"palmtreedreamer" wrote in
oups.com:

There are 200,000,000 of us only and only about 2 million of them. If
you haven't already thought about what you can do for the victims of
Katrina, take a few minutes and think through it. A little bit of help
from everyone will go a very long way.


Go watch WWL-TV on http://www.wwltv.com/ and click on the live
broadcast.....

Then, go watch WLOX-TV in Biloxi on http://www.wlox.com/
You can't watch LOX live because there is no LOX TV station! But, WLOX has
some of the finest video footage of the storm areas on-demand from that
website. I've watched hours of helicopter flights over Coastal MS, today.

Coastal MS is GONE....nothing left....no people.....no buildings....gone!

Noone can get to the flood victims in New Orleans.

Question - Where is all this aid going to? Are we buying another Centrex
telephone system and paying off Red Cross bureaucrat salaries, like we did
in 9/11, again? The only thing I see from all the helo operation footage
from the TV stations down there is a few military police vehicles trying to
help the local cops keep the few victims left standing from eating each
other and stealing their neighbors' TVs and stereos. There's not one
"shelter" or "feeding station" or any kind of massive handout of
food/water/clothing or any kind of tent city in any of the footage. WLOX
did a piece on a fruit stand owner selling off his stock really cheap
before it spoils. There are very few people in any of these places, long
left for safer places where there's food/water/lodging/etc...... So?
Where's this money pot pouring into?

It's a question that needs to be addressed before the aid bureaucrats go
off stealing it again....

I did my part for the 9/11 victims, by the way. I asked a fire chief in
Manhattan to put me in touch with a dead fireman's wife so I could give her
DIRECT aid to help her immediately. He had her email me from her home in
NJ. I told her to send me her electric bill. I paid it for 6 months while
the NYFD bureaucrats were screwing about with her pension payments. I
contacted a local restaurant near her home on Thanksgiving when she told me
her parents were coming in from Ohio and tried to get them to cater
Thanksgiving Dinner for 3 adults and her kids. I tried to give them my
credit card number, but they refused. My victim got a Thanksgiving Dinner
surprise her family will never forget....it was on-the-house from the great
people at the little restaurant. Six employees showed up and served
dinner.

The feeling of doing something DIRECTLY is...............priceless!

Maybe I can do this again for someone DIRECTLY in LA or MS, a few months
from now when they are allowed to go home......but not now as there is NO
HOME TO GO HOME TO!

I'm still trying to follow this big money trail everyone is
creating...Something smells like a Red Cross Ripoff again.

--
Larry

God bless you for having such a big heart toward those well taken care
of people. Sleep well.

"palmtreedreamer" wrote in
oups.com:

God bless you for having such a big heart toward those well taken care
of people. Sleep well.



Oops...wrong knee-jerk response. The money pouring in has NO PLACE TO GO!
There's NO PLACE TO SEND IT! Sending it to some national bureaucracy, like
Red Cross, gets absorbed.

Please don't think I'm heartless. My 9/11 story shows I'm not. If you
know any victims living in a hotel, send them money to the hotel to help
them pay the bills, by all means! But to just keep sending checks to the
bigshot bureaucrats with 6-figure paychecks is STUPID!

There needs to be an internet site NOT run by the bigshot aid bureaucrats
to connect donors DIRECTLY with victims stored in hotels/motels/shelters.
The bloggers should run it to prevent the great sucking sound of some
organization sucking off the funds. I've mentioned this to ham radio
groups, here, who have communications setup in public shelters in
Charleston. We should connect shelter victims with donors, directly, and
let them communicate assistance around all the middlemen sucking them both
off.

How much money do you think gets to that little poor, starving kid in
Guatemala when you send it to some preacher in the $1200 suit with plastic
hair wearing the Rolex, driving the Lexus and living in a waterfront
mansion in some exclusive resort with a big TV network? 1c on the dollar?
That much?

Americans with big hearts can be SO stupid.....

--
Larry

I'd agree it's best to find some way to directly contribute. I plan on
taking a bunch of old clothing etc. to the Astrodome today. Here is one
local foundation in New Orleans that I donated to:
http://www.braf.org/page25271.cfm
Here are some others:
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/USNSAHome.htm
http://www.redcross.org/

from craigslist.org

Help for Katrina Survivors

FEMA News: Cash Sought To Help Hurricane Victims, Volunteers Should Not
Self-Dispatch

Release Date: August 29, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Voluntary organizations are seeking cash
donations to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina in Gulf Coast states,
according to Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for
Emergency Preparedness and Response. But, volunteers should not report
directly to the affected areas unless directed by a voluntary agency.

"Cash donations are especially helpful to victims," Brown said.
"They allow volunteer agencies to issue cash vouchers to victims so they
can meet their needs. Cash donations also allow agencies to avoid the
labor-intensive need to store, sort, pack and distribute donated goods.
Donated money prevents, too, the prohibitive cost of air or sea
transportation that donated goods require."

Volunteer agencies provide a wide variety of services after
disasters, such as clean up, childcare, housing repair, crisis
counseling, sheltering and food....

(more info and links at fema.gov)

Donate:
American Red Cross
800-HELP NOW (435-7669) English
800-257-7575 Spanish America's Second Harvest
800-344-8070
Resources:
Hurricane Housing
(a service of MoveOn.org)
Donate and Volunteer:
Adventist Community Services
800-381-7171

Catholic Charities, USA
703-549-1390

Christian Disaster Response
941-956-5183 or 941-551-9554

Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
800-848-5818

Church World Service
800-297-1516

Convoy of Hope
417-823-8998

Lutheran Disaster Response
800-638-3522
Mennonite Disaster Service
717-859-2210

Nazarene Disaster Response
888-256-5886

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
800-872-3283

Salvation Army
800-SAL-ARMY (725-2769)

Southern Baptist Convention -- Disaster Relief
800-462-8657, ext. 6440

United Methodist Committee on Relief
800-554-8583

Keith wrote:
I'd agree it's best to find some way to directly contribute. I plan on
taking a bunch of old clothing etc. to the Astrodome today. Here is one
local foundation in New Orleans that I donated to:
http://www.braf.org/page25271.cfm
Here are some others:
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/USNSAHome.htm
http://www.redcross.org/


--
I am building a Dudley Dix, Argie 10 for my daughter. Check it out:
http://home.comcast.net/~jonsailr

Maybe so. Sorry to snap but the way you put things seemed really quite
harsh.\
\
There are several companies that are matching whay people put it and
cash is the best thing because you don't need to truck it. (well if you
did it would be nicer)

In St. Thomas USVI lots of people got rich off of the Red Cross but the
RC was there to help. People would get 18 cook stoves by going to 18
outposts and then sell 17 on the black market. I know this to happen
but there are 100's that don't do that and actaully get help.

It doesn't matter how you do it, so long as you do it.

I am taking a trailor full of stuff there in a few weeks when it will
help with the rebuild. I am also thinking about stopping for 2 weeks
and doing some manual labor but I have a wive and 2 small kids that
might get in the way of it since there is a lack of places to stay and
we will be on our way from Ca to FL at the time.

I think $10 or more from everyone would just about fix the place and
make people whole again. It isn't much when everyone joins in. Most
people are trying hard just to take care of their own family so I
understand but just a little goes a long way.

Ford Motor Company is matching employees contributions to the Red Cross, I
gave $200. Those people need all the help we can give. If we as Americans
don't come fully to the aid of our fellow brothers and sisters, shame on us.
Paul Schilter

"palmtreedreamer" wrote in message
oups.com...
Maybe so. Sorry to snap but the way you put things seemed really quite
harsh.\
\
There are several companies that are matching whay people put it and
cash is the best thing because you don't need to truck it. (well if you
did it would be nicer)

In St. Thomas USVI lots of people got rich off of the Red Cross but the
RC was there to help. People would get 18 cook stoves by going to 18
outposts and then sell 17 on the black market. I know this to happen
but there are 100's that don't do that and actaully get help.

It doesn't matter how you do it, so long as you do it.

I am taking a trailor full of stuff there in a few weeks when it will
help with the rebuild. I am also thinking about stopping for 2 weeks
and doing some manual labor but I have a wive and 2 small kids that
might get in the way of it since there is a lack of places to stay and
we will be on our way from Ca to FL at the time.

I think $10 or more from everyone would just about fix the place and
make people whole again. It isn't much when everyone joins in. Most
people are trying hard just to take care of their own family so I
understand but just a little goes a long way.

"palmtreedreamer" wrote in
oups.com:

In St. Thomas USVI lots of people got rich off of the Red Cross but the
RC was there to help. People would get 18 cook stoves by going to 18
outposts and then sell 17 on the black market. I know this to happen
but there are 100's that don't do that and actaully get help.



In Charleston, SC, 1989, Hurricane Hugo, not one single "agency" or other
bureaucracy did a damned thing for anyone that I ever met or know,
personally. Nothing...NADA. We looked out for ourselves. We cleaned the
trees, wires, smashed cars and other debris out of the street in the
subdivision I was lucky enough to be a survivor in in Summerville, SC. It
took us 2 weeks of 10 hour days to cut our way out to the main entrance.
We ran out of gas a few times and had to scour for more dead cars to steal
fuel from to keep the chain saws running. No Red Cross bureaucrats were
ever seen in their shiny trucks, wearing their pseudo-military smart
uniforms advertising the company logos...nothing.

Once we were out of the neighborhood, we were going nowhere. The main
roads were still "waiting" for the "agencies". Right across from the main
entrance was a Scotchman convenience store/gas station full of gas with no
power. I had been powering the house I was staying in from the 7.5KW Onan
gas genset in their motorhome I was sleeping in with a haywire rig of cut
up lawn cables. We had plenty of power, even AC, water from their swimming
pool once I got the electric pump installed stolen from a neighbor's water
fountain. Before the storm, every vessel of every kind was filled in the
house, in the motorhome, in the garage. Drinking water wasn't a problem.
Even the bathtub was washed down, sanitized and filled with drinking, not
flushing, water. We drank it first because it was exposed. Noone got
sick. Noone needed water. We did have to refill the icemaker by hand
because the city cut off the water to stop us from flushing the toilets.
Well, I made a deal with the Scotchman owner/manager to provide him with
electric power during the day from the motorhome....in swap for full tanks
to power the house and all the neighbor's refrigerators stacked in the
garage all night. My friends we stayed with had a FREEZER STUFFED WITH
STEAK! Her parents were dairy farmers...(c; I still don't eat steak any
more...yecch.

This arrangement was modified to 4 hours per day and the owner and I
decided to keep one of his underground tanks 5000 gallons for ourselves.
It was a great arrangement for both of us. He sold off his stock that was
still good and got more, except perishables because I couldn't power the
big walkin cooler and his pumps out front at the same time. He continued
to provide me fuel even after we had procured a 20KW diesel genset which I
hooked to the station's power panel for him.

As to the "agency" which did my family and other families I know the most
good? I'd say the Bi-Lo Corporation, who owned the Bi-Lo food store by my
pet shop was probably our saviour as the food was running out a month after
the storm. Bi-Lo finally got huge tractor trailers full of water in gallon
jugs, reefer trucks full of ice and other trucks full of food in a constant
barrage of stuff into that store. I also had a hand in getting the store
back in operation.....

I had done a favor for some guys from Asplundt (sp?) Tree Service, who were
working 24/7 for the power company clearing the lines. My phone worked
when their truck died in front of the shopping center. Their radio died
with the truck battery. Seeing power come back on the main highway at
about 1.3 months after the storm, our shopping center's branch 23KV line
was still down. So, I camped out at the SCE&G local crew quarters for a
few hours hanging around the haggard-looking crews looking for a favor.
After I explained to the boss what I was after, he said he didn't have
anyone to do the tree work. I waited until I saw those tree guys I'd
helped drive in and called in my marker..(c; We cleared the trees and I
went back to the power company crew quarters to get a truck. I got two!
The manager of the Bi-Lo store was SO nice to me when all of a sudden all
those compressors in the back room just came to life! He just said, "You
come to me when you need groceries. I got plenty for you, now!"

No "agencies"....no "bureaucrats"....Thank you Bi-Lo Corporation. I've
never forgotten it, either. Precisely my point of the donations.
Charleston was SWIMMING in MONEY after Hugo, once we dug our way out of the
trees. Insurance money just POURED into this place. We missed 2
recessions everyone else suffered. We all got new roofs/houses/cars/stuff.

I never figured out what FEMA, SC Emergency Preparedness and the local
bureaucrats did. They didn't do anything for anyone I knew....

--
Larry

Larry wrote:
snip
No "agencies"....no "bureaucrats"....Thank you Bi-Lo Corporation. I've
never forgotten it, either. Precisely my point of the donations.
Charleston was SWIMMING in MONEY after Hugo, once we dug our way out of the
trees. Insurance money just POURED into this place. We missed 2
recessions everyone else suffered. We all got new roofs/houses/cars/stuff.

I never figured out what FEMA, SC Emergency Preparedness and the local
bureaucrats did. They didn't do anything for anyone I knew....

Somewhat similar experience up here two years ago when Hurricane Juan
hit. Six days & nights without electricity...cold showers etc.
All refrigerated food gone bad by day 3..... no help from anyone.
I replaced windows myself because I thought my insurance deductable
would equal the cost. Did go through auto insurance to replace van side
window smashed by tree limb. I should have had them repair roof. A
number of my shingles still look wrinkled & stained from branches.

Larry wrote:
In Charleston, SC, 1989, Hurricane Hugo, not one single "agency" or other
bureaucracy did a damned thing for anyone that I ever met or know,

You didn't get out much, did you?



... I was lucky enough to be a survivor in in Summerville, SC.

Not to belittle H. Hugo, but how many people died in Summerville during
Hugo?


... It
took us 2 weeks of 10 hour days to cut our way out to the main entrance.

Really? I visited friends in Summerville a week after. Goose Creek too.


.... No Red Cross bureaucrats were
ever seen in their shiny trucks, wearing their pseudo-military smart
uniforms advertising the company logos...nothing.

That's funny, there was both Red Cross and Nat'l Guard handing out water
in downtown Charleston a week after, and at least through the 2nd week.



Once we were out of the neighborhood, we were going nowhere. The main
roads were still "waiting" for the "agencies".

Larry, I don't know what kind of right-wing la-la land you were stuck in
after Hurricane Hugo... and apparently since then... but it doesn't bear
any resemblance to the Charleston that I saw.

I was there. You can bull**** a lot of folks, but don't try that with me.

Doug King