A not too surprising view from McComb, MS

[TechFan2]

Here is an interesting email I received from a very dear friend in McComb, MS. I never really thought about who is (or is not) doing what for the hurricane victims.


"McComb aftermath of Katrina


To my friends and family:

What I have seen since Katrina:

The poor and the wealthy hurt by the storm.

Black, white, Hispanic, Oriental and Indian all hurt by the storm.

Christian people giving, giving, giving.

Churches going all out to minister in Jesus' name.

Neighbors going door to door helping one another.

Thugs and hoodlums going door to door looking for someone vunerable.

Ice and water being fought over as police tried to keep the peace.

People coming up from New Orleans taking over empty houses because shelters are full.

Out of town volunteers coming with food and staying for now a week still serving it.

The Churches all over this part of the country doing what Christians do in a crisis.

FEMA doing a wonderful job in getting help to us.

The Red Cross doing a great job in the shelters.

The Salvation Army doing a great job in the community.

Four Hundred crewman from everywhere bring back the power to our homes, churches and businesses.

Lines at service stations a block to a mile long.

National Guardsman patroling the streets of McComb along with Kentucky policemen protecting us from the hoodlums and thugs of McComb, Pike County and New Orleans (the most dangerous city in the world before Katrina.)

Drug dealers working outside shelters.

Doctors, nurses and other hospital personnel working tirelessly, even sleeping in the hospital to do the job God called them to do.



WHAT I HAVE NOT SEEN;

The ACLU setting up a feeding line.

People for the American Way helping in the shelters.

The NAACP doing any work whatsoever.

The American Atheist organization serving meals in the shelters.

Jesse Jackson directing traffic at the gas stations.



I could go on but you get my message. Its the Christian people with love and compassion who do the work.

The gripers in Congress should come on down and get in line to pass the water and the ice. Are you listening Hillary, Chuck, Teddy and all the sorry loafers we call senators and congressmen. They don't have a clue as to what this life is all about here on the Gulf Coast.

Boy I feel better now.

David A. Millican"

That just about says it all!!! Rather sad state of affairs from our most vocal citizens!

[TYLERTECHSAS]

Excellent post! In addition, where are the following:

N.O.W, Green Peace, Save The Whales/Seals and Snail Darters groups, Women for Choice, Act Up and all the rest of the gay groups? Like that letter, here in Tyler all of the main churches are full with the great people of S. Louisiana.

[daybreaker2]

FEMA doing a wonderful job in getting help to us.

The Red Cross doing a great job in the shelters.

News flash: These arent Christian Organizations.

What a piece of crap article. "Hey, I have an idea, let me name several liberal organizations, and then whine about how they arent setting up shelters, despite the fact that they arent charitable organizations with the infrastructure to do this"

Give me a break.

I notice how no one has commented on Sean Penn actually GETTING A BOAT and rescuing people. How about that, huh? Where was Rush Limbaugh? Where was Bill O'Reilly? See how stupid it is to ask "Why isnt so and so doing this?"

[markay714]

News flash: These arent Christian Organizations.

What a piece of crap article. "Hey, I have an idea, let me name several liberal organizations, and then whine about how they arent setting up shelters, despite the fact that they arent charitable organizations with the infrastructure to do this"

Give me a break.

I notice how no one has commented on Sean Penn actually GETTING A BOAT and rescuing people. How about that, huh? Where was Rush Limbaugh? Where was Bill O'Reilly? See how stupid it is to ask "Why isnt so and so doing this?"

Its not about sincerity - its about production. Wonder how many people Sean Penn was able to rescue with his little red cup bailing water. It was all about show!

[daybreaker2]

Its not about sincerity - its about production. Wonder how many people Sean Penn was able to rescue with his little red cup bailing water. It was all about show!

markay - even if he was able to rescue just one extra person that wouldnt have been rescued, dont you think that makes a huge difference? Especially to that person.

[dawg80]

I applaude Sean Penn for his effort.

Now, the rest of that email message is right on the mark. But, it's not surprising in the least. Where is the NAACP? Jesse? I saw Al Sharpton on Lettermen complaining that he, Big Al, should be given some money so he can deal with the racism wrought by Katrina. It's too much for a self-serving sack of shit to deal with.

[champion110]

This is a ridiculous thread. Yes, go ahead and compliment FEMA. That tells me just what I need to know.

There are a lot of Christian organizations that are helping out - that is GREAT news. I applaud that. It SHOULD be that way.

There a a LOT of people and organizations giving a lot of help. The Liberal vs. Conservative ones is a ridiculous argument and is using the death of many people for political gain.

[daybreaker2]

I got a red dot for my post here. Here's the comment:

The intent was not to name every one who has helped. Looking at who should and didn't!

How do you know that the individual members of those organizations listed didnt help?

FEMA, Red Cross, and churches are organizations that are used to serving in a charitable role to the less fortunate. The ACLU, American Atheist Org, NOW, Act Up, etc are not organizations who deal with charity for the underprivledged. So no, I dont expect these organizations to do anything.

But how do you know the individual memebers havent? Thats pretty damned presumptuous of you, to claim that these people arent helping.

As for the line about not seeing Jesse Jackson directing traffic... I havent seen SEVERAL people directing traffic. IN FACT, I havent seen 99.999999% of the nation directing traffic at gas stations. What exactly is the f'ing point?

And is this guy claiming that the only people directing traffic at gas stations were Christians? We dont know that.

This David Millican guy is basically saying that only Christians are doing the work. But he is wrong. Incredibly wrong. 100% entirely wrong. Read the letter, and tell me that he isnt implying that the evil people are all liberal non-chrisitans, and the good people are all conservative christians.

Why else single out Jesse Jackson? Why not Bill O'Reilly? Why not Karl Rove? Why not someone else? This is a letter obviously meant to make conservatives feel smug that they are better christians and helping out more than liberal non-christians.

This guy is an asshole.

[markay714]

You, sir, have it wrong. Churches are NOT set up to do what they're doing now. Churches are set up to spiritually feed the people that are members and to evangelize the area and even to help evangelize other parts of the world. Obviously our church on a day to day basis has ministries that meet the needs of people. Its is NOT normal for us to run a food bank 7 days/week which fills our entire gymnasium, to house ministry teams of a couple of hundred people from other places in our Sunday School rooms, and to turn over virtually our whole church grounds to groups that are trying to minister to those that are in trouble because of the storm. Yes, churches do meet needs, but our church and many like it of all denominations that are in and close to the impacted areas are doing just what ours is doing. We saw a need and have done our best to meet it. Churches are great at that because we care about people - and have a large group that wants to band together to do whatever we can to help - all with our different gifts.

The groups you mention that just get up and do the naysaying are not like us in any way, shape, or form - they are after an agenda to promote their own interest at virtually any price see racism constantly brought up and I can tell you race has nothing to do with the people we help. We don't even discriminate against people who obviously and blatantly live differently from our own moral behavior standards (can't tell you how many people virtually bragged at our food bank that they were living together - and not married) - we help people! Times like this every group of people should be turning their organizations into an effort to help those in need - and moaning and complaining isn't helping.

[champion110]

Maybe we should stop looking at any of this as a competition. We are all Americans and there are Christians (and other helpers that are not Christian) on BOTH sides of the political spectrum. This divisivness is silly and further splits a country that is already in camps.

We should thank the agencies and charitable organizations that have helped out in this cause. They should be commended.

[saltydawg]

Maybe we should stop looking at any of this as a competition. We are all Americans and there are Christians (and other helpers that are not Christian) on BOTH sides of the political spectrum. This divisivness is silly and further splits a country that is already in camps.

We should thank the agencies and charitable organizations that have helped out in this cause. They should be commended.

The bottom line is that this relief effort is going to financed mostly by the US taxpayers who are both Democrat and Republicans. The Christian and other religious groups helping these people in need are commendable but that is part of their religion. They really don't need to pat themselves on the back.

[stodgdog]

daybreaker2,

What Mr Millican is saying is that the people that bitch and moan and scream racism or nobody doing what the whiners want them to do, DON"T DO ANYTHING when faced with a situation they could help in. They just bitch and moan more and hurt matters instead of helping or at least staying out of the way. Geesh, are you an idiot?

[aubunique]

"The ACLU setting up a feeding line.

People for the American Way helping in the shelters.

The NAACP doing any work whatsoever.

The American Atheist organization serving meals in the shelters."

People from all the above categories and the others named are involved in the work and paying for the work. They just don't wear badges listing all their political, social, religious and intellectual connections and beliefs.

[aubunique]

Just do whatever you can do and forget criticism. Few of us on this board have been down there to help in person but most have donated through Red Cross or a church or a local shelter.