How are you handling the Iowa vs. Katrina emails?

[Blue Gardener]

I'm really sick of getting these disgusting emails. Do they not realize just how racist they sound? So far, I have ignored them in the hopes that people will get tired of sending them, but my patience is wearing thin.

[Debi]

1. I haven't gotten any of them

:shrug:

[Blue Gardener]

3. Let me know if you want to read one

I'll PM you. I'm surprised you haven't seen one yet. There are several versions going around, but all basically the same message.

[Debi]

5. Do please

I'm so out of the loop.

[progressoid]

2. Our local paper even got into it with this lovely editorial cartoon.

[Bluzmann57]

4. Haven't had any emails but...

I have talked directly to a redneck racist at work about this situation. He said shit like "We don't need any Government help here in Iowa." I said "Bullshit! WHAT DO YOU THINK FEMA IS DUMBASS?" (Caps on purpose to convey frustrated yelling). He said that "us white folks aren't looting things and are helping each other out". I pointed out an article in the QC Times in which an African-American woman was getting help for her ruined house when it didn't sit in a flood plain and she didn't ask for any help. Her neighbors just decided to help her because they liked her I guess. Then he asked ,"Why aren't any white people over there getting any help?" I said, "Maybe they're like you and attract instant dislike among everybody." Now by this time everyone in the room was laughing and pointing out what an idiot this guy was. He then stalked out of the room muttering, "I don't have to listen to this shit!". And he was right, he didn't. But since he started it, I thought I'd finish it. It was almost too easy. But I'll still do it again if need be.

[Debi]

6. Bluzemann you rock.

I'm sure the guy had an explanation why Harkin/Grassley and Braley were all in Parkersburg w/FEMA reps discussing Federal Aid on Saturday :crazy:

[Blue Gardener]

7. Good for you Bluzman!

I wish I still had the story of the middle-aged white woman in Cedar Rapids stealing liquor from a flooded out bar in the downtown area. How would he explain that?

[rurallib]

8. The government should not have closed I80

should have just let them cars pile up, because, By God, we Iowans don't need no stinkin' gummint help!
edit to add - could your friend come to Muscatine county? All the bridges over the Cedar are closed. If'n the gummint don't fix 'em, maybe he can show us how Iowans don't need no stinkin' gummint help.

[4dsc]

9. Here's what's being said..

Subject: Iowa floods (and tornadoes)

The important question here is: Why are those dumb Iowans out there rolling up their sleeves and rebuilding their own towns? That’s just gonna piss some of those politicians off.

Where are all of the Hollywood celebrities holding telethons asking for help in restoring Iowa and helping the folks affected by the floods?

Where is all the media asking the tough questions about why the federal government hasn't solved the problem? Asking where the FEMA trucks (and trailers) are?

Why isn't the Federal Government relocating Iowa people to free hotels in Chicago?

When will Spike Lee say that the Federal Government blew up the levees that failed in Des Moines?

Where are Sean Penn and the Dixie Chicks?

Where are all the looters stealing high-end tennis shoes and big screen television sets?

When will we hear Governor Chet Culver say that he wants to rebuild a "vanilla" Iowa, because that's the way God wants it?

Where is the hysterical 24/7 media coverage complete with reports of cannibalism?

Where are the people declaring that George Bush hates white, rural people?

How come in 2 weeks, you will never hear about the Iowa flooding ever again?

Where are the $2000 debit cards?





Oh, that’s right. Iowans know how to take care of themselves!

[CoffeeCat]

10. What's really sad about all of this...

Is that we are being trained to think that asking for help from FEMA is a weakness. Lazy people
only expect help from the government. Strong, brave, intelligent people don't ask for help--only
slovenly fools who don't have any creativity or discipline.

This really makes my stomach ache.

There is an article in the Register about a CR woman who purchased her Time Check home for 60k, and she
put 60k into it. She sunk everything into that home. She has a college degree and she teaches math
at Kirkwood Community College. Her house will most likely be razed. The government may give her a check
for 10k, but that won't replace her house. It may pay her rent for a year.

These people need help. They did not deserve what happened to them. It was not their fault.

If our government can't help disaster victims replace what they lost in a disaster that was not their fault--then
what in the hell is our government for????? The people of CR, their communities, neighborhoods and the entire
city would benefit from making people whole.

Why should these people suffer??????????

Why is it a terrible thing for a disaster victim to want to recoup their losses from the Federal Government?

Are people, families, neighborhoods and entire cities just supposed to rot?

[1Hippiechick]

18. Add to your list, it's really sad that this still isn't on national broadcasts - what's the latest?

I am sinerely interested - Midwest has been on my mind - After Katrina hit I went to the Gulf Coast with the Red Cross, and I will never forget some of the things I saw, some of the conversations I had. Burned forever into my memory, and I know people in Iowa are suffering. Is the Red Cross still there? Any shelters open? What's going on? I don't depend on the "main stream media" for what they broadcast as "news". My heart is breaking for anyone who is suffering.

[Hardrada]

11. The last statement is not inaccurate.

[9119495]

17. It's an old E-mail thoroughly debunked by Snopes...

It has many forms, each of them with a special kind of bullshit attached to it. I got one a few years ago.

The dumbass read the part about how blizzard victims out west melted snow for drinking water and he actually said "why did New Orleans need all that drinking water? They were surrounded by water!"

Jeesh.

[petersjo02]

12. West Branch Times printed it in ...

this week's paper, supposedly sent from someone in New York. Traditionally editors for the Times have been on the liberal side (as is the community overall), but a year ago a new guy came aboard. He does a good job with the local news, but he is about as far to the right as they come. Some of his first editorials and opinions were really way outside the box. I think the publishers must have stepped in at some point and told him to back off a bit because he has toned down his right-wing writing somewhat. I was very upset to see that piece of racist crap printed in our local paper and wonder how it will shake out. I would imagine I'm not the only one upset by giving that piece of hate mail legitimacy by putting it in print.

Edited to add: The same issue of the WB Times noted that people in Rochester, a ways east of WB on the Cedar River, had to evacuate in a hurry. Once the water went down, they returned to their homes and found generators and such had been stolen from their property. I'm willing to bet the perpetrators were lily white.

[Blue Gardener]

13. If they weren't white

They would be pretty noticeable in Rochester. Not much color in that town.

[Debi]

14. Sad day

Finally got the email - and from a relative no less x( Thought about responding, even bounced how I'd respond off of Mr. Debi (who is a genius! :loveya:) We went back and forth on all the differences between NOLA/Iowa and then he said to just drop it. I'll be seeing her next weekend, if she brings it up I'll be prepared to discuss it.

On a side note - sort of - everyone who has been arrested for looting/tresspassing/scavenging/fraud that I have seen on the news or in the paper has been white. :crazy: Anyone else notice this?

[Blue Gardener]

15. I agree - Probably best to drop it

Mine came from a relative as well. Since we already have a pretty good family feud going in the immediate family, best not to start another one.
And yes, the people that have been arrested with their mugshots on the local newscast have all been white.

[uppityperson]

16. Hi IA, came to this forum to check up on you all and found this, bet I know which email

One went around last couple yrs also, ND, Michigan, Colorado, now Iowa. Here is snopes link with an update about Iowa. I would get sick of them very fast.

http://www.snopes.com/katrina/soapbox/dakota.asp