Katrina victims need to stop whining about losses

[MaineDem]

If I could jump through the monitor and confront this person face-to-face I would. This LTTE has me absolutely enraged. I've been to New orleans and did my little part to help the victims there. What has this person done other than bitch and moan? I am furious. Is it just me?

When is this whining, begging and complaining thing over Hurricane Katrina ever going to end?

For one solid year there has been billions, billions and more billions of dollars poured into Louisiana, most of which has gone into the pockets of unscrupulous people because no one was in charge.

If Joe Nobody up here in Somerset County, Maine, loses his house due to fire, flood, or other disaster, it's pretty much up to Joe Nobody to take care of his problem.

He might be lucky enough to have friends or relatives to help. He might even be lucky enough to have insurance.

=snip=

Nowhere is there a law that says that the rest of the country must pay for his new home, his wife's therapy, his son's tattoo, his daughter's birth control pills or his dog's day care expenses.

At the risk of sounding heartless, is there ever a time when people simply start taking care of themselves?

=snip=


http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/view/letters/3109543.shtml

[demnan]

1. At the risk of sounding heartless, she is

It is always clear when you hear people like that that they never had a misfortune in their lives and the son's tattoo and daughter's birth control pills comments were simply ridiculous.

When confronted with an insurmountable problem sometimes you need help. She'd be the first one in line if it ever happened to her.

I hate Republicans.

[marmar]

2. I'd suggest some Depeche Mode lyrics for this asshole:

I would tell you about the things
They put me through
The pain I've been subjected to
But the Lord himself would blush
The countless feasts laid at my feet
Forbidden fruits for me to eat
But I think your pulse would start to rush

Now I'm not looking for absolution
Forgiveness for the things I do
But before you come to any conclusions
Try walking in my shoes
Try walking in my shoes

You'll stumble in my footsteps
Keep the same appointments I kept
If you try walking in my shoes
If you try walking in my shoes

[fasttense]

3. Those lazy poor people. Do they really expect clean water, their home

to be safe, medical attention when they are sick? Just because they lost everything in a flood that the government knew was coming and did nothing to help them escape, they expect everything handed to them. Next thing you know they will expect the government to bury their dead family members. We gave Halliburton billions to make the mess go away and just because the contractors pocketed the money and did nothing while Congress and the bushes applauded doesn't mean we owe anything to these homeless, mourning, half drowned poor people. :sarcasm:

[driver8]

4. Now what if a hurricane were to flatten Boca Raton?? I'm sure you would

hear some Rethuglican whining then, wouldn't you?

How can people be so cold? My God...just when I think that people cannot sink any lower...they manage to sink a little lower.

[indepat]

14. The ideological heart and soul of neoconitis

[tanyev]

5. And how her tune would change if the entire county got wiped out.

If all your friends and relatives lost everything they had, too, how can they help you? If the disaster is so big that the insurance company is doing everything it can to get out of its obligations, where do you turn?

[annabanana]

6. And if Emden Pond overflowed it's Northern Shore. . .

I expect that the author and her family, and her neighbors are fully capable of swimming to safety, rebuilding their houses and places of employment, and their entire infrastructure all by themselves.

Mean spirited and short sighted.

[dogday]

7. Someone help this gal out and unbunch

her panties a knot or two....

[MaineDem]

8. I'm still fuming over this.

And now there's a comment on the website agreeing with this person.

Thanks, DUers. You're helping me calm down.

[misanthrope]

9. Sadly enough...

...some of their biggest critics are the folks surrounding them in Mississippi and Alabama. I hear New Orleanians vilified by these rednecks every single day.

[oasis]

10. Phyllis B: Another machinehead subcriber to Bush's "Ownership Society".

:puke:

[LunaSea]

11. I'm reminded of this post

Responding to one of those stupid emails circling the stuposphere-
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=5530890

[MaineDem]

12. Exactly. Thank you.

Sure we get blizzards and ice storms. Power has been out for, umm, maybe 5 days tops. The back porch works just fine as a freezer when the outside temp is -10.

No comparison...as the post you cited explains so well.

[CrispyQ]

13. I get hate filled emails like this all the time.

Respond, "Yes, you are heartless."

I'm sick & tired of people being so fucking scared that someone might get more than them or that someone might get something they don't deserve. Every system has flaws & there will always be some free loaders, but helping each other out in times of need, helping someone when they're down is part of having & being in a community. The only communities Republicans support are ones that agree completely with them.

[raccoon]

15. You and me both, sister!

"I'm sick & tired of people being so fucking scared that someone might get more than them or that someone might get something they don't deserve. "

I once had a co-worker who was so into this kind of thinking that he thought nobody should be able to use the patch to quit smoking--because they didn't have it when HE quit! :puke: :puke:

Funny thing, in other ways this guy could be nice...

[O.M.B.inOhio]

17. Republicanism: (n) disease marked my a deficiency of empathy.

What Repugs lack is empathy. A little imagination and a crash course in logic wouldn't hurt. If they're not affected by something directly they haven't the empathy to imagine someone else's plight. I wonder how the Reagans would feel about stem cell research, the Cheneys about lesbians, the Bradeys about handguns, the Bushes about talentless AWOL illiterate moron election stealers, etc. if they hadn't a personal experince in their families. People of imagination -- and any good Christian -- can put themselves in another's shoes. Now, I am not in favor of the government bailing out property owners every time their homes are damaged, especially when insurance is available. Rebuild luxury homes on sand bars in the Gulf? Heck with that. But the NOLA is another story, an exceptional disaster and a product of poor planning against a predictable event. And the corruption and waste seems to be largely a product of cronyism at the top. I wonder if this Repug ninny thinks the the victims of 9/11 expected "handouts" from the emergency responders and deserved what they got. Does his/her yellow ribbon magnet read, "Fuck the troops, protect your own freedom you bums"? (No, I'm not suggesting that I agree with the notion that occupying a country protects freedom.)
Sick of the whining? They have no idea how much of their personal freedom comes from the collective strength & work of an organized community. There's a sort of Libertarian social creationism myth out there and it just fuels these frothing nitwits.

[lostnfound]

19. I strongly suspect there's a concerted effort to portray them this way

for a reason.

This ugly sentiment has often been expressed by coworkers, and it seems to come in waves..like email spam.

Who benefits by dehumanizing these victims?

[wicket]

16. What about all of the people in the Gulf who have had their insurance...

...claims rejected?!?! :grr: :grr: :grr:

[LSK]

27. no shit, but most people have no clue about this HUGE DETAIL

:grr:

[kiki]

18. At the risk of sounding heartless...

...I hope a tree falls on your house, you old bitch. :)

[stranger81]

21. and that her insurance company denies the claim,

that her neighbors all refuse to help this old windbag, and that she has to "do for herself" to put things right.

Oh, and add about 8 feet of water in her house and everywhere in the vicinity.

Funny thing is, I'm sure this callous husk of a person considers herself a good patriot -- one who refuses to help her fellow citizens and who apparently has never even heard of the social contract -- and probably a good Christian to boot -- one who will find herself in a very surprising place after leaving this life, if there is a god .....

[kiki]

25. 'The social contract'?

You sound like a God-durned Commie to me.

Didn'tcha know? The American Dream is: Every man for himself.

[Xenotime]

20. All NOLA people should camp out in Crawford.

[funkybutt]

22. The money hasn't gotten to the PEOPLE yet!

People who write LTTEs should at least do some minimal research before spewing this kind of crap. What has happened here is an outrage. We are doing everything we can ourselves but it's pretty much impossible to work AND rebuild your own home AND rebuild our city ourselves. There simply is not enough time or money to get it done.

[Gormy Cuss]

23. Kudos to 'Mary'

The poster Mary who replied to the nasty LTTE and laid out the scenario more succinctly by suggesting that if the whole of Somerset county had flooded the houses to the rafters and a year later the insurance companies haven't paid claims and aid money was slow to flow to the land owners maybe the LTTE writer would have a clue.

I especially appreciated that the rebutter called the LTTE writer 'ignorant,' which is the highest order of insult in Maine.

[LunaC]

24. "The people in NO don't deserve shit."

I just ended an eight-year friendship over THAT one!

I have concluded that there are two types of people in the world....empaths and sociopaths.....and I give no ground to the heartless and soulless.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

26. Standard right-wing whine:

"Somebody who has a real need has received a benefit that I'm not eligible for by any stretch of the imagination. Unfair!"

I've heard this said about disabled people, about immigrants (refugees get a lordly three months to become self-sufficient, but until then they're on welfare), and about the elderly.

[warrens]

28. What happens if your entire town is wiped out by a flood?

You're going to rebuild without any insurance or funds? Not fucking likely.