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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ah but silly me! I thought we were pouring money
into a welfare system and a war on poverty that was supposed to 'fix' some of
these issues. So, I guess you are saying to me that all those billions of
dollars are not being spent on actually helping people!? On making the changes
that we would all hope for them? I am aware of all the problems I just would
like to see them actually get some real changes in their lives and stop throwing
money at them. One of the things that Katrina points out is how futile some
of the 'good' work has been! </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=joanopyr@earthlink.net href="mailto:joanopyr@earthlink.net">Joan
Opyr</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Vision2020 Moscow</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, September 12, 2005 11:07
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Foot in mouth
disease (was federal response to Katrina, etc.)</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Pat Kraut writes:<BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE>I too have wondered if any of the squawkers are aware of the
massive<BR>problem. It wasn't perfect but it wasn't as bad as some would
like us to<BR>believe. The black leadership is only accusing Bush of racism
because they<BR>have failed their people so badly.Why were all those people,
of any color,<BR>some of the poorest in the city, living so close to the
problem? The whole<BR>area is run by democrats so the black leadership is
desperately trying to<BR>blame anyone but them.<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Woman, if
you keep your foot in your mouth much longer, you're going to have to have
your tongue re-soled. Why were poor black people living so close to the
problem? I don't know . . . because they were poor? Because they were black?
Because they were poor and black? I understand that you are from Idaho, one of
the whitest states in America, and, what's more, that you are from rural
Northern Idaho. I know this, and I make allowances for your lack of first-hand
knowledge about urban demographics, but surely -- surely -- even you must know
that the poor always live on the wrong side of the tracks, or, in this case,
the wrong side of the levees. The poor never occupy the high ground ANYWHERE.
And who are the poor? In New Orleans, as in the rest of the South, the poor
are predominantly black. Further, New Orleans, like most Southern cities, is
still segregated. The South is no longer legally segregated, but it is an
unfortunate political and economic reality that black people and white people
do not live in the same neighborhoods. There are a few token African-Americans
in a few upscale white neighborhoods, but I can assure you, there's a tipping
point. When a neighborhood gets "too black," house prices drop and white
flight begins. <BR><BR>It's also the case that rich black people and poor
black people don't live in the same neighborhoods, anymore than rich white
people and poor white people do. Poor people of all colors live in the worst
locations and in the greatest danger, always. Think back to when Paradise
Creek here in Moscow flooded some years ago. Whose living rooms were drowned,
the folks up in the $300,000 houses in Fort Russell and Indian Hills, or those
in the more modest homes down on Blaine and Maybelle?<BR><BR>As for your
criticizing the black leadership of New Orleans and determining that "those
people" have failed "their people" and thus are just hunting around now for
scapegoats, do you really want to go there, Pat? I might argue (with some
justification) that you yourself are desperately seeking some black Democrats
to blame so that you can protect your white Republican idol, George Bush. A
whole hell of a lot went wrong in New Orleans, things that didn't go wrong in
North Carolina and South Carolina when hurricanes Hugo and Andrew hit. FEMA
was run back then by a highly competent Clinton appointee; Hugo and Andrew
came far inland and hit the economically prosperous, not just the coastal or
river-dwelling poor; white people suffered in those hurricanes, not just poor
black people -- white people with a sense of entitlement and the privileged
expectation that their needs would be met. If you don't think that any of that
might have accounted for the faster, more satisfactory federal response, then
you don't live in the same world I do.<BR><BR>I suggested yesterday that
Donovan board a bus for Kansas. Might I offer you a trip to Biloxi? No, wait
-- no need to go quite that far. Why don't I just drop you off on Sprague
Avenue in Spokane? I'll come back and pick you up -- just as soon as I've sold
enough plasma to pay for the gas. <BR><BR><?fontfamily><?param Helvetica>Joan
Opyr/Auntie Establishment<BR>www.auntie-establishment.com<?/fontfamily><BR>
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