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  • good article about the mess that is New Oreleans

    **************


    by Robert Tracinski

    It has taken four long days for state and federal officials to figure out how to deal with the disaster in New Orleans. I can't blame them, because it has also taken me four long days to figure out what is going on there. The reason is that the events there make no sense if you think that we are confronting a natural disaster.

    If this is just a natural disaster, the response for public officials is obvious: you bring in food, water, and doctors; you send transportation to evacuate refugees to temporary shelters; you send engineers to stop the flooding and rebuild the city's infrastructure. For journalists, natural disasters also have a familiar pattern: the heroism of ordinary people pulling together to survive; the hard work and dedication of doctors, nurses, and rescue workers; the steps being taken to clean up and rebuild.

    Public officials did not expect that the first thing they would have to do is to send thousands of armed troops in armored vehicle, as if they are suppressing an enemy insurgency. And journalists--myself included--did not expect that the story would not be about rain, wind, and flooding, but about rape, murder, and looting.

    But this is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made disaster.

    The man-made disaster is not an inadequate or incompetent response by federal relief agencies, and it was not directly caused by Hurricane Katrina. This is where just about every newspaper and television channel has gotten the story wrong.

    The man-made disaster we are now witnessing in New Orleans did not happen over the past four days. It happened over the past four decades. Hurricane Katrina merely exposed it to public view.

    The man-made disaster is the welfare state.

    For the past few days, I have found the news from New Orleans to be confusing. People were not behaving as you would expect them to behave in an emergency--indeed, they were not behaving as they have behaved in other emergencies. That is what has shocked so many people: they have been saying that this is not what we expect from America. In fact, it is not even what we expect from a Third World country.

    When confronted with a disaster, people usually rise to the occasion. They work together to rescue people in danger, and they spontaneously organize to keep order and solve problems. This is especially true in America. We are an enterprising people, used to relying on our own initiative rather than waiting around for the government to take care of us. I have seen this a hundred times, in small examples (a small town whose main traffic light had gone out, causing ordinary citizens to get out of their cars and serve as impromptu traffic cops, directing cars through the intersection) and large ones (the spontaneous response of New Yorkers to September 11).

    So what explains the chaos in New Orleans?

    To give you an idea of the magnitude of what is going on, here is a description from a Washington Times story:

    "Storm victims are raped and beaten; fights erupt with flying fists, knives and guns; fires are breaking out; corpses litter the streets; and police and rescue helicopters are repeatedly fired on.

    "The plea from Mayor C. Ray Nagin came even as National Guardsmen poured in to restore order and stop the looting, carjackings and gunfire....

    "Last night, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco said 300 Iraq-hardened Arkansas National Guard members were inside New Orleans with shoot-to-kill orders.

    " 'These troops are...under my orders to restore order in the streets,' she said. 'They have M-16s, and they are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary and I expect they will.' "

    The reference to Iraq is eerie. The photo that accompanies this article shows National Guard troops, with rifles and armored vests, riding on an armored vehicle through trash-strewn streets lined by a rabble of squalid, listless people, one of whom appears to be yelling at them. It looks exactly like a scene from Sadr City in Baghdad.

    What explains bands of thugs using a natural disaster as an excuse for an orgy of looting, armed robbery, and rape? What causes unruly mobs to storm the very buses that have arrived to evacuate them, causing the drivers to drive away, frightened for their lives? What causes people to attack the doctors trying to treat patients at the Super Dome?

    Why are people responding to natural destruction by causing further destruction? Why are they attacking the people who are trying to help them?

    My wife, Sherri, figured it out first, and she figured it out on a sense-of-life level. While watching the coverage last night on Fox News Channel, she told me that she was getting a familiar feeling. She studied architecture at the Illinois Institute of Chicago, which is located in the South Side of Chicago just blocks away from the Robert Taylor Homes, one of the largest high-rise public housing projects in America. "The projects," as they were known, were infamous for uncontrollable crime and irremediable squalor. (They have since, mercifully, been demolished .)

    What Sherri was getting from last night's television coverage was a whiff of the sense of life of "the projects." Then the "crawl"--the informational phrases flashed at the bottom of the screen on most news channels--gave some vital statistics to confirm this sense: 75% of the residents of New Orleans had already evacuated before the hurricane, and of the 300,000 or so who remained, a large number were from the city's public housing projects. Jack Wakeland then gave me an additional, crucial fact: early reports from CNN and Fox indicated that the city had no plan for evacuating all of the prisoners in the city's jails--so they just let many of them loose. There is no doubt a significant overlap between these two populations--that is, a large number of people in the jails used to live in the housing projects, and vice versa.

    There were many decent, innocent people trapped in New Orleans when the deluge hit--but they were trapped alongside large numbers of people from two groups: criminals--and wards of the welfare state, people selected, over decades, for their lack of initiative and self-induced helplessness. The welfare wards were a mass of sheep--on whom the incompetent administration of New Orleans unleashed a pack of wolves.

    All of this is related, incidentally, to the apparent incompetence of the city government, which failed to plan for a total evacuation of the city, despite the knowledge that this might be necessary. But in a city corrupted by the welfare state, the job of city officials is to ensure the flow of handouts to welfare recipients and patronage to political supporters--not to ensure a lawful, orderly evacuation in case of emergency.

    No one has really reported this story, as far as I can tell. In fact, some are already actively distorting it, blaming President Bush, for example, for failing to personally ensure that the Mayor of New Orleans had drafted an adequate evacuation plan. The worst example is an execrable piece from the Toronto Globe and Mail, by a supercilious Canadian who blames the chaos on American "individualism." But the truth is precisely the opposite: the chaos was caused by a system that was the exact opposite of individualism.

    What Hurricane Katrina exposed was the psychological consequences of the welfare state. What we consider "normal" behavior in an emergency is behavior that is normal for people who have values and take the responsibility to pursue and protect them. People with values respond to a disaster by fighting against it and doing whatever it takes to overcome the difficulties they face. They don't sit around and complain that the government hasn't taken care of them. They don't use the chaos of a disaster as an opportunity to prey on their fellow men.

    But what about criminals and welfare parasites? Do they worry about saving their houses and property? They don't, because they don't own anything. Do they worry about what is going to happen to their businesses or how they are going to make a living? They never worried about those things before. Do they worry about crime and looting? But living off of stolen wealth is a way of life for them.

    The welfare state--and the brutish, uncivilized mentality it sustains and encourages--is the man-made disaster that explains the moral ugliness that has swamped New Orleans. And that is the story that no one is reporting.

    Source: TIA Daily -- September 2, 2005
    millionformarriage.org

    Why stop people from getting married?

  • #2
    The truth hurts.....
    <b>Trucks</b> <br />\'05 Dodge 3500 Dually <i>Cummins Turbo Diesel</i><br />\'98 Dodge 2500 4x4 <i>360 V8 (Wife\'s)</i><br /><b>Toys</b><br />\'81 Chevy K10 <i>Stroker/Swampers/Custom Suspension/1-Tons/Beadlocks</i><br />\'99 Camaro Z28 <i>6 Spd, T-tops, Borla</i><br /><br /><b>Real trucks don\'t have spark plugs</b>

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    • #3
      But it makes so much sense. The people that have been shown on tv, that stayed behind, seem to fit the profile that has been painted by this article. We should just level the whole city and rebuild it. It's already destroyed
      2000 silver A4 Camaro<br />Whisper lid; Free Ram Air; BMR stb; MSD super conductor wires; Gatorback belt?<br />1986 RX-7 (daily driver)

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      • #4
        This is what I'm talking about. Constructive reporting and straight to the point.

        I was very moved when Katrina hit and all those people who ignored the warning were suffering. But I was deeply disappointed when Katrina exposed some of these people's character. Very disgusted with how they blamed everything.

        I was discourage in giving anything.

        I was deeply disgusted how the liberal negative media blaming everything, adding fuel to the fire. THey were acting as if they were victims themselves. Even they failed to recognize just how powerful this hurricane progressed.

        1998 Firebird . 1989 Firebird XS . 1986 Fiero GT

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        • #5
          I am not a fan of Bush in the slightest, but it disgusts me to see these people blaming him for a freakin hurricane and the idiotic actions of others.
          millionformarriage.org

          Why stop people from getting married?

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          • #6
            I think the guy is just using the New Orleans hurricane as an excuse to climb on his soapbox about an issue (welfare) he's already made up his mind about. "The welfare state--and the brutish, uncivilized mentality it sustains and encourages--is the man-made disaster..." is surely a belief he's held for years.

            The New Orleans disorder is easily explained. It has had a historically high crime rate. The police were overwhelmed and the criminals knew it. There was no effective law enforcement at all and criminals took advantage. Ordinarily law abiding citizens (even "welfare recipients"), did not suddenly go on a rampage of stealing electronic equipment, etc. , when they were struggling for their lives. They didn't shoot at rescuers. The criminals wanted the situation to remain anarchy, where they were the boss.

            The final fallacy to his argument is that the rest of the developed world, particularly Europe, is more of a "welfare state" than we are and is hardly a "brutish uncivilized mentality".

            Criminals, not "wards of the welfare state" are the explanation for New Orleans. Like I said, the guy is just using the situation to grind his axe. Shameful.
            2000 Firebird convert, chameleon/tan, M5, Y87, TCS, BMR tower brace and panhard, KBDD sfcs, 245/50-16 GSCs

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Mighty Thor:

              I was deeply disgusted how the liberal negative media blaming everything, adding fuel to the fire.
              Any time a major event happens, the media jumps all over "Who's to blame", and they have "expert" after "expert" weighing in. This time I was thinking, "how about blaming the CAT 5 HURRICANE and some crappy levies?" Yes there is incremental blame for others as this author pointed out - people shooting at rescue helicopters for example.


              http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/799659

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              • #8
                Originally posted by V6Bob:
                I think the guy is just using the New Orleans hurricane as an excuse to climb on his soapbox about an issue (welfare) he's already made up his mind about. "The welfare state--and the brutish, uncivilized mentality it sustains and encourages--is the man-made disaster..." is surely a belief he's held for years.
                And what better way to get across his point (that the welfare system needs reconstruction) than to point out its flaws in their rawest forms.

                Generally speaking, criminals aren't born to well-off law-abiding citizens. They somehow or another get trapped into a state of poverty, be it in their lives or the lives of generations before them. As almost ALL of the criminals acting out in this situation in New Orleans are below the poverty line, and trapped in the poverty system, this guy has a very good point. I'd say you're a bit out of line on calling this guy out as if he's trying to promote himself.
                -Kevin<br /><a href=\"http://heinz.no-ip.com/Car%20Pics/IM000117.JPG\" target=\"_blank\"><b>\'96 White Camaro RS M5</b></a> <br />GTP Shortblock - T3/T4 -6psi Intercooled<br />Open Downpipe

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by MTMike:
                  The truth hurts.....
                  [img]graemlins/rock.gif[/img]
                  1995 Patriot Red T-Topped Z28 A4<br /><br />Mystery rebuild in progress.<br /><br />Soon to have 383 ways to beat KBreezy and Shane. :D

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                  • #10
                    quote:
                    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                    Originally posted by MTMike:
                    The truth hurts.....
                    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                    [img]graemlins/rock.gif[/img]
                    2X
                    <a href=\"http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2093533\" target=\"_blank\">CarDomain Page</a>

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                    • #11
                      This is why I don't identify with a political party, it's just too easy to blame the other guys for the mess regardless of who the other guys are in any given situation.

                      Bad stuff happens, and then we fix it. The rest is details, and some not necessarily critical to the situation.
                      *SOLD 9/4/05*<br />1998 Navy Blue Metallic Camaro M5<br />-Flowmaster cat back<br />-Accel Ignition<br />-K&N Air Filter<br />-Hurst Shift Knob<br /><br />Currently vehicle-less at Ohio State :(

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by 57s98Camaro:

                        Bad stuff happens, and then we fix it. The rest is details, and some not necessarily critical to the situation.
                        yes,but who pays for it? We do, or at least those who pay taxes.

                        How much is gonna be spent/blown ion this hurricane releif, and how much for the next one?

                        How come more floridiots aren't btching when when they got tagged by four the othe ryear?


                        end random thoughts
                        1978 Formula 461 in progress of being built :rock:
                        2013 Ram 1500 Big Horn

                        former owner of 85 bird w/ 2.8 - 3.4 - 3800 II - 5.0
                        94 comero 3.4

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                        • #13
                          Floridians don't ***** because they're not stuck in the middle of a ditch.

                          It's not the hurricane that's destroyed New Orleans. It's the flooding because the water has nowhere to go.
                          97 Camaro<br />94 Blazer<br />~

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by dz:
                            Floridians don't ***** because they're not stuck in the middle of a ditch.

                            It's not the hurricane that's destroyed New Orleans. It's the flooding because the water has nowhere to go.
                            So, just because there was no flooding doesn't mean there wasn't any damage. Oh yea, there were TONS of flooding here. Was it as bad as N.O.? NO, but there was a lot of it.

                            And saying the 'Hurricane' didn't cause the damage is the most retarded thing I've ever heard. The levees didn't fill themselves. The Katrina overloaded the levee system and caused the city to flood.
                            <a href=\"http://pics.projectpredator.com/thumbnails.php?album=16\" target=\"_blank\">2003 Zinc Yellow Mustang GT</a> 1 of 701<br />ET : TBD<br />But our shenanigans are cheeky and fun! Yeah, and his shenanigans are cruel and tragic. Which... makes t

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                            • #15
                              staying out(i live in washington state)
                              The confusion surrounds me <br />change is imminent<br />if I were they<br />we could be great

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