New Orleans - Non Politically Correct View

herewegoagain wrote:

The problem with some liberals is the fact that they want to just give money out to people.

The problem with the neo-conservative mafia running this country now, is that they just want to give out OUR tax money to a few corporations. Why is that somehow better?

One of the biggest distractions that the neo-con spin machine has been able to accomplish is to get people to focus solely on how "wrong" it is to give welfare to the poor. You guys are so easily fooled!! Meanwhile all the neo-cons rich buddies are lining their pockets with YOUR tax dollars. Have you ever heard of WEALTH FARE? Look it up. There is a LOT more money spent on wealthfare than welfare.

iceman wrote:

no shite it's building codes. nj, the carolinas and florida have had them for years so many (most?) of the houses there are elevated. no had ZERO codes and is BELOW sea level. what makes no so special that it thought it could let people to continue building new homes at street level??? every other place on the eastern seaboard passed laws 20, 30 years ago prohibiting that. it makes a big freakin' difference when someone is huddling in the attic of a 1-story house and drowns when the flood water gets up into the attic versus huddling in the attic of a house that starts 1-story up. just for the record, the mayor AND governor of la are both democrats, so if you have an issue with what was and was not done, start your rant with them -- not some general spew in broken english about republicans.

Had them for years? What glue have you been sniffing? There's been efforts to put them in for years, but developers (Republicans) have been fighting them. As recently as a few years ago they fought back rules in South Carolina islands, and they fought against them in coastal North Carolina after Floyd. NO had building codes, which shows you're an idiot. New buildings were elevated, using the first floors for parking. Inside the main perimeter of NO there weren't many new residential structures, many one the ones that flooded dated from the 40's and 50's (the one stories) before codes were in place in NO (or most anywhere else). As recently as last month here in North Carolina Republicans were fighting building codes and zoning saying it'd drive up costs for the "poor" (they were building sub-divisions of $300,000 homes). That was a weeks ago, so don't play dumb and blame lack of building codes and zoning on Democrats.

Since you're apparently ignorant of that (as well as the English language), I'll also point out that while indeed the mayor of NO and governor of LA were Democrats, they didn't build the houses and weren't there pre-code days anyway. The point was the examples you used (jersey and carolina shores) were prime examples of Republicans fighting codes and zoning and Democrats pushing FOR them. A classic case of Democrats fighting for the common good, Republicans fighting for the personal pocketbook. Very personal. Unless you've had your head in the sand for 30 years you'd know the basic tenant of the Republican party is "I can f**k over anyone a want without government interferance as long as it's for a profit".

It's dishonest to claim that we do anything alone. At some point, we've all been dependent on someone else to survive. The story of doing it alone is a fantasy that shows a lack of introspection.

All this talk about resenting leeches isn't ground in anything real. There's a disproportionate amount of anger expressed towards people who benefit little from your paycheck. This frustration would better be placed in decrying the hefty contracts that benefit connected corporations like Halliburton. Christ, some posters are sweating the fact that people who've lost next to everything are getting 2,000 bucks. 2,000 bucks isn't getting anyone very far. If anything, it's not nearly enough.

It's hard to pull yourself up by the bootstratps if you don't have any boots...

The moral learned from 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina is if you are going to have some hardship fall on you in life, make damn sure thousands of others are impacted as well. Then a congress trying to look good for the voters will send tons of money at the problem.

ttc wrote:

Before I started my mortgage, I stayed in a 1st floor apartment that suddenly flooded due to a damaged foundation, forcing me to new residence on the fly. I don't remember anyone coming to my aid and helping me out. I also don't think there'd be aid if someone's car in here was stolen and/or their company downsized. Aren't there plenty of age 20-somes full-time employees living at home because the world out there is so tough for making a decent living? Who's helping them?

Save lives, get the safety back, but let the people get on their own 2 feet. That same group would say 'tough luck' to anyone else down on their luck. I say unless someone has been a proven donator to people in need, then let them get on their feet by themselves.

drunk mike wrote:

The moral learned from 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina is if you are going to have some hardship fall on you in life, make damn sure thousands of others are impacted as well. Then a congress trying to look good for the voters will send tons of money at the problem.

Mike, You don't seem so drunk to me. I agree. With NY carrying so many electorates and LA so few, if the terrorist attack had taken place in LA & the hurricane in NY, do you think the distribution of aid would have been any different in terms of amount and timeliness?

You help New Orleans because if you don't it will have a negative impact on all of us;Economically, Socially and to our enviorment. WE don't live in a vacum, what happens to others will affect us.

The loss of those tax/tourism dollars and production will affect our income as a nation and the prices of local good. Those poor displaced people will invariably move to our states where barring help they will prove a bigger long term drain on our states.

If we don't help the cleanup those chemicals and pollutants will find there way here. IT is in all of our best interests to help the region.

i have been sniffing the glue of new jersey and south carolina. i was actually on kiawah last week. it's strange EVERY house there starts 1 floor above the street and there are no dumps there as it doesn't get any more "republican" or "wealthy" than there. new houses? old houses? they all start 1 story above the street. nj shore? we used to rent a house out on the beach on lbi in the early 1980s. surprise, it started 1 story above street -- as did every other house going up. if you manage to get to kiawah or lbi, do me a favor and look around. you will see a whole lot of houses that start 1 story up. i have been to no twice and have seen countless hours of footage on tv and i have not seen 1 house raised above the street level. do you mean to tell me that every house there is at least 50 years old and grandfathered out of no's housing code that requires elevation? i doubt it.

i also like how you like to make this a democratic/republican issue. it is not a partisan issue. my parents own a place on kiawah (1 story above the street) and when they built it they weren't like, "damn those republicans for making us build our house 1 story up so if it floods our house won't be ruined." also, housing codes are a local issue -- not state or federal, so if your beloved democrats were the driving force behind them, how can a place like kiawah, which is wealthy and republican, have them, but a place like no, which is less wealthy and democratic (eg, the mayor) fail to put them in place. get off the liberal high horse and give me a break about a "classic case of Democrats fighting for the common good." would you then call your democratic mayor and governor, when they told the federal government to shove it on the first monday, told wal-mart to hold off on the water delivery, ignored the 200 school buses that could have been used for evacuation, and held up the la national guard instant classics or just regular classics cases of democrats fighting for the common good. this horrible situation has zero to do with partisan politics.

When you chose to build and live in a city that is 10-20 ft. below sea level and you ignore a mandatory evacuation order 2 days in advance of the storm hitting, all able body people that stayed behind lose any sympathy from me. If you want to rebuild there, do it with your own money, not my tax dollars.

Geraldo Rivera, of whom I am not a fan, helped some elderly out of one building, aiding the local rescue teams. I recall an instance of seeing him helping a wheelchair bound woman down a flight of stairs with another rescuer.

Like him or not, he did contribute.

Of course there's alway Sean "bail bail bail" Penn.

*You* need to read the Constitution

BarryP wrote:

However, if I lose the ENTIRE WORLD THAT I KNOW...including friends, family, schools, jobs, neighbors, house, car, pets, etc......the federal government better damn well step in and do its friggin' job!!

What you need to get straight is that *you* can't protect yourself from terrorists. *You* can't protect community from hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes. *You* can't prevent a foreign nation from invading us. *You* can't build a school. *You* can't build a highway. *You* can't build a hospital. This is exactly why *WE* pool our resources as a society to help out for the greater good.......unless you think all that tax money would be better spent as a slush fund for Bush's cronies.

Capt. cupcake wrote:

When you chose to build and live in a city that is 10-20 ft. below sea level and you ignore a mandatory evacuation order 2 days in advance of the storm hitting, all able body people that stayed behind lose any sympathy from me. If you want to rebuild there, do it with your own money, not my tax dollars.

Yea, they should have jumped in their federally subsized Hummer, filled up at the tax-abated Exxon station, and turned it in to an extended vacation.

Stoneman lives! Where ya been, man?

Cooter, M.D. wrote:

Stoneman lives! Where ya been, man?

Fighting the good fight old friend.

I have learned a lot about the socio-economic system in America. I had similar views in regards to lower income families. (Its not my problem; they should work harder, etc) You have no idea. Many of these people are put in situations less fortunate to others. They do not choose it. That is why we have people with hearts. Willing to do what it takes to make sure that less people are in these situations. The goal of health and human service organizations is not only to help in the time of need, but to find root causes for poverty and low economic ways of life in these communities.

That is not the point here. The point is that this is a major catastrophy. It can happen in Cali from a quake, in the midwest from tornados, in coastal areas from hurrcanes; the list goes on. It is our civic responsibility to build strong communities wherever we live. It is out responsibility now to help the displaced people and also the infrastructure of this these towns!

1) I was a social worker in some very poor areas of New Orleans, so I know how many of those people are on welfare.

2) I don't care how much money I would save by cutting welfare. I care about the people that have become dependent on government money and will never break free. They will be poor and angry their entire lives.

3) Bush is not a budget cutter. No conservative would say that. I don't even think he's really a conservative. What does it matter, anyway? I didn't say anything about Bush in my original post.

Wow, the ignorance behind many of these posts, especially the ttc guy starting this thread blows me away. I mean I know I should be use to this level of intelligence, but man....unbelievable.

And of course many of these people are probably "Christians," did they even listen to what that Jesus guy was saying, you know that whole love your fellow man stuff.

Show some heart bastards.

Politically INcorrect view?