I'm so sad that this debate is occurring. I know that in large part it's erupting out of the feeling of utter helplessness that many of us have. I know I've felt that way for days. My instant contribution to the Red Cross barely scratches the surface. The little bit I did to help (a truly tiny amount) find Star's sister doesn't help either, though I'm very glad she's been found and I think it's amazing to be a part of a community that would pull that off so quickly. (Le is my hero, even though she can't post here anymore.)

So I look for other things I can do. I live next to the National Institutes of Health, and they're going to try to bring cancer patients who've lost their normal treatment locations to this area. NIH specializes in both adult and pediatric oncology, and they have tremendous resources.

I just read an e-mail from the NIH Director -- apparently much of the medical staff at NIH has volunteered to help if they can -- and they're waiting on HHS to figure out what they ought to be doing. And I bet HHS is waiting on somebody else.

When they start bringing the cancer patients up here, if they do, family members will come along. When that happens, NIH is going to ask members of the community, people who work there and people who live nearby, to open their homes to them.

I hope my entire neighborhood will volunteer. We all live less than 15 minutes' walk from the NIH Clinical Center. We're as good as it gets in terms of helping that way.

And yet... we wait. Because no one can even figure out who's got cancer and who doesn't. Will this save lives? Lordy, yes. Probably hundreds of lives. But it won't save the lives of the people who are drowning or dying in the heat right now.

That's where we all feel utterly powerless. A great nation with huge resources, and we can't save the old man or the young child or whoever else we just saw on TV. It tears our hearts out.

And in feeling utterly powerless, we begin to tear at each other.

Instead, I'd ask each person to do just a little to make this better. Lord knows I can't do a thing about most of it. But I can give when I'm asked to, and I can try to help find other lost relatives, and I can open my home when NIH asks. Surely the rest of us can do that, too?

Agree, JustJ. I think before others point fingers and complain that others are not helping, they should make damn sure they are doing something themselves. Many of the sanctimonous, nattering nabobs on this thread haven't lifted a damn finger to help these people and here they are sanctimoniously lecturing others who ARE helping.

That is energy that would be much better spent sending money or goods to the Red Cross or getting your name on a list to adopt a family in need.

oh c'mon, compassion is HARDLY the domain of liberals. Whats with the ad hom attacks on Republicans? Why does this have to be reduced to political cheap shots?

Ok. This has gone too far. What are you trying to say here?
Are you saying that most African-Americans are poor?

I just finished looking at Larry King Live.

I was devastated along with most of the reporters.

This is soo, soo, sad..

We need to LOVE AS CHRIST LOVED....

So what if people didn't leave if they could?

We of all people should know that people make mistakes in error...

That's is not a justification for not helping them..

That does not make it OK for them to suffer...

I'm surprised by this in the MB community...of all places...

I will add my .02 since you are all on the topic.

I am mad.
How is that? I am MAD to see this woman on TV holding her child less then 2 who is LITERALLY DYING in her arms because he has had no food or WATER in DAYS!

She followed the instructions and went to the dome. Now she is standing there holding her son while he DIES! No one is there to help. It is out of control! She followed orders and now she is stuck there without help.

Do I think the gov't need to do more? Oh heck yes.
Do I think that they are trying their best? Nope.
Do I think it has anything to do with white vs. black people? Nope
Do I think that the gov't should have planned better for this? Oh yes.
Could we as a country have ever had any idea the amount of devistation? Not a chance.

We need to get in there, and get those people out, yesterday.
Danielle

[b]Melody, how do you know who is helping and who is not?

Do you have a crystal ball?

The Red Cross said they do NOT want food or goods.

They want $$$, so I donated $200 this morning. 1-800-HELP-NOW

My WW biatched me out for doing this. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

I haven't read through all the posts on this thread, so... but...

My overwhelming thought/emotion is that there has been a failure. And I'm blaming The Top.
We all have a part in this -- we pay our taxes (but my thoughts are not about taxes, by any means).
We pay our taxes to our government that in turn pays people to
a) think about such events
b) develop plans to deal with such events
c) execute those plans

There has been failure here, and I haven't seen one single soul stand up and -- forget about assuming responsiblity for anything After The Fact -- assume responsibility for developing a Plan Before It Happened to deal with it -- because quite obviously, a plan never existed.

Mr. FEMA Director (Michael Brown) is my new least-favorite-person-on-the-planet...

but only after:

a) seeing no evidence of any plan to deal with a situation that FEMA itself had predicted to be one of the three most likely major disasters to occur, and
b) watching him go out of his way, ad nauseum, to defend himself (keyword: Himself)

I think that not only the government, but the locals here are doing everything humanly possible to get those people out of there. To blame these deaths on them is absolutely outrageous and makes me SICK. Our government did not CAUSE Hurricane Katrina. FEMA was put in place down there before the storm even hit, but not even the most prepared government can prevent every casuality. They are doing much more for those people than most were willing to do for themselves.

I am just amazed to see this spoiled, selfish whining and finger pointing. And it is from people who most likely are not lifting a damn finger themselves to help these people.

We have schools, nursing homes, convention centers, football stadiums full of homeless people who need HOMES. They need HOMES and food, and personal effects. So instead of useless finger pointing and second guessing some very dedicated, hard working people, [who were SHOT AT when they tried to evacuate people from the Super Dome to transport them to Houston] why don't you get off YOUR DEAD ASSES and adopt a family or donate money to the Red Cross?

Over a 100 families in Houston and Longview have volunteered to adopt a family.

I am shocked by the lack of compassion for sure.

This is not a political issue.

This is not about color.

This is about hungry, starving, dying people right this minute.

It does not matter how or why they need our help.

We, as individuals, really can't help right now. So logically speaking it has to be the government. To me, that's a no brainer.

Those folks can hardly get out of the city of NO. How could they get to any of our houses?

God Help Us.

I can only go by what you said and you stated have no intention of taking in a family and told me that you already pay enough in tax dollars.

Mimi, we have THOUSANDS of refugees across Texas that need homes. And when they get the rest of the folks out of NO, they will also need homes.

Not now.

But it was just that... for the last several decades...
Sooner or later, laziness and greed -- they come back and bite us all in the @ss.

MUCH of this never had to happen. Period.

huh? We can prevent hurricanes? You have got to be kidding me?

TA...

It's not that we are agreeing or disagreeing with you regarding the article...the article was a statement of fact...nothing to argue over.

We are not taking political cheap shots here...all we are saying is ARGUE WHAT YOU VOTE FOR! TA, you seem to be saying that these stranded folks were/are helpless, and the government should be more stealh in helping those who can't help themselves...this is NOT a Republican viewpoint...this is the view of those "liberal social programs" that supposedly KEEP the Poor Poor (which you trounced in your post)...a typical Republican view would assert that these folks should have "pulled themselves up by the bootstraps" and gotten out of dodge...That doesn't mean that they shouldn't be helped...not an issue...obviously they should be...

So, whether you are a Democrat or a Republican is really of no issue to us...all we are saying is that TA's arguments don't match HIS vote...Pick a side, any side...

The Wonderings

Of course not.... but we can plan for them, right?
I blabbered (?) a post a few minutes back -- where I spouted off a little more (and with perhaps a bit more intelligence....)

sigh.......this is not a Republican viewpoint in this context. There isn't a Republican alive who is saying "pull yourselves up by your bootstraps." Sure, Republicans believe people should be accountable for themselves, but to misapply it to natural disaster victims is a gross, cartoonish distortion.

I never said this. I said I am in the Highest Income Tas Bracket already. Yes, I will pay a lot in tax. I also donated $200 this am after the President asked for help and I may give more. I need to see where the money is being spent.

How many people would HONESTLY take in some family you don't even know. Especially when you are trying to save your marriage.

I wouldn't even take in my own brother or sisters unless I really had to.

My sister many years ago wanted to move in with me with her child. I told her I would rather pay her rent than to live with me. I told her both of us need our privacy and I did not want to ruin our relationship especially with spouses invlolved.

I paid her rent for about 6 months until she got back on her feet. If she would have moved in with me she would probably still be here 20 years later.