As the disaster in New Orleans and area continues to worsen (the papers here are claiming up to 10,000 dead now) about 100 US Border Patrol Agents have been reassigned from their duties protected the US border to provide assistance. The Minutemen are stepping into the breech and deploying their own patrols early to protect the border and prevent a sudden influx of illegal immigrants.
The idea of the citizen taking charge is exemplified nowhere else in the world better than the United States. First we had reports of armed citizens protecting their own homes and those of their neighbours from looters and other assorted villains. Now we have citizens stepping in to fill the void left by law enforcement agents who are needed elsewhere- doing their bit to provide for the security of their country. This is the same spirit, I believe, that flowed through the veins of the "greatest generation". That spirit is not gone- it lives on and can be seen in the actions of the men and women who are putting the needs of their community or country first.
I salute them.
BTW, I haven't had time to blog about the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina- to be honest I'm having a hard time comprehending the destruction. The press here seems to be in a blame frenzy (yeah, it's Bush's fault) rather than focusing on the horrible events and trying to help. I don't seem to recall any blame games when the tsunami hit. Shame on them.
Rest assured, the thoughts of many Europeans are with our American cousins in their hour of need.
3 comments:
It's completely mind-numbing ... and thanks for the info re: minutemen ... those guys rock, anyway!
Incidentally, here across the pond, the feds cannot step in until asked by the state and local government. The state governor has the authority to send in state national guard troops any time they see fit. Like, Monday at 4 a.m. (and despite propaganda, there are 11,000 LA guardsmen. @3500 are in Iraq. That leaves @7500, who cooled their heels OUTSIDE New Orleans for days ...)
The refugees are pouring into Texas ... here around Dallas, we've taken in about 25,ooo and counting ... Dallas is about an 11 hour drive from New Orleans. Houston's about a 2-3 hour drive.
And, now, some are being bussed even farther northwest to Lubbock, four hours away from Dallas. And, that's just Texas.
Jay, I don't know what kind of coverage you're getting over in Britain, but I've been switching between CNN and Fox. ON CNN, you get image of horrifically starving people, asking where Bush is. On Fox, they've been covering gunmen shooting at hospitals ... and helicopters. Gun battles between thugs and police and military.
I watched supplies trucks, and little rescue boats piling outside of New Orleans for DAYS ... because it just wasn't safe enough for them to get in. Yesterday, with troop build-up the rescue efforts got underway big time ...
Do you know that the governor of Louisiana, and the mayor of New Orleans ... had not permitted the Louisiana troops to go in before the feds got there? And, nobody would give the damn order to shoot!!! They still haven't given a clear order, or if they have, it's not being reported.
If all you see is CNN, then the only looting you're seeing is poor folks stealing bread and water. If you're ABLE to switch, then you'd have seen thugs with guns trying to steal buses and boats, and gangs hauling off those invaluable survival items like TV sets.
It's not a proud moment for America, and I guess later on, I might join the collective embarassment ... but, damnit, right not, I'm so ticked I can't see straight!
I grew up on the Texas Gulf coast, in a small town that backed up to Louisiana, and the Gulf Coast. And yah ... we got hurricanes. Believe me, we took those storm seriously. If you could crawl, you got out of town ... and you loaded your old folks, your poor relatives, and your wussy neighbors into your pick-up. Police, and medical people had to stay in town ... and ohyah, nobody worried about looting because in my little home town ... nobody DARED to loot. They got shot, and they knew it.
You didn't fricking wait for the US President -- oops! I mean Washington-- to fly down from heaven to saaaave you!
The worthless mayor of New Orleans and the Louisiana governor have been killing people for FOUR days ... by dithering, by not sending in the guard that they had available ... and btw, not allowing the police to SHOOT THE FRICKING perps from the git go. (and I am not talking about those poor slobs swiping bread)
Also ... please, understand something about Louisiana. You get Cajuns there ... descendants of the mostly Catholic French Canadians that fled down the Mississippi when you Brits shoved them out of Quebec a couple of centuries ago. They've thrived in Louisiana and created a total culture, complete with their own language, incomprehensible to French and English speakers alike!
These are good, hardy, decent, wonderful and fun folks. And, these are NOT the people you're seeing in New Orleans right now - the Cajuns were out of there by Sunday night.
At the beginning of the week, there were alot of little boats, bass boats, and swamp buggies prowling the flooded streets looking for survivors, and rescuing them. Those were the Cajuns. By Wednesday ... those little boats were forbidden to go in ... because of the fricking violence and the lack of will to deal with it.
Oh, and by the way ... Mayor Nagin, who's been killing people by whining and wallowing in victimhood for days ... did manage to get a hotel full of rich tourists out of the city yesterday ... at the expense of his own starving constituents.
But, what the heck! Anything to score political points for US Democrats, eh? I used to vote Democrat. Then, while I grew more conservative, I was amused by them. Now, I HATE them. They will tear the USA apart for their own political purposes.
The folks left in New Orleans by Sunday night were the old, the sick, the lame, the foolish ... and the criminals. You're not seeing a good representation of the US public in the Superdome.
Sorry for the rant! I've actually been waiting for you to post something about New Orleans so I could comment.
Thanks.
Thanks for offering a different perspective on the disaster. Over here we're getting a lot of footage of the city and criticism of Bush (big surprise). The looting is being mentioned but they aren't covering any of the good news stories (unlike the tsunami where we got a whole bunch of "human interest" stories)- I guess they don't want to seem to postive about America. No mention at all of supplies waiting to go in.
The lawlessness of the city is being picked up by the papers today from what I've seen but the coverage seems oddly distant. I don't know what's responsible- Bush Derangement Syndrome or America Envy- but the media seems to be having a hard time generating any sympathy for the victims of this disaster beyond "look what Bush did to these poor people".
Your comment has been the best round up I've read so far- I haven't heard the word "cajun" used a single time up til now by the MSM. Please do post some more on this.
Yes, the news is horrible. And there are many things that the Media won't bother to mention: the GOOD things, and the SIMPLE facts that might put this all in perspective.
The good news is that over 700,000 people evacuated New Orleans in a peaceful, organized manner. BEFORE the hurricane. This is such standard procedure all up and down the Gulf Coast, and has been for decades, that you'll never hear it. You pack up your family, your dog, and maybe even your horse, and head for the highlands to see the aunt or cousins you visit once a year.
The SIMPLE fact is that Bush declared an emergency two days BEFORE the hurricane hit New Orleans. For the announcement: http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=18447.
So the shelters were opened, staffed by the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, and welcoming the usual crowd of Coastal denizens before the first drop of rain hit New Orleans and Biloxi and Mobile.
Katrina hit ... it was worse than most hurricanes ... and my favourite Chinese buffet in Ocean Springs, Mississippi doesn't exist anymore. It has happened before and it will happen again. This is the hazard of building on sand bars. And five years from now, there will be NEW buildings in the same place. That is the cyle of the Gulf Coast.
You might notice that most communities are already clearing the debris. They lost more buildings than usual, and more lives than usual (hundreds, not dozens). Their politicians are on site, and working. And the pick-em-up trucks that left on Saturday and Sunday are coming back to clean up and clear off and rebuild.
But in New Orleans and Louisiana, long known for corrupt politicians, broken levees came as a surprise. Two months ago, Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco was lobbying Congress to give her oil taxes to preserve and increase wetlands! She's got them on the cheap. In January, New Orleans' Congressman William J Jefferson held up our Congress for two days ... participating with his Black Congressional Caucus in a grand and glorious post-election Bush-bash! Great way to make friends you might need later. And in the past few years, the New Orleans Levee Commission has bought a casino and a Lear jet, I hear (but can't confirm ... the N.O. servers are down). Meanwhile, the Mayor is weeping over the mess he's made.
You'll hear all sorts of "BOOOSH did it" ... like he was probably responsible for the Fall of Rome. But he was the only politician to take charge and begin the repair.
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