A Lesson

Once, many years ago, my youngest brother found a fledgling sparrow hawk.

If you are unfamiliar with the sparrow hawk, they are the smallest of the falcons, (birds of prey). They are hunters that eat mice, insects and other birds.

He took care of it, intending to release it to the wild when it was old enough. One day he decided that it was old enough and released it. It flew off in a rush and he had thought that he would never see it again.

The next day it returned, landing on its cage, squawking and generally making a pest of itself.

He thought that it returned because it loved him!

The truth is it returned because it didn't know how to obtain food and water, it had no idea how to shelter itself or do all the things that hunting birds do in the wild.

I showed him how to train the bird to hunt, (a time consuming process). When I thought it was time, I told him to leave its cage open. It stayed around for a few days, then one day it left. Occasionally the bird would return and watch from the top of a nearby tree.

My point?

For over forty years we have clothed, feed and took care of people that are perfectly able to take care of themselves. Why are we surprised that they refuse to leave the cage?

Isn't it time we quit treating them like tamed animals?

A most marvelous rant!

From, Eject! Eject! Eject!:

Bill Whittle, lays it all out and takes no prisoners!

[...]

In New York, we had a governor who got every available resource on the ground as fast as it could get there, and in Louisiana we have a governor who...cried. Governor, your job is to not cry. Your job is to be strong. We have plenty of civilians crying. You want to cry, cry in the car on the way home like everybody else did four years ago. Crying Governors, race-baiting mayors and looting police do not a Finest Hour make.

In New Orleans we have a mayor who left some 400-500 buses sitting fueled and underwater in the Ray Nagin Memorial Motor Pool saying that evil white conservative America was selling out his people within 24 hours of the catastrophe, from a safe and dry and adequately toileted location, while four years ago we had a Mayor who ran to the site of the disaster so quickly it is a full-blown miracle he was not killed when a building collapsed literally on top of his magnificent, combed-over head.

Now, much has been made of the fact that Ray Nagin is an incompetent, race-baiting black man, and Rudy Giuliani, who was neither, is white. Also, feminists are upset that people dare attack Governor Blanco because she is incompetent, weak, indecisive, and also a women. And no doubt there are salivating long-haired, short-cortexed idiots just waiting for this to be over so they can sail into the comments section and tell me what a racist and misogynist I am.

[...]

A 'very' small part of a much, much larger rant.

I wish I'd said that!

Sean Penn, a capital ship?

A capital ship for an ocean trip, was the galloping window blind.

No gale that blew dismayed her crew or troubled the captains mind.

The man at the wheel was taught to feel contempt for the wildest blow,

But it often appeared, when the weather had cleared, that he'd been in his bunk below...

From The Herald Sun News:

Sean Penn's rescue bid sinks
From correspondents in New Orleans
05sep05

EFFORTS by Hollywood actor Sean Penn to aid New Orleans victims stranded by Hurricane Katrina foundered badly overnight, when the boat he was piloting to launch a rescue attempt sprang a leak.

Mr Penn had planned to rescue children waylaid by Katrina's flood waters, but apparently forgot to plug a hole in the bottom of the vessel, which began taking water within seconds of its launch.

The actor, known for his political activism, was seen wearing what appeared to be a white flak jacket and frantically bailing water out of the sinking vessel with a red plastic cup.

When the boat's motor failed to start, those aboard were forced to use paddles to propel themselves down the flooded New Orleans street.

Asked what he had hoped to achieve in the waterlogged city, the actor replied: "Whatever I can do to help."

With the boat loaded with members of Penn's entourage, including a personal photographer, one bystander taunted the actor: "How are you going to get any people in that thing?"

I am the very model of a modern Major General,
I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;
I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,
About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news,
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.

Note to Mr. Penn:

People of "Forest Gump" like intelligence shouldn't attempt to perform heroic, like, actions. Leave New Orleans and return to Hollywood where you can pretend to be a hero on the big screen instead of becoming another problem. You might actually save someones life that way, (maybe yours), by not taking up the valuable time and resources of rescue workers!

Question asked, and answered

As we have seen in the last week, there are many unanswered questions in reply to those that wish to fingerpoint about the (seemingly) slow response of the government to Hurricane Katrina.

For those that wish answers, and those that need ammunition, here is a link with answers about the logistical problems encountered.

COUNTERCOLUMN: All your bias are belong to us.

Start reading at the Sunday, September 04, 2005, entry and scroll downward.

If you are more interested in fact that bureaucratese babble and sensationalist propaganda, you will find a wealth of information in easily understood language.

Hat tip to the instapundit.

Of Looters and Lefties

It the aftermath of the hurricane, in New Orleans we see the pictures of total idiots looting partially destroyed shops and stores.

I see nothing wrong with a person looking for the means of survival and taking bottled water, food, blankets and diapers, maybe even a 6 pack or two. But will someone tell me what the hell are they taking designer clothes, jewelry and big screen TV's for.

Its theft, pure and simple, brought on by opportunism. Their first thought is their advancement at someone else's expense. The idiots don't even realize that eventually they will be rounded up and forced to leave their loot behind.

In the same vein, we see leftist nut cases blaming the President for everything from the hurricane to fuel prices.

These glowing jewels of ignorance are also opportunists, awaiting any reason to bring om their idiotic charges in a fit of ideological hatred that would make a white supremacist blush. Their first thought is their advancement at someone else's expense.

Here we see the looter mentality through its full spectrum.