I already heard about looting, coincidentally...

^ it's not LA that's on fire, it's LA Country and the surrounding countites. The inland cities are safe, it's mostly the outlining brush that's blazing. So LA is just a loose term.

Oh yea that's right it is the county and not necessarily the city....up here, people will say they are from San Francisco even if they live near it. Like I live in Concord but will tell people I am from SF even though I have never lived in SF

What's strange is that firefighters from all over the country went to New York when 9/11 happened. California isn't getting the same treatment, when it's no secret that there aren't enough people to do the job.

I guess that is because it was a bigger tragedy than the fires and killed more people....but I understand what you are saying and it would be nice to see firefighters across the nation help SoCal.

I already heard about looting, coincidentally...

Yup, they'll pay Blackwater $950 per person, per day to "keep you safe".

Last Friday's guest on Bill Moyer's Journal on PBS scared the living sh!t out of me.

It looks like 2 fires are about to merge into one.

From what i hear San Diego is actually pretty bad.

This is some scary [!@#$%^&*]

Now let's see how slow the insurance payouts are, even if the claimants have more political power than the Katrina victims...

^ this isn't a first in CA, and it won't be the last. For the most part insurance companies and all of that dealt with things fairly swiftly in 2003. So we can hope that this time will be better and more efficient. So far, everything has been handled even better then it was in 2003. I think for once the CA government hasn't talked out its ass. Hopefully long term efforts will stay this way, and things can really start moving before all the finger pointing starts.

Well, I wouldn't have doubted a decent response from the insurance companies, because we're mainly talking about well to do white families. But since it's the biggest fire in one of the country's most expensive real estate markets, I still anticipate some issues. Time will tell.

^why does this have to turn into a race issue? And no, we're not. Go find some pictures of the people who are staying at Qualcomm and you'll see you wide variety of races. Malibu is different, but still. LOL, this is LA and San Diego Counties, the idea it's predomitenaly white is absurd. Especially in the more rural parts that have burnt down, and the mountians. Some of the areas hit in Malibu and San Diego were upper middle class, but the rest is just your basic everyday working class family home.

Where are these ideas coming from, because it's California? White is a minority in California, especially So. Cal.

Edited October 24, 200718 yr by Kylie

Stenback, are you African-American? I'm so sorry I asked, but I mean nothing wrong. Of course, you don't have to answer.

LOL, this is LA and San Diego Counties, the idea it's predomitenaly white is absurd. Especially in the more rural parts that have burnt down, and the mountians. Some of the areas hit in Malibu and San Diego were upper middle class, but the rest is just your basic everyday working class family home.

Where are these ideas coming from, because it's California? White is a minority in California, especially So. Cal.

Exactly. California is one of the most diverse states you can find and hence why it is, to me, the best one. We got pretty much all kinds of people here especially Asian Americans, African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Native Americans, Pacific Islander

The most important thing here is that people are dying. People are losing their homes. Please let's not argue about this. Let's get back on topic.