting "Cheney, Cheney, you can't hide, we charge you with genocide.".

While the evacuees seemed to appreciate Cheney's visit, protesters saw it as an opportunity to voice frustration over a Halliburton Co. subsidiary's involvement in emergency repairs at Gulf Coast naval and Marine facilities.

Cheney headed Halliburton from 1995 to 2000, and Democrats have questioned whether the company has gotten favorable treatment because of his connection.

"Cheney is profiteering off of murder," said 36-year-old Debbie Russell of Austin, who flashed an obscene gesture at the vice president when he waved at her and other protesters as he got into his vehicle.

Nice show of class, Debbie. You seem to have ignored the fact that the company was the low bidder for the contract whenit was awarded over a year ago.

Posted by: Greg at 02:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 340 words, total size 2 kb.