MIDDLETOWN, R.I. â After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, federal officials flew Brian Murph and more than 100 other victims to Rhode Island. They were greeted by the governor and cheered by residents.
Then the handcuffs were placed on Murph.
State police did criminal background checks on every refugee and found that more than half had a criminal arrest records â a third for felonies. Murph was the only one with an outstanding arrest warrant, for larceny and other crimes.
Around the nation, state and local authorities are checking refugees' pasts as they are welcomed into homes, schools, houses of worship and housing projects. In some states, half the refugees have rap sheets.
"It's a balancing act," said Kyle Smith, deputy director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. "We don't want to treat them like criminals after they have been traumatized, but we want to make sure they are in no danger nor the families they are housed with."
Civil libertarians call the checks thinly veiled race and class discrimination against people who have suffered already. The checks are made on those evacuated or forced to seek help from charities or others â in other words, people who are often black and poor.
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To hell with the background checks, just put 'em up at the Civil Libertarians house.
Same goes for the Criminaly Insane, if the Shrink says he should go free then let him stay with the Shrinks family for a while.
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Yup, you're good to go...But not in my neighborhood....
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Chick
Email: Chick
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Freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose
Let's see, 3000 kids misplaced, 4500 sex offenders lost, unknown number of criminals distributed all over the country. Chick, don't you have a "We're your government and we're here to help" smilie?
And I can't for the life of me see why you want to defend FEMA's ineptness and lack of preparation.
As we speak there are hundreds of people stuck in Texas airports because 100 government security workers failed to show up for work.
Meanwhile there are thousands of people spending the night in their cars on a Texas interstate highway because the Texas highway department was 14 hours late making the road unidirectional.
Again, there is blame to spread around so why not simply acknowledge it and demand improvement?
Edited: Thu September 22, 2005 at 8:06 PM by Bigchris
Chick, over 100 government baggage security checkers simply failed to show up for work this morning at Texas airports causing lines that ran for blocks because people couldn't get through security to board the planes that were waiting for them.
The Texas governor's office ordered the highway dept to initiate contraflow early this morning to deal with the traffic leaving Houston on Interstate 45. Hours later when the highway department was contacted by reporters to find out what was happening their response was "we're working on how to do contraflow because we've never had to do it before". They finally did get it working 14 hours after it was requested. The people left when they were told to but the highways weren't ready for them.
I realize you don't like the message, but get the facts before you take it out on the messenger.
I think General Honere said it very well a few days ago. "The Military succeeds because they know its not enough to have a plan on paper, you have to be able to execute the plan".
When military plans fail, soldiers die. When bureaucrats plans fail, you and I may die.
Edited: Fri September 23, 2005 at 2:05 AM by Bigchris
Evacuating a city is a really big task. Rescuing people from New Orleans was a really big task. There are very few people who are specifically trained for these tasks. It just wouldn't be practical to keep a big standing army of specially trained people for infrequent large-scale disasters. All this bitching about Bush and FEMA is just political posturing. The fact is that most cops and national guard troops and emt's and such don't know what they hell they're doing in these situations right now, and the civilians evacuating certainly don't. It's easy to make demands, but practically NOBODY is really prepared for this stuff. People think that the problem will be solved if we just throw enough money at it. That's crap. The few government employees that do have some brains got the hell out of there. That's why so many NOLA police and houston security personnell didn't show up for work. I would gladly risk losing a crappy $13/hr job(even though that's decent money by my standards) to get out of the way of a hurricane. What it boils down to is people need to take responsibility for taking care of themselves. If people had enough sense to turn their engine off in a traffic jam rather than let the car idle with the air on, they wouldn't run out of gas and make the traffic jam worse. If people had enough sense to leave earlier, or ride a motorcycle, or hell, a bicycle, they would be better off. I wonder how many people will die because they were too lazy or too concerned with all their "stuff" to leave thier car and start walking. Bitching about the government's inadequate response isn't going to help the evacuees. Only they can help themselves. The g-men will show up when they can, and they'll have to deal with idiots who wanted to ride out the storm, and then decided to loot and kill each other. I realize that there are exceptions, but the vast majority of the people who don't get out of the way of a hurricane are idiots, and I don't have much sympathy for them. The g-men are doing a job that I wouldn't do(cause I'm a bastard), and I think they're doing a pretty decent job under the circumstances.
"Chick, over 100 government baggage security checkers simply failed to show up for work this morning at Texas airports causing lines that ran for blocks because people couldn't get through security to board the planes that were waiting for them. "
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Chris, you how much I love "NOT" getting into political debates, but..!00 bagage handlers didn't show up for work...Preident Bush's Fault?? How about when it's over, fire the ones who didn't show up for work..Just because they work for the Governement doesn't make them Brave, honest or give them any super powers. They are people. Some are brave, some are panicking. As far as the roads go, when the trafiic stops, there is a reason..All that traffic has to go somewhere..Try coming home from the Jersey Shore on a Sunday night during the summer..Without an emergency..talk about fifty mile long parking lots..So 100 people not showing up for work has nothing to do with the President, the Governor, The mayor, or anyone else BUT the 100 people..I'm sure if they don't have a very good reason why they didn't show up, they will delt with..I do like reading these silly arguments, but lets blame Wilbur and Orville Wright. After all it's "their" fault we have baggage handlers..(Which makes about as much sense as blaming a government for workers taking the day off)...
Carry on..
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Chick
Email: Chick
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Freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose
Edited: Fri September 23, 2005 at 4:53 PM by Chick
Galveston is home to over 58,000 people with the median home selling for over $300K with many well over the million mark, but yet has a history over the last 100 years of a major hurricane attack on the average of every 8-9 years. It is predicted that Rita will put Galveston under 25 feet of water. So what can be said of the intelligence of the people living there? Gamblers or a false faith in a spiritual being?
With a nation that depends on oil for it's national defense, why are the majority of our refineries built in hurricane ally? Hate to say this about our military, but if a kid can't pass the aptitude test, they don't want him/her, if they barely pass, are made military police where many get a civil career in our police departments. What else can be said about our police?
If a person walks into a cave and things in there pound the crap out of him, that person is ignorant for going in, but what can be said about that person if they walk in the second, third, forth, etc., times?
Maybe instead of having a day set aside for prayer that these things won't happen, we should set a day aside for prayer that the Lord gives us some brains or teaches us to use what we got.
Or maybe we should just blame somebody else.
Jeeze, since when is the Government responsibile for the weather? Since when is the Government ressponsibile for the victums? I'm unable to lay my finger on those lines in the Constitution...
Traffic jam in Houston? So what else is new? If you've been on those "freeways", you'll know you can't just cross over to the on comming lanes...Lots of concrete barriers seperate the two sides...for good reasons, I once saw the bottom of a car that hit the barrier, went airborne, and back down on "his" side of the freeway. I'm doing about 65mph and if he had cleared the barrier, I wouldn't be typing this now...
My 80yr.old Mother-in-law is laughing her butt off at all the fools on the freeway...When this kind of weather happens, you just have to deal with it yourself...I'm sure it will be alot safer in a car, on the freeway, out of gas when the storm hits...I think I'd rather be in my house...I've been thru my share of these things, and I stay put.
My wife asked me last night, "Why does everybody think the Government is supposed to save them, because I've never heard of FEMA till last year after Ivan hit this house? My first thought is not what the Government is going to do for me. Where was FEMA after Alicia hit us in Houston, and we had no power for 2 weeks?"
Well, we didn't think about that, we dealt with it...I do understand why people left the coastal town of Galveston, but not Houston. You just can't move 3+million people..............
It's a dang STORM, run and sit/suffer on the freeway, or stay home and deal with it...
As for the Government workers that didn't show up for work, they have homes and familys too...who will help them?
In other words, SHYT HAPPENS...deal with it...
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Lazy bum who lives off his wife.
01 BMW 530i Sport, 92 Porsche 968, 85 F150, 72 911, 08 GM SUV, 01' Ford Lightnin'
Last time I looked leaving your post was a military issue not a personal issue! Where is your liberal compassion for these people? Not that they will not be but do you have personal knowledge that these people will not be punished for failing at their job. As stated do you think they really care if they lose their job. Hell the government will just give them another!
Besides just ranting away how in your world do you expect to "make" these people stay at your desired posts? When keeping these people at their "posts" if they are killed are you then going to blame the President again?
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Well, It looks like I may have to agree in part with Chris.. It began raining here, and I looked high and low for FEMA or other Government officials to bring me an umbrella. Sadly, none came..So standing on the sidewalk getting soaked a Police car came by..The officer cracked his window and told me I should get out of the rain, and stand in a doorway until the rain lets up. Now, who the H*** is he to tell me to stand in a doorway.?? The nerve..He didn't even offer me or the five or six hundered other citizens walking down the avenue to sit in his car..After all, it was paid for by my tax dollars.. So there I stood with rain coming down...No FEMA...No Goverment handing out umbrellas (Now they new it was going to rain..) and no seat in a dry police car...Oh the humanity...I want an investigation...Who are they to think I should use my own head to get out of the rain..
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Chick
Email: Chick
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Freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose
Edited: Fri September 23, 2005 at 4:40 PM by Chick
Chick says, "So there I stood with rain coming down...No FEMA...No Goverment handing out umbrellas (Now they new it was going to rain..) and no seat in a dry police car...Oh the humanity...I want an investigation...Who are they to think I should use my own head to get out of the rain.. "
"Many a truth has been spoken in jest"...(I don't kow who said it)
In 10 yrs., (or less) Chick's little paragraph will be true...and not even funny...
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Lazy bum who lives off his wife.
01 BMW 530i Sport, 92 Porsche 968, 85 F150, 72 911, 08 GM SUV, 01' Ford Lightnin'
I Know, I know...It was me...It was me..
Quote searcher
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Chick
Email: Chick
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Freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose
Its that bad grass you keep smoking that gives you the headache!
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Your colored blind and can't even tell the color of an orifice tube. So there is no telling what color pill you are taking or how many!
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