Posted on 08/31/2005 9:44:39 AM PDT by 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.
I am outraged and greatly saddened to see such foolish and selfish people cavort in stores and shops....while others are hanging out windows waiting to be rescued.
They are complaining that the bathrooms in the Superdome are filthy - but I'll bet there weren't volunteer clean-up crews and people trying to make straight the chaos...these people are too used to having someone else make decisions for them and take care of them.
Good Rant.
Thanks for sharing that! And I agree with your dad about Ted Kennedy. I'm a great admirer of both John and Bobby. Even though raised a Republican we loved JFK and Jacqueline and when Bobby was killed, I was 15 and I cried while we drove from Indiana to Florida to vacation for a week. They were good men who loved our country. Not perfect -- no president is, but great Americans!
Everyone keeps repeating the mantra of "too poor to leave", and some, doubtless, were.
But I keep seeing video of submerged and destroyed vehicles--lots of them.
Doubtless, fuel from gas stations is leaking into the water even now. It would have been better to fill every full car that came through than let the fuel leak away.
It would have been better to drive those vehicles out of there than leave them.
better to camp out under a tarp than wait in a sewer.
The people on the overpass where Shep Smith was reporting are just waiting.
Some can't walk far, granted, but to the west vehicles are coming in, and if capable, I'd be walking out...not just sitting and waiting.
Unfortunately, the poor who have been institutionalized by government programs, who are the basis of the industry which has evolved around being poor, have been conditioned to wait for the government to "do something" rather than sieze their own initiative and do it themselves.
If that salad bar will haul DVDs and consumer electronics, it will haul Grandma, at least until the wheels fall off. Little kids can fit two or three to the shopping cart, and it is self-draining.
But it is easier to be angry and blame Richard (Rich Whiteman) than to grab your bootstraps and pull. After all, it is what many have been programmed to do.
I am lost (unlikely)/stranded/ cold and starving, in a national forest and all I have to do is shoot a squirrel and they will come take me away and give me three hots and a cot...? HEY! You might have something there.....And I could save on all that survival gear.
Maybe we could exchange a willing to work guy from South of the Border for one of the no-loads here....
Here here!
Yep. And the MSM is doing their level best to make excuses for them and point the finger at the hardworking people who are trying their best to help these people and say no one is doing anything for them. The media is making me as sick as these looters.
SUms it up pretty well for me, too. Well said.
Bussing was offered. No one wanted to go. Hmmm. Wonder why??
Damn...who do I despise more, looters or illegals....?
Quandry.
Well, I have never seriously contemplated shooting illegals (just for being illegals) but looters? Hell that's target practice.
Great rant, keep 'em comin'.
Probably but the owners should have a chance to assess the damage of their own property. And insurance companies may want to see the stuff they are going to pay for.
And Al Sharpton instead of being in Crawford kissing up to Sheehad.
You are so right!
Now we see looting beer is for survival :-).
"Bussing was offered. No one wanted to go. Hmmm. Wonder why??"
I am missing your implication, "why?"
Refusal was not reported at the time. It was reported that those with no transportation means were told to get to the Superdome. 10,000 evacuated to the Superdome. Are you claiming that they would not have agreed to another shelter? I'd be most interested if you have any other information on that. Further if evacuation is mandatory no choice is offered.
It seems to me that the same buses that are taking people out of the area now should have been used before the hurricane. The whole Superdome shelter idea was irresponsible, ill conceived, and unprepared. Now they can't get them out, or very slowly and with great difficulty and expense. There is tremendous disease risk as sanitation and supplies are non-existant. This was all capable of being anticipated.
FOX is reporting and showing that their are elderly, sick and in wheelchairs who have no way and no where to go. Are you suggesting that those people refused to leave?
These people are dying, now, after the flood for lack of care.
Please add me to your ping list. Thanks!
"The people on the overpass where Shep Smith was reporting are just waiting.
Some can't walk far, granted, but to the west vehicles are coming in, and if capable, I'd be walking out...not just sitting and waiting."
......................
How do you think they got to the overpass? Most of them had to walk to get there. I am seeing whole families with children and elderly. It is not practicable to think they can all walk. Further the news is saying contact with the water is dangerous as it is filthy with sewage and decaying bodies.
"Unfortunately, the poor who have been institutionalized by government programs, who are the basis of the industry which has evolved around being poor, have been conditioned to wait for the government to "do something" rather than sieze their own initiative and do it themselves."
.....................
Have you ever heard the term "working poor?" Not all poor people are on handouts. You can be working and still not own transportation.
You are making a lot of negative assumptions about these people stuck in tragic circumstances outside of their control.
"If that salad bar will haul DVDs and consumer electronics, it will haul Grandma, at least until the wheels fall off. Little kids can fit two or three to the shopping cart, and it is self-draining. "
...................
I have seen footage of plenty of people "hauling Grandma." You are using selective sight. What percent of the people effected do you think are out there looting? I say a minute percentage, and yet it has distorted your whole perception. The fact is most are victims not criminals.
I am wondering about the lack of compassion for them. It's free.
When I read threads like this, I can understand why Blacks even with the lousy leadership vote Democrat. No big tent here.
And yes, I am painfully familliar with the concept of "working poor", I have been there. I kept working.
If the Police can drive cars down the road, I would bet they can walk down it, even with their weight unsupported by the festering cesspool below them.
But, then, I know a guy who amputated his own arm when he got wrapped up in a piece of farm machinery (because just waiting for help would have definitely been fatal), so maybe I put self-help in just a little different perspective.
If those were my children going without water and food, you can bet your ass I'd be off mine.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.