Thanks phin for standing up for us 'sponges' as Surber has called us in Mississippi.

It appears he pulled the post. 'Nuff said.

No wait. It's back.

What an ignorant idiot. Disaster can strike ANYONE at ANY time, whether it's by natural means or terrorism. Next time something happens to WVa, they'll certainly want some help.

It looks like someone wants a little attention.

Thank you, Phin.

Ditto the bit about WV; it's not like that state is rolling in megabucks for their own disasters--not that they'll ever see anything like Katrina. Maybe he ought to take a look at the world outside his back yard.

I think he's on a mission lately trying to be annoying for linkage or something now that NZ Bear has cut off the "trackback parties." I can't believe he's as clueless as some of his recent stuff would indicate. Maybe I'm wrong--he might BE that clueless.

I just read that shit now. What a clueless slack-jawed moron. GAWD. I think you're right Sadie, it's got to be a cry for attention.

I'm starting to see where some of the West Virginia jokes come from.

The only thing that irritates me about the Hurrican relief is that in the media all they tend to talk about is New Orleans, not the other states.

I have friends that where effected by Rita in Texas and they tell me they received nowhere near the assistance that the people in New Orleans did. That kind of bothers me.

phin also has a bit of personal experience with hurricanes. Bertha, Fran and Floyd come to mind, and I might be missing a few...

Our church has now sent two relief teams down, and my wife and I have "adopted" a 75-year old man from Waveland, Mississippi. Waveland simply isn't there anymore. Houses have been reduced to slabs and rubble. If you look at pictures from the Mississippi Gulf Coast and Hiroshima or Nagasaki, you won't see too many differences... other than more buildings were left standing in Nagasaki.

I do agree with those that say New Orleans should not be rebuilt. It is a hole in a swamp surrounded by water on an overextended river delta that geologically seeks to shift course as it has in the past. The Big Easy needs to be relocated, not rebuilt, as should Louisiana towns south of there. They will simply cease to exist within the next 50-90 years as the Mississippi Delta naturally shifts course.

But I cannot agree with Surber's assessment of the "solid ground" communities in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas affected by Katrina and Rita. While the people in beachfront real estate knew what they were getting into and should bear the brunt (if not all) of the cost of rebuilding their homes, many working-class homes were affected, as were important fisheries, ship-building and port facilites vital to the entire nation.

Surber can disagree on what needs to tbe rebuilt and where, but expecting these states alone to bear the brunt of rebuilding nationally important infrastructre is assinine.

Yep. Older and sometimes wiser brother has some very cogent points. I can't believe he and his leeches think an icestorm even begins to compare with hurricane force winds and resulting flooding. An icestorm...big freaking deal. Almost every state deals with that nominal crap.

Phin, I agree with you and with your older and sometimes wiser brother. And that is probably the most political statement I have ever made online.

Not only that, them rude New Yorkers should have searched for victims after 9/11 by themselves too.

After all, they chose to allow the WTC to be built there. They could have built them in Peoria, yanno.

/sarcasm.

Just chunking in my two cents. I think that the Federal government is too large. Granted if there is money going somewhere, I would rather it come to Mississippi because then maybe I could see something for the money that is taken from me yearly.

I really think that local people can do a better job than Federal people restoring the Coast. Plus, I just don't want more Federal regulation in my state. Go home, Carpetbaggers.

I did not take offense to anything that Don said, but I do take offense to my Senators pushing legislation to spend more tax dollars before figuring out where they need to be spent. Hey, slow down and do good things. Already there are over 300 people in Jackson, Mississippi being charged with FEMA fraud and that is sure to be only the beginning.

Okay, dish out the Hateraide.....

Sadie:
I did not pull any post. Still there.
http://donsurber.blogspot.com/2005/12/war-between-sponges.html
I like how people post here rather than at my site where, gee, maybe I'll see the comments and have the opportunity to reply. Insinuating that I pulled a post, well, I'm guessing there was a bad link or something. Blogspot went down from 5 to 11 (intermittently returning) on Monday night.
As far as WV and flooding, we got hit with Hurricane Juan in 1985. Worst recorded (over 200 years). Rebuilding in a flood zone (which is what we are talking about) is an invitation for future disaster.
As far as WV and fed money, the reason we seem outa whack is we are poor. The nation spends over $1.7 trillion on wealth transfers (mainly from the young to the old in the form of Social Security and Medicare). Last time I looked, we were No. 1 in food stamps and among the top in Social Security and Medicaid (poor people Medicare)
Interesting that FEMA was formed by Jennings Randolph, the last New Dealer in Congress, D-WV

Sadie:
By the way, ice storms knock out power for weeks in the cold of winter. Not a good thing. As far as NC helping us, we've bailed out NC enough times to not know who is even :)
That's how it works among power crews. We appreciate the help from other states; we help them out (lived next door to a lineman for many years)
I see a big difference between emergency aid and blowing a quarter trillion dollars -- as Louisiana pols demanded -- rebuilding in a flood plain

I was not INSINUATING. I corrected, jackass.

And we can comment whereever we wish. After all, you certainly didn't treat Confederate Yankee well when he commented over there.

Consider THAT an insinuation.

Thanks to all who see that Mississippi and parts of Louisiana do need the help. Plans are already being put in place on how to effectively use the money Mississippi has requested. I cannot speak for Louisiana. The reason I would like Congress to decide on this issue now is because they are currently debating the budget. The $40 billion Mississippi has requested can largely be taken from the $66 billion that had been allocated to FEMA for emergency recovery in September. There is almost $33 billion that FEMA has not used.