What's your take on this?

I got this in an e-mail from my stepmother:

"Guys I just wanted to share some information that was just relayed to me. A guy I know spoke to his friend that works at the police department this morning and he told him something that he said you probably won't see on the news - which you will figure out why when reading. He informed him that everyone needs to be extremely careful right now and to tune in to what is really happening around you. He said that we need to remember that there are thousands of good people that are elderly, children and helpless being housed with people that are criminals and dope addicts going through withdrawals out of no choice.

He said that there has already been a rape in the dome of a woman by two men and they are writing graffiti on the walls and some are going through withdrawals and have been violent to innocent people. He said that these people can not be contained to the dome and some are desperate and that desperate people do things that they might not ordinarily do. He said to heighten your awareness and to put your intelligence ahead of your pity. He said to not drive with your doors unlocked because there has been some cases in Louisiana and one in Texas of carjacking. When you pump gas, lock the car doors till you get finished. Don't open your doors for solicitation.

No one from Red Cross or a reliable organization will go door to door. Do not open your window to speak to people that are on the side of the road. Some might be from the disaster but some may just be taking advantage of the situation and you and you might be in danger to open your window.

He said to do your donations to the Red Cross or other reliable source. He said that we need to remember that there are thousands of good people but they are being housed with the bad out of no choice. They need our help but not to try to go alone to do it for your own safety. Bring donations to the drop off locations or notify someone to pick it up.

I passed this on, because I have been kinda in a trance from the disbelief of the magnitude of this. When he told me this, I just
couldn't believe that people could hurt someone that was trying to help or someone that is in a bad situation the same as you. I thought why is he saying this, those people are hurting they surely wouldn't hurt others that are helping, but after thinking about it, I realized that there are thousands of people with nothing and nothing to lose, they need help.This is sad but it is realistic, I just wanted to pass it on to you because I just wanted you to be alert to what danger could be out there to you and your family which ordinarily might not be because of desperation. Please make your children and friends aware that their sadness for the situation could be taken advantage of.

We need to all pray really hard right now."

Does this whole "warning" strike anyone besides me as a wee bit racist? I don't recall such "warnings" going out after the hurricanes hit Florida last year. I've even read that the Red Cross "does not recommend" that people offer their extra rooms to house Katrina refugees. I'm fully aware of the violence that's taken place in the aftermath of Katrina. New Orleans is a high crime city under the best of circumstances. If we were seeing image after image of suffering poor WHITE people, I don't think I'd be hearing and reading these "warnings".

Living in Texas, well, you can imagine the right wing hooey we have to listen to on a regular basis. Thank God I had the good sense to relocate to Austin. Anyway, I get various right wing religious yada yada yada on a regular basis from my stepmom, and this message from her was just the last straw for me. Not to mention, I'm 40-freakin-8 years old! Does she think I'm some kind of idiot?

My response to her:

"I don't recall any of these kind of warnings when the hurricanes hit Florida. Could it be because more of the victims were WHITE?

Perhaps I haven't been clear about my political beliefs. I'm a Democrat. I think the current occupants of the White House are evil men who are causing generations of hurt upon our country. Please do not send me any more right wing whatever. Normally I just ignore it, but I really don't even want to see it arrive in my e-mail anymore."

and her response (yes, it was in all caps):

"I DIDN'T SEE THAT THE WARNING ARTICLE PERTAINED TO REPUBLICANS OR DEMOCRANTS. THERE ARE PEOPLE THAT ARE DANGEROUS IN LARGE MIXED GROUPS LIKE IN THE SUPER DOME. THEY COULD BE EITHER BLACK OR WHITE. REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT.

I WOULDN'T HAVE VOTED FOR CLINTON IF HE WAS A REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT. I KNEW PEOPLE FROM ARKANSAS THAT TOLD ME THAT HE WAS A DO NOTHING GOVENOR. I RESEARCH AND THEN VOTE. IT MAY BE FOR EITHER PARTY DEPENDING ON THE PERSON AND WHAT THEY STAND FOR. IN RESEARCHING HISTORY IT CAN BE FOUND THAT THE REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRAT PARTIES STAND FOR THE DIRECT OPPOSITE THAT THEY STOOD FOR WHEN THE PARTIES WERE FIRST FORMED. I DO BELIEVE IN A PERSON HAVING THE RIGHT TO VOTE AS THEY CHOOSE. ALSO TO READ OR DELETE THE EMAILS THEY RECEIVE AND TO EXPRESS THEIR FEELINGS. YOUR FEELINGS ARE NOW KNOWN AND I WILL NOT INSULT YOU WITH ANOTHER ONE."

Honestly, I do think she's basically a kind and patient woman. After all, she lives with my father (OY).

taking on your mom.

Fortunately, my mother (a life long Republican) saw the light and hates BushCo. Of course it might have helped that I told her I would disown her if she voted for anything even vaguely resembling a Republican when I moved her north and she had to reregister. She's 91 soon to be 92, by the way.

and I barely know her. My dad's an alcoholic and we didn't speak for 10 years. We just started talking again after my mother's death last year.

and a dollar short. All kinds of horrors happened at the Superdome, and it finally got evacuated, when was it, yesterday?

Many newer cars automatically lock the doors once you're going faster than 15 mph, which personally makes me crazy. I want to decide when to lock my doors, not some idiot focus group out there. (I've been on focus groups, and I know how unreliable they are.)

Carjackings occur and they sometimes lead to tragedy. One basic rule is to NEVER leave your car running while you run inside a Quik Trip or whatever to get something. Never. Never. Never. I cannot emphasize that enough. However, sometimes criminals carjack from someone simply stopped at a red light. And lots of carjackings are done by white guys.

Terrible things happen all the time, and aside from taking sensible precautions, I'm not sure there's a lot more you can do.

as the undertone, imo.