To all Gulf Coast Region members...

[Johnny Boy]

09-05-05
There is NO reason why anyone that was born on the "American Continent ( Canada, Mexico, South America. ( Any place on/in the American Continent, North or South of the Equator are "technically" Americans and can, when asked, what is your "nationallity", re-ply, "AMERICAN"!
Good Luck, Jim

You are entirely correct, but since people in Canada, are called Canadians, people in Mexico are called Mexicans, people in Brazil are called Brazilians and so on.  I see no reason why people in the  United States cant call ourselves "Americans"!  If nothing else its easier then calling ourselves, United Statesians.

[Glenn L Brown #8092]

Concur. Read post #1 again. Take the time and reflect about what you have and what they dont! They now, are just trying to survive.

My wife has a significant number of family members in that area. Most of whom got out on Sunday. Several of whom did not (at least one of which was at the superdome). Fortunately, only one is unaccounted for at this moment. There is a dynamic in the New` Orleans culture that is not understood by those in other areas. these are proud people & self-sufficient people. Theyd rather tell you they stayed voluntarily, than to admit they were too poor to leave. keep in mind many of these people are on Social security or other assistance (keep your right wing thoughts on that to yourself if you please).  

Additionally, for you kids out there that dont remember Hurricane Camille. they do. They recall waht happened and that they weathered it okay. They recall the last few evcautions, that turned out to be false alarms. Additiionally factor in the hotel costs (I was told by one person it was $1200 for 4 days.)

Think for a minute, mayor tells you to get out. But, all you have is your house and whats in it.  You can only take what you can carry. You dont have a lot of money and youve been though several false alarms. You decide to stay.Bad decision. Okay, maybe you should have left, but you didnt.

What happened afterward, borders on criminal. I think teh slow response was partially caused by teh devestation causing lack of communication. It probably wasnt about race, but it was sure about class. You cannot tell me relief would have been this slow getting to people if this was Miami, or San Franciso, or New York. Check your history. It wasnt.  Not withstanding teh current directions, the Convention center has previously been used as a shelter and people who couldnt get to teh dome reasonably expected safe haven there.  I was watching Tv when the FEMA director found out about the Convention center and was totally surprised. Shouldnt have been. Then it took them almost 24 hours before they finally thought to drop food in, when they figured out they couldnt get there by land. [I guess that what happens when you appoint someone to a job who has absolutely no qualifications to do it other than they are your friend-though as a federal governement employee Im used to that]

All that being said. This is not a political forum. If you want to offer help, or encouragement please do so, but, this should be and hopefully will be the last word on the polictical aspects of this tragedy.

If you just cant let your biases go, send em directly to me. This aint the place

Glenn L. Brown

[denise 20352]

  I fear that many well-intentioned people are going to bring hell upon themselves.  I can recall how much trouble I had with inviting a friend to stay with me, how annoying she was, and how long it took for her to finally get out and move into her own place.  I can imagine letting total strangers into the house to be a thousand times worse, if not, as you said, very dangerous.  

  Its tragic that these people lost their homes, apartments, trailers, or the cardboard boxes that they were sleeping in, but it would be more of a shame to compound the problem by throwing away your own home, security and your familys safety.

   BTW, my uncle who lives in Oklahoma took off for Lousiana with a truckload of food and supplies last week, and we havent heard from him since.  Maybe we should be careful not to make a bad sitution worse.

-denise

[Denise]

  Id like to know where the [vast] majority of Americans got their information, because I cant tell whats going on down there.  The latest I heard from the radio today is that the mayor is telling people that the CIA is going to kill him, the FEMA people are trying to cut the phone lines, and Wal-marts truckloads of bottled water were being turned away.  Given the difficulty of understanding what the simplest facts are, I dont know how anyone could speculate about the motivation.

  Its good to know that people are still blaming George Bush for all of their misfortunes, though.  At least that news is consistent.

-denise

[denise]

  Ive missed out on most of the news, too many other things to do, but I am curious about this.  Can you tell me which countries offered aid, and what they offered?

thanks

-denise

[Denise]

  Like any manager, part of Bushs job is to get blamed for everything that goes wrong.  During a big crisis like this, when even the simplest facts are confused and distorted, a person who needs someone to blame is going to shoot for the top of the ladder, and the name that they know.  Some people need to make sacrifices to help the victims, some need to assess blame, others like me are willing to admit that we dont know the facts.

-denise

[Densie]

  Sorry bout that.

  Have any of them moved in yet?

-densie

[Denise]

  Last word?  Glenn, if you wanted to cut it off there, the first sentence would have been fine.  

[Yann Saunders, 12588]

There are no weapons in our home.  Are you suggesting I should go out and buy a gun before letting anyone inside ?

Obviously there is an element of danger in inviting total strangers into your home.  But these "dangerous strangers" have NOTHING.  What we are offering them is "NEXT-TO-NOTHING" (i.e. temporary accommodation, a bed, food, a shower, a toilet).

We are less worried about the "strangers" themselves than the possible reactions of our 95percent white friends and neighbors.

[Bruce Reynolds # 18992]

Gday Yann,

Im with you.

Even if the majority of people requiring assistance are "so-called bad people", it is our duty to show them a helping hand.

If I were in the same boat, I would be greatful for a dry bed, and walls to keep the elements out, and keep my family alive and safe.

Each and everyone of us has some things that we would rather other people not see.

Bruce,
The Tassie Devil(le),
60 CDV

P.S.   I dont ask people what their political persuasion is before  inviting them inside.

[Yann Saunders, 12588]

To put things in perspective :  we have had quite a few "total strangers", albeit from our vast circle of "Cadillac acquaintances", as houseguests since we emigrated here in 1997.  Gita even asked one of them, point blank: "are you a serial killer?"  

He answered, "No!."  But he could have been lying, right ?

[David #19063]

You know, a few years ago my family let Bruce and his into our home sight unseen.

And guests dont come any stranger than Bruce!  LOL!!!  If you know what I mean? hahaha

Anyway, we tried to teach him to speak English, but we failed.

They were able to stay only two days as we were the last stop before Nationals began...we all wish they could have stayed much longer!

David

[Denise]

   There is a big difference between inviting someone in for a visit and inviting people who have nowhere else to go to stay with you indefinitely.  These people are never going to leave.  Are you going to support them for the rest of their lives?

  Its not as simple as saying, "My neighbors are bad people because they dont want Blacks here"...after a year or two of supporting these people, none of that is going to matter.  After five years?  Ten years?  Thirty years?  Will your relationship with your friends and family suffer?  Are you going to have enough space in your house for them, every day, for the rest of your life?  Maybe you wont have a bathroom either, because someone will always be in it?  Maybe theyll never help clean it?

  Maybe youre going to help them get jobs and get on their feet?  Did they have jobs and were they on their feet before?  Will they be able to get them?  Are there a million or so fewer jobs available in the country right now?  Hey, its your life, but I would stop and think this through if I were you.  

  Now Im sure that everyone thinks that Im a racist, capitalist, right-wing bigot for saying this, but I hate to see people throw their lives away.

-denise

[Bruce Reynolds # 18992]

Yann,

Gee, I am a serial killer.

I eat serial every morning for breakfast, and enjoy doing it.

Bruce,
The Tassie Devil(le).
60 CDV

[Porter 21919]

"Are to blame for the Gulf Coast devastation, we can invade a Country and impose our values on others yet we cannot evacuate our own citizens that are living in third world conditions. "

In the first place, you can blame mother nature for the hurricane. (devastation) Gulfport and Boloxi Mississippi were devastated.

In the second place, you can blame whoever was responsible for building homes on the wetlands, and building the levees to protect the building of such as if they would ever be sufficient in the longterm to contain a category "whatever" hurricane in a city that is below sea level.

New Orleans was a disaster waiting to happen, the speaker of the house, Dennis Hastert questioned the viability of rebuilding the city as it was before Katrina.

Before anyone starts pointing the finger at who is to blame or formulating opinions we should all get our facts straight, including myself.

At any rate we all realize now what an important seaport New Orleans is to the US and our oil and gas industry and our dependence on the supply of that energy and how it effects our entire country. I never knew, my heart goes out to all the people in that region.

Porter

[Charlie Baldino]

How did the engineers contain the water over 200 years ago?  Has global warming raised the ocean that much?

[william hunter]

Total population was under 2000 back then.
What is the population today???

[Sue 5125]

Is it any wonder that the French Quarter stayed for the most part high and dry?  When it was established in the 1700s, the settlers obviously chose the highest ground.  Through the years as New Orleans and surrounding area has expanded, people have built levees, drained swamps and low lying areas to create the "buildable" land.

Remember the summer of 1993 when there was terrible flooding from the Mississippi River in the upper Midwest area?  How many of those persons who were flooded out have rebuilt in the same flood-prone areas?  

For that matter, how many persons have rebuilt in Florida or the Carolinas after being wiped out by a hurricane?  Or in the mountains of California after the incredible wildfires of 2003?  Mother Nature always wins in the end!  

I had always wanted to visit New Orleans. We were very fortunate to have been able to visit there earlier this year and to have had an opportunity to enjoy the hospitality and beauty of a wonderful city.    

[Joe Abernathy #17524]

Glen,

I like the way you throw the Bush Admin. under the bus and then claim "this is not a political forum".  And now it should all end.

And Andrew claims all this aid was offered by other countries and turned away, but still hasnt offered any examples...

Typical "hit and run" liberals!

[Matt Harwood]

Glen,

I like the way you throw the Bush Admin. under the bus and then claim "this is not a political forum".  And now it should all end.

And Andrew claims all this aid was offered by other countries and turned away, but still hasnt offered any examples...

Typical "hit and run" liberals!

____________________________

Well, they did turn away Cubas 1000 doctors...

Also, Swedens offer of additional water purification equipment and communications equipment has also been rejected for some unknowable reason.

But if youre bringing in water purification equipment from Mexico and the Mexican Navy is there to help, things must be pretty dire. I certainly dont feel safer knowing that this is how an emergency is handled by the Homeland Security and FEMA folks. A lot of people dropped a lot of balls here.

On the plus side, many, many countries have sent aid that was accepted, ranging from Kuwait who sent $400,000,000 in cash and has promised $500,000,000 in oil, to Bosnia, who sent $6412.40 (or some similarly funny number).

My heart is warmed knowing that all the world hasnt turned their backs on us.
--
Matt Harwood
Cleveland, OH
My 1941 Buick Century Restoration:
http://www.harwoodperformance.bizland.com/1941buick/index.html TARGET=_blank>http://www.harwoodperformance.bizland.com/1941buick/index.html