I know there's a ton of Hurricane storries today, but this one made me completely change my mind about sending aid.
I had a 10:30 meeting with my company's CFO and head of H.R. to discuss the company matching employee's aid contributions. I've cancled it and am sending a link to everyone on my e mail list urging them to think twice.
The MAJORITY (not all, but the majority) of the aid is going to end up in the hands of animals just like those in the story.
The people of New Orleans can have my prayers, but my money will wait for a better cause.
Owl_Eagle(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
I'm very skeptical of what giving aid to the Red Cross will accomplish. There are going to be countless charities set up through religious institutions that will go a long way to helping people in specific circumstances.
I'm thinking along the lines of orphaned children. Maybe your firm could find a way to provide financial assistance to groups that will assuredly be needed to help find homes and families for some of these kids. This would take several months to develop, but I think it's going to be a serious need....
On the other hand, I just heard on the radio that local authorites are going to go after any gas station owners caught "price gouging". I guess that this is what passes for law and order down there.
Seriously, we should remember and remind people that probably 95% of these people vote Democrat.
Aid sent to legitimate emergency relief agencies and organizations is unlikely to end up in the hands of looters. As for the looters described in this article, some are obviously "animals" (animal-people don't magically disappear or transform in times of disaster), and others are probably really temporarily insane from the shock and confusion of the whole situation and from seeing bodies floating, etc. But plenty of the things described in this article are very legitimate emergency needs for both civilians and rescue workers, and Wal-Mart DID issue an announcement re at least one of their stores, inviting everyone to take whatever they needed. Given the chaotic state of communications in the area, honest people could have believed the announcement covered all Wal-Mart stores. Police taking T-shirts and dog food? Well with tens of thousands of both civilians and emergency workers drenched in foul flood water, T-shirts are much needed. As is dog food, since police dogs as well as trained civilian dogs are no doubt be pressed into heavy service. Civilians taking chain-saws? Well, if these are gasoline operated chainsaws, they would sure be useful for getting through rooves of flooded houses to look for survivors, building makeshift rafts out of the remnants of houses, etc. The DVDs sound like a stretch, but even some of those may be useful for calming people in shelters, especially children, if some battery or generator power is available to run DVD players. There are 20,000+ people stuck in the SuperDome, and tens of thousands of others in various shelters, with nowhere to go and nothing they can really do right now to improve their situation, find out if missing relatives and friends survived, etc. Let's give the benefit of the doubt to people who are going through something much worse than most of us have ever experienced.
You can take the looters out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the looters.
I understand completly. I am giving to a group that is 100% known to me and I know where and what they are going to spend the money.
Seriously, I blame the mayor of NO and the Gov. of LA for not getting on the radio and telling people water and food are on the way. They induced this panic by the lack of leadership.
I grew up with this kind of low brow mentality. It's almost impossible to describe. A very feral existence compounded by the welfare state that keeps people in a limbo of poverty but with no need for work and self-sufficiency and community.
That's why you see people stealing TV's and not water and food. They want to upscale their lives, but cannot comprehend that in a few days they will be thirsty and starving because they think the safety net will be there.
It's going to be hard reality when they realize they are in a true survival situation. Then it will really get ugly.
Anybody remember if there was any looting during the floods in the Dakotas, Iowa, etc. back in the '90s?
Sadly, there will always be people who take advantage of a bad situation. We're getting no coverage of the average everyday people who are trying to help others there.
Theft without shame or guilt!
Let me guess. Your company had a program to match donations for Tsunami victims half way around the world.
You need to spend a couple of days on a roof surrounded by flood water watching the bodies float by.
These people are enduring a disaster of biblical proportions and you are worried about the safety of the insured contents of a Walmart.
But I know of a guy...whose mother, dad and brother lost 4 or 5 houses..and they are coming to live with him. I'll bet he could use the money...and ALL of it will directly go to feed/clothe/nurture..etc...victims of the hurricane.
FWIW-
Bookmark
bttt
Like the first 10 min of Black Hawk Down, when the UN arrives with the food. Gangs take the food and the people scatter when they start shooting.
And the little children who will suffer? And the majority of law abiding citizens?
These animals are now carjacking, and robbing homes at gunpoint that are occuppied by people who stayed, survived and did not loot. Not to mention the rapes, etc. Police are taxed to the extreme.
And anyone defends these animals? They disgust me.
I do not fault anyone for taking food and water for their families needs. They need to survive. But tvs? Dvds? Etc? I hope they starve looking at that blank screen (no power still). They are not Americians. Americians help each other and act civilized (with exceptions).
And yes, I DO know how I'd act. I'd take care for my family, but I wouldn't throw out my morals no matter what others are doing. (With an M4 at my side.....)
They're all scumbags . . . looters should be shot and will be if they ever come into my house.
People who don't own a gun should buy at least one to protect their lives & property from looters.
My contributions are going to the Salvation Army. I consider the SA much more trustworthy than the Red Cross.
I will think long and hard before making any donation to New Orleans or Houston...or to the Red Cross. I just heard on TV that Houston is kicking out all the New Orleans refugees who arrived there on Monday or Tuesday, and won't let them into the Astrodome. Mind you, these are the responsible people who took their families far out of harm's way.
When asked by the reporter why these people could not be accommodated at the Astrodome, the Red Cross spokesperson said, "It's a matter of control. And we have to make sure we have room for those being shipped in from the Superdome".
HUH???