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Don’t believe all the bad you hear about Saudi Arabia. It is far freer and more open that you are generally led to believe in the states.

I know, because I live in Riyadh and had my eyes opened when I came over her.

However, for people like Mrs. (?) Mercadel, who appear to be nothing but baby factories who do nothing but suck off the teat of government, I say enough is enough. Unless she is disabled, she should be earning money to cover at least a significant percentage of her expenses.

To those that you have described, I say “what do you need so that you can return to being self-sufficient?” Maybe I can help. To the welfare queens and those who will not work, but instead rely on government to provide everything, I say “stop picking my pocket.”

(Now New Orleans itself was a mess, and the governments of NO and Louisiana did nothing to improve the situation. Those governments need serious overhauling.)

I have another friend who has a permanant limp, it is hard for him to walk, and going up stairs is nearly impossible. I think we should protect him and just take money from hard working people so he can live without working. I think his life would be so much better.

I also know many divorced people, some with and some withouch children, but the horror of going through a divorce is just too much, and I think they need to be given tax dollars from some hard working person so they can cope with the pain of the loss.

Al Gore was robbed from being president by the supreme court. All those voters are having an enormously hard time coping with this. It has resulted in mass mental retardation along with depression, paranoia and other illnesses which is being called Bush Derangement Syndrome. These people I really feel sorry for and I think that they need more help than all the rest, I think the only solution to this problem is to buy them plane tickets to the particular Socialist Government ran country they prefer. Maybe Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia or Sudan would be willing to help these poor poor people and give them lifetime work free permits.

I’m sorry you lost your family home and neighborhood. I’m sure you personally are not the type of person that looked to the governemnt for your next handout. I am sure there were plenty of other homeowners in NO who are hard workers and good, solid people.

You asked -”And I love the often said comment – they chose to live in a flood zone/bowl/below sea level/whatever. These people have lived there lives there – raised families, owned businesses, been here for generations. When were they supposed to move?”

Since 1871, New Orleans has been hit or brushed by a hurricane every 3.78 years.

I, for one, would certainly look to at least move inland a ways before I reached retirement age. LONG before retirement age.

I also can’t help but wonder (being a new teacher who student taught at a low-SES school) how much of that money for expensive shoes, clothes and toys comes from unreported income from criminal activity? It’s not like you get a W-2 from dealing drugs or whatever… No “normal” job, you “look” poor to the government when applying for welfare…

I was a teacher at a Houston elementary school where 90% of the kids were on free and reduced lunches. They were considered poor enough by the school district to not have to pay for their meals (breakfast and lunch). Yet, these kids wore designer clothes and shoes and bragged about how much they cost. They talked about their Playstation 2 and all the games they played on it and most had cable TV. They all had central heat and a/c.

So, how poor are they really? I know there are poor people who really and truly have nothing. But some of these supposed poor people are doing way better than the poor in 3rd world countries. And they continue to take handouts from the government and mismanage what money they do have so they can wear the latest fashion and buy the hottest video game.

This is welfare gone wrong. It just leads to irresponsibility and the inability to get your priorities right.

We need to stop giving so many handouts and get some of these people to step up and actually take care of themselves. And they need to stop thinking that somehow they are entitled to government funds.

To commenter #74: I see that you beat me to the punch with the math. Good job!

I went to the Mississippi coast in the spring of 2006 to help rebuild, and I visited both Biloxi, MS and NOLA. Both have sections of desperately poor people financially. The differences in attitudes are amazing and quite telling, though. It’s no wonder that Mississippi has bettered itself from the disaster and NOLA continues to backslide.

Fist things first, the youngest kid is 18 months. Do the math and you’ll find that means that she got herself knocked up during the storm. She has furthered her own disaster.

Secondly, if the 17, 15, and 14 year olds were truly helping, the 17 year old would be working the legal maximum as another cashier, and the 15 and 14 year olds would be babysitting at home and elsewhere. Between all the possible sources of income, they could surely make ends meet. The article didn’t mention such income, so I have to assume that only the mother is earning anything toward family life.

Boo freaking hoo. What is amazing is that, somehow, the school of hard knocks fails to teach these lessons.