Why help the people of Iowa, the chose to live in a flood plain.

[edhopper]

I mean they live next to a big river for christsakes, and now want us to bail them out. Don't they know rivers flood.

O.K. This is SARCASM!

But substitute hurricane for flood and New Orleans for Iowa, and this is exactly what many conservatives said after Katrina. It's funny how now that it's good God-fearing, white folks (many of whom are Republicans) that the right-wingers aren't blaming the victims of this disaster.


For the record, I do think this is a horrible event and we should give all the help required.

[ColbertWatcher]

1. Thank you!

I was trying to find a way to say this.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[slackmaster]

2. Don't mind me, I chose to live in earthquake country

:argh:

[TheDebbieDee]

7. I live in Tornado Alley (Kansas City).......

[leftyladyfrommo]

14. Me, too.

I would rather deal with bad storms than hurricanes and earthquakes.

Everywhere has got something.

But poor Iowa.

[slackmaster]

36. That's where I was born

I'm having a hard time thinking of any place that would be decent to live that is NOT prone to some kind of catastrophic natural event.

Any place near an ocean can have a tsunami, or storm waves. Even an inland sea or lake can have a destructive seiche or storm surf.

Any place that is far enough from the tropics to be relatively free of hurricanes can either get tornados or ice storms.

If you have any kind of vegetation (except cacti and succulents), you can also have wildfires.

:shrug:

[Iggo]

3. We get that here in California...

...every time there's an earthquake. It's par for the course, a defense mechanism for cowards. (I don't have to help, or even care. It's all their own fault!)

[Frances]

17. I live in earthquake country

but I was born in tornado and hurricane country before moving to one of the most polluted areas of the country. There is no place to live without dangers of some kind.

[Iggo]

38. Exactly.

Wherever humans live, there's something that can kick our asses, whether it's earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, feral beasties, or what have you.

It's a big ol' dangerous world. But we should all pitch in when we can to help whoever needs it, instead of saying "It's their own damn fault for living there."

Like I said, that's the coward's way out.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. No to Iowa! Help me! I have 3 inches of water in my basement!!!

My cat can't get to her litter box. Screw Iowa!! Kansas needs your help more!!!

:sarcasm:

[fasttense]

5. Yeah and where are the protestant preachers claiming it's God's revenge

on them for their sins? I guess it all depends if you are in the middle of an election year. Who would of thought that natural disasters were political tools? Now are they going to put up casinos and overpriced hotels where their homes use to be?

[raccoon]

16. Exactly, Iowa is full of unrepentant sinners, adulterers, fornicators, etc.

:sarcasm:

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

21. Sorry, Rev. Phelps is busy this week

in California.
:rofl:

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. No he is probably battling his own flood in Topeka

[MedleyMisty]

6. It's the just world fallacy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_phenomenon

Basically, admitting that the world isn't perfect and that no one deserves natural disasters or poverty or anything that they can't help means that then you might have to do something about it. It also means recognizing that you are not invulnerable and that something similar may happen to you one day.

http://www.ibiblio.org/rcip/invuln.html

[ColbertWatcher]

18. Hmm...

...I'm reading your words and all I'm hearing is that you support the terrorists.

Why do you hate America!?

And The Baby Jesus?

And apple pie and mom and baseball?

[ellenfl]

8. my thoughts, too. i hope anyone who votes republican will

be 'pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps'. it would be hypocritical for them to expect government assistance. seriously though, i hope they will now stop vilifying those of us who live near the coast in florida. i believe that helping those people in the midwest who have lost everything to bad weather, should be assisted by the federal government. i believe this is exactly what government is for.

ellen fl

[KharmaTrain]

9. I'll Be Curious How Quick Insurance Claims Are Paid...

We're looking at a record amount of rain and water that has swollen what was a mild and "boring" river into a torrent. Decades of attempts at flood control have gone for naught...not out of neglicence, but just shear nature proving man wrong, again.

Comparing what's going on in Iowa to what happened in NOLA is unfair as the only thing the two have in common are water. The damage going on here is more widespread as far as geography and will take a terrible toll in material, but fortunately it's not a flood where one morning you wake up and there's 5 feet of water in your living room. The damage to farm lands will devestate many small farmers but the land is still plantable and much of the damage can be quickly fixed.

This is a test of the insurance companies. I've been through several natural disasters and its their response or lack of it that leads to a quick recovery. They're the ones who control the most money and have the most feet on the ground to get things done. Many in NOLA will cite the insurance companies as one of their biggest foes in trying to recover. Let's see how quickly they act on claims here.

[ColbertWatcher]

20. "...the only thing the two have in common..."

I disagree.

They have a lot more in common than water.

They will also share a poor response by the federal government and an attempt by private companies to exploit the area's resources.

I'm sure there are other things they will have in common.

Just give it time.

[KharmaTrain]

24. Different Types Of Responses

Floods of this type are slow, plodding meances. Most people have some warning of what's coming, so it's not like NOLA where people woke up that Monday morning and found their first floors flooded. While we do see the sad scenes of water and mud inundating homes, those occupants have had some time to get valuables out and get to safety. I just saw a report of how the U of Iowa moved its entire art collection...and another of a farmer in Grafton, on the Mississippi (first report I've seen about how that is rising) whose house is slowly being gobbled up by the river and how he's moving stuff up and out. The folks stuck in the Lower Ninth in NOLA didn't have that luxuary of time.

I've gone through disasters here in the Midwest and much of the recovery falls on the insurance companies rather than the federal government. Some flood plain areas only qualify for federal insurance, but this flood is reaching above and beyond what that covers. This is a financial catastrophe more than a physical one...and you won't have the debate about what caused the damage...wind or water. It's a pretty clear cut deal...and one that most people in these areas have been paying for in their mortgage and home insurance for years and never had to collect on. Let's see if the good hands people give 'em the finger.

From what I've been reading and hearing from Iowa media, local authorities have done a very good job in handling this situation along with a depleated National Guard. Here's hoping we don't need to see Federal troops having to convoy into Cedar Rapids.

No doubt there will be speculators and the lack of a government with any oversight will create some nightmares, but nowhere like what a hurricane smashing into the gulf coast would do.

[ColbertWatcher]

26. Federal help doesn't mean federal troops.

See? This is what I'm talking about.

Just because there is a disaster, doesn't mean people should to be taken advantage of.

No one is saying the state and local agencies are failing the people, or that the people aren't doing their best with what little is left.

I'm saying the federal response to this on-going disaster is another thing it has in common with Katrina and that the GOP disaster capitalism model will kick in.

Once word got out that a second levee broke Dumbya should have cancelled his vacation and come home.

No one expects that he could do anything, but the person holding the office of the Presidency needs to appear as though he is a leader, instead of doing nothing.

Along with the insurance companies (that you mentioned) there will be other predatory corporations/industries lying in wait to profit of this disaster.

[KharmaTrain]

28. Federal Symbolism Isn't Really Needed

IMHO, the best thing this regime can do is declare the area a federal disaster area and just give money to state and local authorities and let them deal with it. The farther FEMA stays from "managing" this situation the better...I have far better trust in the local infrastructure and that if there is any aid needed that it comes in money and goods rather than agencies and beauracrats.

What can boooshie do? He shows up for a photo-op? He will anyway. Keeping FEMA away will hopefully keep the contractors away as well. And I'm sure a lot of the people on the ground are well aware of the vulnerabilities. Thus why the less Federal the better...as long as the states can handle it on their own. It'd be something if we were hearing Gov. Culver calling for help...so far he hasn't. Yes, this is a disaster, but one that's happened many times and while on a bigger scale, there's precedence in how the recovery can/should be handled. NOLA was a different situation.

In 1990 I worked at a radio station near a town destroyed by a tornado. No sooner were the skies cleared than the insurance companies were on the ground and starting to process claims. Our station ran almost non-stop insurance spots...along with home improvement places. Most of these people were mandated by state law to have mortgage insurance and the state was watching over the insurance companies as well. I'm pretty sure Iowa has similar laws. What will be interesting is those who either fell deliquent in their insurance or found ways to avoid it.

Let's see how this situation plays out before judging the federal response. There's more to come as the waters move toward the Mississippi.

Cheers...

[ColbertWatcher]

29. A pledge for federal dollars is not symbolism.

Hell, a pledge to do something isn't symbolism either.

I agree we should wait to see what happens, but we aren't the president, are we?

[KharmaTrain]

31. Isn't That The Sad Part

We don't have a president who we can rely on to do what's right for those who are suffering. We can only think about the profiteering and political games this regime plays. That whatever help comes has strings attached.

One difference this year is you don't have the GOOP in control of the House and Senate like you did in late '05 and early '06 with Katrina doling out all sorts of sweetheart no-bid deals and earmarks to Blackwater and Carnival Cruise lines and all sorts of other benefactors. At least now we have a Democratic House that can propose the federal aid...then move it to the Senate. Let's see if his assholiness vetos.

Cheers...

[ColbertWatcher]

34. And while the slow-moving Congress does its thing...

...America waits for the idiot holding the office of the presidency to do something akin to leadership.

[Dreamer Tatum]

10. That's EXACTLY what people said here about SoCal during last year's fires

EXACTLY. The rationale was that they were all "rich," so why couldn't they sell their mansions
and move somewhere safe?

It isn't just conservatives who play that game.

[geomon666]

12. They said it here after Katrina too.

Sickens me.

[blondeatlast]

15. True, but most were taken firmly to task for it just as most of the crassest are being

taken to task for the same now.

There's bad apples everywhere but they are easily picked out.

[edhopper]

19. Funny, I don't recall any conservatives

taking other conservatives to task for their crass N.O. remarks. I seem to remember FAUX mostly echoing "the too stupid to leave" and "bad place for a city" remarks. (Shepard Smith about the only exception.)

[blondeatlast]

33. I just pay little attention to them so I wouldn't know. nt

[Bob Dobbs]

11. It is the false objectivist mythology on which all conservatism is based.

We don't have any responsibility for our fellow citizens and collectivism is evil, so they say, to justify their selfish, xenophobic psychosis (aka conservatism).

[KillCapitalism]

13. Any disaster can happen at anytime & almost anywhere in the US.

Fires break out in many places.
All places are prone to flood.
There are earthquake faults in nearly all of the 50 states.
Tornadoes affect nearly all 50 states.

It's just all about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The only disasters I can think of that would be impossible in the US would be a hurricane in North Dakota, or a Volcano in Florida. lol

[JuniperLea]

39. And with global climate changes...

We are probably going to see a lot more unusual weather. Southern California, for example, have had a lot more tornadic activity in recent years.

Just because we don't remember it ever happening before doesn't mean it won't.

[bullwinkle428]

22. I live in Iowa just a few miles away from the two major cities

most affected by the flooding. I've been reading some of the comments made in the online sites for the local newspapers, and some of the local wingnut revisionist history types are using this kind of logic to compare and contrast the situations:

"Here in Iowa, everyone came together and did what they could to handle it - nobody decided to riot and demand things!"

Excuse me, but can anyone show me one example of "rioting" during Katrina?? I saw lots of people in desperation because they had no food, no water, no shelter, and were begging for help...I saw people that were prohibited from escaping to a safe area at gunpoint...I saw a complete lack of caring from those agencies specifically in place to help those dealing with disasters...etc.

[Echo In Light]

25. We're in a small town not far away from the major flooding too

Agree with your point on the Katrina comparison.

[kestrel91316]

27. We ALL live on Planet Earth, notoriously famous for all manner of

natural disasters.........

[ColbertWatcher]

35. But God smites the unworthy. n/t

[leftofthedial]

30. They have sports arenas don't they?

then what's the fucking problem?














:sarcasm:

[Vickers]

32. Have they started confiscating their guns yet?

:shrug:

[blues90]

37. Back when most of these cities were built , the rievrs were the only

way to get the supplies in to build homes and stores. The Miss river was the only way . The same holds true for the fox river in IL.

They did not have roads or rail.