It seems as though some people are really not caring about what is really going on here. I guess it just needs to hit you really hard before you really understand. I have a friend that lives (lived) on the coast and his house is now gone, his Supra, his Skyline, corvette, EVERYTHING. Thank god he and his family is okay. He said they are in Tampa and are going to have to start back at the beginning, and I mean beginning because he has nothing but the clothes on his back and the car they used to get out of there. Gas prices need to be the LAST of our worries. Atleast we still have our houses, family and everything else.

Matthew Haynes

 

True....I am a huge supporter of Feed The Children who constantly help American poor children...not just during disasters.....

91% goes to the kids while only 9% goes towards administration......most charities are not even close to that amount.

They are already on site with 10 semi trucks loads of food and clothes and it's not the military ready to eaters. It's mostly name brand stuff donated by major corps like Cambells, Kelloggs etc....

Bottom line.....even if it's 25, 50 100, or 1000....just give to whomever you feel led to.

I know many here already have and do.....and thanks.

 

ask your friend which agencies/charities are actually helping. for 9/11, the donations to the red cross weren't handled in the best of ways. would be great to find an entity we could donate to that is really making an impact.

as for chatting about our cars, everyone keep it up. i know the car for me is a source for inspiration and fun, and all of us know how hard we work each day. working hard leads to good money which leads to the ability to make good contributions/impacts when a disaster like this comes along.

i'm sure everyone's thoughts and prayers are with the families and survivors of katrina.

Matthew, a good charity name would be very helpful to those of us miles away from the area. Thanks.

 

MHaynes772 - I truly sympathize with your friend, that has had this horrible thing happen to him and his family, as I do for all those affected by Katrina in and around the New Orleans area. The reality is that our whole social / economic system depends on consuming goods and services and part of those activities involves talking about relative pricing, of those goods and services, with your friends and acquaintances.

So I say keep up the consumer habits, however if you have the ability to help those in need then do what you can to help while going about your normal social / economic activities. - Bob

 

I agree with you. I guess I was just getting caught in the moment because every forum I went to was mainly about, how did the cars make it through, and materials thing are important, but when you look at the people in New Orleans, I would be scared sh*tless to be there right now. They have nothing, and the are going MENTALLY INSANE because of it. But anyway, I just got word that another friend from Biloxi made it out, but many of his friends were killed. TV is not showing you what really is going on. It is much much worse.

Here's a story from a fellow Supra owner from New Orleans...

First off I wanted to post what REALLY is going on in this city. Please don't get this thread locked people. The news stations are only showing a minuscule of reality. This post may offend some people but I will post what I saw, like it or not it is REALITY.
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Well last night I was watching the 6pm news when they announced the 17th street canal pumps failed as well as another break in the levee. My house is right off St. Charles Ave. and up to 6pm yesterday is was the only part of the city that was dry. Since the pumps failed and the new break St. Charles Ave. would be under 9ft of water in the next 12-15hrs. My brother and I felt if we wanted to save anything we had to leave NOW. We loaded up flashlights, rope, our medical ID's, both our .45 Glocks, 2 shotguns and rode out. En-route we listened to the radio which broad casted all the news about the looters and what not, in hindsight it was a mistake. My mother didn't want us to go by dad who is a Vietnam vet told to be safe and "shoot to kill" if it ever comes to that.

One the way we had to pass 5-6 checkpoints to allow entry into the city. We stated we were medical personnel who were activated, showed our ID and off we went. On the radio reports were coming in about the officer who was shot in the head, the 2 gunman who opened fired on the NOPD station, and how looters were carjacking cars to get out of the city. This started making my brother nervous and giving seconds thoughts.

Anyway we get to the city and it looks like a freaking war zone. The best visual I can give is the movie "Blackhawk Down" when all the Somalians are rushing the city. They are people EVERYWHERE, they are pissed off, and all have weapons, 2X4's, Axes, and guns. If this wasn't bad enough we are 2 white boys in a truck in a sea several hundred armed pissed off blacks. There wasn't a white person to be found. I couldn't get over the little 8-10yr old kids with weapons, I ever saw one carry a claw hammer!

These people were absolutely nuts rammed trucks(stolen I'm sure) in to jewelry stores stealing items, they were tearing apart Wal-Mart carrying out TV's, Playstations, DVD players, etc. One lady was wheeling out an entire rack of merchandise, not sure what it was but sure wasn't clothes for food. They were all laughing and carrying on like it's freaking Christmas.

We got stuck in traffic when we see the group of guys walking down the street w/ AK-47's, at that point the "pucker factor" kicked in, a couple Glocks and shotguns were no match for that. We haul azz trying to get to Uptown when we see these people chopping down the front door w/ an axe of this $4-5 million dollar mansion on ST. Charles Ave. I was just in total awe because it was so surreal. Making matters worse it's 11pm at night there is no electricity and you really can see anything or anyone until they are right up on you.

Our plan was to be in and out in 30min, this included putting his Harley on the trailer. It would have taken me 5-10min tops to get my stuff, all I wanted was my pictures from college, my clothes/shoes, and my computer tower. Well he got scared saying we are going to get jumped while putting the bike on the trailer. Keep in mind this is the only area in the city that is dry. So just like rats who move to higher ground these people were doing the same. Word must have gotten out that Uptown was dry so there started to be a large influx of people.

Needless to say he wanted to go home rather than take our chances. While it was the smart thing to do I was beyond infuriated w/ him because we made it this far. He just kept saying our lives aren't worth it. So we turned around, our next challenge was getting out of the city while not getting jacked. Reports came out that people were jumping in the back of truck holding the drivers at gunpoint. Traffic started to slow so I just nailed it got out as fast as I could.

Even though he was the voice of reason I'm still pissed. All I have is my life and the clothes on my back. I lost my house(which is now 9ft underwater) ALL my clothes, TV, computer, furniture, and photo albums and videos from childhood and college. What makes this worse is my brother owned the house and I was a tenant and I didn't have renters insurance, hindsight is 20/20.

I also hope everyone of the ****ing looters get Tetanus, E-Coli and F*(KING drown. I'm serious I really hope the all die for what they were doing to the city, killing people, and destroying homes. Never in my life have I ever seen people act live savages, it was truly sicking.


Here is the *update* thread I posted today...

Well I attempted fate again and went back to the city. Didn't want to start a flame fest so I figured I'd post afterward. Most of you will not/do not understand WHY I went back but I think some will. This time we went in broad daylight and initially there was to be five but ended up three. We were armed w/ two pistols each(plus 2 back up) and each having 12-gague shot guns (Police/Military spec Remington 870). Once again we were force through 5 checkpoints had to show ID. At the last checkpoint the State Trooper asked "Are you carrying" to which we said yes and he then replied "Good, you may have to use them."

Overall the Westbank of the city is pretty dry, surprisingly. We exited at Tchoupitoulas and it is right near the Superdome w/people everywhere. The road was clear and we didn't stop. First we went to my buddy's house on Magazine which was dry as a bone, no water what so ever. My bro and I set up a perimeter while Lance went inside to get his stuff. Heilo's were everywhere, Coast Guard, local oil company, Huey's and even Blackhawks. I'm outside and these two people pass pushing a shopping car and the women is staring at the gun. She said "Damn dat's a big 'ole gun, I just smiled and shook my head "yes". A truck full of National Guards pass by and when they saw us they cheered "Who Hoo" I'm assuming b/c the guns. What was frightening was they they didn't have any guns! We finished there and went on to my house. I was pretty pumped because Lance's house was dry and only a couple blocks down from mmine on the other side of St. Charles. Well my joy shortly faided when every street was covered with water and 200yr old oak branches. We turn the corner and see one of the famous historic New Orleans homes, I mean MANSION to be inhabited by a family who OBVIOUSLY did not live there. I mean this is easily a $5-6 million dollar home and these people are sitting on the porch, kids playing football in the yard, clothes strung out on the lawn. I just couldn't believe it.

The closest I could get to the house without submerging the truck was 5 blocks,great. Water was up to my waist and I'm 5'10. At one point we had o "tightrope walk" across a cemetery wall because the water was so deep it was easily over our heads. As we are walking we are passing families sitting on the porch just watching us, I felt sorry for them. We finally make it to the house and there is about 4ft of water in front which is good because the house is 6ft off the ground. I was happy the house was dry and not looted. We check the house and it's safe and we grab the bare essential, clothes, pictures, documents. I had to leave my new TV, computer, stereo, etc. Well I had about 50lbs in each hand which I soon learned was too much. I'm not weak by any means but carrying 80-100lbs that many blocksabove water was WORK!. Sadly we couldn't get the Harley, but for now it is safe and dry. We gave the family on the porch a couple gallons of water from the truck on the way back.

Next we go to Lance's GF's house and while I'm outside making sure everything is cool a neighbor walks up w/ a sidearm and asked if the Military has arrived yet. I tell him about the troops that rode by earlier and he stated he's shot at several people trying to loot neighbor's houses and cars. He was out of 12 gauge buckshot so I gave him a box.

So we are loaded up and heading toward the bridge when we pass the Wal-Mart on Tchoupitoulas and see two soldiers guarding the store. We pull up to talk to him and I guess he saw the shotguns and he IMMEDIATELY drew his weapon. I'm still now certain what type of fully automatic rifle it was (no M16 or anything like that). Anyway we all put our hands up and ask him if it was safe to exit up ahead and if he needed anything like water, ammo, etc. He said "I'll take all the ammo you can spare". I asked if they are low already and he stated that in anticipation of the storm they sent all the weapons and ammo to Jackson,Ms and it flooded before they could get to them. So THAT is why none of the Guardsmen are carrying. We gave him all the ammo we had minus what was in our clips. So they ended up w/ around 5-6 boxes of buckshot and 150-200 rounds of hollow point .45

He then said 'Be careful up ahead they are rioting at the Superdome. Whatever you do DO NOT STOP. We leave and take the on ramp and infront of us is 200-300 people blocking the on ramp trying to get out of the city. We put out guns to the windows(they have been carjacking every car leaving the city) held the horn and never dropped below 15mph. People were moving away then rushing the truck but after seeing the guns they backed off. I really felt bad for some of those people because they looked tired and have a looong walk ahead of them but we weren't taking any chances

 

That is crazy. His account is something you'd hear happening in an undeveloped, poor country, not the US

 

I cannot believe also how these people were acting. I was watching live coverage from CNN and FOX news since the storm hit. Usually when something like this happens everyone pulls together. What I saw,and what MHaynes772 described, is something you should never see in north america. It is one thing to feed your family, but what is happening is totally different. How low can you go? These people have no self-respect, dignity, or humanity; animals do not even act like that. The businesses and homes that are being "raped" by these people is disgusting, they should all be shot. Those low-lives that had nothing lost nothing, and those that had something lost everything.

 

I am speechless.. I can't believe what people turn into when there is no order...

 

have you guys ever been to new orleans? to bourbon street? made the mistake of walking left off of bourbon for 4 blocks?

my buddy did, and we found him in the emergency room with the side of his face looking like it grew a canteloupe.

i grew up in south africa. johannesburg is bad, esp in certain areas, and you watch out, but 4 blocks off of bourbon was worse than joburg. we went looking for his wallet and decided it was best to not even try (in daylight). the projects/slums there are horrible, and crime is considered a given.

now you're seeing on tv why its considered the murder capital of the US. it is also one of the most corrupt places in the US. very old boys network.

funny thing is, i love new orleans. you just have to be careful if you go to visit. stay in the quarter.

 

That makes me sick in the stomach to know that people in this country can behave like wild animals with no humanity towards other people.

 

I wouldn't say just this country. I think people in general regardless of which country in the world behaves the same way when there is anarchy.

 

I wouldn't say that.
If it was complete anarchy, would you loot a store just for some PS2 games?

I do know that you, with a much higher education, would know that PS2 games are worthless, especially in a period like this.