VENT HERE - anger about Katrina Relief

[DeLarla 22]

Many of us can't stop crying over Katrina's devastating wake. We need a forum to relieve anger, pain, aggravation and anxiety. Welcome.

I just saw a man crying because 4 of his miniature horses are laying dead around his home while the 9 surviving ones are starving with no hay or Water, while dead bodies are floating around people suffering from hunger and dehydration. Something is seriously wrong with this situation. The government would rather see those people perish than to do something?

I was in the devastating Northridge Earthquake, and the Red Cross, military, government, etc., were crawling the place within hours with pallets of food, Water and shelter. Sirens and helicopters filled my head, which were sounds of relief and hope. I just don't get it. What the hell is going on? Why is this disaster any different than others? Everyone in the country wants to help, but they tie our hands behind our backs? Money has been flooding into the Red Cross, Catholic Charities, the Firemen's boots, etc. Millions of dollars have already been collected since Day One, so where is it, sitting in an account growing interest for the government?

AND, the news keeps showing ONE fugging airplane that donated ONE stinking flight. Why hasn't every airline done the same? For Heaven's sake, drag them all on a barge down the Muddy River to dry land now that the river is calm! We've got troops in other countries but dead folks floating down our city streets?

Does this sound suspicious to anyone else? Was it time to clean up New Orleans for good and this was the best plan they could think of?

Don't hold in your anger, scream it out. Here's a great place. Thanks for listening.

[liberty2003 0]

Delarla.

I totally agree with you..I don't think the government is doing a good job..Everyone is sending supplies to the astrodome yet the convention center has NO COPS..NO SUPPLIES AND THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE STARVING TO DEATH..I am so saddened but this and i cannot even fathom what they are going through. We can send millions of supplies to Thialand and Iraq but we cannot even help those who live state's away..Ugh..I cannot even think about it..Makes me want to cry

Kristen

[divaliciousdee 0]

I am constantly looking at the news and getting outraged! This catastrophe has gotten me so emotional. Everyone that is watching these people Die in the streets and begging for the basics are wondering why in the hell isn't our government doing anything? The majority of the people are poor and black, that is reality I am not making it up look at the news. I desperately am hoping for the government to wake up because this is going to turn into a race issue instead of the HUMAN issue it is. FOx News,and CNN has already said it looks like a refugee camp in Somalia or Haiti. They are right it looks like something in Africa Or haiti, I am so sad. My people are dying in the streets like animals. They are covering up dead bodies in wheelchairs, bodies floating in the streets! We helped people in the tsunami catastrophe but we can't help our own. This is sad. We go to IRAQ to fight terrorists and free the Iraqui people from torment but babies in the flooded streets are dying? Babies are dying!(I am really crying right now).Elderly people who God has graced to live for 80 + years dying because of dehydration and hunger. Ambulances scared to go in because of the overwhelming sense of there is violence. Yes there are a few bad apples in the bunch . Yes I know that a gurdsman was shot and I thank God he was not killed. Everybody is not shooting at help! They have stereotyped everyone because of some nut! I wonder sometimes why? If we can help other nations why can't we help ourselves? Where is homeland security? If this was a terrorist attack say they bombed the levvies(sp), wiped out the power, and the city was flooded how would they help these people? I look at this great land and think we do not have our priorities straight. We need to sweep around our own front door before we try to sweep around others. How can we effectively help other countries when we cannot help our own! Whew I am through, now on to more crying.

Dee Dee

[Mariposa Bella 3]

Delarla, I am so with you. I am so upset, cried myself to sleep this morning from seeing those poor people on tv. It almost seemed unreal, we are the most powerful nation in the world, what the hell is going on. I thought I was watching a third world country face this and not our great nation. Why? Probably cause most of these poor souls are poor and the gov't doesn't give a damn about poor people. I can bet you that if something like this would happen on the Maine coast (not that I would want this too happen). It sure would be a very different situation. I spent most of my day yesterday bitching about how to get more square footage into the new home we are going to build and conform to the building boundaries and there are people starving and dying. I feel so guilty and ashamed for being so materialistic. I got up from bed and went and kissed my kids over and over again and thanked God for blessing us and keeping us safe. We are located in SW FL and have been missed by hurricane after hurricane, even after several were headed straight to my area, they somehow turned to a different path. I have always taken it lightly but not anymore, I am starting a savings account specifically for this purpose, the next time a hurricane is headed to my area, I'm going to take my kids, grab a few clothes for them and run, run away from it. I am not going to sit here and hope for the best like we always do. I am sorry that I'm going on and on, but I'm so angry and upset at the devastation, how can this be going on?? how??? why can't they get help to these people. I saw Bush in his stupid hipocrite face yesterday tell people to hang on that there is lots of help and that they will be there. When, that idiot sits at the white house with his gourmet chef, in his fine suits and those poor, poor people are floating dead in the streets. I have so much anger in me, I could punch a wall right now. Thank you for posting this thread and letting me vent here. I'm so angry and hurt, I can't stop crying, please do anything in your power to reach out to others, contact your local politicians and express your discontent with how they are handling the sitation. I think California is the only state that I have seen to organize man power for search and rescue and other help. God bless them all and take care of everyone in those areas and the people that are going there to help them.

[Mita 2]

I am glad you posted this.. I am so pissed off that all these Agencies are collecting money but who the hell and what the hell is going to??? Really the last thing these poor people need (not money wise) is food and medication and your basic nessecites.

I wanted to send clothes but no they don't want them as of yet??? Why

I see little children walking around naked.. Places down there are charging for Ice are they really freaking serious ?? Why are not all the stuff they need given free!!!!!I'm so mad that this happens in our own backyard and they are not getting the help they need. I even heard that the Cruise ships wanted to help out by ferrying the people to other states along the coast line butthe Goverment said no..

I wish I was alot closer and I would have opened my home to a family or voluntered.

I pray that the lord helps these people overcome this hardship that they have been dealt. I do not know what else to do except hug my children and hope if we ever have a natural disaster that we all go at the same time. I would not want to live through what these people are going through.

[dylansmom 27]

I just read this on Yahoo....

It looks like they are sending $10Billion in aid to the city, and also sending in Military help as well. Now let's just hurry up and get it there and get to helping those people!!!

[dylansmom 27]

I have to add......

I am sickened to read that small starving children were seen wailing around a dead elderly woman's body, and that they were subjected to seeing many dead bodies lying all around them.

I am sickened beyond belief to read that there are AMERICAN refugees being raped, stolen from, and shot at.

May God have mercy on these poor people's souls, and may He quickly send in the food, clothing, troops, and above all the ORDER that so desperately needs to be restored for this beaten down and ravaged city.

Please Lord give these people YOUR hope. Please quickly get them the food, shelter, clothing, and supplies that they so desperately need. Please get the troops sent in quickly so that order will once again be restored, and so that evil cannot and WILLNOT prevail. Oh Lord, please touch the hearts and lives of these people and let them know that You love them and that they are important to You. Be their Rock, their Comfort, their Shelter, and their Help. Protect them in the shadows of Your wings I pray, and bring them the help that they desperately, desperately need.

I ask all of this in Your most Precious, Sacred, and Holy name, the name that is above all names, the name of Jesus, Amen.

[PRETTYPINKKITTY 0]

I, too have been crying over this. But, as I stay home with my kids, thanking God that I have them, my husband is heading up there to help. The Sheriff's office here is sending man-power, food, supplies and clothing on 2 week intervals. So he will be gone for 2 weeks this time, and for as long as the dept can afford to do it. I pray that he will be ok, but I am also so very proud of our men. Our town is very small, but we were helped last year after Charlie caused so much destruction, and we want to return the favor. The government isn't getting off it's a$$ to do anything, so we threw this together, called around to get business donations and I packed up a lot of my kid's clothes to send. In total we have 12 men going, 1000 bags of ice, 500 lbs of food, clothing, hygeine items, etc. Mind you, our Sheriff's Office has under 50 employees in total! We are still recovering from last year, some of these men still do not have their homes rebuilt, but are thankful for what they have and realize that they are better off than the Katrina victims! If we can do this, why can't our government?? The US helps every country in the world, we have so many armed forces that have lost their lives fighting for someone else, yet in our backyard people are starving and floating dead in the streets? This makes no sense! Thanks for listening!

[vinesqueen 2]

The Canadians tried to send a resucue team from Vancover BC. They were turned away at the border because they "were not needed."

I'm so angry and no doubt I'll make less sense than usual. I watch nothing but flood coverage yesterday and I'm so heartbroken. I'm so angry! Bush turned all responsibilty for this over to his Daddy and Bill Clinton. That they were going to handle the fund raising for this disaster. FUND RAISING?! His speech in the oval office was all of maybe 5 minutes at most. He said that "they" were going to co-ordinate with churches so that people would have someplace to stay temporarily.

What? co-ordinate with churches?

He spent most of that 5 minutes talking about the damn oil! OIL OIL OIL. That the pipelines would be restored and people thoughout the country would get gas again. OIL OIL OIL.

Not about how the National guard is going to be sent in to help, not that pallets of food, Water and medicines were being air-dropped... his whole fucking speech was focused on oil, not blood, not babies needing help, not anything but god damn oil.

Oh, that's right, the National Guard isn't really available is it. It's being used in the place of regular Army, without the benifits. I'm so angry!

For the last several years, this administration has been cutting money that was supposed to be used to maintain and upgrade the dykes around NO. Last year, they out-right cancled the project, even though they knew that this would endanger the city. The Army Corps of Engineers warned them this would happen. (MSNBC.COM)

This area had already been declaired a disaster area from one of the previous storms. Why wasn't aide already in place? WHY WASN'T AIDE ALREADY ON IT'S WAY???? Why did Bush stay on vacation a couple more days instead of instantly springing to action? WHY IS CONDI RICE STILL ON VACATION???? I know the sec of state deals with foreign countries, but with so many countries pledging support and aid, WHY IS SHE STILL ON VACATION????

There was no adaquate evacuation plan in place. NO PLAN. They already know that 20% (as reported on CNN & MSNBC) these people are poverty stricken, that they would have no money to do anything, no money for hotels, no money for gas in many cases. If you are on public assistance, at the end of the month you don't have extra money for anything. I'm so angry, I know I'm not being coherent.

Bush said he "intends" to raise money. You know what, I "intend" to do a lot of stuff, but most of it never happens. I get side tracked.

He's on his way down to "tour the area." Why wasn't this done MONDAY NIGHT???? Or Tuesday at the very latest???? Oh great, now he's blasting the relief effort, BUT HE WAS ON FUCKING VACATION!!!!!! God and Goddess, I am so angry I can't see.

[Mita 2]

I copied this from another site.

Friday, September 2nd, 2005

Dear Mr. Bush:

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the Water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

Yours,

Michael Moore

MMFlint@aol.com

www.MichaelMoore.com

P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.

You know our President is our President, But if a family member passed away would you wait days before cutting your vacation to go attend the funeral??

I do not get it.. After This the director of FEMA should be fired!!

[DeLarla 22]

First, no more apologizing for going on and on. Most of us don't know how or where to vent our anger, which is why I needed this thread and why I encourage everyone to cry and kick and scream right now, right here.

I don't care how much money is on the way. They could have been air-dropping pallets of food and Water into floating rafts the minute the storm ceased. There's simply no excuse. It's unforgivable.

[dylansmom 27]

I see that the military is there now! Thank God!!! Prayers are being answered folks!!!

And thank goodness Bush has finally had his eyes opened, and is going there now too!!! I am glad that he has finally admitted that his administration did not handle this the best that they possibly could have, and I pray that they will begin to deliver good on their words and DO SOMETHING for these people!!!!!

[DevilMayKare 1]

<This area had already been declaired a disaster area from one of the previous storms. Why wasn't aide already in place? WHY WASN'T AIDE ALREADY ON IT'S WAY???? Why did Bush stay on vacation a couple more days instead of instantly springing to action?>

Funny there didn't seem to be a lack of response to the hurricane disasters in Florida. Do you suppose the feds would be so slow if Jeb were governor of Louisiana??

I spent a week in New Orleans two years ago and as I recall, there were PLENTY of white people there. I don't know what the ratio is, but it sure seemed close to 50/50. From the news pictures the population looks 90% black. So all the white people had the means to escape??

[DeLarla 22]

And those of us that are unharmed, safe and dry with full bellies, we cannot feel guilty. We can't stop living the way we are accustomed to, because it's our turn to carry the torch and keep it lit till our displaced neighbors find shelter. We have to keep life moving forward and stand strong. We have to keep shopping and spending to keep the economy strong. Yes, we all need to be thankful for what we have, but we must march forward. If we stop, our country weakens.

I just purchased a business that's headquartered out of Louisiana, and at first I felt horrible for being concerned with my business while my warehouse had to shut down to to a killer hurricane. My UPS shipments are missing, and all communication was lost. But then I started thinking... I can't stop now! I am part of this company now, so I have to work extra hard in the West while the South recovers. I'm not going to participate in any loss of time because the company needs everyone that's not affected to keep the business strong. Maybe my Baton Rouge facility was closed for several days, but if we all take the attidude that we should slow down or suffer because they are suffering, then our nation will fall to pieces. My business might seem trivial during this disaster, but fact is fact, and the fact is that I belong to an incredibly financially strong organization that needs me. This isn't about me and my business, it's about each and every one of us. So whatever you do, keep doing it! Whatever you buy, keep buying it. What ever you sell, keep selling it.

It's time for us to work harder, hug stronger, smile bigger, GIVE MORE and be prepared for another change in our nation. The anniversary of September 11 is a sneeze away, so be strong. March forward and be strong.

[HotLikeMe 0]

Mississippi is going through a really bad time now too. I FINALLY just heard from my brother and his family last night who live in Bay St. Louis. We were all so afraid that they hadn't gotten out - thank god they went to Montgomery, AL before the storm hit. They are now staying in a parking lot of a Rite Aid in their truck, about 100 miles North of where they live cuz they don't have any gas left and since there is no power they can't get any. A pay phone finally started working and he called us. His home was completely flooded out and they've lost everything except what's on their backs. It's probably gona be months before they can even think about rebuilding. Once they are able to get gas, they plan to come stay with me for a while. I've been watching TV almost non-stop since this started, trying to get a even a glimpse of them - I THANK GOD that he is alive and well and my heart goes out to all those who arn't as lucky. Ironically, my husband, who is in the National Guard and is currently in route to Iraq is being considered with his battalion to be sent to Mississippi first - then on to Iraq. He was gone for over 2 months last year for all 4 of the hurricanes. Politics? I just don't get it!