The Big Easy rocked, but didn't roll [Steyn Alert]

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 9/6/05 | Mark Steyn

[rdb3]

Although you are being sarcastic, you might well be right.

So you think so.

ArtyFO, your quoting of Fox saying that jobs even blacks won't do. Was that necessary?

If you want a Google GMail account, FReepmail me.

[okie01]

..an illegal mexican looking to support his family or one of the welfare people who's lived on handouts all their life, then complained about not having a job...??

As another FReeper pointed out, if the looters who were carrying plasma TVs through waist-deep water had been paid to do that, they'd have complained about the working conditions...

[Gritty]

Well, someone should be fired. I say that in the spirit of the Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, the Anti-Giuliani, a Mayor Culpa who always knows where to point the finger.

The incomparable Steyn...

[Temple Owl]

ping

[okie01]

But...had Hizzoner and the New Orleans and Louisiana state Homeland Security dweebs worked out anyplace to actually HOUSE the tens of thousands of elderly, poor, indigent, handicapped, or otherwise unable-to-get-out-on-their-own people? Did Ray Nagin or Governor Blanco have anyplace arranged to actually handle those people?

The published and approved Louisiana state emergency plan spoke to the use of busses to transport those New Orleanians unable to transport themselves.

So far as I can tell, it did not address a.) where to take them or b.) what to do with them once they arrived.

Which could, of course, explain why they didn't follow "the plan"...

[Clay Moore]

It is unbelievable that NOLA, of all cities on the gulf coast, did not have a detailed-down to the last little nit picking detail, hurricane contingency plan.

When the truth comes out, I go on record predicting that there was a half baked, pencil whipped plan and a bunch of folks that were well paid to do it.

[JRios1968]

God, I wished I had this much talent as a writer.

Kids, don't try this at home. Mark Steyn is a trained professional!

[xjcsa]

Ping. Well put.

[Kokojmudd]

Naggin' Nagin is a disgrace. Let us hope some of the displaced see how the other side lives and abandon liberalism.

[JRios1968]

There is no one better. People seem to like Ann Coulter because she's a red-meat columnist (who happens to have pretty nice legs) but nobody devastates the Left with more clarity, wit and style than Mark Steyn.

Hey, you know the rules...you mentioned Ann Coulter! Here, let me help out:

All with special emphasis on Ann's legs...

[Finny]

Too bad the rest of the brothers were busy looting and raping to emulate his heroic actions.

I'll bet a pretty good percentage of "the rest" were NOT looting and raping, but doing what most of us would do in that situation. The looters and the rapers were most likely a minority -- but like garlic, a little bit of them go a long, long way. Really, there's no call to er ... whitewash ... (for lack of a more apropriate term?) all "the brothers" for the acts of some monsters.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Actually, you're the one who knows the rules. Nice scenery on the thread, even if it's a Steyn column :)

[ArtyFO]

NYT quote today:
President Fox said his country shared the pain of the hurricane... he said the contributions of Mexican workers could be more important than ever. "The reconstruction of that city and of that region is going to require a lot of labor. And if there is anything Mexicans are good at, it is construction."

http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:kVQlOUZRNJMJ:www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/03/katrina/main814627.shtml+mexicans+in+new+orleans&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[JRios1968]

I am pleased to have edumacated you. :)

[alwaysconservative]

Thanks for the ping, Pokey! The magnificent Steyn puts the blame squarely where it belongs: incompentent local government that has created a welfare state where people's ability for self-sufficiency has been completely eroded.

[Eagles6]

"I'll bet a pretty good percentage of "the rest" were NOT looting and raping."

Then why didn't they act like men and take care of the situation? They should have hung the criminals on their own.

[ChadGore]

In strict accordance with the Free Republic bylaws,
paragraph 4, sections 7, which states, and I quote,
"any mention of our beloved Ann Coulter must include her image",
I offer the following images for your exclusive viewing pleasure:

---

Carville really is Gollum

[No Truce With Kings]

"God, I wished I had this much talent as a writer."

I wish I had *half* as much talent as Steyn -- and I am a published author.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Ah, yes! Certainly wonderful to look at. And a fine second to Steyn in the pantheon of conservative writers :)

[Finny]

Then why didn't they act like men and take care of the situation? They should have hung the criminals on their own.

I'll bet some of them did, or at least tried. But put yourself there -- would YOU, or would your husband (if you're female) go after a bunch of young, tough, ARMED kids in a situation where you already had your hands full trying to make right? I know enough black folks to know that just because a kid is young and black, doesn't make him a gang-banger, and I know enough black folks to know a LOT of black men who would do just what my husband or brothers would do in that situtation if they could -- KICK ASS if possible, but again ... gang kids are mean, tough, and armed, unlike most average good guys. I'm all for passing judgement when the info is in, but it's early days yet. And from what I know of human nature, I'll bet that there were folks who did try to "act like men" and take care of the situation. We just haven't heard about them.