Help for Katrina

*shrugs*

huh? I'm confused, are you saying you don't care, that you have no sources and its just something you heard or you have sources but you aren't going to let no about it or is it something else?I'm not challenging you, or telling you you are wrong, but I want to get to the bottom of it if its true, that's all.

I don't have any references. My recollection is that the American Red Cross did act as brennakimi described. There was a mini flap about that (perhaps around Sept 11, 2001), and the Red Cross then changed their policies.

My clear recollection matches nwr's: the former, longstanding Red Cross policy came to light after 9/11, and the outcry prompted an explicit change, thus the current Red Cross reassurances.Regardless, brennakimi is right: buying Zatarains will help New Orleans and make you a better person.Years ago I asked a friend in the French Quarter for an authentic jambalaya recipe: he sent me a box of Zatarains. Now I'm addicted.

quote:

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if you want to help new orleans, buy zatarains.

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Tasty.

yes. jambalaya will make you a better person. it puts you in touch with a forgotten and disdained people and gives you compassion and zydeco. *boogies*and yes that is the story i heard. but i had no source better than my boyfriend who is more educated on current events than i because i only gave in to heredity and started listening to npr in my car this summer (i hated my mother as a child because the shrill s sounds from npr gave me headaches).

Robin,I see you're on-line. Post-Rita. That's a good sign, I think.How are you?Added by edit:Now you're off-line again. Hauling sandbags?This message has been edited by Parasomnium, 24-Sep-2005 09:16 PM

I'm fine. Weird adventures. More later. Off again-on again with the power. Some ironies in this story.

OK. See you.

It was all very strange. It was a false alarm for us although we did not know that at the time. We became "refugees" (this apparently is a loaded word).We were sitting there a couple of nights ago trying to decide whether to leave or not. In fact, a cat-5 argument erupted in our household over the matter. It looked like the thing was headed straight for us.Anyway, we left. Bad idea.We thought about going north to my brother's house in East Texas. He's a long way from the coast--must be more than 100 miles.Here's the irony: Our house was untouched. His was destroyed. He claims many died in his area.Fortunately, we decided to head west.It reminded me of War of the Worlds or one of those end-of-the-world movies. All law and order broke down as regards traffic laws etc.We spent hours trying to go about 200 yards. But we made it through all that and arrived in San Antonio only about 15 hours after we left (normally about a 3 hour drive).This morning, the authorities in Houston kept saying: don't come back yet. We came back anyway, taking back roads. No problems.Our power is back on. Everything is fine--except there is worry about a huge dam breaking up north of us.This message has been edited by robinrohan, 09-24-2005 05:47 PM

Hello Robin,I am glad you're OK. Sorry about your brother's house, though.What makes 'refugees' a loaded word?

It's just a lot of nonsense. Some media people were referring to people displaced by Katrina as "refugees," which is a correct use of the word, but other people were for some reason offended. Even our illustrioius leader said they were not "refugees." So I guess we are supposed to call them "evacuees."The only thing I can figure is that "refugee" carried a connotation of "alien" or something--i.e., a non-citizen.

I see what you mean. We have a similar situation here: back in the days when the Dutch were not yet the hysterical mob they are now, the word 'asylum-seeker' had a certain nobility with it. Nowadays, it's almost synonymous, sadly, to 'scum'.

There has been an influx of immigration to your country, and now these immigrants are resented? Is that the situation? Where do these immigrants come from?

Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Rwanda, etc. But the situation is complex. Some of them are economic refugees, others political, or victims of repression. Not all of them are entirely honest. But they are different in many ways, and some people find that threatening. 911 hasn't done much for the betterment of it either, since a lot of them as muslims. Ever since a right wing politician with outspoken ideas about a halt to immigration was murdered here, and some time after that a film maker was also murdered by a muslim fundamentalist, some of the more extremist right wingers have found the courage to push their agenda, and voters are swinging all over the place. In short, the majority of this country's people have collectively disconnected their brain.But it probably isn't as bad as I'm describing it, I'm giving you a bit of an exaggerated picture.