I've had CNN playing on the background since this devastating hurricane hit. What I can understand for the life of me is how these people are getting out of control! Looting, murder, rapes, etc., even a suicide last night! Some of these people are acting like animals and it just makes me sick. I guess I can understand taking what you can for food, medicine, water, etc., BUT TVs? Starter jackets? Radios? The other thing that bothers me is the US sent immediate relief and search and rescue to aide the Tsunami victims in ANOTHER country! Why is it that we can even bail out one of our own US states? And, SHAME ON THESE OIL COMPANIES for taking advantage of this situation. In Minnesota, we are still under $3/gallon, which means that we are still one of the lowest in the country, but this is just ridiculous and an outrage!

I hope that this board gets used, because I want to see what others are thinking!

I pretty much echo your response Nicky. It is horrifying.

__________________
Asexuality: It's not just for amoebas anymore

"As long as two people love each other I don't think God cares whether they both have a hoo hoo or a haa haa" Marge Simpson

Exactly!

And excuse my ignorance in about this if there is any but couldn't we chill out on the war so we can ease up on a few billion to help our own here?

I have to say that I am 110% behind the war. I have several relatives fighting over there and trying to survive each day. With that being said, we have more troops here that we can send down to LA to help out. We also have reserves that have just come back from the war that are willing and able to get down there. There are still people on rooftops waiting to be rescued and you know that they haven't eaten or drank anything since this all happened! Bush needs to get off his A$$ and make this his #1 priority...This happened on US soil and that should be on the top of the list! AND please stop making this situation go from bad to worse with the rapes, murders, & looting!

__________________

This is sooo horrible and tragic...I cannot imagine how horrifying it must be to be in that situation with your children. I agree that the response and help there has been pathetic to say the least! This happened Monday and people are just now starting to get real help...what a disgrace! And we think we could handle another huge terrorist attack? This is a storm we had ample warning about...shame on our leaders.

As far as the violence going on...it is an attrocity that anyone take advantage of such a catastrophic situation. Some news agencys have said that the reports of violence are being overreported, but still it is just so sad. These are isolated incidents of course and the majority of the stranded are families, elderly, etc.
My thoughts and prayers are with the devastated Gulf region...

__________________

I grew up on the Gulf coast and have lived through many hurricanes, albeit none as bad as Katrina. Everytime I see pictures of the devestation and hoplessness I start weeping. Fortunately, my family are all in Houston and my husband's family in Louisiana are well east of New Orleans, so I don't believe we know anybody directly affected by the hurricane.

Unfortunately, it is human nature in a crisis to become protective on one's own, and in some individuals that means attacking others to ensure one's own safety, sort of an "I'd better get them before they get me" kind of attitude. When societal prohibitions break down and there is no authority left to enforce them, the worst and the best of human nature comes to the forefront. Not that I excuse any of the rapes, murders, and other violence, but I can understand it. Those individuals who already have little or no awareness of humanity (sociopaths and/or criminals) can be the spark that will set off a firestorm of violence, including among those who only want to protect themselves and their families.

My whole heart and all my thoughts go out to those victims of the hurricane, of violence, as well as those who feel trapped into committing violent acts.

Just my . Thanks for listening/reading!

__________________

I agree with wannaBmomma. I think that a disaster can bring out both the best and worst of people. And I also think that some lawless people (who were that way anyway) just saw opportunity and the lack of law enforcement and took advantage. But people react to tragedy in different ways and I can understand the anger that is building there right now. I personally never agreed with the Iraq war and have always felt that the money and effort could better be spent here at home. I do fully support our servicemen who are there as their job requires (my brother served in Iraq). I just don't agree with the way Bush has handled the whole situation. I do think that it should be first priority to help our own here at home (but not forget our servicemen overseas either). I really feel that our National Guard should be kept here at home. That is what the National Guard was originally designed to do- to protect our homefront. Lately, it seems that National Guard troops are some of the first deployed though.

__________________

June

*****Co-Host of Born In May 2005 *****

Matthew Rhys April 29, 2005

Caitlin Rhian August 26, 2006

Also, I guess I question if the largest percentage of the people trapped there were wealthy, politically influential white people, would the situation still have been handled in the same way and with the same speed?

__________________

June

*****Co-Host of Born In May 2005 *****

Matthew Rhys April 29, 2005

Caitlin Rhian August 26, 2006

I am with you guys 150%! Our gov't SHOULD be doing a MUCH better job! It's sick that we can give thousands/millions of dollars to another country that had the tsunami attack and send rescue crews over there right away, but we can't send freakin' water until the end of the week to our people? We can't send rescue crews faster than the end of the week when we're on the same da** continent? HELLO.....Yes, Bush needs to get off his A$$ and start doing something besides flying over it, DUH!!! Man, if a woman could be president, we'd have everything solved. I just watched my local news and today a 6 year old girl died today from an Asthma attack! That's horrible. They showed one lady carrying around her baby with no diaper on! It's close to or around 90+ degrees, but what is the gov't doing for them? They have no food, water, some no shelter, some no meds, etc. but let a girl from a different country need something, they fly her little a$$ right over here. I'm in St.Louis by the way, and there was a girl that needed COSMETIC surgery on her face and they flew her butt here, did it for free, she stayed here for free and they sent her home for free! .......COSMETIC surgery..... makes ya wonder! But we can't give a 6 year old an inhaler? I haven't donated money to the Red Cross, they were on my local news channel and they (the red cross) said that for every dollar you donate, they only send 92 cents. I don't think that's right, they (the victims) should get all of it! Does anyone know where you can donate money to that they don't keep some of it?

And yes, shame on those oil companies, they were jacking up the prices BEFORE this, it's just another excuse to get money. It's ridiculous to charge that price, do you know that a gallon of milk is cheaper than a gallon of gas? I told my DH that they should put on the gas signs: Reg. Unleaded: 1 arm, Mid grade: 1 leg, Premium: you don't want to know! When gas was $2.50/gallon here, the news reported that Exxon was making a 51% profit on it, I wonder how much profit they are making now? Like 190% profit? I told DH I won't buy gas at these prices, I'll walk before I do that. So far, the only place I've gone was to the grocery store because my baby was out of milk!

the wealthy people got out of there when they were told to... these other people, I don't think, could afford to leave. One of our African American teachers up at school said:
"I think black people underestimate water... there is that taboo that they don't swim, etc. and I seriously think they had no clue how fast it can take over... these people are on government assistance for EVERYTHING and they are used to getting it when they want it and now they are having to wait, so they are freaking out, killing and looting..." (what the heck are they going to do with a conveyor belt from a grocery store??? Go home and plug it in?!)

And all I read about on Monday or Tuesday was that every freaking plane or helicopter that tried to get in there, was SHOT AT. Hmmmm... wonder if that dampered things a bit?

__________________

and I think, If I remember right, the tsunami victims didn't get "help" that day of the disaster b/c remember.. there was no place for the planes to land. They went at least a week without food and water. They were having to land on those remote strips of land that weren't underwater.

__________________

Okay Okay - I am not making excuses for our government... we have to be able to take care of our own people. And WOW - what has our government learned from this? I read somewhere about appointing Mayor Gulliani to some new Disaster Relief committee or something... and these companies that are killing us with gas prices ought to be fined!!! Had you guys heard that Exxon, Mobile and Shell are to blame for the prices?

__________________

I agree it is totally sad that it has taken almost a full week to get these poor people out.

__________________

I personally think Bush is doing all he can. I think if anyone is to blame it's the mayor & governor of LA. HELLO! They new that one day this would happen but yet didn't prepare. Not even days before it.

The leaders of LA even rescued tourist before they rescued their own from what I understand on the news. Of course, I try not to take everything I hear from the news to be truth either. You've basically got a city that's 25% government assisted. I have to agree with the statement above

I mean you want to help out but it makes it a little hard when these people are being shot at for helping. It's just a very sad and unfortunate situation for so many. I'm glad to see that the military is in place now.

__________________

The Bush people are OIL people. They will NEVER ever fine an oil company for raising prices. Its in Bush's best interest (and pocket book) not to.

__________________
Anne
Mama to Conner 2/27/04 & Gabrielle 2/6/06 & Delaney 5/12/08

I also heard that Exxon, Shell and Mobil are the ones to blame. But hey, I guess they can be, they're the "big" ones so to speak. It's ridiculous. And yes, Bush's people are TOTALLY OIL PEOPLE! Have any of you noticed that gas prices really didn't go over say $1.60 before Bush was president? It was $1.59 and people were lined up at the pumps for miles because they thought gas prices were going up like they are now. But they didn't, it just spiked to $1.59 for a few days, then dropped back down to the $1.30's. Oh....the $1.30's, $1.50's, heck even the $2.00's were a decent price to pay compared to what we're looking at now.

I thought I read gas has gone up 300% since he has been in office. Is that right?

__________________
Anne
Mama to Conner 2/27/04 & Gabrielle 2/6/06 & Delaney 5/12/08

I just heard that Colorado will be houseing at least 1,000 people from the Hurricane.

At least people are working on getting these poor people a place to stay....now they need jobs to survive...and get back on their feet.

Has anyone heard about the job front for these people?

__________________
Anne
Mama to Conner 2/27/04 & Gabrielle 2/6/06 & Delaney 5/12/08

I agree. People get "selective memory" when it comes to this stuff.

I know that I'm in the minority here but I do believe there is only so much you can do and only do it so fast. It takes like three days to deploy the National Guard... they were there in that time frame. Do people have any idea how hard it was for them to even GET there? There were no roads! You can't just expect them to show up the same day! That is just a little foolish to believe. It takes time to put together a shipment of 20,000 gallons of water (or anything else)... and then it takes time to actually GET it there. If you think about it... every action that it takes to help these people out, takes TIME, and effort and money. It took them DAYS just to be able to GET to some areas of Mississippi. I don't think people can understand the scope of the logistics.

I have great sympathy and sadness for the poor souls that were too injured or too sick to find a way out of the city but there is just no excuse for those that were strong and healthy enough to be looting now, to choose to stay in the city when they were warned to leave at all costs. I am ashamed of those that make it impossible for those that would rescue, to rescue!

This whole thing is just so horrible. So sad. So unimaginable. I think people NEED to blame someone like the president or the governors or the mayors. Not that it is necessarily appropriate. The media needs to get a grip and stop feeding the fire of blame. We need positive action... not finger pointing, at this point.

I am incredibly proud of the people that are there rescuing and feeding and healing and helping. They now have a military response to support the government. They have doctors and nurses that have STAYED there and served and healed. They have civilian forces that are going above and beyond. God bless the innocent strangers that have helped other innocent strangers.

And I forget who asked about it but the only organizations I've ever heard of that use 100% of your mission dollars for mission is your own religious organization. (Whichever it may be). Any of the rest of them, United Way, Red Cross, etc., ALL have a certain percentage of their dollars going to administration. But, that is just what I know. Others might know differently. I do know that it takes administration in order to run these organizations and I don't know about you, but I liked to get paid when I go to work. I'm sure the workers at Red Cross agree. I don't know which orginization takes the least percentage of our dollar. If someone finds out... let us know!

Okay, so I have rambled on enough! I'm glad to have an outlet for my thoughts...

Blessings to all,
~m

This is the one thing that gets on my nerves and it might have been already addressed here but this nation was in such a hurry to aid IRAQ (no offense I support the troops over there 100+%) but are so slow in getting aid to the victims of this hurricane? If ever american donates $1 to one of non-profits helping in this tragedy it would be great! I have! How about everyone donating something to the Red Cross, Salavation Army, etc! I can't believe the goverment was so slow in getting aid, food, water , etc to these poor people who were not able to evacuate for one reason or another.

__________________
Mommy to Vanessa