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Unbelievable

OT,

This is one of the rare times when I agree with you.

The WPA dams in this country are built far better than any dams that are currently being built. The face of the WPA dams were covered with rocks to prevent erosion and they had a spillway system to accomodate heavy rains. They have stood the test of time.

The WPA was a far better system than the welfare dependents we have created in today's world.


~SH~
 
We had a SAC Air Force Base in our area that closed in the 60's...The closing was a big economical hit to the area so Sen. Mansfield got several different low income training programs set up in the abandoned military buildings-- at the time I thought it was pure pork...But I watched as they brought low income families, single mothers, disabled in from all over the country- taught them everything from daily hygiene to how to buy groceries- taught them work skills, secretarial, mechanics, carpentry, electronics etc- it was a 2 year program for most... I was truly impressed by how many of these people changed their lives around--First time in their lives they had ever had any self confidence- or anyone tell them they could be something other than a welfare recipient...I followed some of these people I got to know and some have become quite successful- 1 is now a writer, several own their own business...

There were several failures- some that didn't want to change- others so deep into drugs and alcohol they wouldn't--But if only 1 in 5 succeeded it had to be cheaper than just dumping in more welfare.....Has to be something better than the current welfare setup......I personally think the US needs to put more effort toward continuing education availabilities for everyone- or the world will pass us.....
 
Excellent Post OT!

Yes, if one out of 5 turns his life around it's more than worth it.



~SH~
 
Oldtimer said:
We had a SAC Air Force Base in our area that closed in the 60's...The closing was a big economical hit to the area so Sen. Mansfield got several different low income training programs set up in the abandoned military buildings-- at the time I thought it was pure pork...But I watched as they brought low income families, single mothers, disabled in from all over the country- taught them everything from daily hygiene to how to buy groceries- taught them work skills, secretarial, mechanics, carpentry, electronics etc- it was a 2 year program for most... I was truly impressed by how many of these people changed their lives around--First time in their lives they had ever had any self confidence- or anyone tell them they could be something other than a welfare recipient...I followed some of these people I got to know and some have become quite successful- 1 is now a writer, several own their own business...

There were several failures- some that didn't want to change- others so deep into drugs and alcohol they wouldn't--But if only 1 in 5 succeeded it had to be cheaper than just dumping in more welfare.....Has to be something better than the current welfare setup......I personally think the US needs to put more effort toward continuing education availabilities for everyone- or the world will pass us.....
One interesting thing I have noticed is the absence of the black community leaders screaming "unfair" about relocating all the black citizens of NO when there is so much work to be done. I would think they would prefer for the local population to stay and be trained to do the task at hand over relocating them and bringing in outside contractors with their own hired labor. If I had lost everything I owned the very thing I would need would be a job.
 
From the news coverage up here, I get the impression that many of the evacuees are planning on staying in Houston, and getting jobs, rather than going back to New Orleans. Of course they maybe didn't own homes, so have nothing to go back to. Houston and the receiving cities are going to experience some growing pains trying to accomodate the huge instant population growth.
 
It took four long days for state and federal officials to figure out how to deal with the disaster in New Orleans. I can't blame them, because it also took me four long days to figure out what was going on there. The reason is that the events there make no sense if you think that we are confronting a natural disaster.

If this is just a natural disaster, the response for public officials is obvious: you bring in food, water, and doctors; you send transportation to evacuate refugees to temporary shelters; you send engineers to stop the flooding and rebuild the city's infrastructure. For journalists, natural disasters also have a familiar pattern: the heroism of ordinary people pulling together to survive; the hard work and dedication of doctors, nurses, and rescue workers; the steps being taken to clean up and rebuild.

Public officials did not expect that the first thing they would have to do is to send thousands of armed troops in armored vehicle, as if they are suppressing an enemy insurgency. And journalists—myself included—did not expect that the story would not be about rain, wind, and flooding, but about rape, murder, and looting.

But this is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made disaster.

The man-made disaster is not an inadequate or incompetent response by federal relief agencies, and it was not directly caused by Hurricane Katrina. This is where just about every newspaper and television channel has gotten the story wrong.

The man-made disaster we are now witnessing in New Orleans did not happen over four days last week. It happened over the past four decades. Hurricane Katrina merely exposed it to public view.

The man-made disaster is the welfare state.

For the past few days, I have found the news from New Orleans to be confusing. People were not behaving as you would expect them to behave in an emergency—indeed, they were not behaving as they have behaved in other emergencies. That is what has shocked so many people: they have been saying that this is not what we expect from America. In fact, it is not even what we expect from a Third World country.

When confronted with a disaster, people usually rise to the occasion. They work together to rescue people in danger, and they spontaneously organize to keep order and solve problems. This is especially true in America. We are an enterprising people, used to relying on our own initiative rather than waiting around for the government to take care of us. I have seen this a hundred times, in small examples (a small town whose main traffic light had gone out, causing ordinary citizens to get out of their cars and serve as impromptu traffic cops, directing cars through the intersection) and large ones (the spontaneous response of New Yorkers to September 11).

So what explains the chaos in New Orleans?

To give you an idea of the magnitude of what is going on, here is a description from a Washington Times story:

"Storm victims are raped and beaten; fights erupt with flying fists, knives and guns; fires are breaking out; corpses litter the streets; and police and rescue helicopters are repeatedly fired on.

"The plea from Mayor C. Ray Nagin came even as National Guardsmen poured in to restore order and stop the looting, carjackings and gunfire....

"Last night, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco said 300 Iraq-hardened Arkansas National Guard members were inside New Orleans with shoot-to-kill orders.

" 'These troops are...under my orders to restore order in the streets,' she said. 'They have M-16s, and they are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary and I expect they will.' "

The reference to Iraq is eerie. The photo that accompanies this article shows a SWAT team with rifles and armored vests riding on an armored vehicle through trash-strewn streets lined by a rabble of squalid, listless people, one of whom appears to be yelling at them. It looks exactly like a scene from Sadr City in Baghdad.

What explains bands of thugs using a natural disaster as an excuse for an orgy of looting, armed robbery, and rape? What causes unruly mobs to storm the very buses that have arrived to evacuate them, causing the drivers to speed away, frightened for their lives? What causes people to attack the doctors trying to treat patients at the Superdome?

Why are people responding to natural destruction by causing further destruction? Why are they attacking the people who are trying to help them?

My wife, Sherri, figured it out first, and she figured it out on a sense-of-life level. While watching the coverage one night on Fox News Channel, she told me that she was getting a familiar feeling. She studied architecture at the Illinois Institute of Chicago, which is located in the South Side of Chicago just blocks away from the Robert Taylor Homes, one of the largest high-rise public housing projects in America. "The projects," as they were known, were infamous for uncontrollable crime and irremediable squalor. (They have since, mercifully, been demolished.)

What Sherri was getting from last night's television coverage was a whiff of the sense of life of "the projects." Then the "crawl"—the informational phrases flashed at the bottom of the screen on most news channels—gave some vital statistics to confirm this sense: 75% of the residents of New Orleans had already evacuated before the hurricane, and of those who remained, a large number were from the city's public housing projects. Jack Wakeland then told me that early reports from CNN and Fox indicated that the city had no plan for evacuating all of the prisoners in the city's jails—so they just let many of them loose. [Update: I have been searching for news reports on this last story, but I have not been able to confirm it. Instead, I have found numerous reports about the collapse of the corrupt and incompetent New Orleans Police Department; see here and here.]

There is no doubt a significant overlap between these two populations--that is, a large number of people in the jails used to live in the housing projects, and vice versa.

There were many decent, innocent people trapped in New Orleans when the deluge hit—but they were trapped alongside large numbers of people from two groups: criminals—and wards of the welfare state, people selected, over decades, for their lack of initiative and self-induced helplessness. The welfare wards were a mass of sheep—on whom the incompetent administration of New Orleans unleashed a pack of wolves.

All of this is related, incidentally, to the incompetence of the city government, which failed to plan for a total evacuation of the city, despite the knowledge that this might be necessary. In a city corrupted by the welfare state, the job of city officials is to ensure the flow of handouts to welfare recipients and patronage to political supporters—not to ensure a lawful, orderly evacuation in case of emergency.

No one has really reported this story, as far as I can tell. In fact, some are already actively distorting it, blaming President Bush, for example, for failing to personally ensure that the Mayor of New Orleans had drafted an adequate evacuation plan. The worst example is an execrable piece from the Toronto Globe and Mail, by a supercilious Canadian who blames the chaos on American "individualism." But the truth is precisely the opposite: the chaos was caused by a system that was the exact opposite of individualism.

What Hurricane Katrina exposed was the psychological consequences of the welfare state. What we consider "normal" behavior in an emergency is behavior that is normal for people who have values and take the responsibility to pursue and protect them. People with values respond to a disaster by fighting against it and doing whatever it takes to overcome the difficulties they face. They don't sit around and complain that the government hasn't taken care of them. And they don't use the chaos of a disaster as an opportunity to prey on their fellow men.

But what about criminals and welfare parasites? Do they worry about saving their houses and property? They don't, because they don't own anything. Do they worry about what is going to happen to their businesses or how they are going to make a living? They never worried about those things before. Do they worry about crime and looting? But living off of stolen wealth is a way of life for them.

People living in piles of their own trash, while petulantly complaining that other people aren't doing enough to take care of them and then shooting at those who come to rescue them—this is not just a description of the chaos at the Superdome. It is a perfect summary of the 40-year history of the welfare state and its public housing projects.

The welfare state—and the brutish, uncivilized mentality it sustains and encourages—is the man-made disaster that explains the moral ugliness that has swamped New Orleans. And that is the story that no one is reporting.
 
A GREAT REMARK ,MIKE******The Mayor and the Govenor dropped the ball Ron. Bush declared the city a disaster area before either of them. Each of them had information of impending disaster on FRIDAY!!!!!!!!! Mandatory evacuation was not declared until Sunday! and not very convincing then.

Have you seen the hundreds of flooded school buses (CITY BUSES TOO)that could have been used to transport these people OUT? They are sitting in the parking lot with water up to the windows.

The plan had been rehearsed many times. It works from the local government up, not from the Feds down.

When Bush called the Mayor to tell him of his Declaration of Disaster, it is being said that he asked the Mayor, "WHAT ARE YOU WAITNG FOR?"

The Govenor of Louisiana's handling of this fiasco is a pity. I am glad I don't depend on her to take care of me. She's a typical Democrat.


THE PROBLEM was of THEIR OWN MAKING LOCALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
"She's a typical Demacrat"

Why do you stupid americans always lower every discussion down to the stinking level of your own political leanings. Your country stinks of partisanship, and you make me want to throw up. You sit in your soft chair with your fat belly hanging over your belt and try to turn this into a political blame game. Too bad you weren't one of those stuck in an attic in NO.
 
Mike said:
"Last night, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco said 300 Iraq-hardened Arkansas National Guard members were inside New Orleans with shoot-to-kill orders.

" 'These troops are...under my orders to restore order in the streets,' she said. 'They have M-16s, and they are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary and I expect they will.' "
To say these guys are battle hardened is just part of their description. They are 3 mos. back from Iraq. Word has it they aren't too happy about having to go "suppress" an uprising of sorts in the country they have been defending. I am sure they aren't too happy about more time away from their family . Once again though our military answers the call. We owe these men a debt of gratitude and some amount of flexibility when we hear they pulled the trigger a little too soon. The news media inevitably will find an isolated incident where they can turn the criticism toward out over worked militry and away from those who are criminal.
 
Reader, I guess others think like I do. There will be lots of jobs they can do for money now. But bet they stay in Texas and draw welfare instead. The good people that were caught will get their lives in order and the others will wait for the government to get their lives in order. :mad: I feel we don't need these type of welfare people living in Montana unless they are here to look for a job if they are able to work.
 
THIS ARTICLE HAS A PLACE UNDER THE "UNBELIEVABLE" HEADLINE ALSO:
If you have never been to N'awlins you might not appreciate the "Decadence" there. It is/was a haven for degenerates!

Katrina doesn't cancel Southern Decadence parade
Express-News ^ | 09/05/2005 | Rod Davis

Posted on 09/05/2005 8:14:06 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch

NEW ORLEANS — You know a city has legs when three or four dozen of them are parading down Bourbon Street — some clad in tutus and grass skirts — six days after the most damaging hurricane in American history.

But the annual Southern Decadence parade through the heart of the French Quarter stops for nothing — not even Katrina.

"Hey, we've got to keep our morale up, too," said Jill Sandars, aka "Jelly Sandwich," her "Quarter" name.

Resplendent in a fluffy red skirt, dark hat and small black umbrella, she strutted and sang with 15 to 20 other storm survivors who'd hunkered down in battered but not beaten streets normally associated with bead-throwing at Mardi Gras.

The event always manages to be held the Sunday before Labor Day. This time, of course, the circumstances were different.

Water covered the upper northwest quadrant of the Quarter, roughly from Conti to Canal streets, between Bourbon and North Rampart.

There was no power or water, and only hints of the kinds of food made legendary at venues such as Brennan's or Galatoire's. Both of those restaurants seemed relatively unscathed, as did many of the structures on the riverside end of the district, its highest elevation.

But the Quarter was far from its famously lively and carefree self. National Guard and police were everywhere to keep the peace and stop looting. Helicopters buzzed overhead as the evacuation of the city proceeded.

But as the parade assembled at Orleans and Bourbon, outside Johnny White's Sports Bar & Grill, where the motto, "We never close," is strictly enforced, the mood was old-school Vieux Carré at its finest.

"I survived Hurricane Katrina and all I got was this lousy T-shirt," was handwritten on the shirt of a young woman who was wearing a tutu and pulling a bead-laden wagon. Alongside her, marched — ambled actually — a shirtless young man in cut-off shorts, boots and hardhat. The sign he carried read, "Life goes on?"

As the parade moved along, people came out on balconies and threw down beads. On at least one balcony, birthday suits were the uniform of the day.

For Marvin Allen, bartender at the famous revolving Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleone, even the lack of meals could be turned into celebration. He and a group of survivors who live near the Ursulines Convent on Chartres combine provisions each evening for dishes such as "Wienie Jambalaya."

"In some ways, it sounds strange, but we're actually doing better than we normally are," Allen said.

It's a brave face, but it's working. Still, Allen hopes to evacuate to Dallas later this week.

The future of New Orleans may be problematic, and time lines for recovery mostly are educated guesses. But the same forces of fate — or the mercy of the African voodoo goddess of the winds, Oya — that deflected Katrina's destructive winds at the 11th hour seem to have spared this legendary part of the American cultural experience.

The northwestern quadrant, as well as outlying landmarks such as the historic Our Lady of Guadalupe Church on North Rampart at Conti, where plague victims were taken in the 1830s, were underwater anywhere from a few inches to several feet.

But most of the landmarks in the Quarter theoretically could reopen whenever power and water are restored — by November, optimistically. There's no talk of canceling Mardi Gras.

As the Southern Decadence parade meandered past the corner of Orleans and Royal, it passed the fenced garden behind St. Louis Cathedral. A giant oak and magnolia both lay uprooted. It was the largest single scene of devastation in the Quarter.

In the center of the tangle of limbs and broken trunks stood the garden's statue of Jesus, the one with outstretched arms affectionately known to locals as "Touchdown Jesus."

The statue was completely unscathed, except for a broken finger and two broken thumbs. "J'ai confiance en vouz," says the inscription, "I have confidence in you."

At that intersection, a New Orleans cop appeared, held up his own arms and stopped the parade.

"I didn't know Decadence was still on," he said. Parade-goers politely assured him it was.

"Keep your spirits up," he said, and drove away.

His lack of knowledge could easily be forgiven. It's not like phones, TVs or much of anything facilitates conversation. As one habitué of the sports bar said, drinking a warm beer on the sidewalk, "We just can't get any information."

"Yeah," said Ride Hamilton, a longhaired screenwriter who keeps water and medical supplies for the stranded. "And we can't get any strippers, either."
 
You know, helping those in Iraq that have been oppressed for so long, doesn't sound too bad after reading Mike's story. At least those people want to better themselves, except for those that the corrupt government has been taking care of, at the expense of others. I think they call them insurgents too.

Scary, when you really look at the similarities!
 
The WPA was a far better system than the welfare dependents we have created in today's world.

Let's bring it back!!!!!!!!!!

As far as our military.............we have the best and the finest folks in our all branches of our military, we have the best law enforcement anywhere in the world, we do not appreciate all of the above. How many folks when running into a law man/woman, military,.......go up and tell them how much we appreciate their sacrifice for the USA!!!?
 
Mike, you and your wife got it exactly right.

Redriver, I now know what your IQ is....MORON!!!

If you get your news from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN or, God forbid PBS or CBC, you are getting a distorted picture. Ask yourself why more hasn't been reported from AL or MS?

This is from a customer of mine in Mobile...

As we who live on the Gulf Coast know all too well --it takes a while when a major storm has hit and basic infrastructures and communication channels are down for word to get out about individual pockets of damage and need. The truth is New Orleans wasn't prepared --see the attachment.
Who can ever be totally prepared? ,Governments aren't God. No one wanted people to suffer or die, including the Bush administration. Michael Chertoff, Secretary Homeland Security, echoed the White House line — saying the time to place blame will come later, but he also said federal officials had trouble getting information from local officials on what was going on. For instance, he said, they hadn't been told by Thursday of the violence and horrible conditions at the New Orleans convention center.
The huge outpouring of money and help from the private sector affirm that American compassion is alive and well and works better than government handouts.The idea that race somehow played a part in when and how fast help was sent is ridiculous as is the accusation that the media discriminated in covering looters. New Orleans was 70% black--pictures and coverage of whatever, bad and good, is going to breakdown close to the same way.

The attachment had a picture of the school buses that should have been used for evacuation sitting in flood waters.

Got to go cut my generator off now....I might get power by the end of the week! Many of you haven't got a clue!!!!
 
yup Agree with ranchwife, This is really about whats going on, who the heck cares if these people are on welfare there lives have ALL been turned upside down... good luck Robertmac and Everyone else down there
 
RobertMac, you just keep towing the rep party line, maybe some stupid people will believe you. I noticed that you're whining about losing power, gee, that's terrible. At least you've got a home to run a generator in! Dufus.
 

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