They’re called warnings for a reason

The Way I See It

by DON WEST

The news media and the people they find to interview during turbulent times never cease to amaze me. Having spent considerable number of hours watching and listening to live coverage of our latest storm has certainly confirmed my opinion.

Here’s some examples. A woman was rescued from the waters in Plaquemine Parish. She and her family lost their homes in Katrina, however, they decided to try and ride this one out. As they dragged her from the water, this brain trust who someone pays to report the news, jammed a microphone in her face and asked, “How do you feel?” Had I been the interviewee, I would have put her microphone where the hurricane couldn’t have damaged it. She would have asked the same question of a person whose home had just burned to the ground or her child was run over by a drunk driver.

Another woman was ranting about her brother, another brain trust who decided to ride out this one, and he too had lost his home in Katrina. Definitely one of our candidates for the Darwin Awards and I can just hear him saying, “Here, hold my beer and watch this.”

We wonder why this nation is in the shape it’s in and the news media continues to showcase the talking heads who interview the “Roads(sic) scholars” who camp out on the sidewalks of the Superdome and are rescued by shrimp boats while floundering in the rising tides of a part of the United States that is already the lower end of the alimentary canal of this country. These people continue to vote and to reproduce.

Excuse me. Do you people not have some form of media that warns you of impending dangers? When the National Weather Service issues a Tropical Storm Warning or a Hurricane Warning and you are still living in a FEMA trailer, it is time to call the dogs, pee on the fire, and get out of harm’s way.  We are not going to send out the Coast Guard to rescue you until it is safe for them to do so. If you are still afloat by then, then we will give you a doughnut, a blanket, and put you on a bus to some other State, in hopes that you will stay there. I can only assume that they actually parked the buses above the water level since learning during Katrina that people just don’t want to ride on buses on which you have to utilize the onboard scuba system.

When you hear that the tidal surge is going to be 10 to 12 feet above normal, it’s time to cut off the crab lines, crank up the outboard and head north. Another one rescued, along with his dog, commented that he had a generator and knew he would be okay when the power went out. His generator is now under 15 feet of water, inside his house. I’m pretty sure he had his fan going to blow the carbon monoxide out of the house while the generator was running.

I am pretty sure that Washington will respond to those voters as soon as the water recedes. There are people waiting for checks and blue tarps.

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Posted by Graphic Designer 2 on Aug 30 2012. Filed under Editorial Columns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.