New Orleans -- Hurricane Katrina

[Dr. Shane]

Everyone hates lawyers until they need one.

As disgusted as I get with lawyers sometimes, I understand they are only doing good business. What we need is caps to be placed on lawsuits and protections to be placed on good samaritans. Lawyers will always look for ways to make money just like salesmen, fishers, construction workers or mechanics. The law is what needs to change.

[Morning Glory]

Hi Tumeric,

Thank you for your compliment. You asked for some actual documentation in regard to miracles happening at Bass Memorial Academy. This is from the Gulf States Web site.

UPDATE September 6

ADVENTIST RESPOND God Works Miracles

With equipment supplied by ACTS a disaster relief team from Florida; two feeding stations have been open to the public for two hot meals per day. One feeding station is in Purvis, Mississippi, the town just a few miles north of Bass Memorial Academy, and one is located on the campus of BMA. Saturday night the cook at the kitchen in Purvis surveyed his supplies and estimated he enough food to serve 1200 meals. The team decided to keep serving meals until the food ran out. They prayed and kept going to the supply room. By the end of the day, they had prepared 4600 meals. When the cook was asked how many he thought he could feed on Sunday, he responded, "Probably about 1200."

GOD IS IN THE TRUCKING BUSINESS

On Sunday, we operated the distribution line all day except during lunch. A large trailer of food supplies and water came in on Saturday night. This was a wonderful gift, which had been planned for somewhere else, but after the order had been changed three times, the truck somehow ended up at Bass. This happened on Sunday with at least two trucks from Odessa, TX. Their orders were changed three times, but God directed them to BMA. Five or six 18-wheelers came at noon on Sunday all loaded with supplies of every kind.

By this time, two 18-wheel trailers was on campus with ice, baby supplies, tarps and all kinds of food supplies! GOD IS IN THE TRUCKING BUSINESS!

To read more go to

http://www.gscsda.org

Received pictures of the damage at the academy from a family member last evening. They had me in tears because the damage is so significant. The pictures that were on CA doesn't do it justice. However, they have hired a contractor to start on repairs. So, that is good news.

[bevin]

Almost a week later, and the toll has only reached around 750...

Hardly a cosmic calamity.

/Bevin

[Derrell M]

Quote:

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Almost a week later, and the toll has only reached around 750...

Hardly a cosmic calamity.

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I don't think their families would agree. In fact they might think that was a rather callous statement.

[Naomi]

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Friend said:

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Almost a week later, and the toll has only reached around 750...

Hardly a cosmic calamity.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

I don't think their families would agree. In fact they might think that was a rather callous statement. <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

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Cosmic calamity??? From what you read and see on the news you really can not have a full understanding of the lives lost, the seperation of loved ones, spirits broken, of the depth of destruction, etc.

[Derrell M]

If any hurricane survivors, or people who lost friends or family in that disaster are reading this, I believe that I speak for most Seventh-day Adventists when I say that we do not agree with, or condone statements, made here or anywhere else, that diminish or demean the the magnitude of the calamity you have suffered. I believe that most of us would consider such hurtful statements irresponsible.

We grieve for you, and pray that the Holy Spirit gives you a full measure of comfort, and strength. Our time on Earth is short and we really can't see the forest for the trees, but God can. From His place in eternity He sees the big picture, and what we can't understand, He does. He sees that tear on your cheek, and He will kiss it away.

[Amelia]

Katrina's official death toll tops 1,000

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- The number of deaths in Louisiana blamed on Hurricane Katrina has risen to 799, the state's Department of Health and Hospitals said Wednesday, bringing the overall death toll to 1,033

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/21/katrina.impact/index.html

[aldona]

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Naomi said:

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Friend said:

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Almost a week later, and the toll has only reached around 750...

Hardly a cosmic calamity.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

I don't think their families would agree. In fact they might think that was a rather callous statement. <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

Cosmic calamity??? From what you read and see on the news you really can not have a full understanding of the lives lost, the seperation of loved ones, spirits broken, of the depth of destruction, etc.

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The previous 2 comments are absolutely true. With this in mind, I expect to see the same outpouring of grief and rush of people trying to help, next time there is a report about 50,000 people killed in an earthquake in China or 100,000 people killed in an earthquake in India. Or the millions of children who die of starvation or preventable diseases each year.

If not, then some readers (more cynical than I) may start to suspect that one American life is worth more than one life from a different nation.

aldona

[Naomi]

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aldona said:

The previous 2 comments are absolutely true. With this in mind, I expect to see the same outpouring of grief and rush of people trying to help, next time there is a report about 50,000 people killed in an earthquake in China or 100,000 people killed in an earthquake in India. Or the millions of children who die of starvation or preventable diseases each year.

If not, then some readers (more cynical than I) may start to suspect that one American life is worth more than one life from a different nation.

aldona

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Aldona,

I couldn't agree more! I have not kept up w/C/A for a while but I think most of the comments here have been from US Citizens. As for myself, the Gulf Coast hit by Katrina and the Texas coast being hit by Rita have for 12-14 years represented a part of my territory. Areas in which I have spent weeks and months at a time. To me it's personal, friends, some family, not-to-mention business interest.

I have a friend who is an author and was in Sari Lanka when the Tsunami hit. It had a profound effect on Kal and he stayed for months to give assistance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~``

For a little humor: My friend Rita who lives on Galveston Island has said for two days that Rita will be a perfect storm ... anything named Rita has to be perfect! <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/smilie_zoom.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/oops.gif" alt="" /> They are driving here for a few days <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

[aldona]

From a commentary on an international current affairs website... (by a British author):

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In the developing world, poor people have learned to cope with what is lacking in their lives - not always successfully, it is true, but they have not yet learned the superior wisdom of the West, that nothing can be done without money. This is why the urban poor in Dhaka, Mumbai, Nairobi and Lagos still build their own shelters, create their own livelihoods, seek out their own fuel and grow food on any small parcel of land they can find.

But it is at times of catastrophic suffering and loss that the difference is most visible. That people in New Orleans left bodies unattended in the putrid waters of the Gulf and plundered the dispossessed is shocking and incomprehensible to the poor of India, Bangladesh or Africa. For when disaster strikes in the poor world - as it so regularly does - people do not loot and steal. They do not fire guns at rescue helicopters. They do not rob the hospitals of their drugs. They do not barricade themselves inside their rough shelters and write in white paint on their walls, Loot and Be Shot. The instinctive response of the poor in the 'underdeveloped' world is to succour those weaker than themselves, to share with them such meagre resources as they possess, to show a fundamental solidarity: the dereliction of others is not seen as an opportunity for gain. This is why they feel a bewildered compassion for the destructive rage of deprivation in the US.

Some commentators in America described scenes in New Orleans as 'reminiscent of the Third World.' They could not have been more wrong. This was an entirely 'First World' phenomenon: gun battles between looters and the National Guard, who operate a shoot-to-kill policy against predators, bloated corpses abandoned on riverbanks and sidewalks, or simply floating, unclaimed on the toxic flood - these are scenes which occur only in the lands of privilege.

This is what the poor of India and all the other hopeful countries of the world have been taught to envy and to long for. This is the supreme achievement of the richest societies the world has ever known; and it is the model, not merely preached, but actually imposed by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization and the governments of the G8. That they are in no position to tell anyone else what to do is the enduring lesson from the disaster which has befallen, not merely Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, but American society itself, as it has demonstrated to the world its indifference towards those for whom the designation 'loser', 'no-hoper', 'failure' is applied as a stigma of moral, as well as material, incapacity.

It has long been clear that the West could easily provide a comfortable sufficiency for all the people of its own societies, if it chose to do so. It does not, for the simple reason that the fate of the poor must be maintained, as a warning and example to all who might otherwise be tempted to drop out, to relax their vigilance, to withdraw from the competitive ethos that drives people on to accumulate.

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[Naomi]

Everything is not always as reported or perhaps I should say as it appears.

There were many poor people, of all colors, who didn't steel, leave their dead, shoot guns, etc.

There were many thugs who were deeply involved with drugs and other illegal deeds that lived in the underground. People who did many of the acts reported in video and in the news. Now the military people are there with bigger guns, tanks, etc. They have the city covered. The supply of drugs have most likely been depleted.

For the most part, the city is quiet. The residents/citizens who are there are the working class. They are trying to get their businesses up and running, who have been living with no income. I know a lady Dr who is trying to work out of her house because her office is destroyed. She has no electricty, therefore no records, telephone, etc. With three children of her own, a paratially damaged house, she is doing all she can. Somehow the FEMA monies haven't made it to many of those who are there. I know another lady 60 years old who lost her business. She and her two sons are detailing flooded cars for cash to survive. Most charge cards are maxed out, they can't use their banks because the systems are still out of order. Many of them have lost all; family members, friends, homes, businesses. They are working in conditions that no one should endure, but they are back and they are giving their all to rebuild their lives.

The only thing they ask is not for help from anyone, but only for prayer that God will spare more storms this season.

Naomi

[Derrell M]

Thank you Naomi,

People sometimes seem to take a particular delight in jumping on the backs of those who are down to try and make a political point.

Millions of people on every level of American society recently demonstrated the high value they place on human lives around the world through their care and support for the millions of Asians hit by the tsunami. There was a huge outpouring of grief and concern for them that resulted in immediate strong action to help, and it came from the hearts of the American people... not just some government grant.

I guess some people might characterize our concern and grief over our own tragedy as somehow meaning that other people don't matter. What they are not taking into consideration is that when a tragedy occurs in their home, it will upset them in a more personal way than the tragedy that occurs in my home. No thoughtful person will accuse them of thinking that the lives of their people are of greater value than mine... especially when they are still in the middle of the calamity and another is at their doorstep.

Rubbing salt in our wounds does nothing to bring credibility to any point. The countries and people who just jumped in to help are the ones who have made a point. One of the things that has meant alot to us average Americans is to see OTEHR countries coming to OUR aid. We are not used to that. Canadian warships docking at our ports and their military swarming onto our shores to help us, a convoy of Mexican military hospital trucks streaming across our border, airplanes full of food and other supplies coming from countries around the world, money coming from countries that we are not friends with... now that makes a powerful positive impact.

And yes, there is a whole lot more that we should do for a lot of helpless people around the world. Especially the millions of kids who are dying needlessly from starvation and disease. That this is happening is a blight on us and every other society that could be doing more.

[Amelia]

HUmmm soo people in third world countries dont loot, dont shoot each other and succour the poor and wounded? Maybe in some countries but not all. I think you could find many of the same things going on in some African and central Amercian countries that went on in N.O., without a natural disaster.

[Derrell M]

Aldona, This paragraph from the the article that you posted, by a British author whose name was not attached, kind of sums up what the article is saying.

Quote:

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Some commentators in America described scenes in New Orleans as 'reminiscent of the Third World.' They could not have been more wrong. This was an entirely 'First World' phenomenon: gun battles between looters and the National Guard, who operate a shoot-to-kill policy against predators, bloated corpses abandoned on riverbanks and sidewalks, or simply floating, unclaimed on the toxic flood - these are scenes which occur only in the lands of privilege.

---

First off, the author has obviously never watched the news, or read a newspaper. Otherwise this person would have seen the bloated bodies floating in purtid waters, abandoned on riverbanks, and unclaimed on sidewalks in the aftermath of this year's Asian tsunami.

This person would be aware of the predators who looted, and who were kidnapping displaced and orphaned children for vile purposes, in the tsunami affected countries.

This person would know about the Darfur refugees in Sudan, and be aware that they are being preyed on by Sudanese thugs, and local UN "Peace Keepers": raped, robbed, and murdered.

This person would recall the unspeakable atocities committed in the former Yugoslavia: entire families being tortured to death, people being maimed, whole towns wiped out, children being shot just because they were there.

This person would have seen dead bloated bodies lying abandoned in the streets of Haiti. Killed by one militia or another.

They would have seen the horrors of Rwanda in 1993. They would know that in addition to the roving gangs of killers, pastors invited people into their churches, then locked them in and burned them to the ground. They would know that doctors walked into the wards of their hospitals with machineguns blazing and killed their patients.

This person would know about homeless children in Rio being slaughtered nightly by the police.

Is this person aware of the people being bombed, beaten, and burned to death in India over a territorial dispute?

This person would be aware of the many bullet-riddled bodies, the looting, burning, rape, and torture in Cote d'Ivoire.

Shall I go on? This could be a very lenghty post. I could post the news stories... from the BBC if the author prefers. I could also post pictures, although you might not be able to sleep for a night or two after seeing them.

So these are scenes only seen in first world countries? These thing only take place in lands of priviledge? A statement like the one the author of this thing wrote will be made to disparrage people who have just been dealt a horrific calamity? A person can be callous enough to marginalize their pain and grief, mocking them and their country, implying that they deserve it? SHAME!!!!!

[Naomi]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />

Friend said:

Thank you Naomi,

People sometimes seem to take a particular delight in jumping on the backs of those who are down to try and make a political point.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

Friend, you certainly know how to "cut to the heart" of the issue.

Millions of people on every level of American society recently demonstrated the high value they place on human lives around the world through their care and support for the millions of Asians hit by the tsunami. There was a huge outpouring of grief and concern for them that resulted in immediate strong action to help, and it came from the hearts of the American people... not just some government grant.

I guess some people might characterize our concern and grief over our own tragedy as somehow meaning that other people don't matter. What they are not taking into consideration is that when a tragedy occurs in their home, it will upset them in a more personal way than the tragedy that occurs in my home. No thoughtful person will accuse them of thinking that the lives of their people are of greater value than mine... especially when they are still in the middle of the calamity and another is at their doorstep.

Again, you put my thought into an organized statement. Guess I'm too close to the forrest .... [

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Rubbing salt in our wounds does nothing to bring credibility to any point.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

When you point a finger at another there are always three fingers pointing back at you!

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The countries and people who just jumped in to help are the ones who have made a point. One of the things that has meant alot to us average Americans is to see OTEHR countries coming to OUR aid. We are not used to that. Canadian warships docking at our ports and their military swarming onto our shores to help us, a convoy of Mexican military hospital trucks streaming across our border, airplanes full of food and other supplies coming from countries around the world, money coming from countries that we are not friends with... now that makes a powerful positive impact.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

Yes, we are not used to that and it was unexpected and that makes it even more appreciated! <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

And yes, there is a whole lot more that we should do for a lot of helpless people around the world. Especially the millions of kids who are dying needlessly from starvation and disease. That this is happening is a blight on us and every other society that could be doing more.

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Amen!!

[cricket]

**bump**