A PLEAD FOR HELP...AND IT'S ON THE WAY

The Times-Picayune front page this morning looks like one of those fundraising solicitations from World Vision International. But the picture is not from Haiti or the African continent; it's from New Orleans, Louisiana.

But in the midst of despair, there are still people who can give thanks for life today. One of them is 77 year old musician Fats Domino, who rode out the hurricane in his Lower Ninth Ward home and apparantly rescued by boat.

Domino, who is best known for his classic R&B hit "Blueberry Hill", had been reported missing since Monday by his longtime agent and his niece. But his daughter said she noticed a picture in the Times-Picayune of him apparantly being helped off a boat by rescuers.

Meanwhile, National Guard troops from across the country have arrived to put an end to the lawlessness that has prevailed in the city since the storm passed Monday.

According to CNN, A fed-up Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco warned the lawbreakers that extra troops have already arrived in the city, and others are on the way -- and "they're locked and loaded."
She said Thursday night that 300 soldiers from the Arkansas National Guard had arrived -- "fresh back from Iraq."

"These are some of the 40,000 extra troops that I have demanded," Blanco said. "They have M-16s, and they're locked and loaded ... I have one message for these hoodlums: These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so if necessary, and I expect they will."

Those troops will likely have to take over policing duties for many of the city's officers, up to 20 percent of whom in some precincts simply stopped showing up for work.