An Idea

I saw a letter to the editor in my local paper in which the author suggests that the people who looted New Orleans should be the ones to help clean it up and rebuild it. I can't say I disagree with her. If one is capable of walking through waist-deep water carrying a television, certainly one is capable of working. Dollars to doughnuts says most of the people taking televisions (those "left behind") were waiting for their monthly entitlement on the first of the month (and the reports are that not just poor Americans have very little savings to get them though a crisis). Blame FEMA, blame Bush, (but don't blame the mayor or the governor) all you want but the lesson here is that letting the government do everything for us can be deadly.

Of course, to suggest this is blasphemous. The very notion that those left behind should have to work should get certain "leaders" up on their soapbox preaching how having to work for what you (or repay when you "borrow") have is wrong.

Lastly, since September 12, 2001, government has repeatedly suggested that all Americans have 3-5 days of food and water as a backup, cash on hand, a plan for evacuation, and a place for your family to go (meet up) in case of an emergency (as in your home being damaged or destroyed); be it terrorism or natural disaster. A hurricane gives much more notice than a terrorist attack. From the poor right up to the federal bureaucracies, it appears we are not prepared.