Lifted directly from another forum:

Interesting question? Not really.
Katrina was a hurricane and destroyed lots of stuff in her path.

But, that isn't going to stop some people trying to lay blame on something more human.


(New Orleans, Louisiana) An evangelical Christian group that regularly demonstrates at LGBT events is blaming gays for hurricane Katrina.

Repent America says that God "destroyed" New Orleans because of Southern Decadence, the gay festival that was to have taken place in the city over the Labor Day weekend.

"Southern Decadence" has a history of filling the French Quarters section of the city with drunken homosexuals engaging in sex acts in the public streets and bars" Repent America director Michael Marcavage said in a statement Wednesday.

"Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city." Marcavage said. "From ‘Girls Gone Wild’ to ‘Southern Decadence’, New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. May it never be the same."

"Let us pray for those ravaged by this disaster. However, we must not forget that the citizens of New Orleans tolerated and welcomed the wickedness in their city for so long," Marcavage said.

"May this act of God cause us all to think about what we tolerate in our city limits, and bring us trembling before the throne of Almighty God," Marcavage concluded.
http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/08/083105nola.htm


BTW, this group of evangelicals get plenty of support from other right wing christian groups and even support from the freepers.

Lifted directly from another forum:
BTW, this group of evangelicals get plenty of support from other right wing christian groups and even support from the freepers.


Oh please!  This group gets about as much support as Fred Phelps does for his organization.

This is nothing but a group that hides it's "hate crimes" under the cover of "saving sinners for God".  And yes, some people support them.  But some "Christian Groups" also support the KKK, Nazi Party, and other extreemist groups that most people abhore.

I bet that if you look, the reputable groups stay as far away from groups like this as they can.  Their supporters are more fringe kooks like them.

BTW, even Fred Phelps does not like them, he says "they do not go far enough".

This could also be an explaination (got this in an e-mail)


Subject: IRAQ WAR MAY HAVE LOST US NEW ORLEANS
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:39:13 -0400


"At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005
specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane-
and flood-control dollars."  Not only that, most of Louisiana's National
Guard and equipment are in Iraq.  Molly

IRAQ WAR MAY HAVE LOST US NEW ORLEANS
WILL BUNCH, EDITOR & PUBLISHER - New Orleans had long known it was
highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In
fact, the federal government has been working with state and local
officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and
flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995
killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban
Flood Control Project, or SELA.

Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with
carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building
pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250
million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the
Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New
Orleans continued to subside.

Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a
trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending
pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at
the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At
least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005
specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of
hurricane- and flood-control dollars.

Newhouse News Service, in an article posted late Tuesday night at The
Times-Picayune web site, reported: "No one can say they didn't see it
coming. . . .Now in the wake of one of the worst storms ever, serious
questions are being asked about the lack of preparation."

In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President
Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was
needed for Lake Pontchartrain, according to a Feb. 16, 2004, article, in
New Orleans CityBusiness.

On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for
Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; told the Times-Picayune: "It appears that
the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland
security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay.
Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are
doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue
for us.". . .







Cat

The war in Iraq had nothing to do with what happened.  It is a simple "Act of God".  And even if all of our troops were home, nothing could have been done to prevent it.

You have to remember, the storm surge was over 20 feet!  Al most, the levees are only about 5-6', and that is only on the Mississippi side.  The Levees on the Lake Poncetrain side are not as high as that, because it is not needed.  New Orleans was hit by the eye of the storm.  That means it got hit first by winds going from South to North (Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico), then it got hit again from North to South (Lake Poncetrain).

Add to that, the levees failed.  They simply are not and could not be built to resist a category 5 hurricane.  If they were to build levees to resist that, they would have to be roughly 50 feet deep, and 30 feet high.  Trying to do that all the way around New Orleans (not to mention the Mississippi River) is an almost impossible task.

And don't forget, New Orleans is not the only area devistated.  Southern Mississippi and Alabama were equally hard hit.  To give an idea, an Oil Drilling Platform washed up on Dalphin Island.  That platform was over 30 miles at sea when the Hurricane hit!  It tore it from the sea bed, and dragged it over 30 miles.

Even areas much further inland are devistated.  A co-worker of my gf had the roof of his house ripped off, and he lives in Birmingham!  And towns from Shreevesport to Montgommery have suffered massive flooding as well.

In California, we worried about "Earthquake proof".  Buildings, bridges, freeways, hospitals, utility lines, they are all built to survive a major quake.  But guess what?  After every quake, there is still massive devistation.  No matter how clever or powerful we are, Mother Nature proves to us every time that it is even more clever, and more powerful.

What could have been done to prevent this?  In order to have "Super Levees" in place, they would have to have started roughly 25-30 years ago!  And the National Guard is mobilizing.  But it is not an immediate action kind of thing.  Trust me here, because I have been through disasters in the past.

In the case of an Earthquake, it still takes 2-3 days to get the aid in place.  You have to mobilize them, then to get them and their equipment to the location.  Add to that, the troops you are attempting to mobilize are also traumatized by the disaster.  And often, the equipment closest to the disaster is also damaged or destroyed, so it has to be brought in from further away.

In LA in 1994, it took 2-3 days to get National Guard shelters set up.  And there, the disaster was all over.  In New Orleans, where do they set up?  The city is still under water.  There is nowhere to set up a "tent city".  People are scattered all over the city, and dry land only exists in a few places, like freeway overcrossings.  You can't set up a tent city on concrete.

Right now, there are only 2 units from affected areas in Iraq.  1 is an Infantry unit from New Orleans, the other is a Helicopter Maintenance Company from Mississippi.  Neither is well prepared to deal with this kind of emergency.  Unless you want to start useing armed troops to patrol New Orleans, there is not much they can do there.  And they are already preparing to come home (they had already completed 11 of their 12 month deployments).

One reason I know about the Levees, is that my grandfather helped build the current ones in the 1960's, and rebuilt them after Hurricane Camille in 1969.  The same kind of damage happened then as happened this week.

http://www.maritimemuseum.org/camille/

The Bushies DID the levy maintenance program in favor of the conquest for oil in Iraq and tax cuts for the rich.  America is less secure in many ways because of both Bush priorities.

If God sent Katrina to New Orleans because of a one gay festival, wouldn't He have already blown the entire Bay Area into the Pacific?  The subject is too silly to pay any mind.  Every time anything bad happens, some funny-mentalist crackpot is going to blame the queers.

(got this in an e-mail)


You get a lot of spam, don't you?

Do you know who I blame for part of the extent of the death?  The people of New Orleans.

They were given the evacuation order the day before the hurricane hit.  Why did so many stay?  When Ivan hit last year, my car was loaded and ready to go.  When it hit land, I left my home and went to stay with friends in a safer location (further inland, higher ground, and in the lee of a hill).  And that was only a weak 4 when it touched ground.

This was a major 5 when it hit, and was still a 5 when it went over New Orleans.  Why did so many people stay?  Why did they not leave when the warnings first came in?

We started to get refugees in on Sunday.  By Monday morning, it was a flood of people leaving the area.  But yet, some people still stayed.  Why?  It is not like this was a tsunami, where there was little or no warning.  There were days of warning this thing was comming, but people still stayed.

You get a lot of spam, don't you?



You can call it spam if you want but this was in this morning's paper.


http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050902/NEWS/509020335/1002


Just a bit from the article:

The disaster preparedness agency at the center of the relief effort is the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which was enveloped by the new Department of Homeland Security with a new mission aimed at responding to the attacks of al-Qaida.

"What you're seeing is revealing weaknesses in the state, local and federal levels," said Eric Tolbert, who until February was FEMA's disaster response chief. "All three levels have been weakened. They've been weakened by diversion into terrorism."


I am NOT saying that the war is Iraq was the cause of Katrina, I am saying that the government was not prepared for a disaster of this propotion because they have diverted the attention and funds to Iraq. Even the National Guard, who is usually sent in to help with disasters, can't help much because many are over in Iraq.




Cat

I am NOT saying that the war is Iraq was the cause of Katrina, I am saying that the government was not prepared for a disaster of this propotion because they have diverted the attention and funds to Iraq. Even the National Guard, who is usually sent in to help with disasters, can't help much because many are over in Iraq.


A 200 mile wide plus storm, that plows over 400 miles inland.  What administration has ever been prepared for a disaster of that magnitude?

In California, earthquakes are a fact of life.  But a lot of people were still unprepared for 1989 and 1994.  People still died, it took days and weeks for the response to start.  And our disaster was nothing compared to this one.

A 200 mile wide plus storm, that plows over 400 miles inland.  What administration has ever been prepared for a disaster of that magnitude?

In California, earthquakes are a fact of life.  But a lot of people were still unprepared for 1989 and 1994.  People still died, it took days and weeks for the response to start.  And our disaster was nothing compared to this one.


Yes, you're right.  Every level of gov't was totally prepared for this catastrophy.  Every possible precaution had be taken well before hand, and all the resources needed to respond were activated at the earliest possible moment.  Good gosh, the president even cut short his vacation!  That's why the response looks much like what it would have been in Haiti or the Dominican Republic.

Do you know who I blame for part of the extent of the death?  The people of New Orleans.

They were given the evacuation order the day before the hurricane hit.  Why did so many stay?  When Ivan hit last year, my car was loaded and ready to go.  When it hit land, I left my home and went to stay with friends in a safer location (further inland, higher ground, and in the lee of a hill).  And that was only a weak 4 when it touched ground.

This was a major 5 when it hit, and was still a 5 when it went over New Orleans.  Why did so many people stay?  Why did they not leave when the warnings first came in?

We started to get refugees in on Sunday.  By Monday morning, it was a flood of people leaving the area.  But yet, some people still stayed.  Why?  It is not like this was a tsunami, where there was little or no warning.  There were days of warning this thing was comming, but people still stayed.


A lot of people who stayed did so because they didn't have a car to load up and drive off. Here's an article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about NO's "preparedness".

--

Each time you hear a federal, state or city official explain what he or she is doing to help New Orleans, consider the opening paragraphs of a July 24 story in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

"City, state and federal emergency officials are preparing to give the poorest of New Orleans' poor a historically blunt message: In the event of a major hurricane, you're on your own."

The story continues:

"In scripted appearances being recorded now, officials such as Mayor Ray Nagin, local Red Cross Executive Director Kay Wilkins and City Council President Oliver Thomas drive home the word that the city does not have the resources to move out of harm's way an estimated 134,000 people without transportation."

The officials made those statements fully knowing that those 134,000 people were very likely to end up in dire circumstances or even die.

Here is what National Geographic magazine wrote in an article published in October 2004 about a possible hurricane scenario for New Orleans:

"The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City. Even the Red Cross no longer opens hurricane shelters in the city, claiming the risk to its workers is too great."

In that article National Geographic predicted with eerie accuracy that more than a million people would evacuate, but some 200,000 would remain, including "the carless, the homeless, the aged and infirm."

The New Orleans Times-Picayune ran its own series in 2002 in which it wrote:

"If enough water from Lake Pont-chartrain topped the levee system along its south shore, the result would be apocalyptic. Whoever remained in the city would be at grave risk. According to the American Red Cross, a likely death toll would be between 25,000 and 100,000 people, dwarfing estimated death tolls for other natural disasters and all but the most nightmarish potential terrorist attacks. Tens of thousands more would be stranded on rooftops and high ground, awaiting rescue that could take days or longer. They would face thirst, hunger and exposure to toxic chemicals."

And yet apparently there was no emergency plan and no resources to evacuate "the carless, the homeless, the aged and infirm."

In this era when we are a nation at risk of terrorism and natural disasters, we can only hope that what is happening in New Orleans is not built into the fabric of our national homeland security policy. We should provide security for everyone, including the poor, aged and infirm.

We have the resources. On Wednesday, it seems FEMA found 475 buses to help with the belated evacuation effort. Unfortunately, when it comes to looking after the carless, homeless, the aged and infirm in our country, we — in our quest to become an ownership society — seemed to have allowed our good senses, good will and compassion to go on vacation.

--

Mushroom, the majority of those who stayed did b/c they didn't have the funds, cars/transportation or ability to leave! I can't believe I'm explaining this b/c I'm sure you've heard this for the 100th time! Oh, I'm sorry older gentleman, I know you are wheel-chair bound and all with no clear family near, but you better get up b/c there's a hurricane coming. Come on, I know that you can! Come on babies, let's skip one whole year and speed up the walking process, we got to split! Don't know how? Figure it out!!!!!

Are you serious? Those they could leave, did (and even so can't return to what they had). Those that couldn't had no choice but to stay.