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Thread: In Katrina's Wake.......

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    Featured Member former_LV_dancer's Avatar
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    Default In Katrina's Wake.......

    IN KATRINA'S WAKE
    Storm-relief money
    spent at strip clubs

    Police in Houston find misuse
    of FEMA's $2,000 debit cards

    Posted: September 16, 2005
    1:00 a.m. Eastern




    © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com







    On the heels of a report earlier this week that Atlanta area Katrina victims were using $2,000 debit cards to purchase luxury items like Louis Vuitton handbags, Houston police yesterday discovered the cards, provided by FEMA and the Red Cross, being used at local strip clubs. The Houston Police Department just formed a task force to investigate the abuse of the cards, which were distributed to thousands of Katrina hurricane victims to provide for necessities, such as food, clothing and toiletries. On the first day, the police found the cards being used to buy beer while ogling exotic dancers.



    According to a report by KPRC, Channel 2, in Houston, a manager at Caligula XXI Gentlemen's Club said he has seen at least one debit card used at his club. A bartender at Baby Dolls, identified only as "Abby," said she has seen many of the cards used at her establishment.

    "A lot of customers have been coming in from Louisiana and they've been real happy about the $1.75 beers and they're really nice," she said.

    She couldn't say for sure whether the cards she has seen were from the Red Cross or from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but she found no fault in using federal dollars to guzzle beer at a strip club.

    "You lost your whole house, then, why not?" she said "You might want some beer in a strip club. There are a lot of guys out there that like to do that."

    The wife of the manager of another strip club told KPRC that her husband has seen patrons from Louisiana offering Red Cross and FEMA debit cards, but she declined to reveal the club's name.

    The FEMA and Red Cross cards have few restrictions, but some evacuees have gotten into trouble when they tried to get additional cards.

    Meanwhile, Houston police are going undercover as evacuees to keep their eyes on those who get in line more than once.

    "There may be some individuals who use some false identifications or providing false information on the forms, so we're targeting those persons also," said Lt. Robert Manzo.

    Officers handed out a warning that falsifying government documents could result in a 20-year prison sentence.

    Earlier this week, the New York Daily News reported that "profiteering ghouls" were using the debit cards 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. "Two I'm certain have purchased; one actually asked if she could use it in the store. This has been since Saturday."

    Restrictions on the cards say they can't be used to purchase alcohol, tobacco or firearms.

    The clerk at the Louis Vuitton store said: "There's nothing legally that prevents us from taking it, unfortunately – other than morally, it's wrong." The unnamed employee told the Daily News two women who had made purchases with the card each bought a signature monogrammed Louis Vuitton handbag in the $800 range.

    Meanwhile, in Memphis, Tenn., residents told News Channel 3 they saw Hurricane Katrina survivors purchase designer jeans, high heels and purses with their $2,000 emergency debit cards. According to the report, one Katrina victim was spotted at a Cordova clothier buying stacks of $65 designer jeans. Another viewer reported spotting a survivor buying "over $700 in high heel shoes and purses" at a Memphis department store "while (her) younger children, most of them looked under the age of 3, looked like they haven't showered in weeks."

    "If they make an inappropriate decision as to what to purchase, the whole issue of victims' rights comes into play," said Bill Hildebrandt, chief executive officer of the Mid-South chapter of the Red Cross. "They have a right, I guess, to be inappropriate."

    Hildebrandt conceded that the purchases could be traced, but he said if the receipts just said "shirt" or "jeans" or "clothes," there would be nothing the Red Cross could do. He said the Mid-South chapter stopped using the cards because the process became too cumbersome.

    FEMA reportedly issued about 10,500 cards in the pilot program, with a total value of $20.6 million. Hildebrandt said some Red Cross chapters are still using the cards.

    The cards have been a major source of confusion – and resentment – throughout the country.

    On Sept. 7, after criticism about the federal government's slow response to helping the Katrina victims, the Bush administration announced that displaced families of the hurricane would receive the debit cards to spend on clothing and other immediate needs.

    Two days later, FEMA scrapped the program after distributing the cards at shelters in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, where many of the evacuees were moved. FEMA said then that no cards will be issued to victims in other states. FEMA Director Mike Brown resigned a few days later after being sent back to Washington, D.C., and relieved of his duty as head of the federal government's hurricane efforts.


    Since then, FEMA has stopped handing out the cash cards, but is now requiring evacuees in other states outside Texas to apply for cash assistance.

    FEMA is still distributing $2,000 per household to victims of the hurricane, but the process has been slow. After a brief experiment with the debit cards, the agency is now directly depositing the money in bank accounts. Hurricane victims have to register with the agency by calling an 800 number that is almost always busy. The same goes for a Red Cross fund, which has distributed $140 million thus far, determining the amount per family based on need.
    I think we all knew some of this money was not going to go to all the right things. Not saying I don't want dancers to make ends meat, but this money should be going to help the kids, familes with nothing....not Louis Vuitton handbags and stuff.....that's fucked up......

  2. #2
    Senior Member Polo Girl's Avatar
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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    Fucked up for sure !!! That aint right !!!

    xoxox

    Polo Girl

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    Featured Member Lola Lee's Avatar
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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    That's just sad, sad, sad... I'm glad to know my donation and tax dollars went to someone to get a new LV purse or lap dance when there are babies and children out there that need food, medicine, clothing, and shelter. Some people have absolutely no morals or values whatsoever.




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    "You Will Be Successful in Business and Married Life" -- Fortune Cookie

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    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    I'm not saying s#!t !

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    Featured Member former_LV_dancer's Avatar
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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    I'm not saying s#!t !
    I hear ya.......boy do I hear ya.......

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    Featured Member Amethyst's Avatar
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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    There were some guys in my club trying to use their cards, but I don't think they were able to. I spoke to one guy who was from Mississippi who told me he lost everything, but because he had insurance on his house, car, and had savings, he could afford to blow $$$ on strippers & alcohol and would just use his debit card on something else. I met some other guys from New Orleans who had similar stories.

    I don't understand how the strip clubs are able to get away with using them because it states on the cards that they're not to be used to purchase alcohol, firearms, or tobacco.

    Sheesh - on one hand, I don't believe the cards should be used to purchase non-essentials, but then again, can we really tell people what to spend their money on? At any rate, it was a stupid idea. I'm glad they scrapped the program. Granted it's only a small handfull of people using the cards for this crap, but there are better methods of helping evacuees than handing them 2K. Not sure how $2K was supposed to sustain people anyway.

    Wonder why we don't hear reports from people who see evacuees using their cards for their basic needs as they're "supposed" to do...


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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    When they passed around free money like candy, what did they think was going to happen? Think of all the food stamp fraud that occurs every year and you have your answer.

    I just hope people don't stop donating to the Red Cross once they hear stories like this.
    Former SCJ now in rehab.

  8. #8
    tampafldancer
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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    yea... Im not saying shit either

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    Featured Member CrescentLuna's Avatar
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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    I was always rather entertained by my local club having "visa, mastercard and electronic benefit cards accepted"
    "I still have my name
    I still have my face
    I have not run away from home
    Doesn't seem so long
    If I now embrace
    Every single thing I've never known"

  10. #10
    madmaxine
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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    Haahahahahaahhahahah! See, the world went back to normal. Look at it that way.

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    God/dess Mr Hyde's Avatar
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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    I heard that the FEMA cards were the reason Brown was fired. What a stupid stupid idea. People are dirtbags.

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    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    Actually, it was NOT all that stupid of an idea - because by using the debit cards every expenditure was and is trackable ! However, this quickly turned out to be a political liability once the debit card expenditure records started to show that Louisiana Katrina victims given the debit cards were spending money on $800 Louis Vuitton purses, designer jeans, strip club partying etc. - which certainly tends to indicate that many Katrina victims might not actually in the dire straits that the media would like to have everyone believe they are.

    It would be much less politically damaging for some politicians if the FEMA money was transferred in a closed end bank transaction such that actual expenditures could then be made in cash without traceability. I'm sure that local bars/liquor stores/drug dealers also appreciate the fact that the debit card program was halted.

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    God/dess Mr Hyde's Avatar
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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    Of course it was stupid. As soon as I heard these cards were going to be given out, I thought "Well, the liquor stores, rim shops, jewelry stores, etc should all see a quick boost." Poor people are poor for certain reasons, and poor decision making is a big one.

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    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    Poor people are poor for certain reasons, and poor decision making is a big one.
    Unfortunately, it is arguable that 'blowing the $2,000' rather than saving it was in fact a smart decision on the part of many Katrina victims. After all, having $2,000 in the bank could put future eligibility for welfare/food stamps/medicaid at risk. I would argue that most poor people are very good decision makers, but that the framework within which they must make decisions is so f#$ked up that their decisions appear irrational to people outside of that framework who don't understand the 'real life economics of poverty' i.e. minimize DECLARED assets and DECLARED income and sign up for every gov't benefit imagineable, while at the same time maximizing undeclared assets and undeclared income.

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    God/dess Mr Hyde's Avatar
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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    Poor decision making is one reason why poor people are poor, it's not the only reason. And not everyone who gets a $2000 card will blow it on crap...but enough of them will that it should have been obvious. Why else were the cards stopped? No one wants them to save their 2K, of course it should be spent...but on food, diapers, necessities, etc. Did FEMA really think EVERYONE who get a card either needed one or could be trusted with it?

    Well meant but stupid.

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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......


    No one wants them to save their 2K, of course it should be spent...but on food, diapers, necessities, etc.
    ^^Agreed, but of course that's too logical and responsible...."what, my kid needs food, and they're wearing rags....ok give me 2 Louis Vuitton bags please....."
    There are people, (and I use that word loosely when describing people like this) that there are simply no words to describe what a load of human waste they are.

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    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    Why else were the cards stopped?
    Because they were creating an official financial transaction record of where the $2,000 in FEMA money was actually being spent ... an official record which could potentially be used to publicly demonstrate certain 'characteristics' of many Louisiana victims which would not be in line with a particular chosen media image of New Orleans hurricane victims or a particular political party's chosen image of 'poor urban black people'.

    did FEMA really think that everyone given a card needed one or could be trusted with it
    A totally irrelevant question, because failure to give everybody the same amount of money regardless of race, pre-Katrina income, actual property losses from Katrina etc. would have left FEMA and the federal gov't wide open to additional accusations of racism by the mainstream media and a particular political party. On the other hand, the Red Cross can get away with making actual 'needs based' allotments of relief funds based on family size and other logical real world factors without being subject to the same potential accusations of racism. So in a very real sense, the politics of 'playing the race card' is responsible for both putting $2,000 of our tax money into the hands of persons who spent it on Louis Vuitton purses, and at the same time providing only $2,000 to another person with 6-8-10 children to feed and clothe when they really could have used much more.

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    God/dess Mr Hyde's Avatar
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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    The first part of your post doesn't make sense to me. What are you talking about with that?

    The other things you state support my contention that it was stupid. If you know it's going to cause issues WRT race, class, etc...AVOID DOING IT AND DO SOMETHING THAT WON'T. Like give coupons good for diapers, food, etc.

    However, you seem to think it wasn't stupid. Was it a good idea then? To give 2000/family with no restriction on how it can be spent?

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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    However, you seem to think it wasn't stupid. Was it a good idea then? To give 2000/family with no restriction on how it can be spent?
    Again, the debit card idea was not stupid. I, for one, consider the availability of expenditure records showing that a significant number of Louisiana Katrina victims chose to spend their $2,000 on absurd items as useful information. However, others undoubtedly considered those expenditure records to be extremely politically inconvenient.

    As to the decision to provide $2,000 to each Katrina victim regardless of need, all I can say was that such a decision was a politically correct necessity but a 'real world' travesty, since the effect was to give money to people who didn't need it or chose to blow it while shorting those who actually needed more.

    As to the decision to stop using debit cards in favor of closed ended bank transfers, I consider THIS to be stupid. At least the debit cards had the restriction that the money could not be spent on alcohol, tobacco or firearms ... and since it wasn't cash the money couldn't be spent on anything illegal. But with the bank transfers, nothing prevents the recipient from withdrawing the money from the bank and spending it on anything they choose, legal or illegal, needed or unneeded. But the bank withdrawl scenario avoids creating any record of expenditures, which avoids the creation of inconvenient evidence.

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    God/dess Mr Hyde's Avatar
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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    giving money out period is the stupid idea. Cards, money transfers, whatever.

    One could avoid the whole political thing if FEMA simply provided vouchers good for staples. It'd be easier and cheaper. Those who don't need them wouldn't come get them. Those who do wouldn't be able to waste taxpayer money.

    I should be in charge of this relief effort.

    And if you don't think the cards were a reason Brown was fired, well, it wasn't the sole reason, but it contributed.

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    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    One could avoid the whole political thing if FEMA simply provided vouchers good for staples. It'd be easier and cheaper. Those who don't need them wouldn't come get them. Those who do wouldn't be able to waste taxpayer money.
    ah yes, but it would NOT have been faster ... and as you will recall the whole media brouhaha early on was based on the impression of 'poor inner city black victims' not getting aid fast enough.

    Vouchers/handing out physical relief supplies has been the classic method used in previous disasters. However, the logistics of handling that many physical relief supplies for that many people in that many locations was bound to lead to yet more delays. This fact is what prompted the Red Cross and others to downplay donation of relief supplies, and specifically request cash contributions. It was for this reason that FEMA chose the debit card route to quickly put money in the hands of Katrina victims and allow them to go to the 'market' for the supplies they needed right away. What FEMA and members of the media and a certain political party did not stop to consider was that some Katrina victims would decide that the supplies they needed most were Louis Vuitton purses, lap dances, designer jeans etc. , and that the debit cards would make it possible to record and later analyze such purchases !

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    God/dess Mr Hyde's Avatar
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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    So giving out money with no restrictions was a good idea? I am not sure what you're trying to tell me.

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    Senior Member FL Dancer's Avatar
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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    Quote Originally Posted by Melonie
    Because they were creating an official financial transaction record of where the $2,000 in FEMA money was actually being spent ... an official record which could potentially be used to publicly demonstrate certain 'characteristics' of many Louisiana victims which would not be in line with a particular chosen media image of New Orleans hurricane victims or a particular political party's chosen image of 'poor urban black people'.
    What ? Please explain

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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    I think she's trying to say that FEMA gave the cards and money out in such a way as to be able to track where, how, and on what the money was spent so that they could go to the media and say "look at all the poor people we've helped."

    I think. Although how that addresses the stupidity of giving out money with no spending restriction isn't addressed by that.

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    Default Re: In Katrina's Wake.......

    If it matters, the at the Houston shelters, had everything at their disposal. Food, clothes, services, and several hundred volunteers. there were no shortages, except for maybe $65 jeans and Louis bags. The cards were a ridiculous thing. Now, a Texan who needs emergency food stamps can't even get them.

    I turned on the news 2 das ago, and there was some lady yelling about how they haven't done anything for them and arent going to do anything for them, and 15 other women in the back nodding and mmhhmming.

    Enter Rita, stage East.

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