Katrina fall-out

JH Why the hell were they there?

Ah, finally we see an example of "conservative compassion."

???

Let's see, Jim Cantori (Sp?) on the Weather Channel told 'em...

Their State Governments told 'em....

CNN told 'em...

Fox News told 'em...

How many people have to tell these dumb asses to GET THE HELL OUT OF DODGE
when there is a Level 5 hurricane bearing down on them, before they actually
listen?

They're there because they're there. No fricking place is safe,
Jay. Next time some huge blizzard shuts down the mid-west for days or
weeks I'll remember your answer. Next time a tornado rips through
I'll ask, "why the hell were you living there?"

Blizzards are fairly commonplace here, and no reason to fear. If anything,
they're kinda fun.

Unfortunately, tornados are tiny, and cannot be forecast with any degree of
accuracy. They're like meteorites -- highly destructive, and totally
unpredictable.

Bottom line: If I could sit here in Iowa, watching on TV as this big ol' bag
of Katrina whoop-ass bore inexorably down on the Gulf Coast, why couldn't
the people who actually LIVE THERE do the same thing?

I would have been in my plane/van/car/whatever, aimed north...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

It was one heck of a show of the power of THE OCEAN though wasn't it Jay.

Patrick
student SPL
aircraft structural mech

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:1xtRe.320308$xm3.164023@attbi_s21...
JH Why the hell were they there?

Ah, finally we see an example of "conservative compassion."

???

Let's see, Jim Cantori (Sp?) on the Weather Channel told 'em...

Their State Governments told 'em....

CNN told 'em...

Fox News told 'em...

How many people have to tell these dumb asses to GET THE HELL OUT OF DODGE
when there is a Level 5 hurricane bearing down on them, before they
actually listen?

They're there because they're there. No fricking place is safe,
Jay. Next time some huge blizzard shuts down the mid-west for days or
weeks I'll remember your answer. Next time a tornado rips through
I'll ask, "why the hell were you living there?"

Blizzards are fairly commonplace here, and no reason to fear. If
anything, they're kinda fun.

Unfortunately, tornados are tiny, and cannot be forecast with any degree
of accuracy. They're like meteorites -- highly destructive, and totally
unpredictable.

Bottom line: If I could sit here in Iowa, watching on TV as this big ol'
bag of Katrina whoop-ass bore inexorably down on the Gulf Coast, why
couldn't the people who actually LIVE THERE do the same thing?

I would have been in my plane/van/car/whatever, aimed north...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:

I would have been in my plane/van/car/whatever, aimed north...

Right. Like the guy with one leg that had to be carried for blocks to get into
the Superdome. How far north you reckon he would've gotten?

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

Jay Honeck wrote:
JH Why the hell were they there?


How many people have to tell these dumb asses to GET THE HELL OUT OF DODGE
when there is a Level 5 hurricane bearing down on them, before they actually
listen?


Bottom line: If I could sit here in Iowa, watching on TV as this big ol' bag
of Katrina whoop-ass bore inexorably down on the Gulf Coast, why couldn't
the people who actually LIVE THERE do the same thing?

I would have been in my plane/van/car/whatever, aimed north...

You are making several assumptions here that are not completely
justifiable. The first is that these people did not listen to the
warnings. There's a difference between wanting to get out of Dodge,
and being able to do so. This is also reflected in the assumption
indicated by your last statement - the assumption that these people
had a "plane/van/car/whatever" that they could take north. For a lot
of people in the city, the best they can afford is the public bus or
streetcar system.

And where are they going to go, even if they could go somewhere.
New Orleans is one of those places where you're a newcomer if your
family only goes back five generations, and where a relative is
"distant" because he lives on the other side of town. These people
don't have relatives they can stay with in other parts of the country
because their relatives are in the city with them - and have been for
many years. Staying in a motel is out of the question - when you're
living day-to-day you just can't afford the luxury.

There's also an emotional aspect to leaving that you, accustomed
as you are to travelling routinely throughout the country, won't
understand. A lot of these people have never been more than 25-30 miles
from the home they were raised in. They may be in harm's way, but
it's a familiar place. Even a lot of the middle-class inhabitants of the
city can't understand how someone could move so far away (like maybe
150 miles) from everything they grew up with and all their friends and
family. After all, if you're that far away aren't you in a different
country?

What you're doing is projecting your background onto people whose
background is nothing like yours. New Orleans is not Iowa, and people's
attitudes there are veru different from what you're used to. The
decisions you _think_ you would make might seem like the only rational
decisions, but the decisions the people in New Orleans made were just
as rational - for them. In most cases, it boils down to doing the best
you can when you don't have any options.

Jay Honeck wrote:

America is the only country in the world with fat poor people.

And a hell of a lot of very fat middle class and wealthy people, too.
Laziness transcends socioeconomic classes.

Regarding the poor, the US gov't feeds its poor but allows them to choose
their foods. Fried pork rinds and sugar cereal are often chosen over
broccoli and fruit.

Additionally, since inexpensive cars are ubiquitous (that is, up until the
recent rise in fuel prices) and mass transit available to most, there is
absolutely no opportunity for many of these folks to elevate their
heartrates, unlike other countries where cycling and walking for the
necessities of life are the only forms of transportation for the poor.

--
Peter
























----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----

"js" == john smith writes:

js My perception is hundreds of billions in the south vice tens
js of billions for the midwest.

js The midwest tax base is steadily shrinking do to loss of jobs
js to other locals. Money repeatedly spent to hurricane damaged
js infrastructure in the south siphons money away from repairing
js the crumbling midwest infrastructure even once.

And this is for Jay: can't you show, just once, even one day after a
major disaster, some normal human compassion?

Of course there shouldn't be a major city 4 feet below sea level or
whatever it is. There shouldn't be all sorts of things. But as
someone who lives in California--the Midwest's ATM machine--I know all
about paying for other people's stupid decisions. It's damn ironic
for someone from the Midwest, the red-ink and red-state heartland, to
lecture us on where to live and sucking precious tax dollars.

"JH" == Jay Honeck writes:
JH America is the only country in the world with fat poor people.

It's the only country with so many fat people, period.

And that has a lot more to do with the huge fraction of processed
foods and fast food restaurants with grossly oversized proportions,
than anything else.

George Patterson wrote:
Jay Honeck wrote:


I would have been in my plane/van/car/whatever, aimed north...


Right. Like the guy with one leg that had to be carried for blocks to
get into the Superdome. How far north you reckon he would've gotten?

With a ride to the bus station and a three day headstart? All the way
to Iowa.

Peter R. wrote:

Jay Honeck wrote:


America is the only country in the world with fat poor people.


And a hell of a lot of very fat middle class and wealthy people, too.
Laziness transcends socioeconomic classes.

Regarding the poor, the US gov't feeds its poor but allows them to choose
their foods. Fried pork rinds and sugar cereal are often chosen over
broccoli and fruit.

You completely missed the point. Our poor people aren't poor compared
to the rest of the world.

Newps wrote:

With a ride to the bus station and a three day headstart? All the way
to Iowa.

With what money?

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.