Accepting Responsibility

Late this evening, Gov. Bush of Florida made an announcement at a news conference he was giving about relief efforts after Hurricane Wilma ran roughshod over his state. He said "Don't blame FEMA. This is our responsibility." Governor Bush rightly admitted that the people of Florida, although they were badly battered, had plenty of notice to take action to prepare for themselves.

MIAMI (AP) - Gov. Jeb Bush took the blame Wednesday for frustrating delays at centers distributing supplies to victims of Hurricane Wilma, saying criticism of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was misdirected.

"Don't blame FEMA. This is our responsibility," Bush said at a news conference in Tallahassee with federal Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who oversees the agency.

Many Floridians were still struggling to find food, water, ice and gas on the third day of recovery from Wilma, waiting in line for hours - sometimes in vain. Miami-Dade's mayor called the distribution system flawed and said at least one relief site of 11 in his county ran out of supplies...

..."People had ample time to prepare. It isn't that hard to get 72 hours worth of food and water," said Bush, repeating the advice that officials had given days before Wilma hit.

Now, I wonder why, after all this time, the politicians of Louisiana are still looking for the Federal Government to bail them out? Why is it that Misssissippi and Alabama have already recovered, and, in fact, gave their surplus supplies to Louisiana, yet Louisiana still can't get their act together? Oh, wait... I forgot... yes, the evil, dreaded, Federal Government, who nobody wants in their lives, is supposed to take care of those who are "less fortunate." Please people, don't make me remind you about what I think of the "less fortunate." In fact, that sect of our social strata doesn't even really exist.

And the stories of Katrina's "evacuees" just get better and better, and they prove exactly why the "government will take care of me" will forever enslave an entire culture that has thrived in New Orleans for decades. (ooh, am I gonna get the hate mail over THIS picture!)

Last Sunday, in the Atlanta Journal Constitution (read: Al Jazeera Constitution), they chronicled the woes of a Katrina "victim" named Rolanda, whose FEMA benefits were about to run out. She's staying at a local hotel here in Atlanta, on your taxpayer dime, and her only worry is "where is the next hand-out coming from?" Never mind the fact she's had computer access at the hotel where she's staying; she's only used it for searches for new (free) government housing when her FEMA funds run out where she's staying. What is wrong with this woman and her boyfriend, who is staying with her? Never mind... that was really a sarcastic, rhetorical question anyway.

I'll let the High Priest of the Church of the Painful Truth (Neal Boortz) preach it like only HE can:

THE POOR, POOR PITIFUL EVACUEES!

Yesterday's edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution featured a story entitled "Fear of Eviction: Evacuees worry aid will run out."

The story featured one Rolanda Cain, her one-year-old baby and her "boyfriend." Rolanda has been living in a motel on Fulton Industrial Blvd. in Atlanta since she left New Orleans. The article says that the federal government has been paying the hotel bill. Not so. It's the taxpayers who have been footing the bill for Rolanda and her boyfriend. The federal government merely seizes the money and passes it on.

Rolanda is worried about being evicted from the motel. She says "We have a place to stay. We have food. The only worry is how long it will last."

Say what? Rolanda's "only worry" is how long the handouts are going to last? Maybe it's just me, but if I were in her place I might be worried about, say, getting a job! Rolanda says that this is all very frustrating. "With no answers, you don't know which way to go." Well, Rolanda is quite the little self-starter, isn't she? Apparently she's sitting around waiting for "answers," instead of spending time on the phone or hitting the streets looking for some work. I wonder if she's even gone so far as to ask the manager of the hotel where she's living at taxpayer expense if he might hire her as a housekeeper? And her boyfriend? Is he out there looking for a job while Rolanda stays at home with the kid? The article says nothing. For all we know he may also be just sitting around waiting for "answers."

Well .. the answers don't seem to be coming, and Rolanda says that she's fed up with the FEMA program. Oh my! Rolanda's fed up! Someone alert the media! Oh, wait. Someone did ... and the AJC is really pouring it on thick here.

The article does point out that Rolanda has spent hours in the motel's computer room searching for other housing. Other housing paid for by taxpayers. Question: If Rolanda is so hot with the computer, why isn't she spending some time looking for jobs! Don't tell me there isn't a Waffle House or fast-food restaurant somewhere on Fulton Industrial Blvd. that Rolanda could walk to to earn a few bucks. Her hard-working boyfriend could look after the child.

Oh ... and about the child. The article doesn't seem to mention where Rolanda's baby-daddy is. He's probably out there searching for Rolanda so he can catch his child support payments up.

At the end of the article the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had a list of "What's available for evacuees." The list contained the federal disaster assistance programs that were available to evacuees. Among them were cash grants, free hotel stays, expedited housing assistance, low-interest loans, grants for medical care and other goodies. Nowhere in the list did you see any mention of jobs programs or training.

When are people going to stop playing the "it's everybody else's fault but mine" game? If the democrook libs get their way, the lazy poor masses of the left will be satiated ever more, but you and I will have to continue picking up the tab. I, for one, am sick of being "stuck with the check" at the end of a meal of which I was not even part.

PoliticalTeen has it posted on his open trackbacks for 10/27/05.