So did any Southerners here lose their house?

Ord · Post by **Ord** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 9:44 pm

Hmmmmm. We haven't heard from JP in a while. Hope he's ok.

Nate · Post by **Nate** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 10:59 pm

This is really serious shit, folks. I was going to throw in $5 for the cause tommorrow...but, instead I've decided to get an $11 haircut at Supercuts on Monday and those proceeds go directly to aid. Times are a little "pinched" in the ol' McLain household as it is, but I don't give a shit...Not to mention my quaff is growing out of con-fro...

Many refugees are coming to bigger cities in Texas, supposedly here in Corpus Christi we're getting about 3000 elderly people at some nursing homes. Mayor Henry Garrett is posting a really pathetic "not-in-my-backyard" mentality that I greatly despise by declaring that masses of refugees shouldn't come HERE to our OLD UNUSED ARENA (no less) for concerns that WE ourselves are in an "evacuation zone" w/ more than 3 months to go of Hurricane season. What a cop-out!
Firstly, we're at the dead-end of Hurricand Alley, so advanced warning would give us and the refugees plenty of days to get out.
Secondly, we have a great seawall, a great drainage system, plenty of hospitals and churches, plenty of higher ground and we DON"T live in a bowl...
Thirdly, our evacutation route is one of the most accessible and free-flowing in the nation...
You're a class-act, Hank!

Why don't you tell us all what the real issue is? Better yet, don't.

It's not an "American" issue anymore - it's entirely about the human decency in everyone that needs to emerge. That's all I can put out, really and I think that's all we need.

MOSQUITO FIGHTER · Post by **MOSQUITO FIGHTER** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 2:25 pm

Why the **** are people going around shooting and raping peole. I can't believe this. It's already a disaster why make this even worse.

Accutron · Post by **Accutron** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 4:01 pm

MOSQUITO FIGHTER wrote:Why the **** are people going around shooting and raping peole. I can't believe this. It's already a disaster why make this even worse.

Rape and murder happens under the best conditions. Remove social constraints and quality of living, and put people under extreme survival stress (which increases sex drive and resource competition out of an unstoppable instinct to preserve their share of the species), and it will always get worse. From their hindbrain's point of view, they're not making things worse, but better. They're removing competition, and spreading their DNA. That's what organisms do. It is the engine of evolution.

MOSQUITO FIGHTER · Post by **MOSQUITO FIGHTER** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 4:03 pm

What's the deal with George Bush taking so long to do something about this. Guess he really does hate black people. Bet he's more concerned about the loss of those oil brigs than the loss of human lives.

Accutron · Post by **Accutron** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 4:11 pm

They could've avoided most of the post-hurricane problems if they had just air-dropped mass amounts of food and water to the Superdome. It takes a few days to mobilize an entire army with no warning, so I don't fault them for that, but no food or water to the Superdome is a major fuckup.

Speaking of army mobilization, I was on the way to town yesterday and passed a convoy of about 20 National Guard trucks heading south to Mississippi. It was pretty intimidating...hummers and troop transports...made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

MOSQUITO FIGHTER · Post by **MOSQUITO FIGHTER** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 4:15 pm

I understand what your saying Accutron about survival of the fittest. But I mean I don't remember seeing people in NY after the attack doing this crap.

Accutron · Post by **Accutron** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 4:22 pm

MOSQUITO FIGHTER wrote:I understand what your saying Accutron about survival of the fittest. But I mean I don't remember seeing people in NY after the attack doing this crap.

9/11 was very much different. The event happened primarily in a single day, and afterwards most people were either dead or in their own homes. There were not widespread food and water shortages, no stadiums crammed with tens of thousands of impoverished, starving and dehydrated people on the brink of death for multiple days. Also, there was a nation-wide baby boom following 9/11 (my son was part of it), undoubtedly a result of perceived survival stress.

The n00b · Post by **The n00b** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 4:33 pm

Accutron wrote:
MOSQUITO FIGHTER wrote:I understand what your saying Accutron about survival of the fittest. But I mean I don't remember seeing people in NY after the attack doing this crap.
9/11 was very much different. The event happened primarily in a single day, and afterwards most people were either dead or in their own homes. There were not widespread food and water shortages, no stadiums crammed with tens of thousands of impoverished, starving and dehydrated people on the brink of death for multiple days. Also, there was a nation-wide baby boom following 9/11 (my son was part of it), undoubtedly a result of perceived survival stress.

Glad to see I wasn't alone. 9/11 made me have tons of sex for some reason. Fat chicks, ugly chicks, smelly chicks, hot chicks, it just didn't make a difference. No babies though, thank the gods.

Oh yeah I almost forgot. My city is getting a ton of refugees. I can only hope that we aren't getting any of the "bad apples." My city is far from being the richest city in the nation so stuff like jobs is kind of far inbetween but I'm sure we'll try the best we can to be accomadating. I'll be charitable to fellow Americans in need but the shotgun will be dusted off just in case anyone thinks I'm an easy mark for looting.

Accutron · Post by **Accutron** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 4:40 pm

The n00b wrote:Glad to see I wasn't alone. 9/11 made me have tons of sex for some reason. Fat chicks, ugly chicks, smelly chicks, hot chicks, it just didn't make a difference. No babies though, thank the gods.

Evolution at its finest, yet unable to anticapate the advent of birth control.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 6:07 pm

Accutron wrote:Remove social constraints and quality of living, and put people under extreme survival stress (which increases sex drive and resource competition out of an unstoppable instinct to preserve their share of the species), and it will always get worse. From their hindbrain's point of view, they're not making things worse, but better. They're removing competition, and spreading their DNA. That's what organisms do. It is the engine of evolution.

I really hope that any looters, rapists, etc. who are caught aren't able to get away with a defense like this once they're brought into court. You just KNOW that someone is going to try to blame someone or something other than himself for what he did of his own free will, and I hope against hope that those deciding their sentences have enough sense to see through it.

MOSQUITO FIGHTER · Post by **MOSQUITO FIGHTER** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 6:29 pm

Yea, I mean just because the world is falling apart around you does not mean that you have to go along with it.

Super Glob · Post by **Super Glob** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 5:11 pm

BulletMagnet wrote:
Accutron wrote:Remove social constraints and quality of living, and put people under extreme survival stress (which increases sex drive and resource competition out of an unstoppable instinct to preserve their share of the species), and it will always get worse. From their hindbrain's point of view, they're not making things worse, but better. They're removing competition, and spreading their DNA. That's what organisms do. It is the engine of evolution.
I really hope that any looters, rapists, etc. who are caught aren't able to get away with a defense like this once they're brought into court. You just KNOW that someone is going to try to blame someone or something other than himself for what he did of his own free will, and I hope against hope that those deciding their sentences have enough sense to see through it.

Free will is an illusion.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 10:04 pm

I'm still worried about JP. Haven't heard from him at all.

popawell · Post by **popawell** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:17 pm

Accutron wrote:They could've avoided most of the post-hurricane problems if they had just air-dropped mass amounts of food and water to the Superdome. It takes a few days to mobilize an entire army with no warning, so I don't fault them for that, but no food or water to the Superdome is a major fuckup.

That could have been done, but do you know where most of our huge transport planes are right now? Iraq. Why the hell couldn't they take at least 3 or 4 of them sitting in iraq right now and flown them over here to help in the relief effort? Hell it would only take about 9 hours to get them back here. They could have even used our B 52 stealth bombers to air drop supplys. All 20 of them are in America right now collecting dust in their hangars!!!! WTF????

Skyline · Post by **Skyline** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:52 pm

Specineff wrote:I'm still worried about JP. Haven't heard from him at all.

Anyone know when his last post was? Dosen't help that the Search function is screwy at the moment. :/

Accutron · Post by **Accutron** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 12:35 am

jp is from Huntsville, right? That's up along the northern border of Alabama, well outside the primary disaster area. He's like a 5 hour drive from me, and all we got was 30 mph winds and a light misting rain for about a day.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 2:54 am

BulletMagnet wrote:
TWITCHDOCTOR wrote:People need to start pulling together and stop all the fucking looting!
We have had some serious hurricanes here in South TX, we just don't steal from each other when it happends.
You're definitely in the minority then...events like this tend to bring out both the best and the worst in people. I've heard of people stabbing each other over bags of ice, and thousands of cops and such actually being pulled away from relief efforts just to control all the looting...whenever the normal "boundaries" around people in general are removed, stuff like this is going to happen, that's just the way it is.

Also, the fucking gas and oil companies need to stop taking advantage of the situation. They claim gas prises will rise, and are rising because of this event...GET OVER IT!!! Don't believe that bullshit.
Gas don't come from MadriGra(how ever the fuck you spell it?)
Supposedly the rise is at least partially due to the fact that a bunch of rigs out in the ocean (not on land) were nailed by the hurricane, and may take months to get working again...I don't know much about the industry or how much effect this sort of thing has on oil supplies, but I don't doubt for a second that at least some of the price rise is due to greed and not necessity. Actually, on the radio talk show that I use as my clock alarm this morning, one caller mentioned that on a certain stretch of highway there were a few gas stations that still had prices around 2.60 or so, rather than the 3.00 and up that's spreading; however, they were waving people away from getting any gas. The reason? By state law gas stations can only adjust their prices once every 24 hours; until that time limit has passed, they weren't selling gas at anything resembling a discount. Classy. Then again, some other stations have simply been ignoring the 24-hour limit flat out.

In any event, I certainly hope that the relatives of anyone here at this forum who live down that way are alright...

We have some of our biggest refineries out in N.O., as well as one of the countries biggest ports for foreign oil (and other commodities) coming into this country.

I'm no fan of the oil industry either, but the higher prices are clearly the result of this Hurricane.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 3:00 am

Super Glob wrote:
BulletMagnet wrote:
Accutron wrote:Remove social constraints and quality of living, and put people under extreme survival stress (which increases sex drive and resource competition out of an unstoppable instinct to preserve their share of the species), and it will always get worse. From their hindbrain's point of view, they're not making things worse, but better. They're removing competition, and spreading their DNA. That's what organisms do. It is the engine of evolution.
I really hope that any looters, rapists, etc. who are caught aren't able to get away with a defense like this once they're brought into court. You just KNOW that someone is going to try to blame someone or something other than himself for what he did of his own free will, and I hope against hope that those deciding their sentences have enough sense to see through it.
Free will is an illusion.

How so?? Even if someone pointed a gun to my head tonight and told me to hand over my money or I'd be killed, I would STILL have the option to say no. This American nonsense that we all have keys stuck in our backs that just randomly turn on whenever we cannot exercise self-control is nothing but an excuse for our own behavior.

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 3:05 am

dave4shmups wrote:
Free will is an illusion.
How so?? Even if someone pointed a gun to my head tonight and told me to hand over my money or I'd be killed, I would STILL have the option to say no. This American nonsense that we all have keys stuck in our backs that just randomly turn on whenever we cannot exercise self-control is nothing but an excuse for our own behavior.

I think he meant that as free will tends to blow away with the wind when herd-mentality kicks in.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 3:07 am

circuitface wrote:That's the bible, not christians.

And that's not ALL Christians. PLEASE do not lump us all together with nuts like that wacko guy.

If that were the reason why N.O. got hit, then major city in the US would've gotten hit with a disaster recently, because every major US city has Gay Pride Parades.

That having been said, the Bible also speaks of consequences for actions; we only like to talk about the forgiveness part.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 3:09 am

landshark wrote:
dave4shmups wrote:
Free will is an illusion.
How so?? Even if someone pointed a gun to my head tonight and told me to hand over my money or I'd be killed, I would STILL have the option to say no. This American nonsense that we all have keys stuck in our backs that just randomly turn on whenever we cannot exercise self-control is nothing but an excuse for our own behavior.
I think he meant that as free will tends to blow away with the wind when herd-mentality kicks in.

Gotcha.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 4:00 am

dave4shmups wrote:I'm no fan of the oil industry either, but the higher prices are clearly the result of this Hurricane.

Perhaps some of the price increase is due to the downed refineries and whatnot (although, of course, this is based on what the analysts predict rather than what's actually on hand, since the gas we used was refined months ago), but nearly doubling the price of gas in the space of a week or two? Come on, there's some MAJOR gouging going on here; the hurricane is more an excuse for the price explosion than a cause of it.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 7:41 am

my sympathies to everyone who lost someone in the hurricane, its terrible but its also a natural event, not much one can do but hold on..

what really scares me is the crime and extreme violence that seems to be raging in the aftermath, you people really got it bad over there, USA is such a hostile place...

D · Post by D » Mon Sep 05, 2005 1:29 pm

How do you guys think the US will cope with this disaster economically?
As opposed to 911?

Dammage is much greater in this case, but 911 off course caused big psychological effects.

I think this disaster will have much greater economical impact, worldwide even. But I am no expert, what are your views?

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 4:50 pm

D wrote:How do you guys think the US will cope with this disaster economically?
As opposed to 911?

Dammage is much greater in this case, but 911 off course caused big psychological effects.

I think this disaster will have much greater economical impact, worldwide even. But I am no expert, what are your views?

It's going to be a lot harder to cope with considering that the Federal Government response was not anywhere NEAR as fast as it should've been.

Our Government knew for YEARS that it was not a question of "if", but rather a question of "when" a major Hurricane would hit New Orleans. Which is why the Mayor of New Orleans understandably blew his top when the Federal aid that should've arrived on time did not.

Bush, meanwhile, seems to think that the United States is omnipresent-"We can do both, and we will do both" he said, with regards to the War in Iraq and responding to Katrina. Sorry Bush, but when there are 75,000 National Guard Troops in Iraq that could and should be here helping the City of New Orleans, that arguement is nonsense.

@BulletMagnet-whether there is price gouging or not, the bottom line, as I've argued before, is that we need an Administration that is comitted to developing and using renewable energy, and to stop letting Big Oil dominate the entire energy debate. I'll say it again-there is NO REASON why we should be so reliant on oil for our energy needs.

@D, the economic impact will be at least as great, if not greater, then that of 911. The Port of New Orleans is one of the largest ports in the US, perhaps the largest other then L.A. Ships, both American and foreign, rely on the ability to be able to travel up and down the Mississippi, whose tributaries reach into other parts of the country, to deliver everything from oil to food.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 5:19 pm

D wrote:How do you guys think the US will cope with this disaster economically?
As opposed to 911?

9-11 certainly got much more attention from this administration, but I think the "direct" effects of this disaster will probably be greater; back in 2001 we hadn't drudged through several years of wartime tax cuts, resources diverted half a world away, and various cutbacks in environmental and disaster relief provisions. Also, after 9-11, people, at least for a short time, tried to help each other; in New Orleans people are killing each other. This event, and the lack of immediate response to it, will leave a much more bitter taste in the country's mouth, if you ask me.

dave4shmups wrote:I'll say it again-there is NO REASON why we should be so reliant on oil for our energy needs.

Oh yes there is...those in power are in the pockets of the oil industry, and countless other big industries with money to throw at them. Until that changes, nothing else will.

superhitachi4 · Post by **superhitachi4** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 6:22 pm

Accutron wrote:Rape and murder happens under the best conditions. Remove social constraints and quality of living, and put people under extreme survival stress (which increases sex drive and resource competition out of an unstoppable instinct to preserve their share of the species), and it will always get worse. From their hindbrain's point of view, they're not making things worse, but better. They're removing competition, and spreading their DNA. That's what organisms do. It is the engine of evolution.

The people doing the murdering, and raping should be executed. Put me in the same situation, and I can guarantee I wouldn't be murdering, or raping anyone. I'd rather be dead than act in such a way. People who do that *especially* in a time when everyone should be helping each other, are useless to society, and a waste of space.

Super Glob · Post by **Super Glob** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 6:24 pm

No, free will doesn’t exist. To exist it would have to work on different mechanics to anything we know of in the universe.
When you choose a yes or no answer, it is not free will but a deterministic response based on past events, or you could say the formula of the universe in action.
I am open of mind to randomness existing, even though unlikely, but randomness would still not allow free will to exist.

Because it is kind of scary to accept and maybe one of the reasons we invent supernatural beings such as God, you can seek solace in the fact you are the universe and being a separate entity is an illusion.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 8:22 pm

^^^I have to teach on free will every semester-- don't get me started.

So does anyone know whether JP is ok? I haven't seen him on here since Katrina.

BTW, my youngest daughter's name is Katrina. In retrospect, maybe not the best choice.