So, you think it’s okay to loot, do ya? – Pukin on Looting.

[Pukin Dog]

Since I am not flying this week due to a lack of gasoline, I have a little time on my hands. Ya think that if I can fill my Hummer, my employer could fill my 777? Oh well. Since I’m around, I thought I would share my thoughts on what I am seeing on television and on the Internet over the course of the last couple of days, primarily my thoughts on looting.

Before I get into looting, I want to share a few thoughts on the plight of the poor in America. I make a point of going to Home Depot every Saturday, whether I need anything or not. It gives me ideas for my homes, just walking through the place. I never leave empty handed. One thing you can’t miss at any Home Depot in San Diego County is the number of men, some legal, some not, who are standing there all day, every day looking for work as Day Laborers.

When I see these men, I am always reminded that if you have either an education, a work ethic or both in America, then it is damn hard to become and remain poor, and that those who find themselves in that situation largely come from an attitude of hopelessness and victimhood, and generally lack the brain-power or motivation to change their circumstances for the better.

Most illegal aliens who come to America via the southern border are looking for work, hoping to send money back to family in Mexico. I get the general sense that these are people who love their families, and are willing to do whatever they can to support them. I have no doubt that were I born in Mexico, that I would be an illegal alien TODAY, were it the only option that would allow me to feed my family.

Do I hire Day Laborers? Your damn right I do. I have never seen people so willing to work hard for a few bucks. I am known to pay more than I originally offer, and I also feed anyone who works for me. As far as I’m concerned, what you do to feed your children is your business. I realize that many might disagree with me on that, but I don’t care. Often, instead of being dropped off back at the Home Depot, I have been asked to take workers to a Western Union location, so that they can wire money to Mexico.

I believe that these people make up about 90% of illegals coming into America. Is it wrong? Sure. Hungry children living in squalor is more wrong, when their parents are willing to risk death to come to a place where they might earn money to feed and cloth them. Should they have drivers’ licenses? No. Should they get an opportunity to become Americans? Sure, if they do it legally.

Now, suppose that instead of a worker asking me to take them to a Western Union location, they asked me to take them to Nike Town, so that they could pick up the latest Air-Jordans; would that be cool? Oh wait; suppose instead of helping me dig a new pond, or build a retaining wall, they just broke into my home and took money to purchase those Air-Jordans? Hold on; now suppose that they are not even illegals now, with no families needing help south of the border, and just feel the need for a little ‘bling’?

Looters piss me off.

Being born in America is a gift from God. Nowhere on earth are there more opportunities to succeed. You have to WORK at it to be poor in this country, and yet there are those who still feel as though they are entitled to the benefits of the American dream, without the responsibility as citizens to obey our laws. No one need ponder the fact of the racial makeup of the persons doing the vast majority of the looting within the disaster areas from the hurricane; but what strikes me, is the deafening silence of the so-called Black-Leaders, who could gain a few points of credibility in my book, were they to come forward and admonish those who have taken advantage of this crisis to score a larger television set, jewelry or the afore-mentioned Air-Jordans.

When Wal-Mart opens a store to the public and allows persons to “come and take whatever you need to survive” they were NOT referring to that stack of new computers, or that row of DVDs. I don’t care what color you are; if you steal during a crisis by taking advantage of the charity of a corporate entity, you are an animal. If you are a law-enforcement officer, and you join in the looting out of a sense that the man you are going to arrest next week gets higher definition on his plasma than YOU do, then you are a disgusting human being.

At my local Wal-Mart, there is bottled-water stacked to the rafters, but I didn’t see anyone carting away bottled-water. Not baby-food, not batteries and flashlights, not camping gear or raincoats, but you can bet there aint an X-Box to be found in a New Orleans Wal-Mart today. It makes me sick. Does anyone see Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson reminding people that this is wrong and should not occur? Has the idiot Julian Bond come out from his NAACP cultural nap and told anyone to knock it off? Or is the prevailing attitude to be: “Well, they just lost their house; the least we can do is comfort them with the third season of “Six Feet Under” on DVD”. Yeah I know, it’s ‘for the children’.

It seems to me that this would be a perfect opportunity to instill the notion in people that bad things happen to both good and bad people, and that we are blessed to live in a country that affords each of us the opportunity through hard work to prepare ourselves for events like these. I’m telling you, that if you have a big-screen TV in your home, and have to take your children to the doctor in a cab or mass-transit; you are a dammed loser. If you and your 9th grade education only gave you the skills to steal from others, regardless of your race, you have spit on the blessings God has given you.

Raise your hand if you would rather be a minority in Mexico or Africa instead of America. In America, our poor people are richer than 99% of the people in other nations. Just BEING HERE in America is a greater gift than many imagine. Yet some feel that because their gold chain is last year’s model and ‘played out’ that they have a perfect right to smash jewelry counter and update themselves at your expense. That’s right, YOUR EXPENSE. It will be you and I who ends up paying for what others have stolen. Wal-Mart will pay higher insurance premiums, and they will pass it along to YOU in the form of higher prices. So you see, when people steal from Wal-Mart, they are stealing from YOU.

I am beginning to understand why Limbaugh once suggested that the poor be taxed for being poor. You don’t become poor or stay poor in America without working at it. And then these people have children that they cannot afford, and teach them the science of being poor before these kids are old enough to learn better. These children are not taught that for every item on the shelf at a Wal-Mart or a Costco, that someone WORKED to put it there, to make sure the product was safe, to make sure that the product was visible through marketing, to make sure that the cost was held down as much as possible to make it more attractive to you, and so on and so on….. Dammit, somebody worked!

Still, there are those who think its okay to just stroll in and take it, whatever it was, and it should disgust you. The other day at the Chevron station, the thought never occurred to me as the meter on the pump was approaching light-speed, that I should not have to pay for the fact that I choose to drive a big-ass truck with the AC on full just because I like it. Maybe this weekend, when I fill that beast again, I should just bring my pistol with me and TAKE the gas, because I’m feeling a bit oppressed cause ‘my baby’ eats a hundred dollars worth of gasoline a week?

If an idiot like me can make it in America, then anyone can. I don’t have the common sense of a field mouse, (especially around women) but I know that if I don’t work hard, I will be poor. That one is easy. I live in earthquake country, but I know in a disaster I stand a better chance of getting out of town in my truck then the poor bastard in his trendy hybrid. That’s easy too.

The point of this little rant is that looting should NEVER be excused, under ANY circumstances, because we are Americans, and we either believe in God and Country or we do not. And while I would hire anyone, from anywhere, who wanted to trade an honest day’s work for a chance to put food on his table, I would not lift a finger for some rat-bastard who sees an opportunity to sit his fat-ass down in front of a new television to catch Jerry Springer in Hi-Def.

Stop making excuses for them.

[bethtopaz]

Wow! It's amazing - lots of people have read it - Pukin even knows the author. We can learn so much from immigrants. Did you hear Arnold Schwarzeneger (sp? - he's my governator, but i don't know how to spell his name!) at the Republican Convention? He was awesome. He talked about how he came over here from a socialist country. Didn't know anything about Republicans or Democrats, but he heard Nixon on t.v. (guess it was an election year) and asked a friend, "What is he?" "A Republican," his friend said, "Well," said Arnold, "then I am a Republican." He said when he heard the Democratic Nominee speak - it sounded just like the leaders in his socialistic country - Austria. Said he grew up with continual fear of the secret police taking his family away. It was powerful! Made you feel so proud to be an American!

[janetgreen]

#118 - BTTT!

"Compassionate conservatism" gets pretty old when you realize your state is going broke paying for illegal aliens. I'm speaking of Mexifornia, of course.

[gracie1]

I was 20 years old when I read it. I come from a family of die hard democrats. I remember my dads disgust at Reagan being elected Governor in 1966. Needless to say I absorbed a lot of that contempt of conservatism.
At the time I read the book I had a lot of questions on the "fairness" of capitalism. That book opened up my eyes on the results of socialism and marxism. That, and my husband is a "gun nut" who rivals Bert Gummer.

[dfwddr]

GREAT rant PD, please add me to your ping list.

DD - Thanks for the ping!

[bethtopaz]

Wow! What a story! I was raised in an evangelical fundamentalist home by conservative Republicans. My parents weren't really political, but mostly just good Christians who taught me more by their example of love and compassion for others than anything they said. When I was young I found a book in their library called, "I Found God In Soviet Russia," by John Noble. He lived in Russia with his family and because of their politics they were imprisoned in the concentration camps. It made a tremendous impression on me. I guess my life was so idyllic that I wanted to know more about the world, because I knew that it wasn't this way in other places. I went on to learn about the Holocaust and in learning more and more about socialism and fascism, I learned to appreciate my country -- more and more. Also, when I grew up in the 50's, it was a different America. Even when JFK was elected, my parents honored him as their president. I long for those days -- when, despite differences, love of country came first. I hope and pray that the country is moving in that direction again.

Arnold said something to the democrats in the CA legislature recently, and I'd like to think it applies the anti-American left: There's a train that's on the move, and you have three choices: you can either get on the train, watch the train go by, or stand in front of the train, and you know what will happen if you do that." (I paraphrased it as best I could, but you get the point.)

[kilowhskey]

"This aint about race, its about right and wrong, dammit."

Pukin' Dog speaks for me on that one. It all boils down to that single statement.

[wordsofearnest]

You ain't lost nuthin off your fastball!!!!

[kilowhskey]

The pilot's name is Viktor Belenko. Like many immigrants, he became one of the country's best promoters of our nation's virtues and opportunities.

[AFreeBird]

Good rant, Dog.

BUMP

[Czar]

"...Pukin Dog lionizes illegal aliens and..."

Well, that's too bad and unwise of Pukin Dog. Do you suppose we might have identified another quisling? Doesn't look good. We've been trying to thin out the herd.

[narby]

what strikes me, is the deafening silence of the so-called Black-Leaders, who could gain a few points of credibility in my book, were they to come forward and admonish those who have taken advantage of this crisis to score a larger television set, jewelry or the afore-mentioned Air-Jordans.

We bitch about the "moderate" Muslims that won't condem terrorists. This is the same issue. The fact that the black leadership tolerates this hooliganisim is the problem

[gracie1]

My family is depression era, 2nd generation American, FDR democrats. They still have the perception of conservatives in general, and republicans in particular, of being the elite rich. That paradigm has changed. Most of the republicans I know are either self employed, self educated, or otherwise people who came through life up the ranks on their own. Most of the liberals I know are either involved in public employment of some sort, social welfare of some sort, big labor, or some other sort of big nannyism. Or professional victims. Fortunately, a big influence on me ironically is my fathers view on welfare. It is simply this, people need to work for a living, period! Public aid should be only for the disabled or aged. And he hates Ted Kennedy! When he ran for president in 1980, he just shook his head "he will never be able to hold a candle to his brothers".

[Grandma Pam]

PD, you just get better and better. Remind me not to get on your bad side!

I know what you mean about your head exploding--I've been watching the looting footage since I got home from work, and I can feel my blood pressure climbing. The most infuriating thing to me about the looting is that it's looting solely for the sake of looting. If these people have lost their homes and there's no power, what are they going to do with DVD players and flat screen televisions?

[Chgogal]

Yup. I am ashamed of the looters they are disgusting. And the reporters are almost equally disgusting making ridiculous excuses for the looters' barbaric behavior as witnessed by the world. I'm furious at the reporters for legitimizing the looters' behavior. It wouldn't bother me one bit if the looters were stripped of their American citizenship/Green card and sent to a hellhole of my choice.

[Chgogal]

"But in the absence of an economy or electricity, I'd see little value in a television, either. Nothing justifies the wholesale stealing of electronics, jewelry and valuables. It's an interesting study in human behavior, to be sure."

As long as this "interesting study" is NOT done in my house or neighborhood and preferably in YOUR neighborhood I will find this behavior barely acceptable. This is simply a natural human response on my part. ;)

[HairOfTheDog]

You wish it on me? Whyever for? Was there something in my post that led you to believe I would wish it on anyone, or found the witnessed behavior acceptable?

[Chgogal]

Thanks for the ping.

[Pukin Dog]

If these people have lost their homes and there's no power, what are they going to do with DVD players and flat screen televisions?

Most likely, they are going to sell them at pawn shops for cash, or in their back-alleys for drugs.

[herewego]

The problem with my rants is that they are not strategic. I just get pissed off and start typing whatever is on my mind. Some people like what I write, some don't. I do it because it keeps my head from exploding.

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Best post I have read in a while, please add me to your ping list.
Thanks!!

[tet68]

This is why we see liberals fighting so hard against the
fair tax.