Debit Cards/lone Star Cards

[nmainguy]

OK.  I stand corrected.  I'll simply ask all of you for your personal opinion.  Do you think that  if a lot of people who are homeless and penniless suddenly receive a fairly large cash windfall that quite a few of them will use it for drugs and alcohol, regardless of where they are from?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No.

[BayouCityGirl]

My brother DID say he did see some people go the Galleria buying $700 Louis Vuiton purses. I think heck if they have no money and they spend it this way then its their fault. We can't tell these people what to do with their money.

[Jeebus]

I'm telling you, you're going to see high numbers of abuse. When you give money to a large population of predominantly poor people, who listen to rap music that glorifies things like Burberry & Louis Vuitton, along with 22" chrome "spinners" on "candy paint" cars - you're going to see this.

This is what I was trying to say about the alcohol. It would be fine if a person goes and gets a bottle of whatever he drinks to comfort himself - but considering most of these people are members of a family unit, they should be coming together and saving that money the best the can. Many of them do not have home-owners insurance, so what the Red Cross & FEMA give them, along with charity & welfare/social security, that's all they're going to get. Once they spend that FEMA card, that's it - they'll then be looking for a handout because they didn't use the money wisely to attempt to secure an apartment, a job & maybe even a vehicle.

I'm not judging them - because hey: "it's charity - let them do what they wish". But I sure as hell better not hear anyone hollaring for assistance a month from now on a TV camera at the Astrodome because they're still stuck there and they're out of money. No Excuses.

[RedScare]

My brother DID say he did see some people go the Galleria buying $700 Louis Vuiton purses. I think heck if they have no money and they spend it this way then its their fault. We can't tell these people what to do with their money.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How did your brother know they were evacuees? Did they have their "Katrina Evacuee" t-shirts on, or he could "just tell"? And how did he know they were $700 bags? Was he standing at the register looking at them?

[Ashikaga]

OK.  I stand corrected.  I'll simply ask all of you for your personal opinion.  Do you think that  if a lot of people who are homeless and penniless suddenly receive a fairly large cash windfall that quite a few of them will use it for drugs and alcohol, regardless of where they are from?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I live in Bridge City, which is 100 miles east of Houston. I lived in Houston from 1962 to 1964.

I heard on KTRH radio this morning that store clerks in the Galleria said that many people with the Red Cross and FEMA debit cards have been in there purchasing luxury items with them.

[RedScare]

I'm telling you, you're going to see high numbers of abuse. When you give money to a large population of predominantly poor people, who listen to rap music that glorifies things like Burberry & Louis Vuitton, along with 22"  chrome "spinners" on "candy paint" cars - you're going to see this.

This is what I was trying to say about the alcohol. It would be fine if a person goes and gets a bottle of whatever he drinks to comfort himself - but considering most of these people are members of a family unit, they should be coming together and saving that money the best the can. Many of them do not have home-owners insurance, so what the Red Cross & FEMA give them, along with charity & welfare/social security, that's all they're going to get. Once they spend that FEMA card, that's it - they'll then be looking for a handout because they didn't use the money wisely to attempt to secure an apartment, a job & maybe even a vehicle.

I'm not judging them - because hey: "it's charity - let them do what they wish". But I sure as hell better not hear anyone hollaring for assistance a month from now on a TV camera at the Astrodome because they're still stuck there and they're out of money. No Excuses.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You spend two whole paragraphs judging and stereotyping an entire city, and in your third paragraph, you say, "I'm not judging them...". Your prejudice is so thick that you cannot even tell you are doing it, even as you write it down. Sad.

[Ashikaga]

How did your brother know they were evacuees?  Did they have their "Katrina Evacuee" t-shirts on, or he could "just tell"?  And how did he know they were $700 bags?  Was he standing at the register looking at them?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The store clerks in the Galleria handled the cards and would have seen if they were Red Cross and/or FEMS.

[Ashikaga]

No.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

RedScare has an appropriate username. His tirades do indeed scare me.

[nmainguy]

RedScare has an appropriate username.  His tirades do indeed scare me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And your name-Ashikaga-is from hereditary shoguns-feudal military administrators

from 12th century Japan. Got a little power issue going on there, huh?

By the way, the fact that you listen to Tom Martino on KTRH for "news" is a littlle scarey to me.

[i like Red's name, BTW]

[HeightsGuy]

Where is this holier-than-thou attitude coming from? You ought to be jumping for joy at the money pouring into Houston right now.

Also, the reason you see so much emphasis on African American guests from NO is because there's a concentration of people from NO at the Astrodome who happen to be African American. Reporters and photographers love pictures of crowds, so they gravitate to the Astrodome to get their stories. I can guarantee you that there are as many if not more Anglos from NO in Houston right now staying in Hotels and Motels. I will also guarantee that many of those same Anglos are abusing their FEMA money at the Galleria too.

[sevfiv]

isn't ashikaga a city in japan as well (probably named after said hereditary shoguns-feudal military administrators...heh)

[Ashikaga]

And your name-Ashikaga-is from hereditary shoguns-feudal military administrators

from 12th century Japan. Got a little power issue going on there, huh?

By the way, the fact that you listen to Tom Martino on KTRH for "news" is a littlle scarey to me.

[i like Red's name, BTW]

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

When I graduated from college, my emphasis was on the history of the Far East. Ashikaga was the name of Japan's second Shogunate. It's from the 14th Century. It was in power from 1333 to 1603. I've never had any desire to be a samurai. I just picked is as an Internet username.

I don't listen to Tom Martino all of the time. I don't like the way that he cuts people off while claiming that he's there to help them.