Posted on 09/01/2005 10:47:50 AM PDT by B4Ranch
Reading the threads on FR lately has been discouraging.
It appears that everyone is searching for someone to blame. Thankfully, to many FReepers, the local officials are Democrats.
May I ask one question? Would you refuse aid to someone in need from the catastrophic hurricane and subsequent flooding to an Independent or a Democrat?
Is someone's political affiliation reason to question their intelligence regarding natural catastrophes? Or whether they deserve your financial assistance in this time of need?
I don't recall Christ saying anything about politics determining whether to assist people in need. I think this is a time for everyone to pull together. Please shut your eyes to a persons ethnicity, skin color, religion or political affiliations.
We are looking at Americans in need here, not illegal aliens. Yes, there is some looting going on but I do think the majority of people are just attempting to survive. The other ones will pay their dues in days to come, of that I'm certain.
So, if you have any ideas on how to make this recovery more efficient would you mind sharing your ideas? I will forward the entire thread to a few Congressmen for their perusal. Hopefully they will forward your ideas on to the officials in charge.
Figuring out what went wrong will go on for years, but it starts first and foremost as to why Houston could pull it off in 48 hours but New Orleans couldn't.
Haven't you been reading the many threads about donations? If not, do so. We are just complaining about the lack of effort by the officials down there who just happen to be democrats.
This is a bizarre question. This is not happening. The people who are handling this situation are serious people doing serious work and this sort of ignorance would never occur to them.
Would you write an English sentence?
Thats a pretty big strawman there... Not many posts suggesting that at all. At worst, there are people who have said that aid should be refused to those individuals who are engaging in lawless activity. No one has said that a non-Republican should be refused aid, however.
I think we should refuse to rebuild the same structure twice from repeat foreseeable disasters - if your sea-side house is wiped out by a hurricane we don't rebuild it over and over for you.
But as to with-holding food, water, medicine and security from Americans suffering from a natural disaster - no way. I don't care what their party affiliation is or their skin color or how safe their homes were or were not.
We help Americans after natural disasters - for two reasons:
1. It's the right thing to do
2. The alternatives are worse.
Not now. Not ever.
Let me add this proviso. No one is being helped until order is restored. Provisions cannot be taken in safely and people cannot be got out safely while looters and thugs command the street. I'm not advocating a "shoot 'em all---let God sort 'em out" strategy, but I am saying that all the excuses I've heard for looting---"they're just trying to survive"---have little or at least very limited and circumscribed validity in my view.
First, tell them to use their own money (many of them are millionaires and can easily afford it) to hire 18-wheelers, stock them with food, water, batteries, etc., and send them to New Orleans TODAY. That would provide practical help and set a great example.
Second, tell them to refrain from interfering with the free market. The one guaranteed way to make the gasoline problem worse is for the govt to try to "solve" the problem with price controls, centralized distribution, etc.
May I ask one question? Would you refuse aid to someone in need from the catastrophic hurricane and subsequent flooding to an Independent or a Democrat?
No I wouldn't. But I do have hesitation sending aid to looters and thugs. That is why I donated to Catholic Charities. With them I trust the funds will help those law abiding citizens who truly need the aid.
Politics have nothing to do with my decision to contribute. However I think the politics of those in charge of N.O have a lot to do with the criminal behavior that we are seeing. Why? Cause liberal democrats believe in the politics of entitlement and victimization. Both these ideas scuttle the morals of personal responsibility and ethical behavior. When these things are absent something takes it place. Many times what replaces these is criminal actions.
It's a quagmire. Time to pullout and let the people fend for themselves.
Would you post a vanity for your own Very Deep Thought?
There is enough blame to go around.
However now is not the time.
Now is the time for ALL Americans to roll up their collective sleeves and help!
But before anyone even tries to blame GWB and/or the feds, the Louisiana state government has FAILED for decades to address the levees in their state.
And after we have cleaned up the mess; Louisiana, the Gulf States, America and Americans could learn a lot from the Netherlands and how they have dealt with a similar water management issue for centuries.
Might want to recheck that on what he thought of Samaritans (see Gospel of John (4:1-20))
One good thing about this is that all those conspiracy theories about the army quickly seizing an American city after a disaster and ruthlessly controlling it is nothing but a paranoid fantasy - We don't appear to be organized enough to do that.
"May I ask one question? Would you refuse aid to someone in need from the catastrophic hurricane and subsequent flooding to an Independent or a Democrat"
Seemingly some would. There was a vanity thread earlier where the poster was upset because Bush asked Clinton to raise money. Just because he hates BJC so much he doesn't feel he should be allowed to help. Incredible!!
B4Ranch, I just reread my post (#9) and realized it's not clear to whom I want those suggestions made--it looks like I'm addressing the victims, when in fact those are suggestions I want you to make to the congress critters you referenced. I'm sorry if I caused confusion.
Not going to touch "whose fault is it", but I can answer how do we fix it: Seecond Chronicles 7:14 and Malichi 8:8-12
I think the only people there really are to blame are the creators of our current fastfood culture that make people think the relief effort is going to slow. Welcome to the wonderful world of real life disasters people, one of the things that gets destroyed in a disaster is the infrastructure that allows disaster relief to be delivered. From everything I can see the relief effort is going very well, are people still dieing waiting for help? Yes, but that's going to happen. Manpower, equipment and situational knowledge is limited (always is) and that means the relief people need to prioritize and do so with incomplete knowledge, that means people die who probably shouldn't have but the stuff and information to prevent it simply didn't exist. Let's also remember there Katrina didn't just disappear after beating up New Orleans, it had to be circumnavigated for much early relief, and there's still plenty of territory that got beat up other than NO. People need to remember this is the real world, not TV, in the real world problems don't get solved after these commercial messages.
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