Ponder this!!

[Justin Kaufman]

THINK ABOUT THIS FOR A MOMENT.

Denver Post:
This text is from a county emergency manager out in the central part of Colorado after todays snowstorm.
WEATHER BULLETIN
Up here, in the Northern Plains, we just recovered from a Historic event--- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH that brok e trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.

FYI:

George Bush did not come.
FEMA did nothing.
No one howled for the government.
No one blamed the government.
No one even uttered an expletive on TV .
Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit.
Our Mayor did not blame Bush or anyone else.
Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else, either.
CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX or NBC did not visit - or report on this category 5 snowstorm. Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.
No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House.
No one looted.
Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the government do something.
Nobody expected the government to do anything, either.
No Larry King, No Bill O'Rielly, No Oprah, No Chris Mathews and No Geraldo Rivera.
No Shaun Penn, No Barbara Striesand, No Hollywood types to be found.
Nope, we just melted the snow for water.
Sent out caravans of SUV's to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars.
The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn't ask for a penny.
Local restaurants made food and the police and fire departments delivered it to the snowbound families.
Families took in the stranded people - total strangers.
We fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Coleman lanterns.
We put on extra layers of clothes because up here it is "Work or Die".
We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for 'sittin at home' checks. Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early, we know it can happen and how t! o deal with it ourselves.
"In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North Latitude, 90% of the world's social problems evaporate."
It does seem that way, at least to me.
I hope this gets passed on.
Maybe SOME people will get the message. The world does Not owe you a living.

[Matl'e McDaniel]

F*ck yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tellin it like we should have a long time ago.

[Deleted]

Interesting perspective, iceman. BTW, we're at about 40 deg N latitude, but that 48 is only approximate...

[Justin Kaufman]

You my friend are way too smart for your own good, seriously. I didn't write it but it sounded pretty accurate.

Are you starting to melt out yet? It got pretty nice today!


I had no clue where we were located as far as latitude close enough though!!

[Austin Slater]

Good find!

[Carey Nick]

Great find!!
That's what America is all about. Caring about the problem and handling it. Instead of making stupid a s s comments about why or USA begin evil.

We do have some slip thru the cracks like the mayor of New Orleans. Meaning doing the blame game instead of trying to help one another. I have 2 friends stuck in Denver for days and didn't hear them bitch and complain.

[Ryan Thames]

Personally I didnt get too devastated from katrina.

I think our governer and the mayor of New Orleans is a friggin Idiot.

But i have to say a category 5 hurricane in the mouth of the missippippi flooding New orleans is a bit more devastating than a blizzard. I have never been in a blizard......heck ive ner seen more than half an inch of snow.

This hurricane didnt cover peoples houses.......It put them to the ground......FLAT

The Hurricane didnt set snow on the ground for people to melt and turn to water.

It poored in the ocean, water that you cannot drink.....not too mention it being saturated with sewage.

The people in New orleans didnt have a home they could sit in untill the weather passed. They climbed on the roof and cooked (and i dodnt mean they prepared food). With no food.....no water. No roads to navigate where people may have been.

There was a major outcry.....a severe necassary demand for immideate action. 1000's have lost everything......and many are still living in those trailers.

Our governments responded poorly. This is a known fact. But the people there arent too blame for the levees caving nor the hurricane tearing there homes down and flooding them.

They needed relief funds.

Not to mention the economic and population impact this had on surrounding communities.

There were soo many people.....Money was practiclly useless for the first week........if you could afford the price gouging.......you proly didnt have anything you could buy.

I worked an hour away from my home.......it then took me 3-4 hrs to get home. I burned a 1/4 tank of gas going to and from in one day.....at $3.00 a gallon....relief funds were needed......

11.50hr

4gallons a day

$3.00 a gallon

It took me an hours pay just to get to work.

So tho i agree with your post on a few issues.

Overall i think this is wrong. To post.

[Ryan Thames]

justinkaufman said:

Are you starting to melt out yet? It got pretty nice today!

A week after the hurricane.....this statement was un heard of.

Many people had to live churchs for months.

[gambit]

Ryan,

Although I completely understand what you are saying, I do not think the intent of the post was to compare the severity of the storms themselves, but the comparison of the "crying" that quickly ensued.

Being in blizzard conditions is nothing compared to a hurricane and the damage it can create, but being in hot weather is more welcoming and survivable than frigid temperatures...trust me. Even though the two have their life threatening properties the heat is more bearable.

If caught in a winter storm and electricity is lost or being stranded in cars, the temps can quickly fall to unsafe levels and hypothermia sets in. In the heat you can at least dress down (of course water is a HUGE factor when dealing with BOTH).

Not to say you are wrong and Justin's post is right, but the base points of what you and I both have complained about in the aftermath of Katrina on here is what it is saying.
This thread is to point our like we have pointed out about Biloxi, Ms.; they picked up and started moving ahead.

Those are good comparisons you presented though.

[Ryan Thames]

I totally agree. Louisiana is a whole other culture that sits on there butts and waits for a hand out. Even after they all ready got there hand out.

Personaally i believe the local government encourages thiss because its easier to control the people.....this is called communism


If you want to compare how the victims react then sure louisiana is full of idiots. and the local government not the federal government is to blame for alot of that.

It makes me sick how the mayor of neworleans and governor of louisiana imediatly put blame on the president for faults that were there own.

And the media and hollywood types used it to blame Bush. And shine on how everything was his fault.

I dont think the fault of the reaction of the people lies on the people. I believe it lies on the local government....blanco and choclate man


Thats funny.

Blanco means white
And a black mayor wants a chocolate city.

[Justin Kaufman]

My post wasn't intended to offend, just state the fact that some of us in this country fend for ourselves. The other fact that drew me to post that article was the fact that others stopped to help each other. When it came to the hurricane, which was devastating it seemed that half of the people either saved their own tails or sat on them waiting for help.

When it came to this blizzard, which shut down our entire state, people heeded the warning and prepared for the worst. If the folks there would've listened to the warning and left ahead of time it might not have been so devastating (casuality wise).

I was also told that Mississippi got hit twice as hard as LA, I haven't heard much from down there (as I assume Allen was talking about).

[Brandy Stark]

Although I do agree with some of these points, like the Mayor and Governor certainly did not do enough and shifted the blame in the wrong direction instead of just bucking up admitting they made mistakes and correcting them in the wake of Katrina....and for sure hurricane Katrina was much more devastating than our blizzard...........but I don't agree with this "gentleman's" article, first off I saw plenty of people on our local TV stations complaining about how thier streets were not plowed by the cities and they couldn't go out and shop before Christmas and how the city and Post office should stay open and plow our streets and deliver our mail through Christmas so we don't miss out on any goodies.....What a tragedy! There were several people stranded in the snow storm....but in our modern day of TV, radio, Internet and so on, you know when storm is coming....not generally the best time to set out and travel...JMO

I don't think it is right for anyone to judge or condemn the citizens of New Orleans for thier actions after enduring the horros they did after Katrina.........do you all remember the pictures, were any of you there to witness it first hand..........sure there are always people right there to take advantage of a situation and it is too bad that is what the media focuses on. But we don't know what those people went through and for that matter are still going through....I think everyone forgets the mess that is still there. Alot of the people that were left were living in extreme poverty and did not have that option of just up and leaving, no money, no cars..........and were was the mayor with all of the buses to get those people out that could not get out..........I am sure there are plenty of great stories happening in New Orleans, plenty of people helping others out and getting things back to normal.....just because we don't hear of it does not mean it is not happening..........

Did the guy who wrote this article go to New Orleans and lift a finger, did he witness the devastation, did he actually see people standing in the streets refusing to help themselves and whining like babies or did he just hear everything on the news like everyone else and make his own judgement of the situation.........news is not gospel and most news focuses on the negative because it sells!

[Justin Kaufman]

I guess I can't personally compare us to what happened in New Orleans, it's not the same.

Not the same at all, since I just made a bitchen snow fort with my kids in my back yard.

I guess we are wussies up here, my bad. For the record I still agree with most of the article, which is just my opinion.

Also if I would have been in New Orleans when that happened I would've helped out gauranteed.

[gambit]

We have indeed seen the devastation first hand. We have also been part of the assistance of the needy and in doing so we have indeed seen more than what the media is showing everyone. We are still living in the midst of it all.
The poverty stricken citizens are not all corrupt themselves, but they have made a living off of the system that has pampered them to the point that they will not even clean up their own mess in their own yards. It has taken out-of-staters to come in and do the work the complaining citizens flat out refuse to do.

What is so amazing is how "they" profit from being victims.

I don't think it is right for anyone to judge or condemn the citizens of New Orleans for their actions after enduring the horros they did after Katrina

Not to sound rude, Brandy, but I don't know how else to put this. Is it excusable for the "victims" to cause crimes because they have lost everything they have (which according to the media wasn't much anyway) and have the opportunity to make more money than they ever have by working for FEMA to clean up their own home area?
My sister-in-law who has cancer and no hair because of chemo treatment, and my mother-in-law, was in a grocery store and there were "victims" ready to check out and cut right in front of my m-i-l and s-i-l and then called another "victim" to cut in from of them again. The "victims" asked, "What are you looking at you bald-headed freak?"

This was to only cause problems so they could scream "victim" AGAIN. After asking for the manager and he then showing up proved nothing was going to be done because he in turn was black himself. After stating what had happened he in fact did nothing...nothing at all. The clerk, fearful for her job, leaned over and whispered that that very same things happens ALL the time and to please go higher than the manager before it gets out of hand at a later time.
You see, this is not an isolated incident. People from all over the country are screaming we should take them back because of not only the, "You owe me this... you owe me that" mentality, but the racial issues which have been brought to their cities.


I believe in helping those who help themselves, but will not help the ones who think I owe them something and sit on their butts until something is given that is NOT owed them. That is pure thievery and immoral.

As far as the author of the article, I believe he only stated what a lot of the ones who have had to deal with this wants to say and believe on principal.
_______________________________________

.......I am sure there are plenty of great stories happening in New Orleans, plenty of people helping others out and getting things back to normal.....just because we don't hear of it does not mean it is not happening

They are indeed starting to clean up and for several reasons.

• The citizens made settlements on their properties in order for the construction to start. (Of course the HBO comic relief with Robin Williams, Whoopie Goldberg, and Billy Crystal is not conveying that. They insist it is still Bush controlling the delay)
  
• FEMA has started to pay for contractors to operate
  
• Insurance companies are paying
  
• Mexicans have come in to do the work the citizens refused to do themselves and as a result the citizens are starting to clean up so nothing can be said or lost as in "monetary assistance".
  
  This I know.
  
  

We all have our facts about what happened and what is happening. I believe things will work themselves out, but need to in a better fashion than what is going on right now.
Brandy, thank you for your compassionate heart, there are not many like you left.

[Ryan Thames]

The state granted Donald Trump 10 years tax exemption for redeveloping New Orleans.

I have heard stories from first hand victims of her watching people jumping off bridges to end the tragedy from katrina. Waiting for someone to pick them up in buses.

There is a bridge that leads from New Orleans and goes toward Hammond Louisiana. It takes 2 hrs to drive one way. Depending on traffic. Both sides of the bridge were directed to go one way. Out.

A man with no car.......little or no money......How is one supposed to walk to a grocery store that isnt under water?

If a man Drives a 2 hr bridge at 60mph

It would take him 4-5 days walking 10-12 hrs each day to walk @ 3mph

Not much hope.


But when they did make it to Livingston there was a small church thaat opened its doors like many other churches did. And housed as many people as possibly......because there simply wasnt anywhere to stay.

Property value gouged proly aabout 200%

People were selling there homes left and right for 2-3 times what they were worth.

I have witness first hand the results of what happened and took part in the assisting as well. Helping distribute goods to local churches.

Justin i also agree with the majority of your post....its just the rest of that kinda ticked me off.....i know you werent trying to be offensive. But too many people outside ofLouisiana try to make statements like that and they dont know what they are talking aabout.





Louisiana Needs a new governor for sure....Allen would you vote for me?

We cant get rid of the candy man...they tried allready and the relected the bum.