David B. - 09 September 2005 01:38 PM

buba - 09 September 2005 01:16 PM

it must be a source of considerable consternation to you that a nation of ignorant and stupid people (on the average) is the worlds only “super power”

Nah, we just let you keep on believing that so you’ll stop throwing your toys out of the pram[/troll]

soo.. not only ignorant and stupid but deluded babies as well?

First David, I never said anything about stupidity and ignorance, I was simply responding to your comments stating that ignorance and stupidity levels of those in New Orleans should be considered a National Average.

Second, yes, I am familiar with that statement and once again, I was responding to your statements that “we only gave you our tired, poor and huddled masses”, which insinuates that you feel as though those people were sent to America for being something less then you.

Chuck - 09 September 2005 01:48 PM

First David, I never said anything about stupidity and ignorance, I was simply responding to your comments stating that ignorance and stupidity levels of those in New Orleans should be considered a National Average.

Second, yes, I am familiar with that statement and once again, I was responding to your statements that “we only gave you our tired, poor and huddled masses”, which insinuates that you feel as though those people were sent to America for being something less then you.

And yet it never occurred to you to think that perhaps the original comment about stupidity and ignorance in New Orleans was unfair, you even reiterate that the “levels” in NO shouldn’t be applied to the US (why not, you seem to be remarkably short of any real evidence that they are in any way unusual?). In fact no-one on this board seemed to object to this phrase until it was applied to them. This just appears to me to be more evidence of a general lack of sympathy and fellow-feeling for the people of New Orleans that I find both astounding and profoundly depressing.

Any perceived slight on the national character and the descent into jingoism and name-calling is frighteningly rapid. But America’s national character will be on display to the world for weeks to come in the aftermath of this disaster, that will be its true test.

And no, for the record, I don’t think people in the US are any more stupid or ignorant than the rest of us (or any less), I also don’t think the people of New Orleans were unusually stupid or ignorant before, during or after Katrina.

glad to know you can read minds David….yes, the original comment did strike me as unfair but not completely untrue. One cannot fault the people of New Orleans who were unable to evacuate due to medical conditions/disabilities or other legitimate reasons, however, there are thousands of residents who could have evacuated but chose not to do so and I agree with Mark n Jen that that was simply stupid.

Had I ignored the repeated warnings and forced evacuations in California back in 96, not only would my home and all of my belongings been destroyed but I would have been burnt to a crisp as well….and it would have been my fault because I stupidly decided to ignore the repeated warnings.

Okay, the original reference to “ignorance and stupidity” wasn’t saying that people in New Orleans were themselves ignorant and stupid.  It was saying (correct me if I’m wrong, Mark) that people had acted foolishly.  There is a difference.  Geniuses can still do incredibly stupid things.  I agree with Mark that there was a considerable foolishness and lack of forethought involved in what happened there, both among some of the victims and some of the people helping the victims.  I’ve seen that this tends to be common around the planet.  New Orleans or America does not have a monopoly on people who act foolishly.  Look at the BBC any day and you can see plenty of examples of such things in Britain, and the same goes for the rest of the world as well.

Some (not all) of those who are victims of the hurricane acted foolishly, and they have thus compounded the disaster.  This does not mean that we should be less supportive of them while they’re trying to get their lives back together.  Nor are these people to blame for the mess that’s going on down there.

Good points Accipiter.

I would like at this time to gracefully (well, i hope) bow out of this discussion, having seen two planeloads of evacuees disembark in Rhode Island last night and seeing for myself the looks upon their faces and their sincere gratitude to the people who have helped them, it is no longer in me to involve myself in negativity which, I admit, I helped perpetuate.

To quote one of the evacuees as he disembarked….“Everyone here is beautiful, I cant thank you enough, you are all beautiful….thank you.”

On that note, goodnight and good luck.

David B. - 09 September 2005 01:38 PM

Nah, we just let you keep on believing that so you’ll stop throwing your toys out of the pram[/troll]

HA!  Jokes on YOU.  We don’t HAVE prams here!  (We call them strollers, thank you very much.)

Wow, a lot has gone on here. 

As far as “act of God”, we don’t really go by that phrase here.  We use “unavoidable” or “natural act/act of nature”.  Things that are unavoidable?  Vandalism, rock chips…etc.  Acts of nature?  Hitting a deer (or in some cases, a deer hitting YOU), hail dmg, general weather dmgs.  Each state has actually drafted its own insurance laws and codes.  In some states (MN is an example here) we have to ask if you have a snow plow attached to your vehicles (even if it is a Corvette or something stupid).  Some states have this neat little thing, where if you carry comp covg then you can get any glass replaced for free, regardless of why or how it was broken.  Some states have a similar rule, but it applies only to the windshield.

Hurricanes, would fall under weather.  And even though we can see them approaching, it would be considered unavoidable since you can’t stop them, or take precautions from them happening.

And David, as much info as you have provided, you also have to remember that statistics statewide are not very telling.  For instance.  I believe Florida (where I live) has about 17 million people (or did as of 2004), the county that I live in, has more than one million people.  My little county holds 1/17 of the entire state’s population.  My county used to be full of strawberry patches, and orange groves.  Most of them have been replaced by $500k homes.  Our poverty and income levels changed drastically.  Since there were no more farms, we have a much smaller migrant population.  Since the migrants couldn’t afford the homes that replaced their workplaces, they moved on.  People with shining Lexus’ and Beamers moved in.

I found this link http://www.fedstats.gov/qf/states/22000.html that shows LA vs the US in a lot of different stats.  Poverty isn’t listed, but the “avg earnings per job” shows only a difference of about $7k.  And to look closer, the Orleans Parish (county) “avg earnings per job”  show Orleans Parish as $37,033, and the entirety of LA is actually $29,532.  Personal income per capita:  25,880 for vs. 23,090 for the state.

And someone not born in the U.S. might not recognize it…but I think we learned this in about the 3rd grade here…Her real name, btw, is “Liberty Enlightening the World”.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.” These words are the most quoted of Emma Lazarus’ poem “The New Colossus” which adorns the base of the State of Liberty. Lazarus was born in New York City in 1849, and was a published poet and author by age twenty-five. In 1883, she published the poem to raise money for the construction of the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately Lazarus didn’t live to see her poem placed on a bronze plaque at Lady Liberty’s feet in 1901.

Sure Katrina hit New Orleans hard, but it was specifically the 9th Ward that got it the worst. Even Rita gave it to them. The 9th Ward is not a normal neighborhood, and you cannot continue to compare it statistically to national or state or even city demographics. it is one of the worst poverty stricken sh*tholes of in the USA, and has been for decades. Most US cities have “problem” areas like the 9th Ward nowadays. There are sooooo many wanted criminals in the 9th Ward that LA Gov.Blanco insisted that all returning residents be given background checks before they move back. She (and a lot of other officals) basically want to make it as difficult as possible for the survivors to return, and guess what… they won’t, cuz they intend to completely gentrify the nieghborhood with luxury condos, shopping malls and parking lots. For many officials, Katrina was the best thing to happen, they’ve been waiting for this for years now - that’s why they didn’t bother to fix the levees. Keyen Waynes was absolutely correct.
Trickling out already are the stories about Jefferson Parish President Broussard being under investigation. Over at Lucianne.com the news of Broussard

Just as a sort of update:

September was a busy CAT (short hand for catastrophe) month as the bulk of Katrina volume was received, along with volume from Hurricane Rita and several other events. CAT routing was active for locations in eight states.  (This is how they track CAT calls, so if someone that was reporting hurricane dmg that occured in Louisiana called from another state, the call itself isn’t counted as CAT.)

-Answered 23,679 calls from CAT-routed locations with a .94% abandon rate (YTD - 74,570 calls with .88% abandon rate).

-There were 5,238 drive-ins (sort of like a McDonalds, but for checks for estimates instead of hamburgers) scheduled in September, with 2,334 (45%) scheduled by the CLRU (Claims Loss Reporting Unit) (YTD -15,820 drive-ins with 7,077 (45%) scheduled by the CLRU).

-The Total Loss Concierge (TLC) group (They help find a vehicle for the vehicle owner when a vehicle is a total loss.  They either find a replacement vehicle for the same price, or help to use that total loss amount as a down payment on a more expensive vehicle.) was asked to support the hurricane efforts, and quickly created a TLC CAT team with four reps from Sales & Service and a team leader from the field organization. The team completed training the week of Sept. 6, 2005. Later in the month, an additional six reps from Sales & Service were added to this team