Katrina - round-up

[kangeiko]

- metaquotes has been running some truly fascinating stuff on Katrina:

wicked_wish has some very good points to make here on the problems of fleeing an imminent disaster zone and what to do when you can't.

grennie compares the presentation of 'looting' and 'finding' here.

- elke_tanzer has a list of useful links (hat tip penknife).

- dphearson talks about her visit to Gulfport here.

And, again, from metaquotes: the Red Cross doesn't access blood donations from gay people, even in times of crisis. Now, I remember back when I gave blood that I was asked whether I had slept with any man without a condom, whether I had ever been pregnant, and whether I took any drugs. I don't remember a question on homosexuality. Is this because I'm a woman, or because I'm British? Hmmm.

ETA: And then there's Iraq, where up to 1,000 people are feared dead in a stampede.

I am cleaning my house and listening to Radio 4 and generally thinking that horrible things are happening the world over.

Comments

[queenspanky.livejournal.com]

They should ask you if you have slept with a bi-sexual or gay man who had been sexually active with other men in his life. Then if you say yes, they tell you to hit the road. It's what happened to me. So I can never give blood.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

I don't remember a question on homosexuality. Is this because I'm a woman, or because I'm British? Hmmm.

Everybody knows we can't take blood from these dodgy British fellows -- who knows where *they*'ve been?

...Oh, no, wait, we do know: On that island of theirs, in the North Sea.

Maybe we should accept their blood, seeing as it might just be better-preserved than ours?

/verbal dadaism

[kangeiko]

Oh, I remember that! I told them that I hadn't asked, as I'd never asked his name and it seemed rude to inquire about past sexual partners. :)

On the other hand, I can't give blood anyway because every time I try they strap me to a table and force-feed me biscuits, with anxious nurses hovering over me and asking me for the name of my GP and have I eaten today?

House still not clean. Am contemplating seppuku.

[kangeiko]

*spack*

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

*giggle*




((Boy, we are SO mature...))

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

There used to be a series called "You Can't Do That On Television," and one of its usual sequences was what was termed "the Opposite Sketches," in which everything seemed turned upside down, and nothing was as it should be. There are times when I watch the news and think I must be in the middle of the Opposite Sketches.

[lilka.livejournal.com]

It's because you're a woman. However, they should have asked you if you'd had sex with a man who'd ever had sex with another man within the last twelve months. If the answer was 'yes' you wouldn't have been allowed to give blood. *tries to control how incredibly angry this whole issue makes her*