Thinking out loud

[Zack]

Ya know what really pisses me off?

The fact that Iowa is a disaster zone and you dont see it in the media.

Now what made Katrina so important that it is still covered, 3 years later?

This world is a joke. :mad2:

[JAYSILVER04]

Ya know what really pisses me off?

The fact that Iowa is a disaster zone and you dont see it in the media.

Now what made Katrina so important that it is still covered, 3 years later?

This world is a joke. :mad2:

Demographics my friend! Gotta love the doom and gloom media!!

[sailsmen]

What the Media thinks people want to watch;
1,836 dead
Helicopter rescues
Clueless Mayor and Govenor
Looting, raping and murder (despite what you have been told there was a lot of this going on )
Police looting
Large group of people who only know how to put their palms up "trapped" in a building ( all they had to do was walk 8 blocks away from the water and head upriver on top the MS River levee to safety)
People "trapped" in hospitals.

You had the most "Progressive" city in the USA where every public office had been held by one political party for 30+ years. What you saw was a government that could not react or adapt to any type of change even when it came to life and death.

To this day you can go to the Red Cross web site and it states in answer to why did the Red Cross not bring relief to New Orleans? The Louisiana State Dept of Home Land Security turned us away.

[Aren Jay]

The real problem is the media never wants to show good things that happen, only the bad. And the bad is only bad if it continues to be bad or if something bettr doesn't come up. Higher body count, the news covers it. Election, highest body count, takes presi-dense over everything.

[finster101]

The people of Iowa are not crying poor pitiful me. They are assesing what has to be done and doing it just as farmers and ranchers have done for decades. Ask them what kind of hours they work and what their hourly rate is? :bows:

[merc]

Ya know what really pisses me off?

The fact that Iowa is a disaster zone and you dont see it in the media.

Now what made Katrina so important that it is still covered, 3 years later?

This world is a joke. :mad2:

Zack look at the facts and you can easily see why New Orleans continues to be a headline. http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Smoking/smoking-030.gif

Without New Orleans, the United States would have to find alternative
suppliers for many of the country’s important consumer products
Louisiana’s natural resources are crucial to the operation of the United States, and include:
Petroleum, Chemical and Mineral Industries

• 11 percent of U.S. petroleum
• 19 percent of the country’s reserves of natural gas.
• Louisiana is a primary source of the nation’s crude oil
• Second in production of the nation’s natural gas
• Second in total energy production
• Second largest refiner of petroleum for consumer use as gasoline and plastic
• 25 percent of America’s petrochemicals, including basic chemicals, plastics and
fertilizers
• The largest producer of salt in America
• Second-highest mineral producer in the U.S.

Seafood

• Louisiana’s fishing industry has been the second-largest in America, accounting for 26
percent of all seafood landed in the country and 40 percent of all seafood consumed by
Americans each year.

Cash Crops

• Top 10 largest producer of cotton, sugarcane and rice in the U.S.
One of the World’s Most Important Ports

More than 6,000 vessels move through New Orleans annually along the Mississippi River,
making it the world’s busiest waterway and integral to the country’s economic stability.
In 2004, more than 380,000 jobs in the United States were related to the cargo activity at the Port
of New Orleans’ marine terminals, and these job holders received $16.9 billion in combined
personal income. The marine cargo activity at the port supported $37 billion of output in the
nation, and generated $2.8 billion in tax revenue.

Key Statistics
• A leading port for the movement of imported steel
• Top port for imported natural rubber
• The nation’s premier coffee-handling port
• An important port of call for the cruise industry, servicing more than 700,000 passengers
3
Tourism

[Aren Jay]

With Iowa all they need to do is go to Kansas and they have an abundant supply of everything they need.

[fastblackmerc]

Zack look at the facts and you can easily see why New Orleans continues to be a headline. http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Smoking/smoking-030.gif

Without New Orleans, the United States would have to find alternative
suppliers for many of the country’s important consumer products
Louisiana’s natural resources are crucial to the operation of the United States, and include:
Petroleum, Chemical and Mineral Industries

• 11 percent of U.S. petroleum
• 19 percent of the country’s reserves of natural gas.
• Louisiana is a primary source of the nation’s crude oil
• Second in production of the nation’s natural gas
• Second in total energy production
• Second largest refiner of petroleum for consumer use as gasoline and plastic
• 25 percent of America’s petrochemicals, including basic chemicals, plastics and
fertilizers
• The largest producer of salt in America
• Second-highest mineral producer in the U.S.

Seafood

• Louisiana’s fishing industry has been the second-largest in America, accounting for 26
percent of all seafood landed in the country and 40 percent of all seafood consumed by
Americans each year.

Cash Crops

• Top 10 largest producer of cotton, sugarcane and rice in the U.S.
One of the World’s Most Important Ports

More than 6,000 vessels move through New Orleans annually along the Mississippi River,
making it the world’s busiest waterway and integral to the country’s economic stability.
In 2004, more than 380,000 jobs in the United States were related to the cargo activity at the Port
of New Orleans’ marine terminals, and these job holders received $16.9 billion in combined
personal income. The marine cargo activity at the port supported $37 billion of output in the
nation, and generated $2.8 billion in tax revenue.

Key Statistics
• A leading port for the movement of imported steel
• Top port for imported natural rubber
• The nation’s premier coffee-handling port
• An important port of call for the cruise industry, servicing more than 700,000 passengers
3
Tourism

merc, you forgot the most important thing.......


Where would they hold Mardi Gras?


Not in Iowa!

[SC Cheesehead]

merc, you forgot the most important thing.......


Where would they hold Mardi Gras?


Not in Iowa!

Are you kidding me? Iowa's the place, man!:banana:

http://www.newser.com/story/8700.html

[sailsmen]

Merc every thing you said is true.

The secret is that the 80% of New Orleans that did Flood was swamp before WWI, when a new type of pump was developed that drained the swamp.

The Port and Energy Infrastructure was up and operating in short order.

If I were the Feds I would say we are only responsible for levees protecting the Port and maintaing the Energy Roads. In exchange LA gets the same Offshore Royalty sharing the Western states get from Federal Lands.

There was a reason 1.5 million people ran for their lives, they knew the levees would fail.

Some of my dumb relatives and friends stayed because, well they are dumb.

[SC Cheesehead]

Ya know what really pisses me off?

The fact that Iowa is a disaster zone and you dont see it in the media.

Now what made Katrina so important that it is still covered, 3 years later?

This world is a joke. :mad2:

Nope, lame stream media is a joke.:mad:

[Spectragod]

With all this "industry", why are so many on welfare??? WTFO?:flamer::flamer:



Zack look at the facts and you can easily see why New Orleans continues to be a headline. http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Smoking/smoking-030.gif

Without New Orleans, the United States would have to find alternative
suppliers for many of the country’s important consumer products
Louisiana’s natural resources are crucial to the operation of the United States, and include:
Petroleum, Chemical and Mineral Industries

• 11 percent of U.S. petroleum
• 19 percent of the country’s reserves of natural gas.
• Louisiana is a primary source of the nation’s crude oil
• Second in production of the nation’s natural gas
• Second in total energy production
• Second largest refiner of petroleum for consumer use as gasoline and plastic
• 25 percent of America’s petrochemicals, including basic chemicals, plastics and
fertilizers
• The largest producer of salt in America
• Second-highest mineral producer in the U.S.

Seafood

• Louisiana’s fishing industry has been the second-largest in America, accounting for 26
percent of all seafood landed in the country and 40 percent of all seafood consumed by
Americans each year.

Cash Crops

• Top 10 largest producer of cotton, sugarcane and rice in the U.S.
One of the World’s Most Important Ports

More than 6,000 vessels move through New Orleans annually along the Mississippi River,
making it the world’s busiest waterway and integral to the country’s economic stability.
In 2004, more than 380,000 jobs in the United States were related to the cargo activity at the Port
of New Orleans’ marine terminals, and these job holders received $16.9 billion in combined
personal income. The marine cargo activity at the port supported $37 billion of output in the
nation, and generated $2.8 billion in tax revenue.

Key Statistics
• A leading port for the movement of imported steel
• Top port for imported natural rubber
• The nation’s premier coffee-handling port
• An important port of call for the cruise industry, servicing more than 700,000 passengers
3
Tourism

[Eric91Z]

I don't think I have seen a single person from Iowa respond in this thread yet. I would, in no way, compare the problems that Iowa has had this year to what happened with Katrina. Katrina was definitely a huge disaster. And Iowans were some of the first to help - giving refuge to homeless, helping through Red Cross and blood donation centers, etc (same thing after 9/11).

When we have disasters here in Iowa like this year (and like the floods of 93 - which actually did make national news), what Iowa does is step back, assess the damage, and figure out how to move on. What was learned during the floods of '93 helped to reduce the amount of damage that we had this year. Things could have been much worse than they were. And to all those in Iowa that lost homes, farms, etc my thoughts and prayers go out to them. But Iowans kind of end up being the butt of many a joke, but at the end of the day one thing I like about being an Iowan is you always know those around you will come together to help each other out and get through the hard times - without "expecting" others or the government to bail you out...

That's just my opinion of course.

[sailsmen]

Pre Katrina 24% on food stamps and post Katrina 15% on food stamps.

Reason so many on welfare because we had very generous welfare benefits and a very low cost of living. That is no longer the case.

We also had one of the worst school systems in the country where VD couldn't pass the GED to graduate. The FBI opened an office w/in the School Board. Payroll checks in the humdreds to dead people or people who never worked at the schools.

In the past 4 years over 180 Federal Indicments involving Pubilc Corruption.

The City office of IG was created 10 years ago but never funded. Got funded 1.5 years ago but the City refused to release the funds until just now. All the IG's new computers were hidden in a storage room in City Hall when they arrived.

The Mayor's schedule was checked againest his City CC, he charged us for taking his wife to lunch. No checking expenses for City CC by several members of his admin, smoothies, parties at 5 star restaurants on Christmas Eve.

I went to help a client in Pensacola 10 days after Ivan. 10 days after I get back I see the Mayor at a bank and approach him about my observations from Ivan. I tell him our levees will not with stand an Ivan, to form a Blue Ribbon Comm and send them to Pensacola in 6 months.

To learn what they leraned from Ivan. When his former Commun Director was on a book tour I asked her if anyone from the City went to Pensacola after Ivan, she said of course not, we don't travel!

[Mike Poore]

It's been said, many times, and in many ways: What you see, depends entirely upon where you are standing.

[Motorhead350]

How many times do I have to say this? Kill your televsion.

[justbob]

I couldn't agree more Zack, but there will always be more important places globally i suppose to report on. So for now lets just check some of their history and see why they are a little out there.


http://www.ahajokes.com/iowa_jokes.html

[Eric91Z]

I couldn't agree more Zack, but there will always be more important places globally i suppose to report on. So for now lets just check some of their history and see why they are a little out there.


http://www.ahajokes.com/iowa_jokes.html

Having been a Probation/Parole Officer I can attest to the tax stamp law. They hit pretty much everyone charged with a major drug offense with that one. ;)

[lucenti]

What you worrying bout, Radar O'Riely is on the job in Iowa.

the world is unfair,political, and corrupt. Remember the news plays, and prints. We are the 1s that decide what to watch, and read. Change the habbits and the news will follow. We blame,blame,blame, and yes 1 man/woman can make a difference. Just be that Man/Woman, or not. our choice!

[Ms. Denmark]

Been to New Orleans as a tourist( several years ago and loved the city).Hope it recovers from the devastation. But I was born and raised in Iowa and there is no doubt that Iowans will simply do whatever they must to rebuild. My Mom and sister were there visiting family in the Cedar Falls/Waterloo area last week. They made a trip to Parkersburg( Where my great grandparents farmed) which had been heavily damaged, and found houses were being rebuilt already. Iowa is beautiful and Iowans are strong. Probably not much about that for the media to get excited about.

[sailsmen]

Most people whose home and comunity are destroyed and who separates from their family are truly lost in a day dream like state for up to 6 months.

I now understand how the holocaust happened.

I worked in a firm w/ over 100 employees that had been in down town New Orleans since 1946. We had our calls forwarded to a call center in Lafayette. I reported there every single day starting w/ the day Katrina hit for a week all day long except 1/2 day on Thursday to sign my kids up in a new school and apartment lease.

I was the only one out of 100 that showed up. I didn't know if my family was dead or alive. What I did know was I could help people by doing my job and that is what I did.

The Chairman chided me for giving the disaster firm that was trying to set up a temp office in a double wide the green lite because they had not heard back from any of the owners. I got permission from my boss, a minor owner, to do so only to be overrided by the Chairman who wanted the double wide behind our 4 person satellite office vs where the disaster firm had arranged. We lost 5 precious days negoitiating this new spot. Turns out the Charimen wanted it there so he could have a "real personal office" and not be in a double wide.

The Chariman didn't like my questions. He told me it was all about me and I was selfish. My reply was that comment is very interesting. The only person who can change the perception of me is me. My wife and I offered the unresricted use of our home as an office and a dormitory for free for as long as you all needed it. We did so in writing w/o revealing it was our home.

His reply I heard about that.

For 2 months no one had spoken to my father. I traded a favor w/ a client in exchange for driving to his house to check on him. It was 3 months before I had spoken to my sister.

Many people make fun of "Bible Beaters" including myself. They were the ones providing water, food, clothing, shelter and swinging a hammer. A well known televangelist turned his campus into a center for first responders. When I went to get my vaccine in order to enter the city I had to step over them sleeping on the floor. I never saw so many ambulances in one place.

What you didn't hear enough of in the media is the lengths people went to help each other.

I have hundreds of stories to tell.

When resources are stretched there is a fine line between civilization and anarchy.

The human spirit endures when people help each other.

[mpearce]

Media only paints the bad news. Gas prices have dropped .68 cents a gallon for 87 octane in my city over the past 3 weeks.

Have heard nothing about it on the news. When gas was $4.19/gal for 87 octane...it's all they talked about.

-Mat

[Eric91Z]

Media only paints the bad news. Gas prices have dropped .68 cents a gallon for 87 octane in my city over the past 3 weeks.

Have heard nothing about it on the news. When gas was $4.19/gal for 87 octane...it's all they talked about.

-Mat

I agree and all the more reason why I hate watching or reading the news. It is so biased and pretty much only covers the negatives. Never the positives that might help raise peoples spirits.

I mean come on, how many nights and how many different new agencies needed to cover all of the drama of Brittney Spears last year? What an absolutely waste of TV time when I am sure there is something else that could have been better to cover.

I really hate all the depressing stuff they cover on the big news agencies (MSNBC, CNN, etc). How about some more feel good stories on people or communities that are making a positive difference in this world? Guess I am one of the minorities that wants that since they seem to cater to a different audience.

[duhtroll]

Quote from insurance adjuster who worked on both Katrina and the flood of '08:

"Iowans aren't content to sit back and wait for us to come. They immediately began work on cleanup and by the time we got to many of them they already had begun repairs and had taken pictures of everything for us. There are places in New Orleans that are in exactly the same shape as they were just after Katrina hit. You won't find that in Iowa."

My mother's house, which lost the entire lower floor, is almost completely redone. They have been living in it since July 4th. They removed/replaced the interior walls on the lowest floor and replaced all of the electrical, furnace/air, water heater, pumps, appliances, etc.. All they are waiting on is carpet installation and furniture.

Oh, and my stepdad also contracted his backhoe for service to folks affected by the tornado which hit a couple weeks earlier during this time, in addition to helping their neighbors with cleanup of their home. He would have done it for free but his friend insisted it be part of the insurance claim.

There is a stark difference in how people reacted to the disaster here vs. in NO. You won't see Iowans blaming Bush or the mayor or FEMA. They got off their asses and fixed the problem. Iowa takes a lot of ***** for some things (some deserved) but on this one we pretty much schooled the world on how to deal.

The comment about replacing Iowa with Kansas? Y'all remember that when paying higher prices for food for the next year -- it ain't just fuel costs that are driving up the total on your dinner check.

The sad part? My stepdad had to stay out at the house several nights (when he should have been here resting -- he refused) when it was not really safe (health-wise) in order to protect belongings from looters. Anyone caught looting after a disaster deserves public execution. Shoot a few of them in the head on the evening news and I bet looting becomes less common.

[sailsmen]

I can't agree with you more. Pre Katrina 24% of New Orleans population was on food stamps.

Because most were lazy.

14 months after Katrina my gradnmothers house had been remediated and boarded up for sale. Looters broke in and stole 5 toilets. I had firends who lost everthing except what was in the attic only to have looters steal that. The Mayor ordered the police to not arrest any looters and to confiscate all guns including a house by house check. Despite a Federal Court order including contempt those with proof of ownership have been denied the return of their guns.

The politicians did their best to keep them on food stamps because their votes were bought real cheap. Vote Brokers bought and sold 80,000 votes in New Orleans.

Several political entities have never filed a tax return or complied with campaign finance laws to this day. The local DA and state DA were part of the political machine.

If you tried to put up your own campaign sign you were arrested. You had to higher a company to do it only after kissing the hand.

These votes also impacted many a State wide office.

Many of these politicians, our current Mayor and ExGovenor, are trying to get our tax dollars to pay these people who have never worked a day in their life bonuses to move back to New Orleans.

[Vortex]

We all probably live in places where natural disasters can occur; Florida gets hurricanes, the midwest gets annual floods, the northeast gets blizzards, the gulf coast gets hurricanes and California gets mudslides/earthquakes/fires (payback for those 65 degree mid-summer evenings I guess). Here in Dallas we all live with the thought of the dreaded F-5 barrelling through one day. We suck it up and move on. I was assigned in Bombay, India for three years once. Ill take my chances with natural disasters here thanks.

[Motorhead350]

Here is what the media does:

1. Makes you care about people you don't know

2. Promotes other peoples work

3. Provides a commercial for a product

4. Will have reviews for t.v. shows from the same network

5. Will go out of their way to make people look bad

6. Will expose the negative even if something is 95% positive

7. If the truth is uncovered or something that totally explains an event it will not make the headlines that the first event did, if they choose to air/publish it.

8. Keep you living in fear. Fear that the world is about to explode, the world will end in our lifetime, attacks are being planned... exc.

9. Show you what military weapons we are using so you feel safe, but the truth is everything they show you is at least ten years old. No way will we know the latest weapon because we don't want the "enemys" to know what we are capable of.... whatever.

10. Make you buy new products over and over again that you will probably use twice and thats it.

11. Tell you what you eat is now bad for you, so you need to eat more of something else... that something else will be bad for you next month so you need to eat something else... that something else....

I could keep going on, but I think you have the idea. Media is bad, and not the fun kinda bad like sinning. :D

[lucenti]

I personnaly think the media helps us c things clearly!

Die hard #4 willis and long arriving in washington DC in a crn vic. willis listening to radio (creedence c w s ) long says music is junk. Willis puts on news, Long freakes and says the only thing the media wants to do is scare us. Scare us into buying things we don't need etc!!
"the stupid things they say in movies"

:argue: :shake:

[Blk Mamba]

Good one Zack, you really got them going.

[lucenti]

:Du-2:D:lol::banana:

[Aren Jay]

Funny thing about North American News in General, With a couple exceptions;

1. The programmes are written for someone a mental age of 8.

2. Every story needs to be black or white. Nothing can be grey.

3. If you are not black, on an issue, you are white. What else can you be?

4. If an issue is too complex they break it down into points, Colon Dash Bullet. CDB

5. Good news is bad news and must not be mentioned more than once.

6. Bad news is the only news and must be harped on. If someone may have done something wrong you need to play it up but not say anything one way. Just never say someone is innocent. Say they are not guilt, yet.

7. Imply your point of view as the only point of view that could possibly be held by a sane person. Thus imply everyone else is insane if they disagree with you. Unless you are on fox then just say they are insane.

8. Age of a viewer.

9. Flash words. Focus words. Say these words and keep the attention of the viewers. Add big words to pretend you know something. Deviant, this means you know that what you say is right and the devient activity is absolutely wrong. Especially if it is being grey.

10. Yell. Then have someone say something and Yell again. It helps if they disagree with you. If not Keep yelling overtop of them to make it seem like they disagree with you. When they say it is a white issue say no it is a white issue. When they say thats what I... You say NO it is a white issue. then when the next person tries to say that yes it is a white issue, you say NO! it is a white issue. Then when the others acquiesce, ( which is too big of a word for an eight year old) You say NO it is white.

Thus everyone knows the issue is a white issue and that you the host are right.

(white or black has nothing to do with skin colours of people)

[Motorhead350]

5. Good news is bad news and must not be mentioned more than once.



Yup you said it best.

[sailsmen]

For Katrina my uncle, who has a Bronze Star for action in Vietnam, was staying at the family business on Bourbon St.

When he saw a gold van pull up and 4 guys in wheel chairs got out they then started looting Bourbon St.

My uncle decided it was time to leave.

Looters in wheel chairs on Bourbon St. :lol:

The nite before we were going sneak in to New Orleans after Katrina when they opened neighboring Jefferson Parish we stayed at a friends home in undamaged St. Charles parish, had to pass thru a check point manned by teenagers with guns to get into the subdivision.

There were several people there that did not fit together. I then realized the family had opened their home to LEO's who were on their first break being releaved by the National Guard. 2 were police officers on the MS River Bridge. They had an excellent view of what was going on o/s the Convention Center. They told me some very distrubing things that they had witnessed.

One officer said a NOPD Unit was driving across the bridge w/ a guy sprawled across the hood w/ dreadlocks. He said he was certain the driver was not NOPD but the Mayor ordered them not to arrest looters.

[knine]

To this day, my sister, Katrina, whom I grew up with and survived her rain (not reign) of terror, cannot understand how I predicted that Katrina would be the worst, most emotionally and physical devistation on record. Also, to this day, she doesn't understand I may not have been refering to the weather event.