Posted on 09/02/2007 8:44:52 PM PDT by NapkinUser
What has become of the American spirit? We are a nation that prides itself on its independence, but when disaster strikes, Americans sit around and wait for the government to save them – an attitude that not only is corrosive of the nation's character, but which is destined to lead to disappointment and even despair.
Last week marked the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. In 2005, the hurricane left a swath of destruction along the Gulf Coast, culminating in the failure of New Orleans' levee systems. About 80 percent of the city flooded, and Americans watched in frustration and anger as an incompetent government (is there any other kind?) struggled to rescue stranded residents.
The storm killed more than 1,600 people in the region and, while many New Orleans neighborhoods have revived, most have languished, showing remarkably little improvement since the days following the storm. Meanwhile, the nation's attention has moved elsewhere, and Gulf Coast locals are left squabbling over the disbursement of government dollars and complaining about why they have been neglected, as they pass the days in FEMA trailers or try to piece back together their homes and lives.
President Bush made his 15th visit to the region last week, vowing that "We're still paying attention. We understand," according to an Associated Press report. "This town is coming back," he added. I know this president sets a new standard for his disconnection from reality, but even he has to realize that those words ring hollow. Isn't it time we remembered that the government – no matter its resources or the amount of attention or ameliorative words offered by its officials – cannot be relied upon to protect us? It's a lesson Californians ought to remember should the Big One ever hit and we're in a similar situation.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
I just went to Hard Rock Casino in Biloxi...it’s bouncing back..people shouldn’t pay much attention to the professional whiners in the chocolate city.
YES we are ,
So sick of the Katrina sob story specials on tv all the time.
ping
It's alive and well.
Liberal politicians are dead set on convincing us all that this isn't the case however.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Considering all the talk about housing bailouts I am beginning to wonder. There is no doubt the federal government is way too big.
As Bill Clinton, X42, once said: "Let's move on."
I gave willingly for emergency relief thru the Red Cross and Catholic Charities....I don't mind paying for immediate needs like food, water, shelter, medicine....
but I do not want to pay for their dang houses....no one is paying for mine....
Thanks.
Judging from Katrina ... I wonder what is going to happen when Al Qaeda sets off nukes in three or four cities.
The democrats are all whipped into looking and waiting for mother government to provide. The rest of us are the ones actually getting things done.
IMHO one has a responsibility to ones self, ones family and friends, their community and their nation...........
... Katrina revealed that there were very few responsible citizens in the NOLA region and many many more in the Mississippi regions hit as hard if not harder by the cane.
Perfect example of a welfare state IMHO.....aka baby bird feed me mindset.
Doom on those who take but never give. NOLA was infested with em.
---------------------------------
Denver Post: This text is from a county emergency manager out in the central part of Colorado after today’s snowstorm.
WEATHER BULLETIN
Up here, in the Northern Plains, we just recovered from a Historic event--- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" with a historic blizzard of up to 44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.
FYI: George Bush did not come.
FEMA did nothing.
No one howled for the government.
No one blamed the government.
No one even uttered an expletive on TV.
Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit.
Our Mayor did not blame Bush or anyone else.
Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else, either.
CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX or NBC did not visit - or report on this category 5 snowstorm. Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.
No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House.
No one looted.
Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the government do something.
Nobody expected the government to do anything, either.
No Larry King, No Bill O'Rielly, No Oprah, No Chris Mathews and No Geraldo Rivera.
No Shaun Penn, No Barbara Striesand, No Hollywood types to be found.
Nope, we just melted the snow for water. Sent out caravans of SUV's to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars.
The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn't ask for a penny.
Local restaurants made food and the police and firemen delivered it to the snowbound families. Families took in the stranded people - total strangers.
We fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Coleman lanterns.
We put on extra layers of clothes because up here it is "Work or Die".
We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for 'sittin at home' checks. Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early, we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.
"In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North Latitude, 90% of the world's social problems evaporate." It does seem that way, at least to me. I hope this gets passed on.
Maybe SOME people will get the message. The world does Not owe you a living.
It's not the latitude, it's the attitude..........
That sounds like a description of an October 2005 snowstorm in North Dakota. Note the last two paragraphs. “48 degrees north latitude” runs through North Dakota, not Colorado. And Denver routinely sees significant heavy snowstorms in October and March; mid-December is somewhat late.
IMHO, defenders and promoters of a welfare state continuously need “victims” in order to sustain themselves and their desire to “tax the wealthy”.
The approximately 200,000 “former NO residents” who haven’t returned from Katrina have voted by their absence. Of course the welfare state supporters need to highlight this and propogandize this fact regardless that many of these folks realize living 9 ft. below sea level is foolishness and depending on the gov’t is a bigger disaster than the actual hurricane itself.
“I just went to Hard Rock Casino in Biloxi...it’s bouncing back..people shouldn’t pay much attention to the professional whiners in the chocolate city.”
.
Only a few miles separates New Orleans, and Biloxi.
But, there’s a world of difference in the two.
Missippy ping!
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