I understand that people cannot live off of the federal government forever, and lets face it, a lot of the Katrina refugees would stay right where they are and never lift a finger to change their sitation if they keep getting free room and board. But on the other hand, look at how FEMA and the government handled this mess from the start. You relocate ten or twenty thousand angry, hopeless people to a nearby city, give them a debit card with $2000 on it and say hey..good luck. The fact is that in any major or mid sized city in the US, $2000 wont even cover first and last months rent deposit to secure a home. Meanwhile billions of dollars have literally disappeared and nobody seems to have any long term solution for these folks. It's sad because nobody is at fault for mother natures actions, but it doesn't change the fact that you have thousands of hungry, desperate people roaming around in these cities who will eventually resort to crime and desperate measures. The real kicker will be when the deadline for the hotel rooms hits and suddenly these people are now homeless and desperate. I don't have the answer, but I do know that the cost of military operations in Iraq for one month could secure housing and food for pretty much all of these displaced people. And as a tax payer I would rather see Americans being helped with that money instead of throwing more dollars at that huge cluster(censored) that is the Iraq war. Just my 2 cents.

mod edit: Do not circumvent the censors

[edit on 28-2-2006 by sanctum]

Originally posted by BlackOps719
, a lot of the Katrina refugees would stay right where they are and never lift a finger to change their sitation if they keep getting free room and board.

That is correct on many levels:
Alot of 'Katrina' refugees 'stayed' right where they 'were'; that is how they ended up 'where' they are 'now'.

Originally posted by BlackOps719
But on the other hand, look at how FEMA and the government handled this mess from the start.

The state had nothing to do with it???

Originally posted by BlackOps719
You relocate ten or twenty thousand angry, hopeless people to a nearby city, give them a debit card with $2000 on it and say hey..good luck.

Multiply that numner by 10+ and I worked during the crisis as a volunteer...no one just said, "here you go good luck."

Originally posted by BlackOps719
The fact is that in any major or mid sized city in the US, $2000 wont even cover first and last months rent deposit to secure a home.

The feds covered the deposits (and still are).

Originally posted by BlackOps719
Meanwhile billions of dollars have literally disappeared and nobody seems to have any long term solution for these folks.

'They' are being used as political pawns on all fronts.

Originally posted by BlackOps719
The real kicker will be when the deadline for the hotel rooms hits and suddenly these people are now homeless and desperate.

The date has passed.

Originally posted by BlackOps719
And as a tax payer I would rather see Americans being helped with that money

Americans were and are currently being helped with 'that money'; just as before. Perhaps that is the missing part of the picture.


mg

I don't think its exactly fair to fault Katrina victims for squandering whatever was on those debit cards (I heard $1000, but you guys say $2000) when we've all admitted that the federal government managed to "lose" billions.

Can we focus on the big picture for just a minute?

1) BlackOps719 is right when s/he says that $2000 is not enough to start a new life.

2) Why did the government repeal whichever law it was that restricted the federal government (or its contractors) from hiring illegals? Why are the developers in the process of creating, more or less, a new slave state- with illegals as the slaves- using our tax dollars?

The question I took from the mismanagement of this catastrophe was, why would they let this happen? When it comes to figuring out what the federal government is up to, I think these concerns are more inmportant than why severely traumatized people made some bad financial decisions.

[edit on 1-3-2006 by HarlemHottie]

[edit on 1-3-2006 by HarlemHottie]

As a person who lived in Houston for quite sometime/and who has been to New Orleans more times then I would have like to , I fell that I need to chime in on this discussion. Right after Katrina Houston became a lawless town, when I get reports from my parents and numerous family that lives there that says, that if you go anywhere near the astrodome , you are taking your life in your own hands. Numerous car jacking, muggings, rapes, robbery you name it happened and continues to happen in and around the astrodome. I guess it hard to feel sorry for these people. It’s quite sad that in situations such as this, we see people become there most primitive, animals is the only word I can use to describe the quote "Katrina refugees". Unfortunately Katrina did not make them animals, they were already there. If anyone has been to New Orleans, you know what I mean. Now people will say they are poor and need our assistance, hmmmmmm, I can accept that, even though they were given numerous days to leave, but at what time do you ask people to take responsibility to their situation. The causes of why they did not leave are numerous, but in the end they are just excuses. Any person regardless of economics situations will do whatever they have to do to avoid life threatening situations, period; this is innate in all of us. Now don’t get me wrong I know my attitude toward them is harsh and I’m all in for helping people, fellow Americans, in their time of need, but I will not baby-sit them I will ask that they take some responsibility in rebuilding their lives, it’s not the government duty to help you rebuild your life. Well I’m done, let the flame war begin

I live in houston an i for one am sick and tired of them

Not to say they are all like this but my friends store has been robbed two times at gunpoint and he tried to protect the store. The masked robbers said "You Houston Mothaf*ckas messed up" They drove away in a car with Louisiana plates

Another friend has been approached by one of them and he almost got robbed outside a convenient store and he was ranting and yelling about how he was from lousiana and he was gona TAKE his money.

Another friend had a gun pointed to her head for Mcdonalds food. Keep in mind that she is only 19 and less than 5 ft tall. What the hell? You do not need a gun for her

I have actually seen a family eating chicken in their car and the threw out a few lbs of CHICKEN BONES out on to the street at a busy red light. Again with the Lousiana plates

Around where i work there have been about 10 Lousiana related murders in the past few months. That is just within a 2-3 mile radius

I live in Houston. And it is absurd that this group of people will not use the help they have gotten to better themselves. No other group in American history has received the aid Katrina people have received and yet the vast majority makes no attempt to better them selves. Instead they just want more and more for free. There was at least 4 months that no one in Houston was allowed to get a job unless you were a Katrina evac. I know i was with out a job for 6 month because of this. and yet a year later all you hear is give me more money more free rent more more more. i also went to Nola and helped rebuild a large number of houses and why is it that the only people that were there rebuilding there homes were white or Mexican. Ill tel you why the black don't want to have to work for anything. We were out there sweating and tearing down and rebuilding but white people and Mexicans are the only one that just say well you have to help your self. If Katrina people want it back then get off your ghetto a*@ and fix it your self. I am sick of hearing everyone cry over this crap when they are not willing to do any of the work themselves. White guilt is the problem white people are feel guilty because they have more well its because we work like dogs to get there. the majority of the blacks will not do anything at all. They want white people to do it for them. If white people knew what equality really is they would say tuff get out there and work like we all do . but the truth is that blacks have to be coddled like children because that is there capacity. and When white people leave them alone they do nothing but trash neighborhood and cities and revert to crime. If blacks want to be equal then stop whining and suffer like the rest of us. stop begging whites for everything and grow up. Bush doesnt hate black people you morons he hates poor people.

I have a question about louisiana tags. Those in the Superdome were there because a lot of them didn't have cars. So wouldn't those with LA tags be the ones who drove out? So they wouldn't be the refugees one would associate with those bussed into the Astrodome?

there is plenty of money. hell the gov. stole a whole bunch of it from the trade center incident. like $230 billion or something. then they went to irqa and stole oil. Allah guy was pissed and showed with Katrina. it's all the gov. fault. now all the money they stole is needed to repair nawlans. co-incident. i think not as coincidence is for the non-beleivers...

i beleive these hurricanes are created by an higher entity. just like the vortexs of Sedona, AZ. they call it natural phenomenon, but it's just to precise to be natural i beelive..

those people cant go back to nawlans. only 1/4 of hte people are back. it's a toxic dump now. nawlans was a nasty place to begin with and now it's worse. my friend has been helping rebuid around there and he says it smeels like dead animals and sewage. they no choice accept them as your fellow americans, cause when judgement day comes we will all need acceptance from our fellow americans to get through the tough times..