Originally Posted by tijanaw

1st point:
... How can one evacuate if one doe not have transportation....

Originally Posted by Quicksilver

What is important now is not making stupid comments such as "..Bush doesn't like black people",? Perhaps however...........

Maybe i'm wrong but it seems to me that what's more important is that something be done. Then; maybe nothing would have needed to be said by anyone.

I still ask the question Would any of us feel the same if this disaster happend to us?

People who used the excuse "I'm poor". Well God/Allah or whomever you believe it gave you two strong legs...get to walking..and stop waiting for others to help you...take some control of your own situation.

And go where? And do what?

I still ask the question Would any of us feel the same if this disaster happend to us?

I prefer to think for a moment about my judging others. What would I have done?
Or maybe even better what can I do? And I came to the conclusion, do something. So I believe I will go and help out.

Originally Posted by Quicksilver

I still ask the question Would any of us feel the same if this disaster happend to us?

Originally Posted by Quicksilver

Would you feel the same if this disaster happend to you?

Originally Posted by WagnerX5

You're venting and that's cool everybody does it whether they take the "high" ground to your remarks or not.

I'm checking CNN now for the donations by rappers to New Orleans..yah..not finding any right now.

People underestimate the time and constraints to getting 1-10,000 National Guard troops deployed. They act as if the guys are all sitting, in full gear, in a room waiting to go...that isn't how it works. Moving the equipment alone takes time.

Can you blame FEMA, certainly they have left over 50 trucks loaded with ice/water/food in a depot station because ONE member of FEMA hasn't agreed to release them yet. However, nobody seemed to be screaming from the roof top when FEMA was put under the control of Homeland Security which then reduced FEMA's funding. So as was said by one commander there is enough blame to go around.

What is important now is not making stupid comments such as "..Bush doesn't like black people", but more so to figure out what can be addressed to make sure that when tremendous natural disasters occur...we have some semblence of control.

Now IMO, I put a portion of blame on those who stayed (not the elderly, children or those in hospitals/patients or doctors). People who used the excuse "I'm poor". Well God/Allah or whomever you believe it gave you two strong legs...get to walking..and stop waiting for others to help you...take some control of your own situation.

Originally Posted by pepatrick

Juan,

There is hope for you after all. .. But Bill Maher..come on...what a nut job.

Originally Posted by tijanaw

1st point:
Who are u to decide who deserve to die and who does not, when this catastrophy happened, for 72 hours no one did nothing to help this people. For 72 hours these people were left behind by a local and federal government too busy looking good in front of the media. Less than 12 hours after Katrina hit, MSNBC and CNN reporters rolled in the city with simple SUV broadcasting the devastation on every news channel. Where was the government?
2nd point:
They said they ordered a mandatory evacuation: How can one evacuate if one doe not have transportation. Maybe they assumed that every one in New Orleans had a car, maybe they also assumed that all the seniors and sicks could find a way to get a ride. How a country such as ours, big and powerful, can they ordered an evacuation without providing means to do so for the unfitted. The emergency plan was: Oh, we can put them in a superdome. We know what happened in there.
Every litterate person in this country knew this was going to happen at some point in the near future. Fema, Noaa and every other organization had warned the government that the day a cat 2+ would hit the city, it was going to be worst than Sept 11. And still they didn't have a plan like they did when invading Irak,but i'll leave that for another day. On top of it, they kept cutting the funding of these organizations, in 2005 Fema needed about $14 million to make repairs on the levys as well as around the city to save some of the coastal marshes. The goverment said no. During all my college and post college years, every time I have taken a weather and climate class of any sort, New Orleans was mention as a disaster waiting to happen.
I'm not gonna to sit here and say it could have been prevented, but I'll say this: A lot of lives could have been saved, a lot suffering prevented with a better governmental preparations. they knew this was coming!
3rd point:
I don't wait for a disaster to happen to donate money. I do that and more on a regular base, from the Red Cross,UNICEF, Habitat 4 Humanity as well as Save the Children. I do more than that, I donate my time on monthly base (being member of the GTU) to go clean roads, lakes and infected ponds. Next time you ride your X, look 4 "Adopt a Road" sign all around you. We take care of your neighborhood when your are sleeping.
So don't get me started!
4th point:
" Kayne West has not donated a single cent to the cause and he's talking shit?? like it said.. if somebody is coming to help and you shoot them for no apparent reason you're excess population and you deserve to die. put yourself in the contractors shoes."
Being a proud Black man, i'm not going to discuss what Kanye West and other Black Stars do in our community on a daily basis. We don't watch the same news, we don't go to the same places, we don't listen to the same music nor do we like the same food, we co-exist but we don't live in the same world.
On this day of my life, at this time, i'm not going to put myself on those contractors shoes who are getting paid to do their job. However i'm going to put myself in the shoes of the people who lost every thing including Brothers and Sisters as well as Moms and Dads. American citizen whose tone of skin made them look suspicious from the 1st hour of their life to these seconds i'm writing these words. I'm reminded what I am at Starbucks as well as the grocery store. I don't want to but I see it in people eyes everywhere i go.
I'm not going to defend the assholes that shooting at people and cops but one thing I know for sure is: the system has failed, the government has failed to protect them, too busy protecting other nations.
But at times like theses, it's very important for all of us to stay 2gether and see what we can do to help, the day will come when we will determine the responsabilities and who is gulty of what, why the cry for help of theses organizations were ignored etc......
In the mean time, help and enjoy your X, you are part of the priviledged ones.

Originally Posted by statdoc

I was in Hurricane Ivan one year ago. Experienced the full 130 mph winds hitting my hospital. Went outside during the eye, to make sure the hospital was intact. I spent 6 days in the Emergency Dept, attending to patients, sleeping 2 hours at a time, if at all. Six days and nights, during which time I didn't know if I even had a house to go home to. After nearly a week of that, I went home and spent the next several days using a chain saw, etc., to deal with my own problems.

I am still having repairs done at my home as a result of Ivan, and have had Dennis and Katrina come through as well. I never felt sorry for myself. I sent my family away in time to be safe. I did what I had to do, both for my community and for my family. I never took on the role of "victim", and never expected the govt to do anything for me.