i dont want to be that jerk but....
 

I think that every one stuck in their attics deserve to be left there so they learn a lesson, that when told to evacuate they should.

NOW we have to spend even more money to rescue their sorry asses. Now if they wernt warned and told to evacuate, i wouldnt care, but they dont listen and then they think that they deserve to be rescued.

if they want to be rescued, they should have to pay the rescue bill.

end of my rant anyone elses opinions ?

now im not this huge jerk who thinks my wy is the only way, but why should you and i have to foot the bill for these people who dont listen. i cant feel bad for these people who died that stayed when they were told to leave. plus everyone knows its below sea level so wf did they expect

I am going to have to agree. I am all for saving those who are caught off guard, and didn't see it coming, but if your told to leave, you have plenty of time, then leave. In a flood there is nothing you can do to save your possessions unless you pack them and LEAVE. The same goes for any idiot who tries to climb a mountain and gets stuck, and has to be rescued and often times puts the lives of the rescuers in danger as well.

I saw some of the footage and those houses are completely covered up to the tops of the roof. Even if your saved, where do you go with water that high?

I do know from experience that if you choose to travel on roads that are closed by the proper authorities in Canada, your car and personal liability insurance is null and void. People constantly drive on roads when closed due to bad weather (Canada, come on, the blizzards are crazy here sometimes) holding onto excuses like 'I have to get to work' or 'my _______ is expecting me home' but what they don't realize is that they are taking their lives and gambling with them...

If I have to rescue someone AFTER they have been given the lawful order to evacuate, be damn sure that I want some money for my troubles. Having said that, I AM willing to go into the pits of hell and rescue some dumbass that didn't get it the first 10 times he was warned. It makes me feel good, knowing that I saved someone's life, even if they foolishly put it at risk.

I get to look in the mirror and say "Without you, that guy would have died..." :thumbsup:

I agree to a certain extent...lets just remember there are cases where people just cant leave. That said....I also have little sympathy for people that buy houses in areas prone to hurricanes or tropical storms that do a lot of damage.

Hell we are in NORTH GEORGIA and it has gotten to were ever time there is a hurricane we have to worry about tornados and flooding...I had to listen to tornado sirens for an hour last nite....and worry that I was going to have to play dorothy to my cats role as toto....stuipid hurricanes (sorry I know that has nothing to do with the topic at hand but I just thought I'd throw it in)

But if you don't stay around you miss out on all the good looting.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...083000848.html

It seems that some people actually stayed around to loot!!

correct me if im wrong but this one instance everyone had a chance to leave?

having the chance to leave, and having the ability to leave are two different things

I'm mixed on the whole thing...

My favourite story though was of the guy who used a shotgun to blast a hole in his roof so he could get out of his attic... That's just so American.

Before we get on our collective high horse and sit here in our safe, warm, dry houses condemning those who have just lost every possession they own, let's sit down and think for a moment shall we?

New Orleans has a LOT of poverty. Many in that town do not have a car. Or if they do have one they cannot afford to fuel it or to fix it. Assuming they found a magic carpet to get them out of town, they cannot afford to pay for a motel, or for meals in restaurants since they won't have a kitchen. In short, they do not have the ability to leave.

And even those that do have the ability have to weigh their options. Do I leave so I don't possibly wind up on a roof waiting for a chopper, or do I stay so I can try and protect my house and all that I own from the inevitable looters?

I can see being pissed at the idiots who were surfing in the waves kicked up by the hurricane, but to be pissed at people for not taking options that are not available to them is ludicrous.

I'm with Shakran on this one, couldn't have worded it better myself. Let's remember these are humans we are talking about, who cares how much has to be spent to save lives.

If it's more than one human life spent to save a human life, then it's too much.

Personally, I would have asked myself why the hell it was so quite around there . . . . .

The guys pulling people off their roof aren't dying. What are you talking about?

What's so American? Fighting for survival? I agree, it's an admirable trait.

Well said.

i agree with you.,

harsh,,, but i agree..

darwinism baby

ween out the stupid

That is what I would likely wrestle with. In the end though I suspect I would go. Not much point in risking my life for an underwater house.

protect myself from looters is really silly. What would be the point? if it missed everyone would be back, 12 foot of water who cares is they take my eletronics. take yoru damn jewerly with you. looters are going after busnesses not individual houses.

even if you stayed there and your house was the only house that wasnt hit you wouldebt be able to protect against "looters" 1 of you or 2 or more with kids versus 10 15 who would win

*stays on high horse*

You addressed one point (and the smallest one might I add) in my post. Your perch on your high horse is rather tenuous at best.

Arizona has an interesting law that is along the lins of pattycakes' thinking. It doesn't apply to people who stay behind after an evacuation, but rather to drivers.

It's called the "Stupid Motorists Law." The way it works is if the athourities determine it necessary to close a road (most often here it's because a section is underwater from a flash flood), and the motorist ignores the warning and then later is stranded and needs rescue, the stranded motorist must pay for the rescue.

I personally like the law in regards to motorists, if you see a blockade and a sign that says, "Road flooded, do not enter," and then drive around the blockade and get stranded in the flooded road, then it's your own damn fault that you need to be rescued, the taxpayers shouldn't be forced to fund your rescue.

But in the case of staying at home after an evacuation, there would need to be more to a law like that. There would need to be a clause along the lines of, if you do not evacuate or are unable to evacuate and you decline an offer from the state or government to help you relocate, then and only then would you be required to fund your own rescue.

I agree with the fact that some people couldn't leave. I think the point here is the idiots who CHOOSE to stay. They are usally the first to bitch that no one came to save their sorry ass. The people who couldn't leave are usually grateful for whatever help they get.

Up here in Michigan (and I'm sure in other places where ice fishing is possible) Darwin nominees constantly have to be rescued from the ice despite repeated warnings of thin ice. They must think "those warnings are for inexperienced fishermen"

A few years ago the state passed a law that anyone who had to be rescued after the warnings were issued would get charged for the rescue. And it still happens several times a year.

1. they could be safe in a warm dry hotel
2. their personal kitchen will be under water so no go
3.If transportation is an issue there should be a law that during an evacuation public transportation MUST provide free rides.
( i think i read somewhere abour transportation but i cant find it right now )

If no transportation would be provided at all then yes those ppl should be rescued,

BUT if they just chose to stay... F-EM

link
this is all i could find, but it appears that they have \ had \ should have had this plan in affect

similar link

there was also 10 last resort shelters
link

Paid for how?


They didn't know that - remember, the flooding is somewhat of a surprise and only happened because the levees failed.


Hey, I agree, but if there isn't one, or if the public transportation system can't handle anywhere close to the number of people it would need to in order to get them out, then we shouldn't be too angry at those who can't leave, now should we?



It's amazing to me that the group that is most villified here are the victims. What the hell is wrong with a society which expresses more indignation over this group than over the looters and price gougers?

i believe that they sit 7 feet below sea level so it should be assumed that with a cat 5 there will be flooding, i rember hearing the worst case on the news. maybe it was to late for them to hear it, but we dont know because we wernt there

i dont like the looters, but oh well nothing we can do is there? nothing that the coast guard wants to do or the officers

Im not mad at those that " had to stay" just pissed at those who chose then act like we owe them to save em

How could you not leave? What's so hard about running for your life?

Look, people have bad judgement sometimes. Doesn't mean I want them to drown in their attics. The penalty seems a little out of line with the crime, if you ask me.

I can't claim to fully understand the motives of those who stayed behind. My guess is that poverty had a lot to do with it, as has been mentioned above. People just don't have the means to sustain themselves outside of their homes. There's also the surprise factor. After all, how much do you guys trust weathermen. :)

For me, I realize that I'm in a completely different social class. I don't have 2 jobs just to make ends meet, and being for the most part a white 26 year old male, haven't been in too many situations where the system has failed me. I have time to sit here pondering the issues and to post my thoughts on the internet. I think that goes for more than a few of us here. Therefore I can't fully understand the motives behind staying behind, but I would err on the side of "they've got good reasons even though I can't empirically understand what they are."

Could it be that the offer of rescue is received with mistrust? Also, for the poor, the question of whether to stay and defend your property, no matter how waterlogged it might be, is a more important and relevant one than many of us here make it out to be.

In short, things aren't as simple as they seem, and there are more important things to do than lay blame on those who made the potentially wrong choice of staying behind.

well when their radar and satellites show a category 5 hurricaine, and they tell me its headed right for my town, I would think that they know what they are talking about....

i'm sure anyone would have the means to go to one of the shelters set up around the city... walk a few blocks to the damn super dome if you have to. it's sad that people are dying for their stupid mistakes.

Yes, you are right Bagezio2. I was, however, joking!

Two things to add to this thread:

First: George Bush appears to agree with you. Massive flooding in major US cities, people trapped and dying, and he's <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050830/480/capm10208301856">playing guitar with a country singer on a naval base</a>. Nice.

Second: This was posted on boingboing.net this morning, from an email attributed to a NOLA rescue worker:

<blockquote>The poorest 20% (you can argue with the number -- 10%? 18%? no one knows) of the city was left behind to drown. This was the plan. Forget the sanctimonious bullshit about the bullheaded people who wouldn't leave. The evacuation plan was strictly laissez-faire. It depended on privately owned vehicles, and on having ready cash to fund an evacuation. The planners knew full well that the poor, who in new orleans are overwhelmingly black, wouldn't be able to get out. The resources -- meaning, the political will -- weren't there to get them out.

White per capita income in Orleans parish, 2000 census: $31,971. Black per capita: $11,332. Median *household* income in B.W. Cooper (Calliope) Housing Projects, 2000: $13,263. </blockquote>

C'mon rat...cut the guy some slack, wouldja? He is, afterall, still on vacation...not?

Relax... don't get your stars and stripes in a bunch.

Have you never seen a Hollywood film? The hero, when trapped in an attic with rapidly rising water will always blast his way out onto the roof.

It is an American stereotype. The hero and his big gun.


Had he used an axe it wouldn't have been as funny...

Rat, it has struck me that in alot of the pictures and video I've seen, the people being rescued and fleeing the area are black. I'm not one to believe in conspiracies, but dang.

It is in situations like these were you can learn a lot about your fellow man.
Who acts with intelligence and who with ignorance and foolishness.
Who shows themselves to be caring and who greedy and selfish.
It's also good for pointing out the jerks.

I dunno rat, I think you are stretching a bit with the whole "Racist hurricane / hurricane planning" thing.

Okay, the poor are left to fend for themselves. That sucks.
The rich have not made arrangements to protect their fellow man. That sucks.
The government has not planned for evacuating the poor. That is stupid.

To say that it is a black/white thing? No, I am not going to follow you down that road.
How about we look at the voter turnout in those areas? Maybe the government is ignoring those that ignore them...

Hate to burst your bubble here, but 70% of NO's population is african american, so yes, the majority of the poor are black.

And I, for one, am disgusted at the level of inconsiderate, childish ranting on this board about how it is people's own falut.

People did evacuate to high-rise hotels, they still died.

There was only a 18-36hr evacuation notice. I was in the area last weekend before the storm hit. The highways were parking lots when I was trying to get home. Some people decided to stay that could have left, but many people couldn't evacuate, had no means to evacuate, or had special needs that prevented them from evacuating.

Some folks were miles inland (read: above sea level), yet the water still killed them. A 30ft storm surge will cover miles of land.

And yes, we do owe it to those people stuck in their attics and on their roofs to save them. They are humans, like you, like me.

Is this what it is about to you? money? you make me sick to my stomach.

The dead have not even begun to be counted and the toll is at 100. Don't be suprised if it passes 1,000.

This storm touched many more than you will know. Left thousands familyless and more than a million homeless. You have no consideration what so ever.

This is a disaster of proportions this country has never experienced. We should be coming together with our prayers and thoughts and doing whatever we can to help those poor, unfortunate souls. and all you can think about is how they deserve to die.

excuse me while I throw up.

maybe he doesn't own an ax. Did the shotgun save his life? ok, he made the right decision. I know in canada, lots of people have axes, they have fireplaces and need to split wood. he might not own an ax. I'm sure he didn't take the shotgun for the cool factor. He took it because it's a life saving tool.

One more thing. The superdome was opened to the needy and immobile. They took 9,000 people, and could have taken 30,000. Therefore: THEY HAD A PLAN AND PLACE FOR THE POOR TO BE SAFE

Oh my God... would you just look at that mole hill over there? No, no... not that mountain you are staring at... the mole hill right next to it...

I get it. Its not that big of a deal. And maybe I came off a bit harsher than I meant to. I suppose I was still worked up over the previous posts. Sorry if I took it out on you.

Listen to the Hamburger... he speaks the truth...

Agreed. I've been known to stay in a hurricane zone after evacuation was recommended, myself. For all we know, some of the people who stayed did so because they doubted it'd be worse than Camille...

Acctually, I was told about the levee situation 1.5 days before shit went down, and i live in colorado....

and now for my meaningless opinion, i guess im one of the "childish" ranters, heres why:

1. New Orleans residents chose to live there, knowing the hurricane risk. Personally, I dont think it is wise to live somwhere prone to natural disasters. And i understand that somtimes "shit happens", however, upon choosing to live in a
disaster area, dont you think it is wise to prepare yourself for evacuation at a moments notice.... If you are incapable of leaving during an evacuation, you should have probably found time to move previous to the hurricane.
2.I'm not going to worry about other people who refuse to worry about themselves. Otherwise, ill get caught not looking out for myself and i try to avoid that sort of thing. It may be selfish, but it is the truth. Its fighting an uphill battle.
One side of me feels this way^^^^^^^......and i can understand where you are coming from, ppl who feel that way.....

BUT
Try to think of it this way:
the other side(the much more dominate side) feels bad for all the victims of the hurricane, because i do stupid things all the time for no real reason. And if if i, lets say, was streaking a football game, and upon jumping the fence ripped my dick off, i would want somone to help me!!!!!! even if i was being a complete idiot.....

Oh, you mean after he requested to be flown to New Orleans to survey the damage on Air Force One and after he cut his vacation to fly back to DC to issue recovery efforts. Both of these had happened before you posted that. :)

-Lasereth

Well, let's see. The midwest and upper midwest are prone to tornados, as is the south.

The west coast gets earthquakes.

Montana, Minnesota, and upper states on the east coast get killer blizzards.

The east coast and southern coasts get hurricanes.

Arizona and New Mexico get crushing droughts. So does Texas.

So far pretty much the only state that's habitable under your guidelines is Colorado (although you get droughts too, and if you live in the mountains you have to worry about rockslides). And now that all 260+ million people in the US have to move to Colorado in order to satisfy your safety requirements, Colorado's gonna turn into an overcrowded cesspool.

Next suggestion? ;)





Tell ya what. If you can pull this off I'll give you a new car. Once somewhere in the south is rebuilt, move down there. Get a job that pays you 11,000 a year. Throw out any savings you had before you got the new job, because if you wanna be accurate here you have to start with the same nothing those people started with. Get a family, kids, and all the expenses that come with it. Don't cheat on your taxes either. Now, with the vast sums of money you have left, I want you to buy a car, and a new house somewhere far inland where you won't get hit by this stuff. Don't forget that when you apply for a job in the city your new luxury cardboard box is located, you can't list any real job skills, because a lot of those guys don't have any. So if you can manage to move out of your abject poverty to a safe place without stealing anything to do it, I'm very impressed.



So. . .which side of the fence are you really on here?

No good.
Wild fires could pose a problem. Let's all leave. Last one out, turn off the lights.

Shakran beat me to it, but every state in the US is prone to some sort of natural disaster. As far as people living in hurricane prone areas...do you eat seafood? Use oil? Ever taken a cruise? Ever enjoyed a hotel near the beach? Used a seaweed based product? (types of gelatin, toothpaste, and fertilizer are among its many uses) The people working in these industries live on the coast...they don't commute hundreds of miles to work.

*grin* Good point!

Stevo. A tip of the hat to you friend. This needs to be said again.

I think the problem for me with this is i think for myself......

not how society would want me to think.

So this sounds like you're saying that those who sympathize with those left behind don't think for themselves? Just clarifying.

Actually, he was honoring veterans on V-J day. Do you think he should have been out in a helicopter, hauling people from roofs?

At least he wasn't ignoring a major event due to being in the middle of a blow job, like his predecessor.

I assume you're talking about the 93 WTC bombing? Clinton ignored that because he hoped the terrorists would go away. Not because of a blowjob. To suggest such implies either a vacuous misunderstanding of recent history or a petty attack that could be valid if it weren't cheapened by idiotic low blows.

And this honoring veterans crap - sorry, that was a feel-good "let's try to get his pathetic numbers up" move, and it was not appropriate considering the number of his citizens who were dead and dying in the wake of the hurricane.

Or better said--"Nothing to add to this thread of value."

You don't want a president doing anything on the scene at times like these--the local manpower detailed to protect him is better used doing something useful. I thought that about Clinton when he'd go on the scene of a disaster, and I thought the same thing about Bush at the scene of the WTC in 2001--those working on the security detail would be better used elsewhere.





And since it was the BLACK mayor that delayed in calling for a mandatory evacuation--Saturday's call was for voluntary, it wasn't until Sunday that it became mandatory--the note you chose to share with us must put him and his administration in the conspiracy.

0 for 2 on this one.

NO what i am saying is that almost everything we know as a whole is fed to us through some sort of media. we got \ get all our facts from the internet and the news and the put a spin on it good or bad and usually people agree with what they say, or they just get scared into believeing.

as much as i want to say 911, i wont thats a whole different thread, but i will make the point of this.

there are two pictures one of some black people looting, and one of some white people "fighting to survive or something" both from different sources but still, they are both looting taking food or clothes is looting no matter how you look at it

AND you are damn right i dont sympathize for those left behind.
1. people left lost there houses - i sympathize
2. people left didnt lose their houses lost crap because of looting - i sympathize
3. people who went to the last resort places i believe there were ten, and died - i sympathize
4.people who chose to stay behind because they did it before, because they didnt think they would drown - i dont sympathize
5. people who are looting - dont sympathize
6. PEOPLE STUCK IN HOSPITALS - I sympathize

If you look at my list i am not an irational jerk. i believe there are some things that can be done better, and some things that were done the right way.

I humbly disagree. Even if you think the people who chose to stay behind were stupid (and some of them were - most of them were not, because they had no choice) that does not mean they should not have your sympathy. They have still lost everything they ever owned, many have lost loved ones, and most will be ruined and homeless, possibly for the rest of their lives.

And by saying that you have no sympathy for them because you think what they did was stupid implies that you feel intellectually superior to them. In other words, you seem to think you have never done anything stupid. Since pretty much no one can claim that, I humbly suggest that you rethink your attitude. Even if you do something stupid, that doesn't mean I won't feel bad for you when you get hurt by it. Your lack of ability to feel compassion for those whom you deem to be not up to your standards is somewhat disturbing.

The original post is pretty inconsiderate.

Keep in mind that there was also a lack of funding (resources $$) for hurricane and flood-control in the New Orleans area despite 2004 being the worst hurricane season in decades. The federal govt. actually decided to cut spending with the steepest reduction in NO history.. More money is going to Iraq. Smart. :T

You can read more about funding issues here: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/ea..._id=1001051313

You are forgetting one thing noone had to stay in their houses there were shelters set up for them to go to where they would have a better chance of survival than if they stayed at home.

I in NO WAY none what so ever feel intellectually superior. if i was to do something stupid i would have to pay the concequences.

ie. stay in attic drown... learned my lesson wont be doing that again

I dont feel compassion for people because of their, ( you would say poor judgement) stupidity to stay behind. If i was there as a rescuer you bet i would rescue everyone, but would i agree with the reasons. NO

I feel sorry for the familes of the idiots who stayed behind ( And no one had to stay in their homes) that is the biggest bunch of bullshit and im so sick and tired of that being everyones point. There were busses taking people to the superdome and 9 other shelters of last chance. ( the superdome is the only one i could find named on the list)

The city of New Orleans really dropped the ball here. They had NO emergency plan. Yesterday I was in a hospital waiting room all day (waiting for my sister to give birth) and watched CNN for 10 hours. Shepard Smith was reporting from the main highway that comes into New Orleans, where thousands of people were leaving the city. Every single one was black, and no one had been told what do do or where to go. Funny how all the white people were evacuated and the black people were left to fend for themselves....

its funny how the mayor is black and still everyone thinks that thre black people were left to fend for themselves
http://www.citymayors.com/mayors-pic..._ray_nagin.jpg
edit* as if this was all planned to kill all of the black people in new orleans
hell if they are going to do that whjy not giveallt he black people in the usa a free trip there so they can all die?

haha now i believe in no way were the black people left to die, nor do i believe that they wernt told so they would die. no do i believe in racism so only thing we can believe is WHAT THE MEDIA TELLS US.

I just got an email from a very good friend of mine who lives in Louisiana - thankfully about 5 hours north of NO, and was spared completely. She had kin who has not been so lucky. She had an Aunt, Uncle, and cousin who lived in Gulfport, Miss - and no matter how much the family begged and pleaded with them to go to a shelter -they opted not to go - because "it just won't be that bad". Her other uncle in that area, opted to go to a shelter.

No one had heard from the aunt uncle or cousin for a few days -- the uncle who went to the shelter left the shelter today and went by the other relatives house today - there was no house -- blown clean away to the foundation... Her uncle's body was found in a tree - the aunt and cousin are still missing but not much hope is held out for them to still be alive... There are apparantly 300 or more bodies that have washed up on the beaches there...

I am heartsick for my friend, that she has not only lost her relatives, but that she did everything in her power to get them to leave... It also makes be incredibly angry that because of the obstinance of these people, that they are now dead, and are causing my friend, who is the kindest person in the world, pain she shouldn't have to experience. Had they left and gone with the other uncle - they'd still have a pretty good chance at being alive...

It's amazing that you can turn my statement that that a parade of 1000's of black people leaving New Orleans on the highway is in some way a racist plot of kill all the minorities in the city. I don't think it is a conspiracy, but when I see and hear person after person after person say that it's utter chaos, no one knows what to do or where to go, and no relief is making its way to those people, what am I supposed to think?

both...im world wide.....no wait.... im just wide

:thumbsup:

but on the real tip:
i was just saying i understand both points of view, like i said, im all for helpin' peeps.

to clear thiings up i feel sorry for everyone who was \is at superdome \ convention center. they need help they stared to get it and need to get more. I still stand behind my rescue point and fell need not to discuss it anymore.


now the one that really bothers me more than anythying are the people who now are refusing to be rescued from their attics. the rescuer goes down and then comes back up empty handed because the people wont leave. What a waste.....

then in another 2 weeks we will have to go back because they will want to be rescued

I've had just about enough of this. Your lack of sensitivity (and the lack of sensitivity displayed by others who are hopping on your bandwagon) is appalling.

You guys don't seem to understand the situation these people are in. They started out before the hurricane with next to nothing. The poverty in New Orleans is unlike almost anywhere else in this country. The crappiest ghetto in Chicago or Milwaukee has people who are financially much better off than many of the people living in NO. These are people who struggle to have enough money to put even a little food on the table. That tiny little rundown house is all they have and now they're losing that too. These people are now doomed to spend the rest of their lives homeless because they couldn't afford insurance on their house and even if they could, it didn't cover flooding. They cannot afford to buy a new house. They cannot afford even the cheapest rent on an apartment. And now someone's asking them to leave the only thing they still possess. That's NOT an easy thing to do. Many would rather die, or at least think right now that they'd rather die, than leave that house.


The fact that you're posting on the internet indicates that you're economically infinitely better off than these people, which means you cannot possibly understand their situation. You cannot understand poverty at that level unless you live it, or at the very least live among it so that you are exposed to what they go through.

I can understand being frustrated that someone does not want to leave their house to get to whatever refugee camp has been set up for him, but I cannot condemn them for thinking the way they do.

To quote you "You cannot understand the poverty at that level" ARE you there? if not then you cant understand it.

I Dont condem the people for not leaving. i am simply saying what a waste when they decide they want to leave... we have to go back to get them.

I understand the people who went to the superdome got help... but it took how many days to long? ?(WAYYYY TO LONG)

These people will be relocated either temporary or perm. Where is everyones donatons going, if they wont go twards housing / houses for these people?

Side note walmart donated 25million ( and atleast 1 store that was looted( and cops looted it too yay!))

Nope, I'm not, and no I can't understand what it's like to live in that level of poverty. But then I'm not mouthing off on the internet advocating that we let these people die either.



Sounds pretty condemning to me.




Yeah. If after cleanup, paying off all the contractors who have to rebuild levees, streets, sewers, water pipes, the electrical grid, and the public buildings, if there's enough money left to buy a house for everyone who's homeless I'll personally apologize to you. But that's simply not gonna happen.



This job is going to take tens of BILLIONS of dollars to complete. Walmart's contribution is generous by any measurement, but it's not gonna put a dent in the bill.

Look, people are still rebuilding after hurricanes which hit Florida last year and in years before that.

In tornado areas there are tons of stories about people who got hit by a tornado a decade ago and they still haven't gotten back to where they were before it hit. And that's from one tornado that cut a destruction path MAYBE a mile wide and 20 miles or so long, IF it was a really nasty one. This is a destruction area that spans for hundreds of miles. There simply isn't enough money to restore everyone to the way they were before it hit.

when people stay in their homes, and luck is on their side...we congratulate them like no other.

i was in minnesota at the time of the red river valley floods...if any of you recall, it's when fargo looked like NOLA does now, just colder and slightly more on fire. the folks who stayed were portrayed by the national media as fighters, survivors, the ones who really put their all in to saving their homes. with a 40 flood crest, and a whole lot of flat land...this of course wasn't terribly bright. bu it's a bunch of midwesterners...a stubborn lot that was more inclined to do everything they could to save their towns and way of life than retreat to saftey. maybe they took some uncessary risks, but i have to admire them for giving their all.

shakran has dealt quite nicely with the class issues involved in a privately funded/organized everyperson for themselves evacuation, (and current coverage seems to suggest that this is one area where the local gov bears some responsbility), but i think it's good to add that the difference between a glorified survivor and a flood victim is a bit of luck, not necessarily any difference in judgement.

Forced evacuations ordered...YaY!


http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/07/kat...act/index.html

Note that the forced evacuations will not include the military. The general involved has said that his people will distribute food and water. I forget if they're also helping people who want to get out.

What gets me is that I'd be very likely to be the guy in the tree that Mal describes. I've been through a number of hurricanes. By the time they get to Massachusetts, they're not force 4/5, more like topping out as force 3 or less. So I'd likely have made the same mistake as many of those people, figuring it's just more of the same and that the government was being silly. And maybe add a little paranoia to that, too. "All I have is this house! Why they tryin' ta get me to leave it?? Are they gonna plant bugs in my bathroom??"

Mal and I have good news to share about our mutual friend's missing family members. They are alive!

It seems that the uncle was quite ill and maybe that is why he refused to leave. I'm simply thankful that his wife and child survived.