Hurricane Ramblings

I live in an area that is on the outskirts of where Katrina hit. In fact, if you leave New Orleans and drive east, the first place you’ll find gas is where I live. Guess how the gas lines look in my neighborhood?

This may be seen by some as being insensitive, but I did not begin this to change my views so as not to ruffle feathers. Besides, in today’s world, any opinion will ruffle feathers, and one thing I strongly believe in is having opinions. But that’s another post for another day.

Right now I want to focus on some ramblings about the hurricane and its aftermath.

I think it’s despicable for some to try and make political hay from this by slamming the President for “causing” Katrina. I am quite tired of hearing that global warming caused this, and Bush is of course solely responsible for global warming.

First, you can’t even get scientists to agree on if global warming even exists, much less what is causing it, or how much humans can even affect it. True, those on one side of the issue are getting all the press, but that is a function of the selective media, and must be taken with a grain of salt. Or a silo of salt.

I have read where some are actually blaming Bush for ordering the levees to be intentionally destroyed. Presumably this was done in order to make the oil barons even richer. Yep, no conspiracy nutjobs here. By the way, did you know that Karl Rove invented a time machine and Bush used it to travel back in time in order to destroy the dinosaurs? Darn those oilmen.

I have met several people who left LA and MS and have lost everything. I have such sympathy for these people. I have no idea what they are going to do to recover, but I know the American spirit will prevail and one day they will be back on their feet.

I genuinely feel terrible for the people I have encountered who have lost everything. I have a much more difficult time trying to work up sympathy for those who are rioting, raping, looting, and demanding to be given help in New Orleans. They disobeyed a mandatory evacuation order, they destroyed the Superdome, they broke into stores and steal. Yes, I know, we have all heard about having to steal in order to live. But the funny thing is, most of the looters I saw were carting racks of designer clothes, or expensive jeans, or stacks of high-end sneakers from Footlocker. I heard about a Cadillac dealership near the Superdome where every car was stolen. Yep, those Escalades will sure fill a man’s belly. And, I suppose if you are planning on walking to Houston, 10 or 12 pair of Air Jordans will get you there.

Sorry, but when you take a rifle and shoot at doctors trying to evacuate sick people, or when you shoot police who are endangering their own lives and forsaking their own families in order to try and save others, then you have just forfeited any sympathy that might have come your way.

The media is playing the blame game right along with the detractors, seemingly horrified that dead bodies are left by the side of the roads while rescues are taking top priorities. Alright, let’s play that little game. Let’s suppose the rescuers were to devote time to collecting dead bodies. Do you think anyone else would die while this was happening? Now let’s all imagine the outcry from the media and the left wing hysteria crowd if that were to happen. Why, those evil people ignored live people and let them die while they were picking up corpses who were past help! Here’s a bonus question – who do you think the lefties and the media would blame if that were the case? They do love to play that blame game, after all. So, they intentionally try to make it a no-win situation where they can blame the administration no matter what.

I can assure you from first hand experience that dead bodies have not been just left laying around. At the very least, there were members of the Coast Guard collecting bodies. I have personal knowledge of some who spent days collecting bodies before being evacuated with their families. You want to discuss trauma? Talk to these people. But by and large, the main focus has been on finding and saving the living, and rightly so.

We lost power here, and there was scattered damage, but mostly we came out alright in this area. We are doing what we can to help, and will continue to do so, just as we did after 9/11. I think that is much more constructive than laying around and seizing the opportunity to score political points.