Posted on 09/27/2004 4:17:05 AM PDT by snopercod
President Bush has declared a state of major disaster in the storm-ravaged southern U.S. state of Florida, hit by four strong hurricanes since last month.
"Major disaster" status makes Florida eligible for federal emergency funds and relief assistance for residents and businesses. Mr. Bush acted late Sunday after Hurricane Jeanne swept over Florida's central Atlantic coast, lashing the same area raked by another hurricane (Frances) three weeks earlier.
Hurricane Jeanne's winds and torrential rains killed six people in the United States and added to an already heavy toll of property damage. But the storm's worst effects were felt in Haiti, where more than 1,500 people died last week in floods and mudslides.
The National Hurricane Center says Jeanne's winds are no longer blowing at hurricane strength. The tropical storm is moving north toward the states of Georgia and South Carolina Monday.
Four hurricanes and one lesser storm have killed more than 120 people in the United States since mid-August. Including last week's casualties in Haiti, more than 1,600 people have been killed in the Caribbean during the same period.
What kind of aid do you, personally, need that you can't pay for yourself?
You ought to be ashamed! There are literally thousands in Florida and elsewhere who have been affected by these storms to the point of having lost literally everything they own.
Right now, I have a friend staying with me who had to go to ground with me because of Hurricane Jeanne. He is a volunteer FEMA inspector, sent here from another state to do damage assessments for the government. While there is the usual fraud attempts, for the most part he is having to deal with shredded lives, and it has affected him deeply. The tales he has related to us (in the dark while the eye of Jeanne went overhead and tried to rip our house apart) was a true window into the reality of the past and current disasters. Of course, you had no idea the governement was dealing with 10 major disasters here in the states currently, either directly from the storms or the floods they produced?
Before you put on your look-down-the-nose, it's-all-Bush's-fault and Bush-is-only-buying-votes attitude, you'd better go scuff some shoe leather and visit some of these affected areas before you go popping off again! Ignorance is curable, stupidity is forever. Which are you, Snopercod?
He has hopefully recalled what happened to his father in 1992 after FEMA was seen as tardy and confused in their response to a major hurricane in Florida that year. I'd expect Kerry will try and pin the same tag on the president during the first debate in Miami (in spite of the debate's "foreign policy" focus) and I hope Dubya is prepared with a snappy (or "snippy") retort.
Anyone who has had their life shredded by a natural disaster would agree that expedient federal disaster aid is a Good Thing,
...and just where does that federal aid come from? I paid more in taxes last year, than the average person made... I also gave to charity, and politicians, voluntarily...
There was a conscious choice to live there. Federal Flood insurance should not exist!
As one of those obviously deranged folk, I happen to believe that we should not reward those who make bad choices. Living at or below sea level in the path of constant hurricanes is foolish. Florida is a nice place, but we should not be responsible for those folk, who are stupid enough to build in the path... (I seem to remember a Biblical injunction about "building on sand")
I think it is nice to help those in need, but this is just another entitlement! Your socialist views are duly noted! This is wealth distribution, at its core!
OK, so by your reasoning we should evacuate Florida and the entire east coast for that matter - Hurricanes.
Leave California - Earthquakes, Typhoons
Empty Texas, Tennessee, Okalahoma, and Kansas - Tornadoes
I could go on but I think/hope you get my point.
By my reasoning, we should not pay to build them back! Maybe I did not make it clear enough. The Gum't has NO PLACE rebuilding waterfront communities... or anyone else's property which is built in an area prone to natural disasters... These people knew where they were heading!
If I buy a new car for my son, or daughter, and he/she goes out and crashes it on the dragstrip, should I buy him/her a new car?
IMO, Americans can live wherever they want, but they should not expect taxpayers to continue to pay for their desire to watch a sunset/sunrise over the waters... or just get away from the dirty cities...
You sound like another socialsist, and it, too, is duly noted! You can call me crazy, if you want, but I believe folk should be responsible for their actions...
Funny how this website has some that believe that "provide for the general welfare" means that everyone should have a high-paying job, yet others believe it to mean that victims of natural disasters are s-out-of-luck.
Name one area of the U.S. that is not subject to natural disaster, and how you propose accomodating the entire poulation of the U.S. when it moves there.
The Gum't does have a mandate for the first two on the list, but where is your justification for the licensing and codes?
States have the right to do those things, but the Fedrool Gum't has no place in local business...
Disaster relief is admirable, and I am sure it is nice to have someone come up to your home with a check for $1000's of RELIEF funds, but where do those funds derive from? I didn't tell them they could spend my money on someone else's beach house...I would rather give the funds to the ARC or Salvation Army... The Gum't only wants the control over my money... so they can maintain their powers!
Disaster aid is redistribution! Redistribution is socialist! I am not saying these people aren't in dire straights, but they put themselves there! Why should we help them again, and again?
Well, say you're an electrical contractor. Wouldn't you want to know that your house in Illinois and your cabin in Wisconsin are wired the same way before you start fixing either one up?
I hate to think what would happen to you if something really bad happened.
Oh, and I drove down to Florida to help a friend after Ivan. He lost his roof and all his belongings got wet. He didn't even think of calling FEMA, in fact, he refused. He just dealt with it, like Americans used to deal with things - by their own wits and their own resources.
But some Floridiots prefer to whine and scream for others to fix their problems for them. You chose to live in hurricane country, now deal with it.
Are you calling Thomas Sowell a deranged libertarian?
What a ridiculous "straw man" argument!
In new Orleans, they have built a wall around the city, to keep the sea out. The city is below sea level, and it floods periodically (they thought it would happen this time)... I read a book a number of years ago, about a developer who built a condo on a beach in FL. He knew it would not prevail against the storms, but it didn't matter, since he had his profits, and the gum't would make it good again!
I own property in four states. NM is wide open, AZ is open, NC is open, and WV is open... These is so much good land available, but people like to watch those sunrises, and sussets, across the waters...
IMO, you are confusing the emotional side of these folks travails, with the practical side, which defies rational thinking!
Natural disasters are a way of life everywhere. Prepare for them, and certainly, don't build on the beach, or a faultline! But, don't expect us to pay for your folly!
ATFQ! Illinois does not necessarily have the same requirements, as WI.
You are totally off topic, and it does not add to this discussion...
There is NO justification for GUM'T payments, to be used in rebuilding, for those in the hurricane/flood zones! They should take their lumps, and rely on themselves, and their family, not the gum't!
The wolf said, to the pigs, "I'll huff and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house down"... and he did take down two!
The best built house is still standing!
What kind of heartless so and so are you?. And where do you live? Don;t tell me its California because you sound like the type that would be screaming the loudest after the next major quake out there.
If theres one time where the gov't is handy its when there is a disaster. The sooner these areas recover the better for all of us, because if they don't it will pinch the economy, or even worse.
People like you ought to have the hell whipped out of them.
"You sound like another socialsist,"
I'm not.
But more to the point you sidestepped my argument. I agree we should not have to pick up the tab every time a beachside house gets blown away but by your logic the folks who live in Orlando, which is at least 50 miles inland should be SOL as well.
P.S.
Your analogy sucks.
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