Santorum Wants Penalties For Hurricane Victims?

[Roland99]

http://media.vmsnews.com/MonitoringReports/090605/549440/H000361890/

1. Action 4 News At 11 PM DMA: 22
WTAE-TV CH 4 (ABC) Pittsburgh Media Value: $ 2,239
09/04/2005 11:00 PM - 11:35 PM Est. Audience: 229,640
Available formats: DVD, CD, digital link, videotape, transcript, NewsBoard

00:05:40 Senator rick santorum is criticizing the government's emergency response to hurricane victims hurricane katrina victims. But he's also criticizing the ones who chose to ride out the storm. I mean, you have people who don't heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving. Coming up, hurricane relief in Mississippi. The lights are finally coming on in some of the hardest-hit areas. Our coverage continues in about ten minutes. 00:06:12

[Vinca]

1. OMG, such compassion. I'm tearing up. nt

[Sub Atomic]

2. Oh Ricky, that's just so compassionate of you.

:puke:

[Clark2008]

3. And how does Needs-to-be-in-a-Sanatorium propose these

people leave when they have no car, no money for a taxi or a hotel room when they get to whereever it is they have to go, and live pay-check to pay-check?

Hmmmmmm? :eyes:

[silverweb]

4. Sure.

Let's make sure there are real tough penalties for those without transportation, money, legs, strength, or health to evacuate.

What a miserable excuse for a human being he is.

:puke:

[FightingIrish]

5. Once again Sansscrotum misses a great oportunity to

keep his damn mouth shut.

[trotsky]

6. I agree with Slimy Santorum! (sort of)

Not in regards to Katrina, of course. He said:

I mean, you have people who don't heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings.

9/11, Iraq, etc. make it pretty clear such words are better applied to the Bush gang of criminals.

[MH1]

14. heh heh.

But they did a lot worse than "put people at risk."

9/11 - 3000
Iraq - 2000 and counting (and that's just "ours")
Katrina - ?? 10,000?? 20,000 ??

(what's the competition for the deadliest presidency?)

[Totally Committed]

7. No car, no money, ill health, no way out....

these people did not "choose" to ride out the storm. They had no way to evacuate!

AAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

TC

[Wordie]

10. In the South, there's also a certain macho thing about riding out

a hurricane or other disaster. ...or maybe it's cynicism, I just don't know.

[gratuitous]

8. A word about the people who chose to ride out the storm

I've been hearing this from the usual hystericals on the Repressive Right, that some people "chose" to stay in New Orleans. I'm sure it's true that some people decided to stay in town and declined to leave ahead of time. There's probably about 1,000 different reasons why a person might do that, from the mistaken belief that the hurricane would turn, or that the levees would hold, or just out of plain stubbornness. There are some folks who stayed, I would guess, for the thrill of living through the hurricane, or who saw it as another excuse to party in one of the hardest partying cities ever founded. They got far more thrill than they bargained for. Virtually every tragedy that befalls a person can be traced back to one fateful choice, whether it was foolish or wise, whether the consequences of that choice could be reasonably divined at the time the choice was made.

In any event, the question is, "So WHAT if they 'chose' to stay?" What does that mean? That they're not entitled to relief? That they should pay with their lives for a mistake? There's an extended analogy to be made to privatizing social security. If someone makes a foolish investment with his private account, whether through greed, recklessness, or because he got bamboozled by a slick-talking huckster, are we going to let that person die in the street? "So sorry, you made a bad choice; die for it." Somehow, I thought our nation was better than that. There are obviously still some pockets that aren't.

I'm so glad Rick Santorum "chose" to be an overprivileged, overrich white man in the United States in the 21st century. Because if he ever had to face a smidgen of the adversity that 99% of the rest of humanity has to deal with on a daily basis, he'd probably suck up even more of the world's resources than he does now, and with even less to show for his sojourn on the planet.

[FormerRepublican]

9. Well...

...before he starts to blame the VICTIMS, he needs to make sure the government actually has an evacuation plan for those who are not able to get out on their own. Like hospice patients - who were shown on the news as having both intermittently been exposed to flood waters near to drowning, and then lack of food and water for 5 DAYS, and subject to heat exhaustion because of the high temperatures with no water. They ended up with half dead, and the rest dying and not able to be rescued. I suppose he wants to charge them $$$ too?

These FREAKING FRANKENSTEIN SOBs need to be immediately ejected from OUR government. Recall Santorum. Emotions are high - it can be done NOW!

[Wordie]

11. That "its all about YOUR choices" blame thing may also just be an

unconcious way for some people to stay in denial about whether disaster could ever happen in their own lives. The reasoning going like this: "If it is all about "choices" then I, because of course I make only good choices, can feel safe." (not to mention superior).

...And for that matter, off the hook for actually DOING something for a fellow human being.

It also may be that these are people who have never really tried to put themselves in the place of a truly poor person, who frequently is presented with only "bad" and "worse" sorts of options in the choices they have to make. No matter what they choose, it will not be a "good" choice.

[dsc]

12. He has a tiny kernal of a point

We do need to institute something to back up the notion of mandatory evacuations. Though by far the bigger problem in NO was inability to leave not unwillingness to leave. On NPR today they were profiling a couple of cops who literally begged a man to leave with them and he refused. This was recorded yesterday afternoon.

[Wordie]

13. You mean there was a black man who didn't trust the gov't???

I can't imagine why! <sarcasm>

I wonder if there is a concern that if they leave, all the little they have left will be taken away from them, too.

It's often hard to know what motivates other people, but I do know that blame isn't a proper response, especially without any attempt to understand (or even ask) WHY.