Jill, respectfully ma'am -- its (American) citizens are the city's first priority.
When you have guests in your house, you take care of them.
Jill, were you too stupid to realize you have no vested in interest in New Orleans and LEAVE?
Sir, you sicken me. I don't care what priority they are, they shouldn't be treated like this. They had no way to evacuate, their buses were seized under emergency powers, they have been sent by FEMA to somewhere that FEMA seems to be doing nothing about, and have no idea what is happening.
It's folks like you, who say "Screw anybody not from America", that make foreigners hate America.
I've heard repeatedly that the only folks left in NO were those too poor to get out and some residents who decided to ride out the storm.
I wonder why these tourists were ever there in the first place. You have to believe they had the means to escape before the storm. Why didn't they?
"Jill, respectfully ma'am -- its (American) citizens are the city's first priority."
good, if we can expect the same of other countries, we can finally get rid of all the natalie halloway threads
What you are seeing on TV is what you would see in a third world country.
And these people paid 25,000 for a bus to get themselves out of the area and the government stole their way out putting them at risk.
And yet they were orderly and did not go violent like the animals inside the city.
Sorry but those people who are doing the looting, raping and killing should be shot on site. And get those Canadians the hell out of hell on earth.
With all due respect, these people are guests in our country, and should be a top priority.
A despicable sentiment that which you expressed, Ben. As guests in our house the Canadian and any other international vistors are by law and good custom both deserving a higher standard of care and rescue.
This is one of the most immoral, and idiotic statements I've seen on FR in a long time. The government stole the privately paid-for transportation that was desperately needed, leaving these travelers literally out on the street. The fact that Jill Johnson is not a citizen should not make any difference, she is here legally, and she is right about tourism being a important economically to New Orleans, and it is appalling how badly they are being treated.
Even if you don't care about them-thar furiners; most of the tourists are probably Americans. No doubt tax-paying Americans. Whose buses were stolen to shuttle a bunch of public-aid recipients from the Super-Dorm to the Astro-Dorm.
As for claims on this thread that the tourists have it coming, because they should have gotten out...flights were canceled Sunday, and there were no rental cars available. They were stuck...unlike many that chose to stay in the city who had cars.
Even if you believe in the socialist maxim, "the greatest good for the greatest number," this is a stupid policy. The buses were only going to haul their seat capacity of people out of the city. The tourists once gone are no longer a worry or concern of the city, they can then take care of themselves (but of course, they aren't much of concern now...)but the Astro-Dormers will still be a burden even when moved. So the city/FEMA is actually better off getting the tourists out.
In addition, high-handed actions like this make it impossible for people to help themselves, or for private parties to help, since their resources will likely be stolen by the government. So everybody is left to the inefficient and capricious mercies of a hodge-podge bureacracy.
In reality the government official who stole the buses didn't give more than ten seconds thought to any kind of cost-benifit analysis. He had some job to do, look free buses, and its no skin off his nose if the tourists get left out on the street, because its not his job.I've also seen that private SUVs are being confiscated, think those are owed by ferriners?