TFA:

FEMA won't award grants for damage to second homes.

Good. Fark 'em, that's what insurance is for.

It won't duplicate benefits paid by private insurance, so homeowners must settle claims before FEMA will evaluate, said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate.

Also good.

And most of its recovery aid comes in the form of low-interest disaster loans, he said.

I'm ok with that too. Being a victim isn't winning the lottery; you still have to be a grownup.

I wonder how many are pissed that their homeowners' doesn't cover flooding/surge. READ YOUR DAMNED POLICY, PEOPLE.

FEMA is not your piggy bank. YOU buy private insurance, YOU must take appropriate steps to mitigate against COMPLETELY PREDICTABLE damages (like from flooding, if you live in a coastal area), and always assume that YOU are on the hook for rebuilding.

This must be that personal responsibility I keep hearing about.

And this guy: "We pay into just like anybody else does," Ken Fisko said. "It's government funded, and we all know we fund the government." should understand that FEMA/the government is not an ATM. The GOP may have been pushing this line that every dollar you pay into government needs to come back to you at your demand, but it simply does not work that way. FEMA is bound by the laws that created it, which say that second+ homes can get stuffed. If you can afford that second home near the coast, you should have been able to afford some insurance for it; maybe raised it on stilts or built a floodwall. FEMA has grants for non-disaster mitigation efforts - so feel free to use some of that money you sent in. Be a responsible citizen and know some things before you're literally picking up the pieces and relying on your government for help.

// seriously - mitigate, biatches
// $1 spent on mitigation saves $3 in recovery (on average)
// some ideas to help you get started
// specifically Katrina-related ideas

ThatGuyGreg: TFA:

FEMA won't award grants for damage to second homes.

Good. Fark 'em, that's what insurance is for.

It won't duplicate benefits paid by private insurance, so homeowners must settle claims before FEMA will evaluate, said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate.

Also good.

And most of its recovery aid comes in the form of low-interest disaster loans, he said.

I'm ok with that too. Being a victim isn't winning the lottery; you still have to be a grownup.

Done. Absolutely agreed.

TofuTheAlmighty: A bunch of affluent people, who likely vote GOP, complaining that the government won't give them handouts.

This is surprising not in the slightest.

=================================


That's it exactly. These people are almost all Romney voters.

I live in Jersey, and here are the facts:

These are affluent areas, mostly second or third homes. Pre-Sandy, you couldn't buy a house on a barrier island for less than a million. My God these people were arrogant and nasty. State law says that land 15 feet from the high tide line is PUBLIC PROPERTY. Many of these people built fences almost to the water line and their town goon-squads would arrest anyone attempting to gain access to their "private" beaches. To add insult to injury, those beaches were maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers using federal dollars. Now the gov wouldn't give them any welfare. Boo-Farking-Hoo.

/People getting a Taste of Their Own Medicine.

mjohnson71: I very little sympathy for people who built vacation homes right by the ocean and just a few feet above sea level.

This. They are called barrier islands for a reason.

Ho-Hum!

White people problems are so much duller than dead black people floating face down in toxic waste water for a week or two while the ineffectual, corrupt, and partisan feds do nothing and the stupid cracker police shoot willy-nilly at every non-white person they see, creating and maintaining the illusion that Africanized-American looters are shooting people when in fact most of the potential looters are quietly and sadly waiting for help seeing as they are the 47% and therefore fat, lazy, stupid, dependant, non-white Democratic Party voters, not bootstrapy strong Libertarian white men like the average looter.

Speaking of state-sponsored criminal classes, how are the super-rich and other Republicans holding out uptown? Do they take comfort that they have won the battle, even as they lose the war? Does the fact that the 47% downtown are starving, with power and unable to post to their Facebook and Twitter accounts console them for their losses on the political front?

After all, Katrina gave Republicans just what they wanted, as did the Bush administration. But with Obama in office, there's actually a snowball's chance in Hell poor people will receive, to use an unpopular four letter word, H-E-L-P, if only after the Election.

I hope they vote in record numbers. At least they'll be able to keep warmer in line for a polling booth. Maybe they can burn their ballots or use them for toilet paper. A good and proper use for ballots in a completely farked-up democracy, I feel and think.

Nature and God have once again shiat upon the Republican Party Platform. And I'm not just tallking about the Richard the Third standing there befuddled by so many lies he can't remember what he said a moment ago let alone yesterday.

"I don't why that should matter. We pay into just like anybody else does," Ken Fisko said. "It's government funded, and we all know we fund the government."

No, you didn't "pay in". This isn't an insurance pool. You didn't bother to buy that. This is emergency relief for people who are in danger of losing everything and ending up homeless. If you have a second home, that isn't you.

settlements on barrier islands shouldn't be covered by FEMA, or private insurance. BAYR

Bundalo: I said "Ma'am, if this house ever needs flood insurance, we've got a whole lot more to worry about than water in the basement."

You're absolutely confident that your house can withstand water falling from the sky (frozen or liquid), that no storm surge can touch you, that no wind-driven water will get behind the outer boundary of your house, that the land won't soak and seep in from underneath...you're not expecting any severe rainstorms so long as you live in that house on the hill, forever and ever, amen?

Good luck.

// and also, if you live outside a floodplain, your policy would cost almost nothing
// is $50/year too much to have total peace of mind when it comes to rain/flood? Bear in mind, home insurers love hearing that water damaged your property - it means they can weasel out of paying SO much easier

Speaking about parables about ungrateful snots:

A fellow was stuck on his rooftop in a flood. He was praying to God asking the government for help.

Soon a man in a rowboat came by and the fellow shouted to the man on the roof, "Jump in, I can save you."

The stranded fellow shouted back, "No, it's OK, I'm praying to God and he FEMA is going to save me."

So the rowboat went on.

Then a motorboat came by. "The fellow in the motorboat shouted, "Jump in, I can save you."

To this the stranded man said, "No thanks, I'm praying to God and he is going to save me. FEMA will do everything for me. I have faith."

So the motorboat went on.

Then a helicopter came by and the pilot shouted down, "Grab this rope and I will lift you to safety."

To this the stranded man again replied, "No thanks, I'm praying to God and he is going to save me. FEMA will send out a truckload of cash for my second home. I have faith."

So the helicopter reluctantly flew away.

Soon the water rose above the rooftop and the man drowned. He went to Heaven. went down. He finally got his chance to discuss this whole situation with God FEMA, at which point he exclaimed, "I had faith in you but you didn't save me, you let me drown didn't pay for everything ten seconds after the water left. I don't understand why!"

To this God FEMA replied, "I sent you a rowboat and a motorboat and a helicopter, what more did you expect?"   

/For some reason, this popped into my head.

JacksonBryan: ThatGuyGreg: TFA:

FEMA won't award grants for damage to second homes.

Good. Fark 'em, that's what insurance is for.

It won't duplicate benefits paid by private insurance, so homeowners must settle claims before FEMA will evaluate, said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate.

Also good.

And most of its recovery aid comes in the form of low-interest disaster loans, he said.

I'm ok with that too. Being a victim isn't winning the lottery; you still have to be a grownup.

Done. Absolutely agreed.