A letter from Michael Moore

[Kim_Howie]

I will be 55 this month and the civil engineer down are about the same age. They went tru the 1969 storm and knew that would again happen, but did they build for this?? HELL NO they sat back and did nothing. Hey when you stand back there and notice that ships are above you, maybe you could get wet!!! P.S. F%#@ michal moore!!!

[SamLBInj]

I live on an Island north of Atlantic City, We had a storm in 1962 that almost wiped us out.
You can not build or remodel a house here unless you put all living space and mechanicals above the elevation 10 mark, which basically means 10 feet above sea level. and all if not most must be on pilings set at least 20 feet in the ground.
If we get a storm like that you will see a bunch of houses sitting way up in the air, if they survive that is..
New codes as of Nov. last year are now for 110mph which would still not be good enough if a storm like Katrina hit.
If one comes Ill be in Nevada watching it on tv..

[BARN FIND]

[ QUOTE ]
I live on an Island north of Atlantic City, We had a storm in 1962 that almost wiped us out.
You can not build or remodel a house here unless you put all living space and mechanicals above the elevation 10 mark, which basically means 10 feet above sea level. and all if not most must be on pilings set at least 20 feet in the ground.
If we get a storm like that you will see a bunch of houses sitting way up in the air, if they survive that is..
New codes as of Nov. last year are now for 110mph which would still not be good enough if a storm like Katrina hit.
If one comes Ill be in Nevada watching it on tv..

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TYBEE ISLAND, GA is the same way. The last time a hurricane looked like it was going to hit us we loaded the SUV with clothes, our photo albums and put my SS Camaro on the trailer and headed North to a friends house in Augusta, GA. 90% of the people on Tybee stayed to "ride it out"...nuts! My mother in-law lives in the house now...I took my family and moved north (TN).

[rsatz28]

[ QUOTE ]

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!
Yours,
Michael Moore


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This is how uninformed people are regarding this subject. From an article in todays Chicago Tribune.

Money and transportation -- two keys to surviving a natural disaster -- were inaccessible for many who got left behind in the Gulf region's worst squalor.

"It's a different equation for poor people," explained Dan Carter, a University of South Carolina historian. "There's a certain ease of transportation and funds that the middle class in this country takes for granted."


Jack Harrald, director of the Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management at George Washington University in Washington, said but the government spent more time and money preparing itself -- rather than communities -- for disaster.

"All issues were known," said Harrald, whose institute had been scheduling a series of emergency planning community meetings through a partnership with the University of New Orleans. "But it was still a work in progress. ... There's enough blame to go around for everybody."

The AP analysis showed:

* Median household income in the most devastated neighborhood was $32,000, or $10,000 less than the national average.

* Two in 10 households in the disaster area had no car, compared with 1 in 10 in nationwide.

* Nearly 25 percent of those living in the hardest-hit areas were below the poverty line, about double the national average. About 4.5 percent in the disaster area received public assistance; nationwide, the number was about 3.5 percent.

* About 60 percent of the 700,000 people in the three dozen neighborhoods were minority. Nationwide, about 1 in 3 Americans is a racial minority.

* One in 200 American households doesn't have adequate plumbing. One in 100 households in the most affected areas didn't have decent plumbing, which, according to the Census, includes running hot and cold water, a shower or bath and an indoor toilet.

* Nationwide, about 7 percent of households with children are headed by a single mother. In the three dozen neighborhoods, 12 percent were single-mother households.

"It's the same people who don't have the wherewithal to get out of Dodge," explained National Guard Lt. Col. Connie McNabb, who was running a medical unit at the besieged convention center in New Orleans.

The disparities were even more glaring in large, urban areas. One of the worst-hit neighborhoods in the heart of New Orleans, for example, had a median household income of less than $7,500. Nearly three of every four residents fell below the poverty line, and barely 1 in 3 people had a car.

[Chris396]

Why didn't the government get food and water and medical personnel to the superdome? That is inexcusable in my opinion. In understand that they couldn't get all those people out of there. Blame everyone you want but as Bush said before his first term. My administration will be accountable. However nothing is ever his fault and no one is ever held accountable for mistakes. He's a small man filling a large roll. The president of the United States can't say, "I want food and water down to those people NOW!"

I have to say as a working class guy I have seen so many silver spoon guys rise way above where they should be. There are so many mediocre people in high places.

[ORIGLS6]

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we have some serious questions to ask ourselves here

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"....did I fire 6 shots or only 5 ? ...In all this excitement I kinda lost track myself. Being that this is a 44 Magnum,the most powerful handgun in the world and can take your head clean off...you've got to ask yourself 1 question...do you feel lucky...well....do ya punk ? "

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Oh Bob......... If we lived closer we could be REALLY dangerous!

[SamLBInj]

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Why didn't the government get food and water and medical personnel to the superdome?

[/ QUOTE ]
Because the manpower to do it is in a far away place risking their lives to make sure the worlds supply of cheap oil doesnt get into the wrong hands....
If Kuwait or Saudi Arabia were hit by such a disaster we would have been there with bells on within hours maybe even minutes...there is no lucrative contract to be had by Halliburton to get supplys into the superdome.
I am betting that there were choppers taking people to the off shore oil rigs faster than getting food and water to the Dome.
Face the facts, Our country needs oil more than poverty stricken people
Its not a racial thing, its a money thing.
Now we know, its up to us, the common folk, to come to the rescue.
Hey where is France in all this? New Orleans is almost a province of France, they should be helping out huge but I havent heard anything yet. Did they surrender already?

[ANDY M]

France responded to our request for aid, and the French are helping.
Where are Exxon, BP, Shell, Sunoco, etc. Not one oil company has publicly offered ANYTHING. They feel that they are the victims here, yet for all of their profits they contribute nothing.

[Kim_Howie]

Just like most of your movie stars!!!

[Mr. T]

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Just like most of your movie stars!!!

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I agree Kim. Where is that Liberal Hollywood bunch, like Streisand, Whoopie, Tim Robbins, Susan Surandon? Don't hear a peep from them. I better stop, before I go into a political rant! Nice talking with you at the Reunion Kim!