Some evacuees see religious message in Katrina

Brant, 36, a truck driver who, like many of the refugees receiving public assistance in Houston, Texas, is black.

Can they honestly see how this is NOT racist?

See, this negro used to hate white folks, but now he's seen the light and realizes he must thank massa for helping him.

but I made a comment that I had meant nothing by in a post a few days ago and it caused such an uproar that the post I needed to see was deleted cuz it did not hold up to the DU rules.

But racism, this is a very serious problem. I don't understand it, and I don't know what we need to do about it, how we need to go about it, but it is very serious. To be honest, a week ago I didn't think it even existed anymore. Today, I realize it is so rampant and ugly and horrible and real that thousands of people die and suffer and spend every minute of their day living in it.

Don't flame me. Teach me. Help me understand.

some time ago and I can't find it either. I thought I might be imagining it but now I see that my tin-foil-hat should be two-ply. Did xenophobia come up in your thread?

So, there will be a propaganda response, that attempts to paper over the gap. I suppose we will see a lot more 'be happy' stories like this.

Did this *African American man" look like a black version of Karl Rove by any chance?

of white people. So to tell the story it was, one of the few times, where mentioning race was germaine.

would that be those of the 700 Club?

That event is widely thought to have been a key contributor to the enlightenment. On the other hand, terrific disasters can cause people to turn more sharply to superstition. For the record, I don't consider all religious belief to be superstition, but much public belief has that sense these days.

about what you mean about the Lisbon earthquake?

I know it's a busy time with so much to read, write and do...and I know I could google some research on it. So just if you have the time and inclination.

This is from memory, so it may not be entirely correct, but it gives the gist of it.

It was rather like the tsunami, an earthquake and a tidal wave. The churches were full when it hit. I think it hit several times - the earthquake, then half hour later or so the tidal wave took many other survivors. Then the city burned. The death toll was huge, maybe over 100,000.

The fact that so many died while in church was hard on people's faith. It was such a huge natural evil, that it was hard to square with traditional theology. Voltaire wrote quite a famous poem to that effect. I think he mocked the notion that the universe was the best of all possible worlds (a mainstay of traditional theology).

I think historians say that this provided a major intellectual impetus to the secular values of the enlightenment. A sort of "God helps those who help themselves" mentality became ascendant, and the scientific worldview was one response.

Here's a Wikipedia article on it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1755_Lisbon_earthquake

The sin city of NO got punished by god?

Was he one of the guys that was drinking outside of the convention center?

This makes no sense whatsoever IMO

Actually, it seems as he were very prejudiced against whites, perhaps with some justice. White guys must have saved his life and brought him to safety, when before he might have suffered at the hands of rednecks.

the language of this article is intended to inflame the emotions and is racist at it's core.

all kinds of people may have some spiritual/religous feelings about katrina and it's effects -- they find one african american, who self confessed didn't trust white folk, and he's had a spiritual awakening regarding white folk.

now back that story up with it's al queada reference against the images we've been seeing on telley and you can see that deep down hatred the writer of the story and the publisher of the story has.

Mr. Brant will be eating his words when he learns the truth, and maybe he'll have more contempt for the white folks than ever.

Shame, shame, shame on bush's lily-white a**.