Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Let's Talk About the Wars (moderated) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lady Lurksalot who wrote (296)	9/7/2006 1:35:09 PM
From: Ilaine	Respond to of 441

Point number one: it's probably impossible for a trauma surgeon, someone with almost superhuman powers to think towards the future, delay gratification, and tolerate unbearable pressure, to comprehend the mind set of people who, after being handed money after a natural disaster, will use it to get their nails done. These people can't foresee the future, can't delay gratification, and can't tolerate pressure. In between these extremes are most of the rest of us, the ones who got out with nothing but the shirt on their backs, if that, no wallet, no checkbook, no driver's license, no credit cards, no Social Security card, no ID whatsoever. The debit cards were to give them money to tide them over, and most of them used it well, because most of them you've never heard from again. Here's one example: a lawyer I know was taking care of his mother, who did not want to leave due to ill health. Their house flooded during the storm, not afterwards. The lawyer was able to get his mother out of the house and put her on the roof. She was in her nightgown. He was in his T-shirt and underwear. No shoes. After days of waiting for rescue he commandeered a neighbor's boat, put his mother in the boat and pushed her to high ground, barefoot, through filthy water, over rocks. She needed emergency medical care. He needed attention to his wounds, and was dehydrated. Eventually she was evacuated to Atlanta and he to Lafayette. They had money in the bank but the banks were closed, no power. And they had no wallets, no driver's licenses, no credit cards, no Social Security cards, no cash. They couldn't call friends for help because their friends were scattered all over the country or else stuck in NO with no power. Was it wrong to give them debit cards? Was there waste? No doubt. Was there fraud? No doubt. But overall, I think the program was brilliantly conceived.

To: Lady Lurksalot who wrote (296)	9/7/2006 1:40:23 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 441

One of the things people don't realize about floods -- I certainly didn't -- is that your furniture floats. Imagine your refrigerator, your sofa, your dining room table, your bookcases, all floating around, spinning madly because they are not designed to float, as you try to get out of your house. My friend in NO was nearly crushed by his own refrigerator. On the up side, the ice chest he had filled with emergency food and water floated, too. You know, I think to judge people who went through experiences like that and lost their self control is pretty damned cold.

To: Lady Lurksalot who wrote (296)	9/7/2006 1:47:12 PM
From: Ilaine	Respond to of 441

I had one cousin who survived in his house on the balcony, just him and his cat and a bottle of wine while the water filled his house with fourteen feet of water. This was in Bay St. Louis during the storm surge. I know nine families, personally, friends and family, who lost everything. One distant cousin was killed during the storm, and his body wasn't found for months, two closer cousins and one friend died after the storm due to stress-related illnesses. The idea of telling them that they couldn't have financial aid unless there was a job waiting for them just frosts me. I am sure your friend is a very nice man, but he's just plain wrong about this. Anyway, why does Houston have so many problems with their evacuees, while other cities, like Baton Rouge and Atlanta, don't?