Lavish tastes of card-carrying lowlifes (FEMA Debit Cards)

[brooklynite]

Profiteering ghouls have been using debit cards distributed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina - intended to buy essentials for evacuated families - in luxury-goods stores as far away as Atlanta.

"We've seen three of the cards," said a senior employee of the Louis Vuitton store at the Lenox Square Mall in affluent Buckhead, who asked not to be named. "Two I'm certain have purchased; one actually asked if she could use it in the store. This has been since Saturday."

...snip...

"It doesn't say anything on the card other than alcohol, tobacco and firearms cannot be purchased with it," the store employee told me. "There's nothing legally that prevents us from taking it, unfortunately. Other than morally, it's wrong."

The source told me that the two women who had made purchases with the card each bought a signature monogrammed Louis Vuitton handbag in the $800 range.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/345030p-294601c.html

[elehhhhna]

1. Are they sure these aren't FEMA employees buying bags?

[elehhhhna]

2. popcorn time.

[lilymidnite]

7. Quick, somebody post this to the freeper site ...

And watch the hate-fest begin.

BTW, *love* you sig line.

[elehhhhna]

9. feel free to steal my sig line, anytime! & welcome lil.

[brooklynite]

27. Delete

[RC]

10. Here ya go.

[alittlelark]

3. Gotta love those stories w/sources w/o names.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. consider the source

for one thing, few, very few, of these cards were distributed. They were supposed to go to people in the Astrodome, not to people who evacuated on their own or went to other places. Now how in the world would folks from the Astrodome be able to get to these ritzy stores?

I think this is a rw myth being placed on reliable rw papers.

[brooklynite]

29. To be clear on source

This is from Ben Widdicombe: Gatecrasher, a newsy gossip column in the Daily News.

I also left out this paragraph, given the 4 graph limit we have here:

They didn't look destiture by any stretch. You would never have said "They must be one of the evacuees...The one that I dealt with yesterday was 20. She'll be 21 next month."

I think its going to be hard to pin this on "Welfare Queens".

[MSgt213]

5. Isn't also morally wrong to show disgust and discuss the buying habits of

your customers? Even if you don't name them. And how are these stories coming about? Is the news media contacting every high end store looking for this sort of crap?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

6. Sounds like total NeoCon propaganda to me. Next.

[oasis]

8. Daily News tabloid with an unnamed "source" for the story. Yup.

[scarletwoman]

11. Stop It! Just stop it! Your source is a fucking GOSSIP column!

Why the hell are you spreading sleaze? What the hell are you thinking?

Look at your source! A gossip column quoting an unnamed clerk in Atlanta!

Did you think about this at ALL? This column is from yesterday (Friday), they only just passed out the debit cards IN TEXAS ONLY on Friday! How did someone with a FEMA debit card get from TEXAS to ATLANTA in one day?

This story is almost certainly bogus -- why would you post it? :grr:

sw

[mbee]

12. Usually I would probably say it is wrong, but I'll gladly chip in a few

dollars to buy every person who went without water and food and sanitary conditions all those days an expensive handbag. They deserve some kind of prize just for staying alive. Anyway, I doubt the majority of these people are rushing out to buy handbags, but, of course, that is what they will dwell on.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

23. I seriously doubt that the story contains ANY truth.

[PSPS]

13. Reagan's mythical "cadillac-driving welfare queen" - version 2

[etherealtruth]

19. Exactly

[RandiFan1290]

14. Seized garments donated to storm evacuees

http://insidebayarea.com/businessnews/ci_3004424

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050907-102011-9947r.htm


I am sick of this racist bullshit!!!!!

[ET Awful]

15. As has been pointed out, it's a gossip pile with little to no basis in

fact.

But, let's stretch a tad . . . (I know that in this case, Buckhead is a town, not a person, but many use the name of their town as a screen name). . . Does anyone recall the name of the person waiting in the wings to attack Dan Rather after the whole memo affair? Quick, who was it that first started talking about fonts, etc.?

Makes you wonder if "Buckhead" is from "Buckhead" and possibly involved.

[scarletwoman]

16. I'm alerting on this. This is just plain trash.

[etherealtruth]

20. Thank you

[qanda]

17. Let's see...

10s of thousands of people misplaced and because they have two purchases at a "luxury-goods store" this is supposed to mean what? There are abuses every single day when people have access to money-- look no further than the reports that came out this week about the luxury items the Homeland Security people were using their cards for. Sorry, I almost forgot, that's different!!!!!! They're not welfare queens.

[sakabatou]

18. Fucking FEMA Fuckers...

GAH!!

[dweller]

21. oh, that reminds me ...

anyone seen Condi lately?

:eyes:

dp

[cwydro]

25. oh that reminds me

oh, I love that one dweller! made me laugh and I needed that.

[dweller]

30. Welcome to DU, cwydro!

tho i wish it were better times...

glad to have provided a laff.
dp

[SoCalDem]

35. Condi's busy breaking in her new shoes.. cut her some slack.(pic)

[ReverendDeuce]

22. I guess I don't see the problem... (and a little of my own two cents)

I have two things to say about this.

First, I don't see the problem. If someone gets one of these and decides to go buy some luxury item, why the hell not? If that helps them get their mind off of catastrophe, then do be it.

Second, an alternate theory - I have a pseudo-girlfriend who regularly spends her student loans on clothes and other assorted bullshit. She knows it's not right, but she winds up spending it on items she doesn't need anyway. I think it's the nature of people...

[Media_Lies_Daily]

24. Right. Thanks for the "input".

[ReverendDeuce]

26. What was wrong with what I said?

I really don't understand the problem. If these people get the cards and want to buy themselves an expensive handbag, it's their business. It may go against the spirit of the debit card, but the only items that were apparently banned were banned for good reason. If we intended the cards to be used only for "bare essentials", then that too should have been on the card itself. Damn.

[Piperay]

34. I agree

really if someone uses the card for a stupid purchase for a luxury item instead of food they will be the one going hungry and people DO make idiot choices sometimes.

I actually think though that it was FEMA employees that were using the cards.

[CatWoman]

28. 1. Who gives a fuck?

2. This defies logic. If you didn't have the means to leave New Orleans, how the hell do you get the means to travel all the way here just to buy an expensive bag?

3. I'm quite sure those cards came with "stipulations". You know -- like food stamps. Some items just can't be bought with them.

4. Who gives a fuck?

[brooklynite]

31. Another part of the story (on restrictions)

It doesn't say anything on the card other than alcohol, tobacco and firearms cannot be purchased with it"

[CatWoman]

33. again

who gives a fuck? I'll bet these people bought a helluva lot more than purses:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/07/AR2005090702462_pf.html


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/sfl-femacoverage,0,6697347.storygallery?coll=sfla-news-utility.

http://a1022.g.akamai.net/f/1022/8165/5m/images.sun-sentinel.com/media/acrobat/2005-04/17058878.pdf

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/sfl-fema12aug12,0,3244371.story?coll=sfla-news-utility

[Gormy Cuss]

32. Note the quote late in the column

"They didn't look destitute by any stretch. You would never have said, 'They must be one of the evacuees.'..."

There goes the automatic welfare queen attachment. Maybe the women had cards that 'fell off the truck' so to speak or otherwise acquired them through outside channels. This is of course if these shoppers exist at all.

[rustydad]

36. Down and out

Give the lowest on the totum $2000 and think the will think clear and use it wisely? Give me a break. They dumm *ucks are the ones who devised this bullshit idea. bob