Katrina: Two Years Later

[Tobra]

All you gawdamn white people need to get up of yo' asses and do like Jimmy Carter, Habitat for Humanity and all that. You owe it to the African American community. We had best build those houses now, before we have adequate levees built to protect them. Or even better yet, someplace higher than the 100 year flood plain

I always am suspicious when someone says it is about race and it is not(Michael Vick), or when they say it is not about race when it is(Turkish genocide of the Armenians)

[Mule]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Maybe if they got off their lazy a$$es and did something for themselves instead of crying and b!tching about having to wait for someone else to do something for them they wouldn't still be in this situation.
I have no sympathy for them at all. Eventually they have to put in some effort of their own. Everything I have I earned. If I want something bad enough I work my butt off to get it. If I didn't know how I learned. I suggest they do the same. Of course if the knew how to work hard they would have never been in this mess in the first place.

As far as New Orleans is concerned, they should not have spent a penny rebuilding it. The entire city should have been condemned and plowed under.
Not only is it a modern sodom and gomorrah, it is built below sea level with only dirt walls to protect it from the sea. Stupid design, stupid idea, rebuilding it so it can flood it again is absolutely moronic. Unless they can figure out an economic way to raise the entire city about 40 feet it should be wiped off the map.

Since we had to throw Iraq into this conversation the poor people of New orleans will not attack us, all they will do is try and bleed us dry through welfare and hand outs.
The middle east is a different story. The instability over there is a threat to our national security. The president's number one responsibility is to protect the country and it's citizens from threats internal and abroad.
Apples to oranges.

Sammyg, I grew up in N. O. & I've been back since 9/05. Please allow me to retort. So you sit outside LA & call this Sodom & Gomorrah? You sit on the San Andreas fault, in a God damned desert, where water is pumped hundreds of miles so you don't look like a fickin' raisin & and have the unmitigated gall to call this a stupid design. Besides porn & lame Hollywood movies, what the fick does LA produce? Remember when Katrina hit & Port Fourchon was down for a month & all you b!tches were whining 'cause gas was $6 a gallon? About 40% of the gas for all you CA elitists and the rest of the country comes from here and you have the God damn nerve to b!tch when they want to put rigs off your coast!

As far as the bleeding, all you rugged individualists in CA have received more federal aid than any 3 states put together. Were that not the case, S CA would still be the God damned desert God meant it to be & the residents would be lizards & scorpions.

We do have a problem with a welfare society here. But guess what? All you left wing imbeciles in CA have a whole lot more to do with electing the socialist minded *********s that implement this ***** than I ever did. I'm proud that you can state that "Everything I have I earned." Join the God damned club. Just to show you that the education system in CA apparently has WAY more problems than ours, when the fires, mudslides and earthquakes are ravaging your heaven on earth, I won't be one of the imbeciles calling for CA to be abandoned 'till it falls into the Pacific. Think about me the next time you fill up. Remember, walking sucks!

PS If the Fightin" Tigers of LSU get a shot at your USC Trojans, we'll knock the maroon of of 'em. By the way who ever thought of naming a football team after a condom?

Say hi to Rodney King for me, okay holmes.

[Red Baron]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I think it's all Ray Nagin's fault. He'd be out of issues to discuss if things got better. What a raging a$shole that guy is.

You know Ray?

That's as insighful as the "It's Bush's fault" moronic party line. Furthermore, Ray Nagin is a really nice guy that has never been in politics until he bacame mayor. Before he was in office, I attended the Master's Golf Tournament with him and he's a really good guy that had the city going in a positive direction before the disaster.

Mayor Nagin did a lot of good for that city before Katrina and has done a lot of good since. Your just absolutely clueless and have a number three media treble hook in your mouth.

I'd love to hear how your disater plan would have unfolded. Make sure you don't come with some of the rookie brainwash media crap either. I have lived in New Orleans for the past 16 years up until I moved to Georgia about a year ago due to my job. And I know what REALLY happened the days leading up to the storm and know EXACTLY what Ray Nagin said and did so don't make some BS up and pass it off as fact.

[Mr_Wizard]

Originally Posted by frogger

One could argue that the Army Corps. of Engineers did the next best thing to that.

Negative. The levee board in New Orleans which the residents of New Orleans pay taxes each year is responsible for using that money for repair and upkeep of the levees. I would be curious to see how much of the taxes collected each year went to this.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9342186/

[Rick Lee]

Red Baron, you are the only person I've ever seen say Nagin isn't an idiot. He is as big an idiot as the day is long. I'd take Al Sharpton over Nagin anyday.

[rouxroux]

Well, living here in La., I can say that Nagin was/is a joke. Totally unprepared, and then trying to shift blame to everyone else instead of pointing the finger at himself (can you say evacuation plan? schoolbusses?). Thank God our idiot Gov. Blanco bowed out before having her ass handed to her on a plate during this election year, and Nagin is hinting HE might run. Rebuilding N.O.? Ask Nagin, he had the best idea for "his" city. I say let Nestle's rebuild it. You ask why? The old ad slogan said it best: "N-E-S-T-L-E-S, Nestle's makes the very best.....chocolate". Just ask Ray.

[mattdavis11]

Red only said he was nice guy, and really good guy. If Red chooses to hold his reservations about the mans intellectual capacity to himself, you ought to respect the right for him to do so.

[frogger]

Originally Posted by Mr_Wizard

Negative. The levee board in New Orleans which the residents of New Orleans pay taxes each year is responsible for using that money for repair and upkeep of the levees. I would be curious to see how much of the taxes collected each year went to this.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9342186/

Really? The Army Corps of Engineers said they screwed up the design:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-06-01-levees_x.htm

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by Dantilla

Okay, guys. I have been to New Orleans twice since Katrina as part of a construction crew to help with hurricaine relief.

From what I have personally observed, there are two distinct groups of people.

Our group got hooked up with a lady who lives in NO who schedules groups of volunteers to stay in a church that has been converted to temporary housing. Her phone is still ringing off the hook with groups who want to help. She has to find openings in her schedule to try to accomodate all who want to help. These volunteers are primarily church groups. "Let's see.... The Baptists will be here the week prior, and the Catholics are coming two weeks later. We can squeeze you in between them."

There are people, a whole bunch of them, who have a positive attitude, and are rebuilding with the help of plenty of volunteers.

Then there is another group, still complaining that the government has failed them. This second group has accomplished nothing.

The success stories of the people that have recovered from, and are continuing to help others recover from Katrina are simply too embarassing and uncomfortable to widely disseminate, so they are not. No one seems to want to talk about them. The contrast they provide makes the failures look worse than they already look. The questions that need to be asked of those who continue to struggle two full years after the storm are too embarassing and uncomfortable to ask. There is something going on here, and we all know what it is. We will never fix it until we can talk about it. Pretending it is not there helps no one.

[john70t]

Isn't crime on the rise in Texas because of the influx of penniless refugees?

[frogger]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

The success stories of the people that have recovered from, and are continuing to help others recover from Katrina are simply too embarassing and uncomfortable to widely disseminate, so they are not. No one seems to want to talk about them. The contrast they provide makes the failures look worse than they already look. The questions that need to be asked of those who continue to struggle two full years after the storm are too embarassing and uncomfortable to ask. There is something going on here, and we all know what it is. We will never fix it until we can talk about it. Pretending it is not there helps no one.

Is this really true, Jeff? Can you share the supporting information with us? I'm always interested in hearing the success stories.

[Mo_Gearhead]

QUOTE: "...it is built below sea level with only dirt walls to protect it from the sea. Stupid design, stupid idea, rebuilding it so it can flood it again is absolutely moronic."
____________________

+1
If you have the mentality to live in such a place, don't cry when the waters rise.

[frogger]

+1

[Red Baron]

Do any of you wise guys know why the city was built where it is?

There is a specific reason it's located where it is at. Que Jeopardy music

Houston, NYC, Key West all are below sea level also and could be destroyed by hurricane, I guess we should move them also.

[Red Baron]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Red Baron, you are the only person I've ever seen say Nagin isn't an idiot. He is as big an idiot as the day is long. I'd take Al Sharpton over Nagin anyday.

So. Your disaster plan would have been to put Al Sharpton and the Rainbow Coalition in charge, brilliant


Is that all you got?

[Red Baron]

Originally Posted by mattdavis11

Red only said he was nice guy, and really good guy. If Red chooses to hold his reservations about the mans intellectual capacity to himself, you ought to respect the right for him to do so.

I guess your education and success in business far surpasses Nagin's? He's far from being an idiot, he's just not a polished politician.

[frogger]

Originally Posted by Red Baron

Do any of you wise guys know why the city was built where it is?

There is a specific reason it's located where it is at. Que Jeopardy music

Houston, NYC, Key West all are below sea level also and could be destroyed by hurricane, I guess we should move them also.

New York City is at least 27 meters above sea level. Key West is 1 meter above sea level.

[Red Baron]

Originally Posted by rouxroux

Well, living here in La., I can say that Nagin was/is a joke. Totally unprepared, and then trying to shift blame to everyone else instead of pointing the finger at himself (can you say evacuation plan? schoolbusses?). Thank God our idiot Gov. Blanco bowed out before having her ass handed to her on a plate during this election year, and Nagin is hinting HE might run. Rebuilding N.O.? Ask Nagin, he had the best idea for "his" city. I say let Nestle's rebuild it. You ask why? The old ad slogan said it best: "N-E-S-T-L-E-S, Nestle's makes the very best.....chocolate". Just ask Ray.

Dude, for living in LA. I would think you would at least know he has term limited out after this tenure. Also, you could at least put his "Choclate City" quote in it's proper context.

However, I'm more interested in how you would have done it.

You bring up the buses, what was your plan there?

I guess you would have put drivers (who?) in them and drove to the projects and yelled ALL ABOARD and all of those folks would have jumped right on? I mean really, the people living in Public Housing would have just jumped right on the bus to nowhere.

The buses mean nothing and would have solved nothing under the circumstances.

THANK GOD for Ray Nagin, he is the only reason the Feds finally got their arsses in gear. The Canadian military showed up before our own US military did.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by john70t

Isn't crime on the rise in Texas because of the influx of penniless refugees?

No, crime rose in Houston because of the large influx of NO gang members and low lifes. I am not saying that all of the 100,000 that came here are bad. But a significant portion of that group has caused crime to be up 50% and murder up 35%.

As a city, absorbing an extra 2% of population is no big deal. But the ones that are shown on TV here seem to want to sit in thier government paid apartments with government paid electricity and not find jobs.

My company is hiring. I don't see them trying to get jobs here.

[Red Baron]

Originally Posted by frogger

New York City is at least 27 meters above sea level. Key West is 1 meter above sea level.

1 meter is plenty , how about Houston?