Why No Katrina Stories From Iowa?
by Big Dog on Jun 13, 2008 at 14:06 Political
There is terrible flooding in Cedar Rapids Iowa and Des Moines is under a voluntary evacuation order as rivers swell and rise to the tops of levees. Cedar Rapids is under water and 15 people have died as a result of the flooding. Of course this story has been in the news but I can’t help but wondering where all the network trailers are. I can’t help wondering where FEMA is and where are all the protesters demonstrating against perceived government inaction on this one?
Also, where are all the dead bodies floating around while hoodlums roam the streets shooting at people and looting stores?
What is it about this storm that is at least as bad, if not worse, than Katrina that has left us without stories of devastation caused by the government’s failure to swoop in and help people? Why don’t we have music stars on TV holding a telethon to raise money while they proclaim that George Bush hates white people?
Why is it that teen aged boys, members of the Boy Scouts, were able to respond immediately to render first aid to the injured and dig out those trapped in the rubble when adults in New Orleans seemed incapable of helping themselves?
Perhaps this goes back to the thoughts I had about dependence on government. Those in New Orleans have ridden the back of government programs for so long they did not know how to care for themselves. The leadership they needed from state and local politicians was non existent with the governor crying and the mayor lying in the fetal position sucking his thumb on the upper floors of a hotel. The people were ill prepared because their leadership was ill prepared.
Certainly there was blame at the federal level and things could have run more smoothly but there is no battalion of federal employees traipsing around Iowa and they seem to be surviving.
It all comes down to people taking responsibility for one’s own life and helping others in need.
My prayers are with those folks in Iowa affected by this terrible storm. Thanks goodness they had the ability to fend for themselves or the death toll could have been much higher.
Tags: cedar rapids, fema, floods, iowa, katrina, new orleans
All of those facts you state are correct about LA, and yeah the gimme culture exists everywhere REALLY big in INNER CITIES… Hint Hint.
This was the problem and somewhat the problem BD pointed out. but your sensibilities get in the way of facts.
Fact YOU FOLKS THAT LIVE THERE RE-ELECTED NAGIN? uh excuse me, but that tells you how deep the political corruption is in NOLA.
Yeah we re-elected Bush, ALL of us, not a few but I know you are going here so: Yes we re-elected Bush too…. yada yada but we are talking about a Mayor vs a President, keep it in the realm of reality.
And I don’t give a crap if you are an anthropologist or a ditch digger, the fact is you are obviously a liberal, so therefore any discussion about entitlement and the culture it breeds is a moot point considering you would give them more…..nuff said.
Roberts last blog post..Katrina vs OTHER Disasters on our soil.
I said it did not have racial overtones because someone accused me of that in a comment.
Dambala, I don’t care if you are the Queen of the Nile, I asked once nicely not to post vulgarities. Now I am not asking, I am telling, don’t so it again.
No problem Bushwack, sometimes we get heated but some people refuse to follow rules.
I really don’t care what they do in New Orleans. The levees were the responsibility of state and federal, that is in the report one of you cited. It also says that the problems existed because of both entities.
I don’t know why the feds are messing with the levees to begin with. Let the people of NO (its government) contract someone to do it and pay for it with state money. I am tired of tax money getting dumped in that place.
Dig a ditch across the southern border to the water in NO so it fills. Fill it with alligators to keep the ILLEGALS out. Use the dirt to fill in NO and let them build a city above sea level. A lot of problems solved.
BTW 500 buses with 40 seats is 20000 seats. 5 trips 50 miles north and all the people are out. If not all, then at least more than were left behind. Maybe take the really old and sick first rather than murder them in the nursing homes. Maybe move them to the upper floors of the hotels where Nagin hid.
Be careful BD, you might be accused of racism for wanting to protect your country, the alligators might kill an invader and then you would be a Nazi…..just the latest in the attack against those that would protect our borders by any means necessary
Look I can sympathize with folks like Damblass but his liberal overtones rub me wrong, there is a difference between a Democrat and a liberal, and to me he sounds too far left. I could be wrong I guess.
Liberalism, and Government blame go hand in hand and personal responsibility is discarded all together. I saw a lot of that mentality while I was there, I also saw some OUTSTANDING acts of humanity, but they were far less visible.
A distribution center we took supplies too, were full people looking for help, I saw a lady maybe 60 yrs old BLACK (In case that mattered to someone) actually step out of the line, come up and ask was there something she could help with? she said she had some time to give. The line was 100+ deep and this lady had waited about 20 minutes and was about 10 from the counter. I worked harder after that.
Roberts last blog post..Katrina vs OTHER Disasters on our soil.
Robert,
Earlier, you said;
“tell me when you have had any interaction with those affected by the disaster…. Please I can’t wait to hear. Until then you are doing nothing but reciting what you have read about”
And
“The arrogance of folks that did not participate in the recovery of towns and cities acting like they have a clue is very insulting and Sharn you should STFU about what you do not know”
Perhaps I missed it in the comment thread, but it would appear that Big Dog hasn’t put his own boots on the ground. He made some donations, but I haven’t seen any indication that he has been here or directly interacted with people personally affected by the disaster.
If that is indeed the case, it would appear he is guilty of “the arrogance of folks that did not participate in the recovery of towns and cities acting like they have a clue is very insulting”.
He has indeed been arrogant and insulting (and then has the gall to demand others not use “vulgarities”, sheesh). Indeed, it would appear he is doing the same prognosticating from afar, culling together his notions from “his sources”. So why haven’t you called him out and demanded that Big Dog “stfu”?
I met BD at a rally in DC, I know he truly believes in this country, I know BD, I don’t know you. I also know that a LOT of folks would have loved to been able to pitch in and help on the ground. They are the ones that made it possible for people like me to go.
Behind the 9 people I took was a slew of donations, and fund raising and planning and security efforts…. it took a week to gather funds supplies and transportation. THAT alone tells you how fast folks came together to help around here. We were there for a couple of weeks.
Big Dog donating made it possible for those who could to go. That was a piss poor argument and frankly smacks of liberalism…. LOL
Roberts last blog post..The Faux Intellectual speaks
Sharn, and I also apologize to those of you that WERE there and are stating what YOU have seen. My experience was fraught with lazy gubmint cheese eating folks wanting everyone to do everything without lifting a finger other than blaming whitey.
Our opinions are based on things we see so therefore when I make a generalization it is not intended to encircle those that picked up and helped it is at those that didn’t and I am a firm believer that the cultural differences exist and folks are too damn PC to talk about it.
Roberts last blog post..The Faux Intellectual speaks
One does not have to go to NO to have interacted with those who left the state and lived in other areas of the country. You are aware that people left NO and received, housing, medical care and food in other places. Besides what was done here, many of my co-workers (including me) worked extra hours so others with special skills and equipment could go. Paramedics and ambulances. Soldiers who went because their leadership was able to stay back and ensure the regular missions were completed.
It isn’t all about who went there, it is about who helped no matter where they were. One does not need to read the MSM for opinion when one can read the AARs of the Coast Guard, National Guard, FEMA and various agencies that contributed. I also believe what the refugees had to say.
It might also be that I never insulted the recovery effort. I only stated that there is a difference between cultures and that there are not all the complaints coming from Iowa that came from NO.
Someone asked earlier: (pre Katrina).
Number receiving temporary assistance 5764
Number of people on Medicaid 134,249
Families getting food stamps 46,551
Poverty rate 23.2% 7th out of 290 counties across the country.
And about 17,000 families living in public housing.
Sorry, that was nearly 10,000 (occupied units out of 12,000). Big fingers…
Big Dog says:
“There were people in the Super Dome who acted like animals.”
I call bullsh*t. The stories of looting, raping and murdering in NOLA were largely fictionalized. Most of the fine people of that city behaved heroically and admirably in the face of one of the worst natural disasters this country had ever seen. But because they were largely poor and black, many in America could only think that they would behave like savages. Popular Mechanics debunked the “rape, murder, loot” myths here:
http://www.popularmechanics.co…..tml?page=7
See also American Journalism Review:
http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3998
See also Reason Magazine:
http://www.reason.com/news/show/34103.html
Unfortunately, the attribution of “savagery” to poor, racial minority groups during times of disaster is nothing new. False stories about “savage” blacks raping and looting were also prevalent in the aftermath of the great Mississippi flood of 1927. “Blaming the victim” racism is apparently still one of our favorite past-times. Right, Dog?
Robert,
Those was your words. Your argument. Your standard.
Apparently your standard doesn’t apply to those who agree with your point of view. Some would call that a “double standard” or even “preferential treatment”. Come to think of it, your standard does sound pretty “liberal” to me as well.
And may I also call BULLSH*T on the constant politicization of human tragedy. It just shows how genuine moral concern for our fellow man is always second to making cheap political points here in the stupid blogosphere.
Daniel,
You are late to the conversation. Watch your language. I also would like to know who you get savagery for the poor black folk out of acted like animals. Also, point out where I discussed rape or murder. Did you see the place? The pictures showed waste all over and people not keeping their area as clean as possible.
Yes, I realize that it was a disaster and a mess but leaving trash around and leaving human waste all over causes disease and disease carrying vectors. If there had been any leadership, a dump would have been established and people would have been required to practice hygiene.
Sharn, The standard was had interaction with the people. As I stated, one does not need to be in NO to have interacted. Robert knows more about me than the assumptions you make.
Oh…they’re “animals” not “savages.” So much better. And your evidence…they didn’t leave the hellhole known as the Superdome as neat and tidy as it had been before they got there. Needless to say, if Big Dog were there, he would have made sure to have brought his dustbuster, mop, and personal, portable toilet to the facility and made sure to keep his “area as clean as possible,” because, you know, facing death, dehydration, and heat stroke should never get in the way of keeping tidy.
And sorry about “the language,” Big Dog. For someone in the business of politicizing human tragedy, you sure do have delicate sensibilities. I’ll just say bullpoo next time. Is bullpoo, okay? As in: Big Dog’s argument comparing Iowa and New Orleans is such a load of bullpoo that he is now defending his comparison on the basis of how tidy evacuees kept their areas. The ANIMALS!
Daniel you are a real tool, but it’s expected.. The loony left has to throw in their 2 cents and explain away every ounce of reason with liberal jibberish… It’s almost comical except all the liberal “bullpoo” has consequences.
Like how I use the word LIBERAL like you idiots use the word RACIST, it kind of grates on you don’t it…..it’s a discussion ender because once you are declared a LIBERAL, you need to defend that, it’s sad really I feel sorry for you.
Roberts last blog post..The Faux Intellectual speaks
Interesting comment, Robert, because there was a complete lack of reason in your previous post. Never mind reason, it doesn’t even express a coherent thought. Here’s my favorite part:
“it’s a discussion ender because once you are declared a LIBERAL [note: does it have to be in big screaming caps when you declare it, or will a lower-case declaration suffice?] you need to defend that, it’s sad really i feel sorry for you.”
Now, unfortunately I didn’t bring my wingnut decoder ring today, so I’m going to have to do some work to understand the airtight reasoning here. As far as I can tell, old Bobbo here is saying that by him calling me a LIBERAL (with BIG caps), he has officially ended our conversation because I need to defend myself against the accusation of being a LIBERAL.
My reply: Uh…no I don’t.
Oh, and please watch your language Bobborino. Calling someone a “tool” could offend people around these parts.
Daniel, I have people who read this site and they do not appreciate the vulgarity. It is not my sensibilities, vulgarity is a feeble mind’s inability to express itself. If you can’t put it in words that are you would use in polite company then don’t say anything.
No, I would not have had a dustbuster, and you obviously miss the point (as if I expected anything else). After 24 years in the army I think I know just a little bit about having a lot of people in one place and why hygiene is important. I have faced all those things you mentioned but all of them combined do not kill as many people as disease. More people died in WWII from disease than combat. When disease spreads among closely gathered people, it is bad and devastating. I would expect them to know that you don’t throw trash where you live. I am pretty certain that a division of soldiers in the desert has just as many challenges. They manage to keep things fairly clean. My guys never left trash around and we did not crap where we slept.
If 24 years in the Army did not teach me certainly the years I spent in nursing school did. You can chastise all you want but people who work together and keep as clean as possible will have more strength to get what they need.
Daniel, if you don’t like my commenting policy you can leave. You want to discuss the thread, fine. You want to have fun at my expense you can leave or be shown the door. You want to troll do it elsewhere.
Typical liberal, rules do not apply and insult authority.
BD, do you know where these cockroaches are coming from? I mean your post was not “Insulting” it was basic perception, and perception while occasionally slightly off is based on fact, and the fact is there was a lot of “Gimme” going on in NOLA, and there was the thug element involved in “TAKEY” and then you had the morons involved in “SHOOTING” and in the middle of that you had a smattering of heroism…NO ONE will admit more white people died percentage wise, because all white people are racist in these folks eyes.
I love how some of these anal explorers come to my site and drop “Racist” “Nazi” comments because of the things I said here….
It proves the point BD, that if you want to get to the bottom of a problem, you have to do it without saying anything negative about anything other than WHITE President’s. I wonder whose fault will it be when Obama is in charge….oh it will be Obama is a sell out. LOL
Roberts last blog post..The Faux Intellectual speaks
Rob, I find it interesting that so many people got their panties in a wad. Actually, one of them posted for the others to come here and comment so a flame war started. Now I don’t care, being the capitalist I am, each time they visit the troops make money. So as far as I am concerned they can keep coming and trying to convince me that I am somehow wrong. That won’t happen because after being called racist and Nazi and all other things after Katrina and after being told that I don’t care about my fellow Americans I figured, screw it, I won’t. As far as I am concerned they can fill it in with concrete.
Hate to be that way but I am tired of people telling me what I am obligated to do or that their problems are because I am some kind of bad person. I went to school and got an education so I would not have to work flipping burgers or making beds. I joined the Army and served my country and now I am a registered nurse and an expert in the care of victims of WMD. I have all that I want so why should I worry about a bunch of people who whine because they think it is OK to talk bad about others but it is a sin to insult their crap hole city.
Ah Big Dog, my friend, I see that now your feeble-minded comparison between Iowa and NO has been demonstrated spurious by a host of people from outside of your regular readership, you now have nothing better to do than argue the finer points of hygiene and fret over supposedly vulgar language. You see, that’s the problem with writing such silly arguments on the interwebs. Some people armed with some basic knowledge of the facts surrounding the two disasters may actually show up and blow holes in your poorly structured argument.
And, I hope, they might also make you feel the slightest pang of remorse for using human tragedies to make a cheap political point. But that might be asking too much of you.
And, don’t worry, I’ll show myself “the door.” Until next time, BD…
Daniel, you could not be more wrong. Everything displayed here was opinion and conjecture. I can argue all you want but it is a waste of time. I won’t change my mind and you won’t change yours.
I feel no remorse about pointing out the differences. in cultures. These are my observations and people are free not to like them.
I have a comment policy Daniel. I know you can read so you should read it. You have no First Amendment right here so you need to follow the rules. The Internet is a big place, explore it.
Oh, and one last thing. I don’t believe I mentioned politics once. I mentioned politicians but made no reference to politics and no comparison. As I pointed out earlier, Iowa’s Governor is a Democrat and his legislature has a mix of both parties. It is about leadership, not politics.
You would understand that if you were actually a leader.
“Ah Big Dog, my friend, I see that now your feeble-minded comparison between Iowa and NO has been demonstrated spurious by a host of people from outside of your regular readership, you now have nothing better to do than argue the finer points of hygiene and fret over supposedly vulgar language. You see, that’s the problem with writing such silly arguments on the interwebs. Some people armed with some basic knowledge of the facts surrounding the two disasters may actually show up and blow holes in your poorly structured argument.”
that’s the truest comment in this entire post….bravo.
Dambalas last blog post..Douchebag of the Month
”And, I hope, they might also make you feel the slightest pang of remorse for using human tragedies to make a cheap political point. But that might be asking too much of you.”
Even if you forgive BD’s many misperceptions and unfair generalizations, ‘using human tragedies to make a cheap political point’ is the sin that is most offensive to fellow citizens from New Orleans victimized by federal levee failures.
Personal responsibility is one of BD’s weapons in his attack against the character of New Orleanians.
That is terribly unfair since in fact 70% of New Orleanians had flood insurance, but we are learning very very few flood victims in Iowa have flood insurance.
DB also discounts the fact that 90% of New Orleans evacuated before the storm. He instead bases his characterization on just the ones who stayed who lived in the Lower ninth ward.
The tradgedy in the midwesst is getting worse each day. Americans are losing their homes, their livlyhood, security and even their sanity.
Please, someone, this time, step in and make it a priority to help the elderly or their death toll will rise incredibly over the next few months. Many will not live to see the new year.
Hey Ray,
You guys live below sea level. It only stands to reason that you would have flood insurance. People in Iowa are in the 500 year flood plain so they are not required to have it.
Should people in the middle of the country have flood insurance? Should people in Louisiana have to have earthquake insurance?
I also never discounted that 90% evacuated. you should read what is written. I said, how many times now, that 90% of the people did the right thing.
I also said it was just as fair for me to say what I do based on the 10% who did not as it is for you all to blame the entire government and Bush administration on the failure of 10%.
As for the levees, the report one of you all linked to laid the blame on the COE as well as the local politicians. There was plenty of blame to go around.
You assertions are all opinion and conjecture. I also pointed out earlier that I made no political point in the piece. Show me where I did. I mentioned politicians but did not make it a political issue, I made it a social one. The Governor of Iowa is a Democrat.
Oh. I get it now. It is ok to ridicule and put down New Orleanians because some people mistakenly blame Bush for the levee failures. I get it. I get it.
“You guys live below sea level. It only stands to reason that you would have flood insurance. People in Iowa are in the 500 year flood plain so they are not required to have it.
“Should people in the middle of the country have flood insurance? Should people in Louisiana have to have earthquake insurance?”
Again with the “sea level” canard, while Midwestern cities sit under water or brace for flooding alongside cresting rivers. Flooding can and will occur whenever and wherever water is coming in faster than it can get out, whatever the elevation relative to the sea. Iowa is not in “the” 500-year flood plain, Iowa contains a number of flood plains of a variety of risk levels. Very much of the Midwest is at regular risk of flooding – heavy snowfall or rainfall in the Midwest or anywhere in its watersheds are always a concern. So YES: very, very many people in the middle of the country would do well to have flood insurance, even if it’s not required for a mortgage.
Sadly, only 1,254 properties in Linn and Johnson Counties (home of Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, respectively), had flood insurance prior to these latest floods. I hope your fend-for-themselves expectations soften at least a little as Iowans (and other Midwesterners) begin to face the trials ahead of them. Disaster is what overwhelms the individual, local, or even regional capacity; it’s going to take private AND public assistance to help people get back into safe homes.
“What is it about this storm that is at least as bad, if not worse, than Katrina that has left us without stories of devastation caused by the government’s failure to swoop in and help people?”
Sorry BD, but your credibility went out the window in the third ‘graph. The Wisconsin flooding is of course a terrible tragedy for those involved, but comparing it to what happened here in New Orleans is ridiculous. We had upwards of 1700 immediate casualties, an entire metropolitan area rendered inoperative. Wisconsin’s death toll so far is five.
As for the constant harping in the comment string on the ‘gimmee’ culture of welfare, this hasn’t existed in America since the welfare reforms of the mid nineties. Even in the projects, only about 4% of the residents are ‘on welfare.’ The rest worked minimum wage (or in the case of some service industry jobs, sub minimum wage) jobs. New Orleans currently has a labor shortage caused, in no small part, by the closing of the housing projects. The city is simply too expensive post-flood to attract people who’ll work for minumum wage making beds and slinging coffee.
As for the ‘below sea level’ stuff, this is an exaggeration. About half of New Orleans is actually at or above sea level, and in any case the ocean is nowhere near here. The flooding was a result of storm surge from lake Ponchartrain, as well as water forced up the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MR GO), a shipping channel carved out by the feds to facilitate cargo movement. New ORleanians have been trying to get it closed for years. The Army Corps of Engineers itself has admitted culpability for improperly designed and constructed floodwalls that failed well below their advertised specs. This flood is the feds baby all the way. They broke it, they should fix it.
Let’s see. “Flood plain?” Well, a great deal of New Orleans isn’t in the flood plain either. That’s what the fderal money is supposed to be for: compensating those who had no flood insurance because they were told they ‘didn’t need it.’ A lot of Wisconsinites are soon going to find themselves in the same boat.
Basically, what you seem to be saying is that New Orleanians are somehow morally inferior to the good folks in the heartland. Unsurprisingly, those of us being insulted in this manner have yeilded to the temptation to come here and tell you to stick it in your ear. No surprise there.
Only a fool would argue that Wisconsonites, if exposed to the same conditions, would behave any differently. Just nail em in a 105 degree stadium with no food or water for a week, and human waste up to their ankles. If they try to escape, fire shotguns over their heads. Then we’ll see who’s morally superiour.
You don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. Stop embarrassing yourself.
I wonder why people had to be held back with shotguns? Were they unruly or were the guards sadists?
What I seem to be saying? I never said any such thing. If half is above seal level then half is below. Want to guess which half flooded?
Tell me to stick it in my ear. I can take that but you will not change my opinion that there are different cultures at play here and a culture of dependence leads to bad outcomes. That has been stated before by folks other than me.
I guess I don’t have a clue. I only know that the more I hear from people down there the more I think the water tainted them and caused brain damage. Now get off your computer and get back to work fixing your city.
“What I seem to be saying? I never said any such thing.”
Oh really? Here you are a few comments up the string.
“Hey Ray,
You guys live below sea level. It only stands to reason that you would have flood insurance. People in Iowa are in the 500 year flood plain so they are not required to have it. ”
That’s a direct quote from you, B.D.(by the way, a lot of people in New Orleans are not in the flood plain either, an inconvenient fact you choose to ignore).
” If half is above seal level then half is below. Want to guess which half flooded?”
I don’t have to guess, I was here. You weren’t. Go on Google and get yourself a flood map if you’re actually interested in facts rather than your ideologically distorted, subjective opinions.
” but you will not change my opinion that there are different cultures at play here and a culture of dependence leads to bad outcomes. That has been stated before by folks other than me.”
Of course it won’t change your “opinion.” But that’s all it is, an opinion. It’s not even an informed opinion, since you’ve demonstrated over and over in this thread, as well as in your original post, that you have absolutely no idea what’s going on down here. All you’ve got is a bunch of libertardarian talking points with absolutely no objective, factual information to back then up. Time and time again people who actually know what happened down here have called you on your BS and your response has been to either go ad hominem or change the subject.
You got nothing.
Ray,
This is what I addressed by the what I seem to be saying:
Basically, what you seem to be saying is that New Orleanians are somehow morally inferior to the good folks in the heartland.
I never said that. Whoever wrote it is assuming that is what I meant but I never said that and I did not mean it.
Of course you meant it. The code words and phrases (like “hoodlums” and “dependence on government” and “culture of dependence”) and the constant whining about your taxes are all there. At least have the guts to say what you believe: That the white of the Midwest are morally and culturally superior to the black people of New Orleans.
No, stop putting words in my mouth. If I have something to say i will do so directly.
I don’t see how you equate subsidies with individual welfare.
Both are government handouts no doubt but I don’t see companies standing around looking for help in a flood.
I have said the very same thing. I know first hand because I live in Iowa. Even the FEMA people have commented that Iowans are a different type of people. No one was standing around complaining and wanting money. They all pitched in and helped family, friends and even people the didn’t know.
http://blog.impactmt.com/2008/06/2008-flooding-in-iowa.html
BigPappas last blog post.."What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 – Issue 20
@Hal. ha ha ha. “Lazy white lice that live in Iowa” WOW! You really have NO clue do you. Iowa feeds the world.
BigPappas last blog post.."What I Found In My Email" Mondays. Vol.2 – Issue 20
“No, stop putting words in my mouth. If I have something to say i will do so directly.”
You’re the one throwing the code words around, not me. How is anyone supposed to take something like this:
“you will not change my opinion that there are different cultures at play here and a culture of dependence leads to bad outcomes.”
You seem to think that there wasn’t any poverty in NOLA until the federal government came along.
Citizen K.s last blog post..Queen Maeve’s Tomb
They are only code words to morons.
Poverty existed before the federal government came along but once it did there was no incentive to get away from the trough.
Typical right-wing approach: When your argument fails, resort to an ad hominem attack and dehumanize the objects of your assault with code words like “trough” that liken poor people to pigs.
This “culture of dependence” canard has been around for a long time. It’s the exact same rationalization that the British used to deny meaningful relief to Ireland during the Famine. It worked so well then that it displaced and starved to death 2.5 million people.
As for code words being for morons, where have you been? The guys who came up with the concept — Kevin Phillips and Pat Buchanan — freely admit it.
There is not and has never been a trough. No one gets fat off of poverty. The federal govt intervened in Louisiana and other southern states the first place because Jim Crow had created an oppressed class based on race. There were lynchings, for God’s sake. Black men were “boys.” They couldn’t look sideways at a white women without risking their lives. Whites exploited their labor and then took what little money they had by controlling business. It was a vile, brutal world without a single redeeming characteristic. And earth to you: IT WASN’T THAT LONG AGO.
The most the federal govt has accomplished has been to curb the worst excesses, end political disenfranchisement, and make it possible for people to live in mere poverty instead of abject misery. Oh, and we expect gratitude for our generosity when it took moving heaven and earth and the deaths and beatings of Civil Rights volunteers to accomplish even this month.
Citizen K.s last blog post..Doolough
Poor people to pigs???? LMAO boy these touchy feely lefties get all up in arms when you point out facts huh BD?
At some point emotions will give way to facts and folks like citizen K will come to grips that the gimme mentality (while not ALL of NOLA met that criteria) was a factor in the recovery.
Roberts last blog post..Residents Angered by Group’s Distribution of Korans
Robert, Citizen K is obviously a race baiting idiot. The expression feeding at the trough of government has been used along time and for a number of people. I have heard it used in reference to contractors.
I never owned a black person and I never lynched one. I have never been involved in Jim Crow laws so Earth to Citizen K, I DON”T OWE YOU OR ANYONE ELSE ANYTHING.
The government causes poverty and if black people would stop following the Democrats and think for themselves they would be able to lift the burden of poverty that is meant to keep them UNDER government control.
Citizen K, the color of people means little to me. How they behave and how they conduct their lives means more. The fact is those (of any color) who live off welfare are not contributing to society.
And here is another news flash, the government has no money to give them or the people of NO. All that money is confiscated from people who pay taxes. I pay taxes and I have a right to express how I feel about the way they are spent. You might not like it but since the money comes from taxpayers and not the government we taxpayers have a right to express our disgust over the matter.
Slavery ended a long time ago and a lot of white people died to make it that way. Jim Crow ended decades ago and the Republican Party got Civil Rights laws passed. Quit making excuses and get busy. Since I am paying I want to see your rear end working.
Yet another ad hominem attack.
What does the fact that a phrase has been around for a while have to do with anything? Looks to me like you took a saying that applies to instances of genuine pig-like greed and applied to people doing their best to make it day to day. I mean, do you seriously think that poor people don’t work?
The color of people means little to you? I’ve scrolled through your blog. It’s black this and black that. And yet I’m the race baiter…
If the govt doesn’t have money it’s because we’ve tossed it down the rathole of Iraq and because the tax burden has been shifted from corporations and the very wealthy to the middle class.
Oh, well, it is good to know that you’re opposed to subsidized grazing fees, subsidized water, and subsidized water for western ranchers and farmers.
No, I don’t care about the color of people’s skin. My blog mentions black when blacks make noise about things and when Sharpton and Jackson run around causing trouble. You know, like the Duke rape case, the riots in New York, saying that we ignored NO becaiuse of black people. The attacks come even when they have no basis.
If you don’t like the trough comment, too bad, get over it.
I am against subsidizing anything.
The government HAS NO MONEY. So don’t give me crap about them having it if it were not for Iraq because the government has NO money. It confiscates money from the taxpayer and redistributes it. That is the problem, you think it is government money when it is money that comes from others.
BTW, military spending and war are in our Constitution but you won’t find welfare or bail outs or NO after hurricanes in there at all.
I have a suggestion for you, learn before you speak. The tax burden shifted to middle class?
The lower 50% of wage earners pay 3% of the taxes. The top 25% of wage earners pay 87%, the top 50% pay 97%. Tell me how that burden has shifted. Greater than 50% of the people in NO don’t pay taxes because they are at or below poverty level.
Learn the numbers before you speak.
BTW, white cap’n, I can’t help but notice how you dropped the bogus culture of dependence argument after I exposed it as a vicious canard that’s over 160 years old.
Citizen K.s last blog post..The Only Thing That Matters
I don’t know what gave you the idea that I dropped anything. There is a culture of dependence and corruption in New Orleans, probably not so much as after the storm but certainly quite a bit before the storm.
NO is a crap hole and is one of the leading cities in murder. Irresponsible government filled with cronyism and corruption and certainly illegal confiscation of legal weapons as in Nazism.
Maybe you have not figured it out, I have no love for the city of New Orleans. I feel badly that they got hit with a bad storm but I have little sympathy for those who made matters worse.
You have a chip on your shoulders and blame racism for your problems. You make allegations that are not based in reality and continue to be disparaging. I don’t really blame you. If I lived there I would feel that way as well.
CK,
I think one of your comments ended up in the spam. I believe I deleted it with the rest. It was not intentional.
OK, tax cuts increase revenue to the government. Like a typical lib you indicate there would be more money if those cuts had been offset. In reality, we would need to cut unnecessary spending (like the 400 pages of stuff for LA when only NO needed help).
I have referenced the federal government website in a number of posts dealing with taxes, who pays them and the percentages as well as how the tax cut affected each portion of tax payers. Search this site and you will find the posts with the links. I got them from the government, not the WaPo.
Businesses here have a higher tax rate and more regulation than most any other country. That is why they go to other countries to do business.
Capital gains taxes? We already pay taxes on the money we invest. Why should the rate of what we make on the investment be astronomically high? What did the government do to earn the money and why are they entitled to it? Why are you entitled to the money that is taken and redistributed when you did not take the risks associated with investing it? Socialism might be one reason. What gives government the right to continue to take more and more of OUR money? Government has no money, they TAKE it from those of us who work.
You should stop drinking Kool Aid and read once in a while. Then you would be better informed.
I’ve never lived in New Orleans in my life. I’m a white father of two living in the suburbs of Seattle. I’ve been lucky enough to visit NOLA a few times — including my wedding trip with my late wife — and love the setting, the music, the food, the people, and the completely unique ambience. As for my problems, they are relatively minor and my business in any case.
Corruption in Louisiana goes back to when Standard Oil ran the state. As for NOLA’s so-called culture of dependence, most of the deaths occurred in the Ninth Ward, the highest concentration of Africian-American home ownership in the city. The Ninth Ward was described to me by a white native of NOLA and retired P.E. teacher as “the backbone of the New Orleans working class.”
Just out of curiosity, how much time have you spent in NOLA?