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.
Where did I say anything about race? Don't you DARE start that crap with me. I believe the word I used was "people".
I made no reference to color, so do not denigrate me with your perception of racism.
I have known all sorts of people, good and bad, hard-working and lazy, honest and shiftless, decent and a$$holes. Guess what? They come in all sizes, shapes, and colors.
My comment was about the 'institutionalized' poor, and that is hardly limited to black people, or the people on that overpass--up here, they are mostly white.
I have made the repeated observation that the people being shown, in the Superdome, on the highway, are almost universally black, as are the looters. Did you not observe that fact? Should we be forced to ignore it because we must be color blind? I don't buy into that farce.
Those were the people we both were talking about was it not - the folks who were stranded in NOLO? You were not talking about the white poor people "up here" were you?
Further the original post made that observation that the looters were black. I added that the people stranded in NOLO generally were black. Do you see something different?
Another great rant, PD! You nailed it again. :-)
"If those were my children going without water and food, you can bet your ass I'd be off mine."
I am sure you are an incredible person, parent and provider. I hope you teach your children compassion for the suffering of others.
"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."
You are not there and you have no idea what you are talking about. You don't know what these people were told including to stay put on dry land where there is some safety. Should they put themselves at risk by moving and thus take resources away from those still hanging onto roofs? Where are they supposed to walk to the Astrodome in Texas?
I heard the very same media that you are now quoting saying the day before that people refused to leave because they didn't take the threat seriously. And you mention the elderly and people in wheelchairs. We all know there are far far more who were physically capable of leaving. Did you notice all the cars submerged? I'm sure a good number of them belonged to people who were caught in the storm. I also heard people say that people who are looting and destroying the city now knew there was going to be chaos and the looting would be easy. I wonder if you have read the reports of people hijacking the buses on their way to pick up people in the Superdome. I heard an infobabe on FNC the day before Katrina hit say buses were being offered and people would rather sit it out. Its amazing to me the short memories people have. The day before the hurricane, media were talking to people and scads of them were just going to ride it out according to their own words and the reporters were trying to urge them to leave. Now after the disaster the story seems to have changed to they didn't have any chance to evacuate. I'm sure there were some people who just couldn't get out but the vast majority didn't think it could happen to them and stayed. I see it happen here all the time with tornados. They have heard the media cry wolf too many times.
These reports are all from BEFORE the hurricane struck. There is nothing wrong with my memory. I remember watching FOX Shep Smith saying there was no transportation and stuck people were told to go to Superdome with their own food and water and supplies. There were NO buses offered.
Local planning stunk. I don’t blame Pres Bush or the Federal Government. It was the local government on the scene who did not plan.
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Not everyone can flee so easily, though.
"I know they're saying "Get out of town,' but I don't have any way to get out," said Hattie Johns, 74. "If you don't have no money, you can't go."
New Orleans officials estimated at least 100,000 people lack the transportation to get out of town. Mayor Nagin said the Superdome might be used as a shelter of last resort for people who have no cars, with city bus pickup points around New Orleans.
But he advised anyone planning to stay there to bring food, drinks and other comforts such as folding chairs. "No weapons, no large items, and bring small quantities of food for three or four days, to be safe," he said.
http://www.wjhg.com/news/headlines/1698561.html
The Superdome was already taking in people with special problems Sunday morning. People on walkers, some with oxygen tanks, began checking in when it opened about 8 a.m.
At 11 a.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center said Katrina's maximum sustained wind speed had stepped up to nearly 175 mph, with higher gusts. The hurricane's eye was about 225 miles south-southeast of the mouth of Mississippi River.
The storm was moving west-northwest at nearly 12 mph and was expected to turn north-northwest. Forecasters said the weather would start getting rough late Sunday and the eye would strike land early Monday but they could when.
The mayor said people who opted to go to the Superdome should take enough food and supplies to last three to five days. He said police and firefighters would fan out throughout the city telling residents to get out and that police would have the authority to commandeer any vehicle or building that could be used for evacuation or shelter.
Hotels were exempted from the evacuation order because airlines had canceled all flights out.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,167243,00.html
Thousands of people who could not get out of town lined up outside the 70,000-seat Superdome, hoping to take refuge in the home of the New Orleans Saints professional football club.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/28/AR2005082800146.html
Despite the dire predictions, a group of residents in a poor neighborhood of central New Orleans sat on a porch with no car, no way out and, surprisingly, no fear.
"We're not evacuating," said Julie Paul, 57. "None of us have any place to go. We're counting on the Superdome. That's our lifesaver."
The Superdome, the 70,000-seat home of football's Saints, opened as an emergency shelter at daybreak Sunday, giving first priority to frail, elderly people. They were told to bring enough food, water and medicine to last up to five days.
"They told us not to stay in our houses because it wasn't safe," said Victoria Young, 76, who sat amid plastic bags and a metal walker. "It's not safe anywhere when you're in the shape we're in."
By nightfall, fitter residents seeking to get in lined up for blocks in the pouring rain, clutching meager belongings and crying children.
http://www.news14charlotte.com/content/headlines/?ArID=101130&SecID=41
Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, ordered mandatory evacuation of the city's 485,000 residents. Officials acknowledged tens of thousands of residents and tourists would be unable to leave. With the airport closed, the city organized buses to transport those left behind to 10 emergency shelters and encouraged people to bring supplies and food for a three- to five-day stay.
http://www.boston.com/news/weather/articles/2005/08/29/many_thousands_flee_as_giant_storm_closes_in/
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And the able bodied also have children, sick and elderly to look after. I am not ready to second guess these wretched people stuck in the middle of a horrific natural disaster which is not their fault.
I am also unwilling to lump them all as looters, criminals, or bus hijackers. A small group of despicable vultures does not mean no one is worthy of our sympathy and help.
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