Dean's World

Instapundit has some good links this AM!

The other day when the news was All-Katrina-Retrospective-All-the-Time, (before they switched to All-Diana-Retrospective-All-the-Time), I had the TV on in the other room while I worked. While I wandered in to retrieve my coffee cup, they were showing a lady who lived in what appeared to be a new 12x70 mobile with a nice redwood deck, and I was thinking that was a good example of somebody recovering.

Noooo…

Later on, I went in to sit down and have some lunch, and there she was again. Only this time they were talking about some anonymous donor who’d provided this poor, downtrodden woman with $100,000+ to rebuild her house.

Oh boy, talk about weird standards! Here I am working two jobs so I can ultimately get what this other lady has already been handed for free, just because she lives in New Orleans. Hundreds, if not thousands of families in Arizona and elsewhere would give their eye teeth for that rejected single-wide.

I’m done feeling sorry for those people, that’s fer sure!

(link)

naftali (mail):

In this months of issue of Commentary magazine-the most intellectually interesting magazine I know of- there is a very interesting piece about New Orleans.

The thesis of of the article is that New Orleans society has been defunct ever since its beginnings, and its narrative consists in a cultural history of the city.

Very interesting.

8.31.2007 10:28am

Scott Kirwin (mail) (www):

Like many Americans I donated my hard-earned $$$ to the relief effort. And like many Americans I'm getting a bit fed up with the whining from NOLA residents and the fact that "Katrina" is now a buzz word with liberals like "Vietnam" and "Abu Grahib."

When disaster strikes you can't expect to work as hard as you did before the disaster and then call your lack of progress "unfair" and blame someone. You have to work harder. Sure it's tough, and it isn't fair but guess what? Life isn't easy and it sure as hell ain't fair.

I was more than willing to do what I could from my perch here in Delaware to help those in one of America's great cities. However it's up to NOLA residents to do their part and take care of themselves.

They could start by firing their mayor, revamping their 17th century French legal system, and building on higher ground.

8.31.2007 10:32am

Scott AKA TLHeart (mail):

lets see hear, new orleans, the original town was built as a port, on a rise to be above the natural flood plain. Then developers had the bright idea, of draining swamps, build levees and dikes to hold the water back, and fill it with houses. No matter how hard man tries, water will find a way to reach low ground, and these peoples houses were in the way. The risk one takes when they build a house in a drained swamp, and on a flood plain. risk taken reward earned, no more home. Should I help bail them out, NO!!!!!!!!!!!

These people need to learn personal responsibility, and also learn that the government owes them nothing, that those who will help themselves are the ones who will reap the benefits of hard work.

8.31.2007 1:30pm

HokiePundit (RDB) W&M 1L (mail) (www):

There's also an argument, though, that in allowing people other than the original inhabitants to move in, the government gave them reason to believe that the place was relatively safe. Would a reasonable person believe in 2000 that moving to New Orleans was safe (from an environmental-disaster perspective)? Probably so.

8.31.2007 2:34pm

Hokie
I was in NOLA in 2004, and saw river traffic passing above where I was standing. There was something that didn't feel right about that.

8.31.2007 2:45pm

Restatement with additions:

In this months of issue of Commentary magazine-the most intellectually interesting magazine to me I know of- there is a very interesting piece about New Orleans.

The thesis of of the article is that New Orleans society has been defunct ever since its beginnings, and its narrative consists in a cultural history of the city.

I see now that they do not yet have the new issue up at the web site.

I should add that the author of the piece is a thoughtful Jewish attorney who lives and practices in the city and has done so for a very long time.

I do not know enough to evaluate the validity of all his claims, and because his ideas deal with macro issues, i doubt if even he could do so definitively.

But it is a must read, written at a depth not usually seen in content published in the way this piece is

Very interesting.

(All additions are in bold, except for the link, of course.)

8.31.2007 3:43pm

Hookie,
Again, putting ones total faith into the government to protect oneself, is foolish at best. When the river is 10 feet over your head as you walk out your front porch, eventually your front porch will be under water. Personal responsibility for the risks we take each day has been pushed off onto the government so much now days, that many people believe they can do anything they want, and the government will bail them out. NOLA residents, and the present clamor over the people who took high risk mortgages, and are now defaulting, all expect, even demand the government help them out of their bad judgment, and their mistakes.

8.31.2007 4:09pm

Elisha Feger (mail) (www):

I remember reading about the Katrina victim that refused to get a job and was using New York's "squatter's rights" laws to live in an expensive hotel for free and getting food and money from the homeless shelter.

9.1.2007 12:37am

Commenting on Dean's World is a privilege, not a right. Dean is your host, you are his guest, and you should behave in that fashion. Dean is not your babysitter, nor is he your punching bag. Please remember this. In general, you are free to disagree with anyone on any subject you wish, but abusive behavior will not be tolerated.

Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.

Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.