I saw this tonight on one of the evening news shows

[Ken Burch]

They referenced a credit union in Moore, OK(the town with NO public tornado shelters, just as Oklahoma City has none)and its "extra-reinforced" vaults that protected the bank's assets from the storms.

That's right...the money was protected, while the people were left at the mercy of the freaking tornadoes that have gone through this area since Time Immemorial and will just keep going through there.

Great values there. Nice to see what is really valued in that part of the country by the folks who run it.

My best wishes for recovery to the people of Moore, but this shows us what they are REALLY up against.

[NYC_SKP]

1. Everyone's jewels and cash are safe. Their children and families, not so safe.

It does, after all, reflect our values as a culture.

I mean look at how little we pay teachers versus college coaches.

[Cal33]

18. Sociopaths are running our country - both in government and in private industry. Since we allowed

them to rule over us (we voted for them, didn't we?) this is what we get.

[msongs]

2. most banks have vaults that are probably tornado proof. @ one bank ppl stayed in the vault and lived

[Betsy Ross]

3. 22 people waited out the T. in the vault and were saved. n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. Exactly - there's nothing to criticise the credit union about at all

Bank vault saves 22 lives in Oklahoma tornado

A bank vault saved 22 lives in Moore, Okla., when Dena Clark and 21 other people rode out the storm inside the vault at the Tinker Federal Credit Union.

Clark says she was in the middle of a transaction when the sirens went off.

The vault- encased in 2 feet of concrete- was the only thing left standing once they all got out safely.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/national_world&id=9113760

[Jenoch]

4. The credit union vaults were not

built to protect the contents from tornadoes. I understand your frustration, but you are barking up the wrong tree.

[DemocratsForProgress]

5. The only thing on earth some of the children of that town might inherit

is whatever their parents managed to secure in the vault of that credit union. You couldn't possibly be implying you'd prefer that their inheritance were gone with the wind, could you? Whose money do you think that was?

[jtuck004]

7. 9 of them won't be inheriting a fucking thing. n/t

[DemocratsForProgress]

9. not responsive n/t

[jtuck004]

10. I wonder...when someone sticks their head in the sand, does it get in their ears? n/t

[DemocratsForProgress]

11. see post #9

[jtuck004]

12. No need. Already got the non-answer.

And it ignores the fact that all that money was FDIC insured. Could have been blown to Tulsa, they don't lose a dime.

They did lose sons, daughters, wives, husbands, fathers, mothers, and especially pets.

Fat lot of good that stupid vault, or the football stadium, or any of the other wasteful things go them.

[Ken Burch]

16. Actually, it's directly responsive.

Protecting the money is meaningless if you don't protect the human beings.

At the very least, every financial institution in town could have announced, when the 16 minute warning was issued, that they'd open their vaults as temporary shelters.

Nobody was going to rip them off in that situation, for God's sake.

Protecting money is NEVER more important than keeping children alive in a moment of danger.

[Ken Burch]

15. The point is, the town SHOULD have spent as much effort protecting the CHILDREN

as the credit union did protecting the money.

IT's about a twisted set of values.

[ErikJ]

6. Give the land back to the buffalo and Native Americans.

My dream is to restore the 10's of millions buffalo herds habitat in a huge national park from Texas to Canada for their migration, the largest national park in the world.

American Buffalo: Spirit of a Nation
Buffalo were the lords of the prairie. To European settlers traveling across America’s Great Plains in the early 1800s, the prairie wind was a constant companion: a gentle whisper echoing across the vast sea of grass that carpeted the center of the North American continent. Sometimes, however, the rumbling of thunder could be heard in the distance, though no storm clouds could be seen. Then the ground would begin to tremble, and suddenly the astonished newcomers would be surrounded by a thundering herd of hulking animals that stretched further than the eye could see. The majestic welcoming committee made it clear that the settlers had, at last, arrived in the buffalo nation — a land where tens of million of American Bison held sway.

The NATURE program American Buffalo: Spirit of a Nation tells the sad story of how the buffalo nation was destroyed nearly a century ago by greed and uncontrolled hunting — and how a few visionaries are working today to rebuild the once-great bison herds. It offers a remarkable portrait of America’s last significant wild bison herd, made up of a few thousand animals living within Montana’s Yellowstone National Park. And it highlights the efforts of Native American leaders dedicated to bringing back the animal that once gave life to their tribes. “Buffalo have to be there for our culture to exist,” says Fred DuBray, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe who appears in American Buffalo. “As we bring our herds back to health, we will also bring our people back to health.”

Like people, the buffalo — known to scientists as Bison bison — came to North America long ago from Asia, crossing a land bridge that once connected Siberia to Alaska. The early bison were enormous lumbering animals, weighing up to 5,000 pounds and sporting horns that spanned more than six feet across.


Bison can weigh up to a ton.

Bison can weigh up to a ton. Over time, however, the North American stock evolved into trimmer beasts. Still, modern bison can weigh up to 2,000 pounds; they can be more than a dozen feet long and stand up to six feet tall at their massive shoulder hump, which serves as a storehouse for energy-rich fat.
..............................more

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/american-buffalo-spirit-of-a-nation/introduction/2183/

[galileoreloaded]

14. now that ius a good idea. nt

[DCKit]

8. It's a plot by a single mild-mannered bank teller:

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4704489146353760&pid=15.1

[CBGLuthier]

13. Do they not have bank vaults where you live? That seems weird

Really this one is some low stupid shit you folks are stirring.

[Ken Burch]

20. Yes, they do, but I'm not living in Tornado Alley.

And where I live, equal importance is placed on protecting money AND protecting people.

The banks and credit unions of the tornado zone, together with other "entrepreneuers" in the area(most of whom are flush with recently stolen-sorry, "earned"-profits) could pool funds from to create temporary shelters(where large groups could gather for the relatively short periods of time each tornado passes through). They could even make it part of their "brand", since that always has to be part of getting them to act like human beings.

[Ilsa]

21. Wolf Blitzer needs to ask

those pearls if they thanked god for sparing them.