HOLY F*$@!ING SHIT!! A BILLION HERE, AND A BILLION THERE for Louisiana bums... and soon you're talkin' REAL MONEY!! I mean money that won't be available for Israel's hapless settlers to be relocated out of Gaza and the West Bank!!
Tejek, what's that folly about splurging $640,000,000 on Katrina homeless?!?(*) That's $2,000 x 320,000 households. Do you realize that such a walloping handout could have been used to resettle 2,560 Jewish settlers/households in Tel Aviv at a meager $250,000 per house/apartment????? What a shame! I ask you, Is this a way for America to treat God's Chosen People?
Fri., September 09, 2005 Elul 5, 5765
Israel must decide whether to pursue U.S. aid in light of Katrina
By Haaretz Service
It is up to Israel to decide whether to pursue its aid request for Negev-Galilee development - which was slated to be part of an aid package to offset the cost of the disengagement - or exercise restraint in light of the high costs of Hurricane Katrina, outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer said Friday.
Citing unnamed White House officials, Army Radio had previously reported that the scope of the disaster relief the U.S. government is preparing for the areas hit by the hurricane was likely to reduce the amount of American aid to be transferred to Israel.
After returning from his tour of the New Orleans region earlier this month, U.S. President George W. Bush immediately signed a $10.5 billion disaster aid package passed by Congress - an amount Kurtzer said could end up 10 times as high.
In July, Israel requested funding to develop the north and south of the country, which was to be part of a $2.25 billion package for the disengagement plan. The Bush administration had been expected to submit its request to Congress for approval of the aid in December.
"The question has been raised as to whether Israel should exercise some restraint with regard to this aid request now," Kurtzer, who ends his four-year term next week, told Israel Radio on Friday.
[...]
haaretz.com
(*) Katrina refugees get hundreds of millions of dollars in handouts
HOUSTON, United States (AFP) - Police closed off the Astrodome stadium in Houston as word spread among Hurricane Katrina refugees that the American Red Cross was giving handouts of up to 2,000 dollars.
The money was given as credits on a debit card that can be used in stores or to get cash from automatic dispensers.
The 8,600 evacuees in the Astrodome stadium and surrounding park were the first to get the financial lifeline intended to help them buy essential items.
But thousands from other emergency shelters joined the queues for the cards that built up outside the Red Cross office and police sealed off the stadium complex.
Each family will get between 1,500 and 2,000 dollars. The money could eventually be doubled as the government's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is also to give 2,000 dollars to about 320,000 registered victims of the August 29 storm. [**]
Red Cross spokeswoman Amanda Land said money cards would be handed out at other shelters in coming days.
Andrea Ebanka, a 27-year-old Honduran, held her handbag close to her chest as she walked out of the office telling how the money made her feel more secure.
"I lost everything, so it is going to help me to start again. I have to find a job now, I have to get out of that situation, for my baby," she said.
Ebanka is typical of many of the New Orleans residents who were already struggling against poverty before Katrina took everything.
After her job at a New Orleans refinery disappeared under the storm surge kicked up by Katrina, Ebanka has linked up with an old Honduran friend in Houston. She is going to use the money to buy beds and clothes for herself and her three year old daughter.
When she fled the city where thousands are believed to have died, Ebanka took only a few identity papers and a photo or her daughter as a baby. She burst into tears as she told how she left behind pictures of her family in Honduras that she has not seen for nine years.
Jason Carter, 30, lit a cigarette as he came out of the Red Cross office, while his wife took the debit card and put it in her purse.
"This is a nice thing, the Red Cross are very efficient," he said.
"We try to get everything they make available, Red Cross debit card, FEMA debit card, housing assistance, food stamps."
Carter said he would now try to find a more permanent home for the couple and their three daughters after spending a week at the Astrodome. "We are going to buy clothing and things for the girls," he said.
FEMA chief Michael Brown announced Wednesday that the agency would also be giving 640 million dollars to refugees.
Those in the Astrodome will get debit cards and the other 300,000 registered evacuees would get cheques and direct bank deposits.
About one million people are believed to have lost their homes to Katrina but many have gone to relatives or gone into hotels in other cities around the country.
news.yahoo.com
[**] Do the math yourself: calculator.org |
