Posted on 09/12/2005 8:25:57 AM PDT by george76
Let the place rebuild itself. Reminds me of Sodom and Gemorra (sp?)
"The fact that the Feds are giving NO ab around $1000 of my money does not motivate me to give more."
No motivation here either!
Federal moneys will go to some who have flood insurance; will go to relocation, etc. - but "rebuilding a place" is an individual and local choice, and shouldn't be encouraged or discouraged by federal policy.
Not one step.
No point in building new slums in place of the old ones when the real issue is a site that is sinking several inches a year, surrounded by water on three sides, and populated by people too dumb to loot bicycles and rubber dinghies instead of televsion sets.
But if we must: Rebuild the port, place a new settlement 30-40 miles inland with modern buildings and infrastructure, on top of a hill, and repopulate it with Irish Setters, who are at least smart enough to leave a flooded house.
How far should the US go?
Not very far. Let the property owners and investors handle it, things will turn out far better.
The US should be accountable for about as much as they should be accountable for being responsible for Katrina's results - $0! Maybe some interest free (or below prime) loans but no one outside of Louisiana should have to pay a dime for rebuilding a known nightmare - waiting to happen.
None of the city meets building codes being in a flood plain, now if the State of Lousiania wants to corruptly overlook this, that what states rights is all about.
The taxpayers of the other 49 should not be filched for this nonsense.
The funny part about comparing New Orleans with Sodom and Gommorah is that the slimiest ,filthiest, most decadent part of New Orleans--The french Quarter escaped almost unscathed.
The levee system was created to prevent the Mississippi River from finding itself a new course to the Gulf of Mexico. Maybe they should let that happen and build a new port city along the new course...while restoring the French Quarter in N.O. as a tourist attraction, a larger version of St. Augustine, Fla.
You may be amazed, but some of us have been revolted by the corruption, fecklessness, slothfulness, blame-pushing, self-pity, and the entitlement mentality exhibited by the New Orleans people from their top elected office, Mayor Nagin, to other elected NO officials, to the NO police chief, to the cowardly and criminal New Orleans cop, to the New Orleans people themselves, who wouldn't and won't take responsibility for their own welfare. Did you see the thread where the New Orleanians were whining that the dead weren't getting a "proper burial," highlighting a story were a woman was left out on the street for days...but her husband knew where she was, and left her there. Would you leave a family member dead on the street for days?
Have you seen all the New Orleanian cries of "racism" but in the Superdome whites, including many young travelers from Australia, Britain, and other European nations, were abused, threatened, and assaulted for being white. You've seen Mayor Nagin complain that Bush should have sent him 500 Greyhound buses, but you must also know that Nagin had at least hundreds (I've seen a 2000 figure) school buses available, plus almost 500 city buses?
They bitched incessantly that hot food, beverages, and accommodations weren't delivered to them immediately after the storm, but did they prepare to take care of themselves, or take themselves to safety? After the storm did they organize to protect and help themselves, ...well they did help themselves...to DVDs, color-Tvs, jewelry, booze, and weapons, from the stores they broke in and looted. And when volunteers and outside agencies tried to come into the city and rescue people stranded...they often came under fire. Did you see the black New Orleans evacuee with the white girlfriend on FoxNews (posted on FR) who gave his name as "For The People"...who likened being put on buses to be taken from New Orleans to Texas to being put on a slave ship, and wants all the evacuees to be given $20,000 compensation?
You've heard the New Orleans and Lousisana spokespeople whining that Bush didn't give them enough money to build the levees properly...but apparently the city wasn't valuable enough to the New Orleanians themselves to pony up for proper protection from floods. If the New Orleanians couldn't be bothered to invest in adequate protection for their own property...why should I and other Federal taxpayers be forced (at gunpoint, the income tax is extortion) to pay for its reconstruction...at much greater cost?
Many New Orleans homeowners didn't bother to purchase Federally subsidized flood insurance...and regular homeowners insurance doesn't cover flooding damage. But those now those homeowners are demanding that the insurance companies pay them anyway...and statements by Louisiana officials are supporting them. So the shareholders and other insured (through future higher premiums)are supposed to be forced to pay for the damage that those homeowners were too cheap to insure against? They knew in a city below sea level, or even in other parts above sea-level on a coastal city, that this could happen...but they just assumed that they didn't have to buy insurance because if the worst happened..."somebody" would come and make it all better.
No doubt some stories of heroism, self-reliance, and pluckiness are out there and will emerge on the part of some New Orleaniers, but most of what we've seen so far, including from what we've seen by those New Orleaners elected to speak for them, has revealed a rottenness and corruption that deserves no sacrifice on the part of the American people to give them everything they had before.
Important parts of the city, including the French Quarter, downtown, and many higher neighborhoods have emerged in good shape and the city is economically important enough that, without any subsidy at all, it will be a commercially thriving center again. Parts of the city may not be economically viable to rebuild without massive subsidies. For either part, I don't want to be sent the bill.
You are probably right about that...but most of the coverage of New Orleans residents and officials has been highly sympathetic...but still the true ugliness has shown through. There have been other storms and disasters...and in no earlier one can I recall the combination of criminality not just by the underclass but also by the police...along with blaming and demanding and a huge sense of entitlement by all elements in the city. I'm not saying that New Orleans is unique in any of these attributes...but it seems there is a special New Orleans Jambalaya.
And I know that there were plenty of good middle-class people, but that face of New Orleans hasn't been visible, and it looks like a lot of those people are going to make their lives elsewhere.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.