"Louis Viton!" How dare they at $800 a bag buying TWO BAGS

[frankly_fedup2]

For some reason, the anchor on Faux News felt the need to end the last hour with that little report.

Okay, I have one question, so these people have no right to privacy on what they purchase for themselves?

This is the same kind of invasion of privacy and obvious racist remarks as far as class is concerned. Remember when snots would say they saw people front of them in the grocery story paying for over $200.00 worth of "junk" food and then would walk out and get in a brand new Cadillac.

That always use to crack me up because it could not be their car. To be eligible for any kind of aid, you cannot own a car worth over $2000.00. I'm not saying they didn't walk out and get in a Cadillac; however, it could have been their social worker giving them a ride one day; family that was doing okay but trying to help them with going and getting their food.

Don't these fools ever stop and think before they open their pathetic mouths.

When Sheppard Smith stood on that overpass and was actually telling the truth as to what the government had done wrong (but he was not blaming anyone), I almost thought Faux News was beginning to be an honest, upstanding news station. Now the shock is over so they are back in their stuffy little suits, sitting at their desks in air conditioning with their noses back up in the air.

[Saphire]

1. Nahhh...a leapord never changes it's spots.

[frankly_fedup2]

33. Who, Faux News? (nt)

[NYCGirl]

2. Here's the explanation of that which was posted above:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3340305

The stuff that the Fox people are talking about is COUNTERFEIT designer goods seized by the feds, which was handed out to the evacuees.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

18. That's what I thought the minute I heard about it! nt

[Me.]

19. That's Exactly What I Thought

around here Vuitton kncok-offs go for a dime a dozen. Not that I would expect a Faux commentator to know real from fake.

[ohio_liberal]

25. Aha!

I kind of thought so. I just posted down below about very good counterfeits that would fool most people.

Edited to add a pic of a counterfeit bag. Could you tell the difference?

Counterfeit:


Authentic bag:

[REP]

37. Yes, I Can Tell The Difference (In Real Life)

The stitching is different on a real bag. Not that I'm going to pay $950.00 in this life or in any other to carry around advertising (that "VL" logo is tacky beyond all belief).

[blondeatlast]

28. Great find; thank you! I'm e-mailing that one everywhere I can think of.nt

[blondeatlast]

29. You should post this as a separate thread; you know we will be inevitably

asked to "debunk" the story.

Again--kudos for a GREAT find.

[applegrove]

3. Yup. The feds released all their counterfit goods to give to Katrina

victims in Houston. Otherwise the goods would have been destroyed.

[dogday]

4. That sounds better and is so true

the have done thousands of sweeps for these knock-offs, bust one store, another one opens, it is always going on....

[scarletwoman]

5. It's a dirty filthy lie! These are knock-offs seized by Customs & DONATED

Fox is beyond vile for spreading this kind of racist horseshit!

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3340305

Sept. 5, 2005, 3:01PM
Knockoffs seized by Customs going to victims
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Yves St. Laurent and Tommy Hilfiger labels may be phony, but the thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims getting knockoff items seized by federal customs officials probably don't mind.

Displaced survivors in the Houston Astrodome can choose from counterfeit and abandoned clothing, toys, and even dog food.

More than 100,000 items were quickly taken from warehouses and more will follow, said Kristi Clemens, spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection division.

The agency has some 1 million items stored, and Customs officials are going through their inventory to see what else would be useful. While the initial shipment went to Texas, officials are looking toward a wider distribution, Clemens said.

See also this thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4728480

The OP of that thread has asked that folks email the link to the above article to Fox News. (Not that I have any faith that it will do any good -- assholes!)

sw

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Thanks for clearing that up. Someone needs to smack FAUX up side

the haad withthese facts. Preferably the lady mentioned in the article.

------------------------------------------------------
Ditch Bu$h and save the Gulf: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=106&topic_id=22507&mesg_id=22507

Then save the nation!
http://www.geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/electionreform.htm

[scarletwoman]

9. The only contact information I could find for Kristi Clemons is a phone #

Here it is: [phone]

This being a weekend, it probably will do no good to try to reach her by phone until Monday. Of course, by then, the damage from Fox's lies will be done.

This is such pernicious and despicable behavior I am nearly speechless! The story about Customs donating these items was an AP wire service article that showed up in newspapers all over the country almost a week ago! Even the Washington Times!

Fox News is deliberately race-baiting with false information! I can't believe there's no legal remedy for this! FCC? NAACP? SPLC? The Congressional Black Caucus? Somebody?

sw

[ovidsen]

7. NOT a lie! But not the truth either (NY Daily News)

Lavish tastes of card-carrying lowlifes

Gatecrasher

Profiteering ghouls have been using debit cards distributed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina - intended to buy essentials for evacuated families - in luxury-goods stores as far away as Atlanta.

"We've seen three of the cards," said a senior employee of the Louis Vuitton store at the Lenox Square Mall in affluent Buckhead, who asked not to be named. "Two I'm certain have purchased; one actually asked if she could use it in the store. This has been since Saturday."

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/345030p-294601c.html

So what do you expect when thousands of debit cards are given to disaster victims? A few will end up in the hands of low lifes.

The real crime here is for Faux to suggest that most of the people who got these cards were using them to buy high fashion shit. That's the real crime here.

[scarletwoman]

13. Excuse me, a GOSSIP column?!? With an ANONYMOUS SOURCE?!?

The cards were ONLY distributed to the Astrodome evacuees on FRIDAY and discontinued just a day later. How did three people get from Houston to a mall in Atlanta on Friday? (the date of the column is 9/9)

What cards were distributed were only distributed in Texas.

I call bullshit on this "story". Unless some other folks ripped these cards off from survivors and dashed off to Atlanta, this story reeks.

sw

[ovidsen]

16. You miss my point

If this Daily Nooz story is true, and I'm betting it is, it merely shows that, oh, 3 or 4... or 8 or 10 people might have used their disaster relief debit cards for some fashionista shopping. B-F-D. Out of thousands? Hey, give debit cards to 2000 nuns at a convent, and you'll have just as many nuns (a handful) blowing bucks on Hermes habits and 1988 vintage Merlot communion wine. Which, of course, does not make all nuns bad.

Faux takes this story, doesn't bother to attribute it, and slanders everyone in the Astrodome, implying that they're welfare sucking "royalty" out to scam the hard working middle of the road real American (whatever that is). The racist shading of this is painfully obvious. It's a stereotype that's not only false, it's evil.

By the way, IMO, the story of the Buckhead shoppers with the FEMA debit cards is almost certainly true. You may not like the NY Daily News, and you're certainly allowed to hate the NY Post, but I've been reading those rags for 25 years, and while they may shade things a bit, they hardly ever make 'em up.

[scarletwoman]

17. No, you're missing MY point.

You're "betting" this story is true. Based on what? What actual evidence is there to support this?

As others in this thread have pointed out, this is just another version of "welfare queens in Cadillacs". Personally, I think it's irresponsible to post this kind of unverifiable trash.

sw

[ovidsen]

22. Zing! Missed it again!

I think the story is true for 2 reasons. 1: Give thousands of people (even nuns!) debit cards and a handful will either misuse them or lose them to be found by someone who misuses then. I'd be shocked if someone didn't lose/misuse them. 2: The NY Daily News track record. As I said, I've been reading it for 25 years, and it's very rarely totally wrong. This is a no brainer.

The NY Daily News item doesn't perpetuate the myth of "welfare queens in Cadillacs". The Fox News insinuation that all the flood victims (read: black victims) are scam artists does. Be angry at Fox. Very angry. Don't be angry at the NY Daily News, and don't be angry at me.

[scarletwoman]

30. See Elehhhna's post #27 below. The time frame is NOT possible.

As I already posted above, these cards were distributed in TEXAS only, on Friday, Sept. 9. They discontinued them the next day -- yesterday. The card program was only just announced on Wednesday, Sept. 7.

Yet the column you posted is DATED Sept. 9, and the anonymous source is quoted as saying she saw cards since the PREVIOUS Saturday, which would have been Sept. 3.

Aside from the dubious tactic of using a single, unverifiable unnamed source, the internal evidence of the DATES involved makes the story patently false!

Why you want to defend the spreading of disinformation is beyond me. I don't care about your rationalizations, I don't care that you say that YOU'RE okay with the alleged behavior -- when it's a false story, and the kind of story that brings endless delight to racists and bigots, you are stooping to their level when you defend it.

There is NO qualitative difference between spreading this urban legend on DU and Fox News flogging the same story. None.

sw

[ovidsen]

31. I'm not spreading rumor.

I'm trying to strangle a rumor, or as you accurately put it, an urban legend (in the making). The one promulgated by Fox News. It's interesting that the Atlanta JC mentions it today (sorry no link, the AJC regularly omits published items from its web site, but I have the hard copy of that paper) in its proper context. A handful of somebodys (DHS or FEMA employees? Alleged victims? Professional hustlers?) has apparently been using these debit cards for questionable purposes. Who are they, and can they be tracked down?

That doesn't mean that I'm "okay with the alleged behavior", either. But anyone who doesn't think there may be a few bad apples among thousands of people must be the sucker that P. T. Barnum said was born every minute. It's impossible to believe that out of all the debit cards distributed, not a single one was used in a questionable manner.

Sometimes explaining a nasty rumor's origin is a lot more effective than denying it outright. Here, as I've said before, is a case where Fox takes a sidebar story (possible fraud by 3? 5? flood victims, or was it FEMA workers?), hijacks it from a more reputable news organization without any attribution, and morphs it into the equivalent of "herds of welfare queens shop for Vuitton luggage". The latter, patently false story sadly brings delight to wingnuts. The former story simply goes to show that there's always a one percent of any group who's flaky, and anyone who makes a big deal out of it is grandstanding. IGNORING the root story just gives wingnuts more flatulence.

With all respect, truth is the best defense, as well as a mighty effective offense. That's all I'm saying.

And I didn't bring this urban legend to DU. I reacted to it, and I'm trying to put it in it's place. It's a footnote, to a footnote (debit cards) to a footnote (list of failed FEMA efforts to help flood victims) to the really BIG story, the Chimp administration's absolutely criminal response to the worst US natural disaster since the 1927 Mississippi delta floods.

Okay, I'll stop repeating myself. I have no doubt that you are a principled, motivated DUer who is as appalled as I am by the government crime in New Orleans, and neither one of us should be sidetracked. I sense no evil in your posts, and hope you sense no evil in mine. We may differ in tactics, but not in strategy. Peace.

[scarletwoman]

32. Peace to you too.

And my apologies for getting so het up. This whole thing has angered me beyond reason.

I don't wanna argue with you anymore -- and I DO know that we're on the same side here.

Best wishes,
sw

[elehhhhna]

27. The quotes says "A few SINCE Saturday" proving that it's BS--

the cards came out the FOLLOWING Friday, and only in Houston Shelters. If People had them & used them prior to then, they were FEMA or Red Cross EMPLOYEES.

"We've seen three of the cards," said a senior employee of the Louis Vuitton store at the Lenox Square Mall in affluent Buckhead, who asked not to be named. "Two I'm certain have purchased; one actually asked if she could use it in the store. This has been since Saturday."

[Dorian Gray]

26. Yeah,

I saw that article in the Daily News the other day. They mentioned that they saw only three cards, so I suspect that this type of abuse is few and far between.

[Modem Butterfly]

39. There is no Louis Vuitton store at Lenox

The nearest Louis Vuitton store is at Phipps Mall. It's no far from Lenox, but much more upscale (they also have a Tiffany's and a Versace). Geez, if these guys couldn't get a detail like that right, what else did they get wrong?

[Birthmark]

8. It's their money, right?

After all, we gave it with no strings attached, AFAIK. So...is the Fox News position now that the government knows how people should spend their money better than the person with the money does? That would be a major position shift for that bunch! :)

[Bluebear]

10. How dare Condolleezzaa buy $1000. Ferragamos?

Did they pose that question?

[tsuki]

23. Name me another government official who was seen spending

thousands of dollars, or even millions like Cheney's new mansion, when the country was in the middle of a war and young men are dying?

The great disconnect.

Our youth is being killed for a pack of lies, families are in mourning, the most strategic port in the Gulf is being destroyed and the official response...LET'S GO SHOPPING.

[oasis]

11. Fox's Tony Snow reported it this a.m. knowing it would cause a shitstorm.

Whatever is heard on Fox, the freep community believes to be gospel.

[halobeam]

12. First hand experience that what it may look like may not be so...

we are on disability, can't afford the toilet we use so to speak, yet at times drive my in laws Mercedes SUV when our car is broken down. Sometimes they go away for a month or so and we are able to use their car for that long a period. The stress it relieves is priceless when I'm driving my kids around and not worrying about breaking down alone somewhere or not having a vehicle at all to pick them up from school when they need to come home because they are sick. People are really way too judgmental, like they have all their facts, believe it's not pretty on them.

[ohio_liberal]

24. There are also some very good counterfeit items

I can buy a relatively good counterfeit Vuitton bag at the mall for $80 (they're illegal so I don't know how they get away with selling them) and I bet most people on the street couldn't tell the difference

[Walt Starr]

14. 1,000:1, it's another bullshit lie talking point invented by Karl

Betcha anything it's either that, of FEMA is using one.

Anything to lessen sympathy for the victims so the victims can be blamed.

[KT2000]

15. Cadillacs & free cheese

when they used to give away free cheese, a man I know who happen to be ultra-rightwing, was so angry that the government was giving something away to poor people, he would make the monthly trip to the place where they gave away the free cheese so he could get som too. He drove a Cadillac and probably parked right in front.

Things are not always as they appear.

[frankly_fedup2]

34. Exactly my point. Look at Bush. If the Republicans would be honest

with themselves, they would see that we are not against them, but we are against a man who has done nothing but separate this country more and more.

[Hello_Kitty]

20. It's the American way

They're just being good consumers, obeying the gods of the market and product placement. Isn't everyone supposed to go shopping after a national catastrophe? That's what the Chimperor told us after 9-11, right?

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. This is most likely a bullshit story

The cards were supposed to be restricted to food and clothing purchases. Food stamp cards are restricted so it makes sense that these cards for hurricane victims would be restricted also.

A conservative friend told me he heard a story that they were getting cash from ATMs and going into a stripper bar in NC. So be prepared for a bunch of wild stories.

[kid a]

35. their making a great investment! Those bags

will be increase thier value each year for a 100% gain in about ten years!

I sold a 1972 LV check book cover for over $500 on ebay.
Original cost is 1972? $149

[REP]

36. Louis Vuitton Leather Starts Around $1,200.00; Canvas Around $900.00

Though I'm sure there are smaller bags and last season items that might be obtained at 2 for $800.00.

Yes, yes, I know it's bullshit story ... but you'd think Faux girls would know how much a Vuitton bag costs!

[KharmaTrain]

38. This Deflects Attention From The REAL Welfare Queens

The corporations and rich who get billions in not only tax breaks but special legislation to protect their monopolies and profits.

It's easier to pick on a poor black person as they "look" the part...they "sound" the part. It's not as much racist, which it surely is, as it is classist and elistist.

Note that Repugnicans have severe esteem issues. They need to be the "strongest" or "toughest" or "richest" or most "pious"...and they need the reinforcement of their "peers" (corporate masters) to "reward" them. To do this a whole narrative that has now developed into a parallel universe has occured. These people are fully disconnected.