Posted on 09/07/2005 9:06:21 AM PDT by cgk
...developing.
Searched, no story yet.
I was thinking the same thing.
And all I get on my TV are images of people chanting "We needs help", able bodied people sleeping in their own piss waiting for someone else to come clean it up, kids with 100 dollar sneakers being lifted into helicopters, people who won't eat MRE's because they aren't hot and b*tch because they want a Pepsi, people so obese...I am sick over this.
$1/2 billion twice a day is the rate the money is going out from Fed money vaults so far. The $2000 in the form of debit cards means it can be spent only where the electronics is up and running. How do they hand out the debit cards?
Davey Crockett said it quite well from the podium of the House of Representatives:
"Mr. Speaker, I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, as any man in this House. But we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for apart of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it.
"We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to so appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the government was in arrears to him.
"Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as a charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bills asks."
At least those people are paying taxes.
BTW, what I meant by this may "turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to some of these people", is about the whole mess, not just the $2000.
Man! They sure are generous with my money!
It always works out that way don't it?
I believe that FEMA has ruled that there will be no individual grant assistance for victims of Katrina in Florida, (although I believe that there is some sort of SBA loan that might be available, although from what I understand actually applying for it is quite daunting, especially if you don't have all of your tax records). Here's one story from the Insurance Journal titled FEMA Denies Aid to Fla. Katrina Victims:
FEMA Denies Aid to Fla. Katrina Victims
September 1, 2005
South Floridians whose homes were destroyed or heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina will have to look elsewhere for someone to pay their lodging and repair expenses as the Federal Emergency Management Agency has refused their requests.
FEMA's decision drew swift protests from South Florida politicians. Democrats asked President Bush to reverse it. Republicans led an effort to draft a separate letter to FEMA under-secretary Michael Brown, asking him to reverse it.
The same day FEMA denied individual assistance, the agency expanded the amount it plans to reimburse local governments for repairs to public property in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties. The assistance to local governments will probably amount to more than $100 million.
The decision to deny help to individuals came following nearly a year of intense criticism of the agency. Politicians, auditors and press accounts have accused FEMA of giving money to residents who were far from the path of four storms that hit the state last year.
"I've reached the conclusion now that FEMA is essentially a political organization," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Weston Democrat who claimed the agency was more generous last year because the storms preceded an election, told the Miami Herald. "They had a standard that was basically fluid from storm to storm. And there are people in Broward and Miami-Dade who are going to be hurting badly."
FEMA spokeswoman Frances Marine rejected that claim. She said the agency relied on a combination of factors to determine that South Florida was not hit hard enough to receive the aid, including the fact that about half the damaged properties in Miami-Dade were insured and that damage in Broward was mostly minor.
She said last year's storms were more severe in Florida, and that the cumulative effects of four back-to-back storms overwhelmed state resources.
''In a nutshell, fortunately the damage wasn't there'' this time, Marine told the Herald.
FEMA's individual assistance program would have provided up to $26,200 per household to pay for long-term rentals, repairs and temporary stays in hotels. In some cases, FEMA also pays for funerals for storm victims.
While much of the damage in South Florida was nuisance flooding, such as wet carpets, poor neighborhoods were hit hardest, said Frank Kutnick, chief of recovery for the state of Florida. ''To the poorer populations, this is a big deal.''
Local and state emergency managers said they were told by FEMA officials that the agency denied the aid because the state did not have 800 homes destroyed or severely damaged.
"Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as a charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bills asks."
BUMP!
Having said that, I do think we need to provide some sort of short term financial money for these folks. A debit card is a pretty effective way to distribute the money.
I can't imagine loosing everything. Think about what these folks are going through. They were suddenly ripped from their home and neigborhoods. Not told where they were going until they got on the bus or plane. Many do not know if all of their families or friends are even alive. Most do not know the status of their home or other belongings. They do not know if their home is being looted or burnt to the ground while they are gone. They have lost their jobs, schools, community, churches, neighbors, friends, cars, everything. Most are now sleeping in a "large room" with thousands of other people. Sleeping on cots, with no privacy. I just cannot imagine what they are going through emotionally right now.
So lets have some compassion folks! Quit acting like the folks at DU. You don't know these 1 million folks personally. You don't know whether or not they are all hard working, decent, law abiding citizens or what. Quit letting a minority of looters, thugs, or even welfare recipients cloud your thinking. These devasated areas were their homes. I saw where 80% of LA residents were born there. Highest rate in the US. Give them the benefit of the doubt. What would Jesus do if he were here? He would minister to each and every one of these folks. Not make judgements and condemn them universally.
They can now pay for those plasma tv's they looted.
/sarcasm
Of course we want to see these poor people fed and housed. I just think some of us are questioning the idea of giving what amounts to $2,000.00 cash instead of vouchers.
"So if you are self-relant, smart enough to get out of Dodge and stay with relatives, etc., or even pay for hotel space far away from the path, then you're SOL?"
Please ping me if you get an answer to your question. I have lots of friends who were displaced, but who are staying with friends or in hotels...
The largest shelter in Baton Rouge sits between two up-and-operating casinos. I'll bet the casinos already have signs up saying "We accept debit cards".
Too bad the debit cards can't be fixed to spend only on essentials, food. clothing shelter etc.
I actually agree with most of what you said.
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