I just happen to be reading this over at InstaPundit and following the links; and I have come to a conclusion: Phil Gramm was absolutely correct, we are a Nation of whiners.
Compare and Contrast the following quotes:
New York Hurricane Sandy Victims:
“We’re going to die! We’re going to freeze! We got 90-year-old people!” — “You don’t understand. You gotta get your trucks down here on the corner now. It’s been three days!”
Said on twitter before Hurricane Hit: (Via InfoWars)
“Bout to do some looting when this hurricane finally hits….gonna get a new laptop and tv…this hurricane might be the best thing to happen.” (SOURCE)
“If this hurricane gets real bad I’m looting stores ! i always wanted to do that.” (SOURCE)
“I’m gonna go looting once this hurricane hits Utica.” (SOURCE)
“Has #HurricaneSandy made landfall yet? My bitch ass is ready to go looting!” (SOURCE)
“helllll yeah I’m gonna go looting after the storm hits.” (SOURCE)
“Who wants to go looting with me when Sandy hits?! I need some new shit! (SOURCE)
….and you know what? They did too, Check out this report here, of people looting after Hurricane Sandy Hit.
In contrast, check out what Nashville Resident wrote after the Nashville Flood of 2010: (via FreeRepublic)
Allow me a moment to step away from the usual voice of this website.
What I am about to write has absolutely nothing to do with hockey.
If you live outside of Nashville, you may not be aware, but our city was hit by a 500-year flood over the last few days. The national news coverage gave us 15 minutes, but went back to focusing on a failed car bomb and an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While both are clearly important stories, was that any reason to ignore our story? It may not be as terror-sexy as a failed car bomb or as eco-sexy as an oil spill, but that’s no reason to be ignored.
The Cumberland River crested at its highest level in over 80 years. Nashville had its highest rainfall totals since records began. People drowned. Billions of dollars in damage occurred. It is the single largest disaster to hit Middle Tennessee since the Civil War. And yet…no one knows about it.
Does it really matter? Eventually, it will…as I mentioned, there are billions of dollars in damage. It seems bizarre that no one seems to be aware that we just experienced what is quite possibly the costliest non-hurricane disaster in American history. The funds to rebuild will have to come from somewhere, which is why people need to know. It’s hard to believe that we will receive much relief if there isn’t a perception that we need it.
But let’s look at the other side of the coin for a moment. A large part of the reason that we are being ignored is because of who we are. Think about that for just a second. Did you hear about looting? Did you hear about crime sprees? No…you didn’t. You heard about people pulling their neighbors off of rooftops. You saw a group of people trying to move two horses to higher ground. No…we didn’t loot. Our biggest warning was, “Don’t play in the floodwater.” When you think about it…that speaks a lot for our city. A large portion of why we were being ignored was that we weren’t doing anything to draw attention to ourselves. We were handling it on our own.
Some will be quick to find fault in the way rescue operations were handled, but the fact of the matter is that the catastrophe could not have been prevented and it is simply ignorant beyond all reason to suggest otherwise. It is a flood. It was caused by rain. You can try to find a face to stick this tragedy to, but you’ll be wrong.
Parts of Nashville that could never even conceivably be underwater were underwater. Some of them still are. Opry Mills and the Opryland Hotel are, for all intents and purposes, destroyed. People died sitting in standstill traffic on the Interstate. We saw boats going down West End. And, of course, we all saw the surreal image of the portable building from Lighthouse Christian floating into traffic and being destroyed when cars were knocked into it. I’m still having trouble comprehending all of it.
And yet…life will go on. We’ll go back to work, to school, to our lives…and we’ll carry on. In a little over a month, I’ll be on this website talking about the draft. In October, we’ll be discussing the new Predators’ season with nary a thought of these past few days. But in a way, they changed everyone in this town. We now know that that it can happen to us…but also know that we can handle it.
Because we are Nashville
Now, I know what happened in New York was horrible; but I just cannot help but think that Phil Gramm was right. We are nothing but a nation of whiners, who expect the Government to cater to our every whim. It is a sick and sad, however, I do not place the blame directly on the people of New York City. I blame the media, and conditioning of people from their youth by public school systems. People these days are not taught self-reliance and how to survive, if something like a Hurricane comes up. They are taught from a young age, that the Government is your big protector and nanny and will keep you from harms way, and if you end up a victim, the Government will give you everything you need. This sadly, was never the intended role of any sort of Government at all.
Quite simply, it is simply a matter of common sense, if you know a Hurricane is coming up, you grab all of your personal items that you wish to keep; and you get the hell out of the path of the Hurricane! Now for the elderly, the common excuse is that they could not leave. There is always a way to get out, someone somewhere could have gotten those people out, and helped them get their important stuff out too. The truth is, either they did not want to leave or no one wanted to be bothered with them at all.
I know that I said that I was not going to politicize this, but the way I see it; if the NYT does not mind doing it and if the NY Governor does not mind doing it, neither do I. It is sick and sad that people are conditioned to rely on the Government for everything. I could get into a discussion about race and self-reliance, but I do not want to get called a racist, by the Frankfurt School types on the left and the right.
What gets me, is all the money that will be spent, in the name of “Humanity.” Money that we do not have, it is amazing, we talk about being broke; until a disaster comes and all of the sudden, the money comes out of thin air! My question is, where is all this money coming from? What programs are being raided, just so some idiot person, who was too stupid to get out of the storms path can feel taken care of?
It sounds heartless. But it is the truth.
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Announcement: I am fundraising for the blog, care to help? (There’s a big different between Government being a nanny, and Conservatives helping each other out, for the benefit of the unlearned.)
The nightmare that began when raging storm waters ripped two little Staten Island boys from their mother’s arms reached its tragic conclusion yesterday when their bodies were found in marshlands close to where they disappeared.
Glenda Moore wailed uncontrollably after cops showed up at her Great Kills home yesterday and delivered the grim news.
STOLEN AWAY: Brandon, 2, and Connor, 4, were washed away with their mom’s SUV during the storm. They were found in marshland nearby.
The short lives of Brandon, 2, and Connor, 4, ended in murky water, under debris and trees toppled by the storm. They were found about 20 yards apart at around 10 a.m. by cops in wet suits using shovels and pitchforks to clear the thick brush.
“It’s a shock for everybody right now,” a family friend said outside the Brooklyn home where Moore retreated to the comfort of family members. “She’s in pain.”
Moore and her husband, Damien — a city sanitation worker who had been in Brooklyn during the hurricane — stopped at a funeral home to make arrangements for the boys, described by a friend as “the joy of their lives.’’
Brandon and Connor were separated from their mother on Monday night as she frantically tried to lead them to safety, away from raging floodwaters brought by Hurricane Sandy.
There are no words. Just pray. All I can truly say about this. 🙁
The residents of Staten Island are pleading for help from elected officials, begging for gasoline, food and clothing three days after Sandy slammed the New York City borough.
“We’re going to die! We’re going to freeze! We got 90-year-old people!” Donna Solli told visiting officials. “You don’t understand. You gotta get your trucks down here on the corner now. It’s been three days!”
Staten Island was one of the hardest-hit communities in New York City. More than 80,000 residents are still without power. Many are homeless, and at least 19 people died on Staten Island because of the storm.
One of the devastated neighborhoods was overwhelmed by a violent surge of water. Residents described a super-sized wave as high as 20 feet, with water rushing into the streets like rapids.
Staten Island resident Mike Abuzzio’s home is completely gone, with only his floor boards remaining. He, his wife and their two young daughters have been staying with relatives.
“My youngest daughter yesterday said, ‘Daddy, I want to go,’” Abuzzio told ABC News. “I told her, ‘It’s going to be awhile, hon.’ She doesn’t understand. She’s 6.”
In the rubble that was once his home, Abuzzio found one clean, intact plate of Christmas china. He said that plate will be special at Christmastime and will be used specifically for his mother’s cookies.
Here’s the real brilliant part:
Molinaro urged New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Wednesday to cancel Sunday’s New York City Marathon. The race’s staging area is on Staten Island and Molinaro said it would be “crazy, asinine,” to have the race after what has happened.
“My God. What we have here is terrible, a disaster,” Molinaro said Wednesday. “If they want to race, let them race with themselves. This is no time for a parade. A marathon is a parade. Now is the time to put your shoulder to the wheel. If they want to prepare for something, let them prepare for the election, not a marathon.”
“Do you realize how many police officers you need for a marathon?” he asked. “There are people looting stores on Midland Avenue. There is looting taking place in the homes on the South Shore that were destroyed. That is where we need the police.”
Real brilliance there man, real brilliance. 🙄 Meanwhile, what is the grey Lady talking about, in the midst of this? This. Seriously.
NEW YORK (AP) — The fight for fuel after Superstorm Sandy is starting to get nasty.
New York City authorities say a motorist was arrested after he tried to cut in line at a gas station in Queens early Thursday and pointed a pistol at another motorist who complained.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown says 35-year-old Sean Bailey, of Queens, was arrested on charges of menacing and criminal possession of a weapon. It wasn’t clear whether he had a lawyer.
Damage from the storm has forced many gas stations to close and has disrupted fuel deliveries, causing long lines at the gas stations that remained open.
If convicted, Baily could face up to 15 years in prison.
I wonder if he had a gun permit or not? Either way, pointing a gun at someone, because they did not like it that you cut in front of them; is not considered standard operating procedure.
I’m all for guns; but for the legal use of them. Memo to everyone: That wasn’t legal.
As you all remember, I hollered at people on the right and the left for doing it and even praised Chris Christie for not making hurricane sandy into a political issue.
Well, true to his partisan hack self; the idiotic Mayor of New York City endorses the President and cites, yes, climate change as his reason. Seriously.
The devastation that Hurricane Sandy brought to New York City and much of the Northeast — in lost lives, lost homes and lost business — brought the stakes of Tuesday’s presidential election into sharp relief.
The floods and fires that swept through our city left a path of destruction that will require years of recovery and rebuilding work. And in the short term, our subway system remains partially shut down, and many city residents and businesses still have no power. In just 14 months, two hurricanes have forced us to evacuate neighborhoods — something our city government had never done before. If this is a trend, it is simply not sustainable.
Our climate is changing. And while the increase in extreme weather we have experienced in New York City and around the world may or may not be the result of it, the risk that it might be — given this week’s devastation — should compel all elected leaders to take immediate action.
Here in New York, our comprehensive sustainability plan — PlaNYC — has helped allow us to cut our carbon footprint by 16 percent in just five years, which is the equivalent of eliminating the carbon footprint of a city twice the size of Seattle. Through the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group — a partnership among many of the world’s largest cities — local governments are taking action where national governments are not.
Go read the rest of that mind-numbing stupidity. Let me be clear here, I am not saying that I deny climate change at all. I simply believe that it is an unsettled science and I also believe that it is a science and cause that got horrible politicized by the left. I also believe that the results of the science, so far — have been horrible hyped by the left. Global warming studies and climate change studies ought be done away from anyone having anything remotely to do with politics.
In other words, I would like to have the studies done with some sort of integrity. Furthermore, I believe this science should not be a political football or wedge issue. Just like the auto industry, whom my Father actually worked in for 31 years. The auto industry became a political football, because of the TARP loans. This was disappointing to me, because when the auto industry is in your family like that, to see something that many men and woman worked to build for so many years; become a political football — it just hurts. Before anyone says it; Yes, I know about the Romney ad. I was not happy to read about that and I wish Romney had not went there, at all. But, that, as they say, is politics.
Just like this endorsement — it is politics — and sometimes, politics sucks.
Getting a little crazy up in the big apple….. 
Either way, pointing a gun at someone, because they did not like it that you cut in front of them; is not considered standard operating procedure. 
But the whole video is kinda funny. 