So, will YOU be donating money to the richest economy in the world? (3 Viewers)

[Rorix]

And this, fellow citizens, is the lowest common denominator.

I always find something ironic about people complaining about America on the Internet, using their GUI operating system and most likely keyboard and mouse.

 

[Meldrum]

I always find something ironic about people complaining about America on the Internet, using their GUI operating system and most likely keyboard and mouse.

You are teh sex.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

I always love rorix's responses. One day I want to be like rorix

 

[supercharged]

And why the fuck would a country which spends some 400 billion dollars a year on pointless defence and weapons programs need donations from Australia because of a flooded city?

 

[Not-That-Bright]

Why would a country like indonesia which spends billions of dollars on killing people in ache need money for some flooded cities? The idea is to do it as a kind gesture to people you feel sorry for you twats. If you don't donate all your money/possessions to charity don't act self righteous.

 

[braindrainedAsh]

Hmmm I don't really think we should have to, I feel sorry for those people though... it's a tough decision. Politically and economically we shouldn't have to... America should have enough resources to help those people. But since the US government doesn't seem to be doing a very good job of handling this, and people are suffering, if us donating the money means people don't suffer as much and lives are saved then I can't really condemn the action. I will admit though that my first reaction was "why are WE donating money to THEM!"

 

[Not-That-Bright]

nwatt's, they're doing the best they can... current texas / florida / etc have sent in as many troops as they can spare, it's just the other states have taken a little while longer to react.

I'm not disgusted with the americans over this, just the people who had issue with people looting food/water/clothes.

 

[nwatts]

I'm pretty disgusted with Americans over this whole issue.

They should be air lifting people out of there. There should be those Navy hospital boats docked outside the city, treating infection and housing the sick. *Shitloads* of Army/Navy troops should be pulled from whatever they're doing to help with the situation. It's pathetic.

And now someone's gone and blown up the railroads - http://smh.com.au/news/world/new-orleans-rocked-by-explosions/2005/09/02/1125302740454.html

 

[SashatheMan]

i said no, but i hate the tone . i dont tihnk american is evil i just tihnk u are a jerk. but i woulnt donate anyway

 

[iamsickofyear12]

They American government can get as much money as they like. They are already passing a bill tomorrow which will make 10.2 billion available.

 

[nwatts]

nwatt's, they're doing the best they can... current texas / florida / etc have sent in as many troops as they can spare, it's just the other states have taken a little while longer to react.

I'm not disgusted with the americans over this, just the people who had issue with people looting food/water/clothes.

I'm sorry, but I really don't think they are.

I listening to Hack today, and just realised that America had one full week of warning that a potentially extremely hazardous weather system was on its way. New Orleans' citizens/civil service knew that the dam walls would not withstand a "catagory 3 or greater" storm.

China had a similar typhoon warning. They moved over one million citizens in less than 24 hours. Due to their style of government, I realise that this would have been a lot easier than it would in America... but there was no attempt to move Orleans' citizens when the warning was first heard.

The total lack of organisation is appaling.

 

[supercharged]

Why would a country like indonesia which spends billions of dollars on killing people in ache need money for some flooded cities? The idea is to do it as a kind gesture to people you feel sorry for you twats. If you don't donate all your money/possessions to charity don't act self righteous.

Indonesia is too poor to be spending billions of dollars on killing anyone. Aceh is actually part of Indonesian territory which was under seperatist tension, but that has now been resolved.

On the other hand, America acts as if the whole world is part of its territory and under its administration

The military expenditure of the US Department of Defence for 2004

Total $437.111 Billion
Operations and maintenance $174.081 Bil.
Military Personnel $113.576 Bil.
Procurement $76.217 Bil.
Research & Development $60.756 Bil.
Military Construction $6.310 Bil.

Total $USD 437.111 Billion! You think they can't afford to help themselves?

http://img.tfd.com/wiki/c/ca/WorldMilitarySpending.jpg

 

[Not-That-Bright]

*sigh* there were several false alarms just before katrina, people had boarded up/evacuated i think 2 times before katrina hit. This time they ignored the authorities and decided to sit it out.

Supercharged: Your argument is that a government which can afford to buy military weapons/equipment/etc doesn't need charity when it comes to disasters. Indonesia dispite having very poor people, also spend a shitload of money on their military, if they didn't spend so much then they could have afforded to pay for disaster relief themselves.

Your argument is flawed.

 

[nwatts]

They American government can get as much money as they like. They are already passing a bill tomorrow which will make 10.2 billion available.

Yes, and I also heard on the radio news today that damages are in excess of $30 billion. The damages themselves would be worth this much, but the bill for aid and such would be far, far in excess of this quoted figure.

Passing a $10 billion bill is almost pathetic, especially since the nation is so incredibly wealthy.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

Passing a $10 billion bill is almost pathetic, especially since the nation is so incredibly wealthy.

The $10 billion was emergency relief money for the immediate future.

 

[iamsickofyear12]

Yes, and I also heard on the radio news today that damages are in excess of $30 billion. The damages themselves would be worth this much, but the bill for aid and such would be far, far in excess of this quoted figure.

Passing a $10 billion bill is almost pathetic, especially since the nation is so incredibly wealthy.

I am sure there will be more to come.

 

[supercharged]

I'm not disgusted with the americans over this, just the people who had issue with people looting food/water/clothes.

Hahaha aren't the people doing the looting, shooting and rapes in the stadium Americans too?

Supercharged: Your argument is that a government which can afford to buy military weapons/equipment/etc doesn't need charity when it comes to disasters. Indonesia dispite having very poor people, also spend a shitload of money on their military, if they didn't spend so much then they could have afforded to pay for disaster relief themselves.

Despite what you may think, Indonesia does not spend a great deal on weapons because it is too poor to do so. Indonesia would not be able to easily divert a billion dollars or so to help the tsunami victims because it doesnt have that kind of money readily available.

America on the other hand could easily halve its defence budget for just one year, providing an instant 200+ billion dollars to help itself, and even then, it would still have by far the largest defence budget in the world

 

[nwatts]

*sigh* there were several false alarms just before katrina, people had boarded up/evacuated i think 2 times before katrina hit. This time they ignored the authorities and decided to sit it out.

Supercharged: Your argument is that a government which can afford to buy military weapons/equipment/etc doesn't need charity when it comes to disasters. Indonesia dispite having very poor people, also spend a shitload of money on their military, if they didn't spend so much then they could have afforded to pay for disaster relief themselves.

Your argument is flawed.

All reports i've heard/read have pretty specifically said that the vast majority of citizens were unaware, and that very little effort had been done to evacuate prior to the storm coming in.

Where'd you hear that they'd been alerted 2 times already?

edit: Not at all. Charity is most certainly needed, from all corners of the globe. I'm arguing that the capacity Americans have shown to relieve this situation is pathetic. In a situation of anarchy like this, military aid is needed. This is where all this $400 billion a year should go.

edit2: what's up with the times of posts here on BOS? i'm fairly certain a posted this a *lot* earlier...

edit3: my name is not supercharged. sorry about that!

 

[Not-That-Bright]

Why people choose to ride out hurricanes

BY LINDA SHRIEVES

The Orlando Sentinel

ORLANDO, Fla. - (KRT) - The mayor of New Orleans begged people to leave the city and ended with a plea: "God bless us."

In Mississippi, the governor warned residents that a 30-foot wall of water could come crashing toward them.

And yet, in the face of Hurricane Katrina, a Category 4 storm that may become one of the deadliest in U.S. history, some people ignored evacuation orders and stayed behind - only to find themselves stranded on roofs, begging for help, or hanging onto trees.

Certainly some did not have the means to leave. But why did those who had a choice stay? What compels people to ride out a storm?

It's a combination of factors, psychologists say. Some people are thrill-seekers. Others gamble that the hurricane will skirt past them. Many think they're tough enough to survive a hurricane. And some simply procrastinate until it's too late to get out.

Jorge Vazquez of Orlando, Fla., wanted a taste of adventure when he dared to stay and face Hurricane Andrew, which was barreling down on Miami in 1992.

Vazquez, then 25 and living in Coral Gables, Fla., never considered leaving. Instead, he thought about his Cuban-born parents and their experiences.

"It was my first hurricane," he says. "My parents had been through hurricanes and they'd survived. So I figured I could do it. Besides, I wanted to see what a hurricane really is about."

As the winds escalated, Vazquez got scared when he noticed water leaking through the roof. Nervously, he and his partner moved to a bathroom with no windows. They dragged a mattress into the bathroom - and as the storm peeled away sections of the roof, they sat in the tub, shielding themselves from debris with the mattress.

During hurricane season, Vazquez, 38, now keeps bottled water, canned food and batteries on hand - and a suitcase packed if he needs to evacuate.

But he loves adventure - and a hurricane, he says, "is like a roller coaster." So unless a storm is a Category 3 or higher, he won't leave home.

That's a common reaction in hurricane-prone areas.

"People become desensitized," says Charles Gibbs, a Miami psychologist who counseled survivors after Hurricane Andrew. "When Katrina came through here, the prevailing attitude was, `Hmph, it's a category one.' There wasn't that typical rush to Home Depot. There wasn't that typical hysteria."

And yet, even when "the big one" hits, some people simply won't leave home, despite having the money for a hotel room 100 miles away.

"There's always a certain percentage of the population that's going to be afraid and is going to run," says Los Angeles trauma psychologist Robert Butterworth. "There's another group that's waiting for the experts to tell them what to do. And there's always that third group that waits for hell or high water - which is a terrible expression, but in this case seems to be true."

One reason some people refuse to seek shelter, Butterworth says, is that they don't want to abide by someone else's rules. "You lose your freedom when you go to a large place like that," he says. "You're confined."

But one of the most common obstacles to fleeing is the attachment people feel to their homes.

Not only do people feel safe at home, but they also want to protect their property from looters.

"People say, `This is my home and I'm not leaving my home. I bought it, I put my time and hard work into it and I'm not leaving,'" Gibbs says. "It's almost like that old saying, `the captain going down with the ship.' They get that mentality."

It is, he says, a very American trait.

"We live in an individualistic society," he says. "We're raised to think we can do anything, if we put in enough time, effort and energy."

Ironically, New Orleans residents who stayed in their homes during Katrina are now being ordered to leave the city.

Last year, before Hurricane Charley, some deputies in Pinellas County, Fla., issued stark instructions to people who refused to evacuate: Use duct tape to stick your drivers license to your chest so we can identify your body.

In other coastal counties, deputies don't use that kind of scare tactic. "If they elect to stay," says Brevard County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Andrew Walters, "we take down all their contact information," including next of kin.

No amount or type of persuasion has worked to pry James Allen, 79, from his Cedar Key, Fla., home. He says he has lost count of the number of hurricanes he has weathered. Despite living about a block away from the water, Allen has left his home only one time before a hurricane. That was in the 1960s, and he left with his elderly father.

"If I was scared I was going to drown, I would get up and leave," he says.

These days, Allen charts storms on his own and decides for himself whether a hurricane threat warrants evacuation.

"I'm nearly 80 years old, and I can do whatever I want to do," he says. Besides, Allen says, he believes in predestination.

"Maybe it's just me, but I figure it's God's work," Allen says. "What is to be will be."

In Mississippi, officials worried that evacuation-weary residents wouldn't listen to yet another evacuation order. Twice in the past year, Mississippians had been asked to leave - for hurricanes that eventually struck elsewhere.

Yet in New Orleans, another factor was at work. Residents there used to talk about the city being "charmed," having some special protection from hurricanes.

Many people who live in disaster-prone areas resort to denial, Butterworth says. It's a way of coping with the anxiety of potential earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes. They talk about the odds of a disaster hitting them, about how hurricanes always bypass the area. "Life's not a roll of the dice, but some people like to make it like that," he says. "Eventually, the odds are not going to be in your favor. People tend to forget that part of the equation."

Even as he watches unforgettable scenes playing out in Mississippi and Louisiana - videotape of people being airlifted from their roofs - Butterworth sees reason for hope.

"What officials need to do is keep those tapes of people desperately calling and make some public service announcement out of them," he says. Play the tapes of those stranded, scared people, he says, with one final tag line: "And nobody could come."

"Sometimes," Butterworth says, "you have to scare the bejesus out of people to get them to act."

They made it very clear that u had to leave nwatts...

Despite what you may think, Indonesia does not spend a great deal on weapons because it is too poor to do so. Indonesia would not be able to easily divert a billion dollars or so to help the tsunami victims because it doesnt have that kind of money readily available.

Why should a country have jets that can match those of Australia if they cannot feed their own people?

. Indonesia would not be able to easily divert a billion dollars or so to help the tsunami victims because it doesnt have that kind of money readily available.

Yea... because they'd rather spend it on their military.

 

[iamsickofyear12]

I heard some of the local new orelans reporter did some research into what would happen if a category 4 or 5 hurricane hit. They knew everyone couldn't be evacuated and that the levys would break. They just didn't do anything about it.