Another casualty of Katrina?
Here's a good letter to the editor by Sue Boyer discussing Katrina and the perils of relying on government:
I guess it was to be expected that the MSM would report only doom-and-gloom stories in post-Katrina New Orleans. Things are still a mess, and of course, it's Bush's fault.
Welcome to the legacy of the liberal welfare state which robs people of initiative and encourages dependency. Many poor people waited for government to evacuate them and then waited for government to rescue them aftrewards. Now they wait for government to clean up all the debris and American taxpayers to provide them with new homes.
If after a year, debris still littered our property, preventing the placement of a temporary trailer to house our families, most of us would organize the folks on our block and we would start cleaning up ourselves, one property at a time. A good place to dispense of the debris would be on Mayor Ray Nagin's front lawn.
Folks like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton visit and run to the microphones to denounce Bush. God forbid they roll up their sleeves and do some real work while there. And the media seeks interviews where folks proclaim, "the government ain't doing nothin for us".
Apparently, the storm exposed more than inept government and inadequate levies. Ingenuity and pride were casualties, too.
Susan Boyer
Brevard, NC
| Print article | This entry was posted by Rossputin on 09/01/06 at 04:54:17 am . Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. |
Yours truly
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09/01/06 @ 10:14:35 am
I don't understand how someone could claim this is a good letter. There's two big things she leaves undefined: who is "them" and who is "us"? And why are "they" different from "us"?
Is it just me misidentifying the "thems" and the "uses", or does this letter smack of bigotry?
09/01/06 @ 12:07:07 pm
I think Bob deliberately chooses to miss the point. His reference to bigotry is a canard.
09/01/06 @ 01:26:19 pm
Despite ongoing claims by the MSM of a drought in the State of Colorado a few days ago my corner of the known cosmos got a deluge. So powerful was this microburst it ripped up asphalt from the street as it roared downcountry and piled it at the lowest point available.
After the rains had passed and the ground began to dry a handful of residents came out, shovels in hand, pushing wheelbarrows, and cleaned up the mess.
When the city leaders demanded to know on what authority they acted they responded: Ours. Because you told us you didn't have any money to fix this street.
The same should hold true in New Orleans: Don't wait for the government. Do it yourself.
09/03/06 @ 12:54:34 pm
"I think Bob deliberately chooses to miss the point. His reference to bigotry is a canard."
Not only do I think I didn't miss the point, but I don't even believe the residents of Brevard would be physically capable of clearing their yards of debris. 60% of new residents are retirees. The median age is 44.6 years old with 55.8% being female (women generally live longer than men).
Then again, Brevard is opening a boarding school for obese and overweight children from the ages 11-16. Maybe a little hard work would fit in well with their weight loss program.
Cheap shots? Yeah. At a gentle old retired woman who put 40 hard years into a nursing career in Pennsylvania, no less. Kick me! I deserve it.
I understood the point of her letter. She writes enough letters to various magazines and television news shows that it would hard to misinterpret her real intent. However, in this letter, she goes off on a bizarre tangent that only hurts her cause by mixing it with a secondary agenda that is clear, even if it's not the main point of the letter.
In fact, I take it back. I don't deserve to be kicked for attacking her. From the other letters she's written, she's sharp enough to hold her own. When her quality drops off this badly, she deserves any criticism she gets.
09/03/06 @ 04:40:24 pm
I totally agree with Ross on this one. Many of the people are just waiting around for the governments help. I have seen that some of the people are trying to help themselves, but most of them are just waiting around.
10/17/06 @ 11:01:01 am
How sad some folks are when common sense should prevail. In Brevard, we may now have a majority of older new retirees, but that does not mean dead! We would still get out and clean as much debris as possible.
Go Susan go!!!