No Longer Invisible

The Washington Post ^ | 9 SEPTEMBER 2005 | Eugene Robinson

[rdb3]

washingtonpost.com

No Longer Invisible

By Eugene Robinson
Friday, September 9, 2005; A25

NEW ORLEANS -- Beside the interstate leading into this abandoned city there's a self-storage warehouse whose flimsy walls were peeled away by the hurricane. The contents are almost undisturbed, stacked neatly in their exposed compartments. You can see all the inconvenient things that people stowed out of sight and out of mind.

That's what this unreal disaster did to New Orleans and the whole country. Things we tried to tuck away and forget about are suddenly out there for the world to see. As a nation we can deal with them or not, but we no longer have the option of pretending they don't exist.

Chief among this inconvenient baggage is poverty. After seeing who escaped the flood and who remained behind, it's impossible to ignore the shocking breadth of the gap between rich and poor.

[rdb3]

Oh, cry me the Cuyahoga. I'm beyond disgusted with all of this.

Democrats and inner-city American blacks, behold. This is what you have brought upon yourselves and the Dems patted you on the head along the way.

There are no excuses.

If you want a Google GMail account, FReepmail me.
They're going fast!

[rdb3]

^

[Caipirabob]

Now it's time to drain the water, bury the dead and clean away the muck. But for a city and a nation that put poverty and race into a locker and ignored them for 20 years, cleanup is just the beginning.

I've heard it reported that 63% of the population of NOLA was at the poverty level or below. I can't imagine "rebuilding" a social structure that sustained that sort of model.

While there will be those who find the will and the means to return, I think there is a bright spot that can be pointed out. As evacuess are finding themselves in new cities with different cultures and mindset, perhaps they may take it as a second chance to start anew. I've read more than one story of people in houston stating similar thoughts.

[SamAdams76]

More hand-wringing from trust-fund liberals who live off daddy's money and never had to work a day in their lives. Is it any wonder that they are shocked, SHOCKED, that not everybody can be a beautiful person with a Harvard education, vacation home on Martha's Vineyard and membership at the club?

[kcvl]

"I'm beyond disgusted with all of this".

Ditto that!

[WestVirginiaRebel]

It's impossible to ignore...the shocking breadth of the gap between liberals and reality.

[kcvl]

"More hand-wringing from trust-fund liberals who live off daddy's money and never had to work a day in their lives".

The rest of us have been getting along pretty damed well without their input into our lives. How I don't know. /sarcasm

[drlevy88]

The most galling thing about this diatribe: there *were* provisions for "the poor" in this storm. Hurricane shelters existed outside of New Orleans. The city was lousy with buses. Trouble is, nobody charged with pulling this all together (part Nagin, mostly Blank-o) actually did. If rich people are to blame, the ones sitting in cushy government offices are they.

[frankjr]

This author is just pissed because his name is Eugene. Writing is his only way to vent.

[leadhead]

Forty years of listening to this crap has inoculated me against "white guilt" and, unfortunately...caring.

I lost 4 contracts this week because I wouldn't jeopardize the company's reputation by subbing-out 30 percent of our work to phony-balony front man minority firms.

[libertylover]

In the U.S. anyone with normal intelligence can make a decent living if, IF they take some initiative. What was really on display was thousands and thousands of people who never take any initiative about anything, people who just sat around doing nothing, or wandered the streets aimlessly, or screamed at the camera for someone else to solve their problems.

And did the mayor take charge? No. Did the police take charge? No. Only after the army arrived was their any evidence of organization.

There are three causes of these things: liberalism, liberalism, and liberalism.

[Khankrumthebulgar]

This is a "Full court Press" by the Race Pimps and Race Baiters to get us White Crackers to cough up the money. This is a shake down engineered by the left to pull Blacks away from the Republican Party. My question is simple. Since the Great Society programs has Liberalism improved the lives of African Americans more than it has wrecked their lives? Their Children 70% grow up without their Fathers. The Black Family is an oxymoron for all practical purposes. What is it 30% of the prison populace is Black? What percentage graduate high school and go on to College despite Affirmative Action, Grants, Scholarships, set asides etc.?

Mor cognitive dissonance and refusal to assimilate into the larger mainstream culture. And what is their music, media promoting as desireable behavior? Drug use, gangs, sexual promiscuity all formulas for cultural destruction. We see it for all the world to see. The Dark Side of Black Behavior.

Well to the Race Pimps, Howard Dean, Michael Moore STFU. We are not amused, impressed, or going to put up with the White Guilt cough up the dough routine. And calling us Racists using the Race Card has expired. Try some new material for a change. Reality check for you dumb arses. Your Mayor Nagin sat on his butt and did not institute his own evac plans. He is looking to misdirect blame as is the Airhead Governor of LA Ms. Blanco another Dem Stooge.

[mcg2000]

And after you cry that river ... pass the matches! ;)

[Calvin Locke]

"Eh. eh. My name is Eugene. I stick my hands in fans for fun."

[DH]

Poverty?

Is that what you call it when the government pays you not to work?  I thought it was called welfare.

Now, let's look at this poverty thing.

Free healthcare, free food, free housing (or subsidized), free legal aid, free clothing, free school supplies, free meals at school, and a host of other things free.  BTW, guess who pays for all of this free stuff?

Now, start placing a price that us "non-poverty" type of people would normally pay for all of this free stuff.  For example, just a little bit of this free stuff as an example on a monthly basis.

Rent or house payment:  $800.00
Food for 5:  $1,200.00
Health insurance (both matched by employer and employee): $1,200.00
SSI or welfare cash each month:  $550.00

Why, that's worth $3,750.00 per month or $45,000.00 per year!  Now, that's not counting other wonderful benefits they receive along with the unreported income they make under the table.

Now, let's see what a regular tax paying working citizen would have to make in gross pay to equal that amount of TAX FREE money these bums make.  Let's say the average income tax and gross social security & medicade (that paid by both the employee and employer) would come to if the gross tax rate for both SS and income tax came to 28%.  That would require a gross income of $62,500.00 to produce a net (after taxes) of $45,000.00.

That's the equivalent  of $ 5,208 in bennies each month.

Why in the hell would you jeopardize all of that just to work!

[rdb3]

I knew there were a few who would understand my pun. That was pretty cool, wasn't it? ;-)

mcg2000, I sure will pass you some matches. Just wait until I get on the number 6 bus to head eastbound on Euclid Ave. first. Okay?

If you want a Google GMail account, FReepmail me.
They're going fast!

[mcg2000]

How could anyone NOT get that joke with all the talk of toxic water in New Orleans?? Your humor is to subtle and high brow ... typical elitist Republican!