SwiftVets.com

[homesteader]

A young man askes his parents to extend his curfew from 10 PM to 2 Am. The parents say no. The boy throws a tantrum, calls the parents names and spreads the word through the community that his parents are unreasonable and are abusing their positions of authority. Over time he wears the parents down and to keep peace, they agree, given that the boy agrees not to drink and drive.

Shorty thereafter the boy wraps the family car around a tree at 1 AM after drinking at a party. He is now confined for life in a wheelchair. He bitterly lashes out against his parents for not having a car with a better collision rateing and better air bags.

The parents carry the burden of knowing they are ultimately responsible because they approved their son staying out late. Though they know the boy was hurt because of his own failure to follow the rules, they do not hold it over him as they deal with loving, nursing and caring for him for the rest of his life. They could have responded by saying "we did not want him to stay out so late" "we thought he would obey the rules" "we could not hold his hand every minute".

God Bless Our President! He could be saying "I did not want the Dept. of Homeland Security" "It was Congress that created this mess" "It was FEMA that messed up" (remember Slick Willie after Waco and Oklahoma City?.......He blamed Janet Reno and talk radio) "the mayor and the governor didn't follow the rules (read the plan) etc. etc. Instead he is carrying the burden of knowing he signed off on Congress's folly and is unltimately responsible. With dignity he is leading without saying "I told you so". He is being bashed and battered yet he carries on with steadfastness and compassion.

What has been accomplished in two weeks is utterly astonishing and it was accomplished not by FEMA and inspite of city and state bungling. It has been accomplished by the American people through church and other very local, personal and even big corperation efforts. In initially opposing a huge new beauracracy, I am sure this is what the President knew about American communities and how they would be the backbone of any effective "first response" to a crisis. Maybe the silver lining will be the deconstruction of Congressional meddling and the reestablishment of individual and local responsibility as the cornerstones of American response to a crisis. (Remember how Sec. Ridge's advice that each household prepare an emergency kit and plan was mocked?) The higher levels of government should be there to ramp up to support and augment at levels appropriate to the extent of the incident. There is no way a centralized national organization can or should insure that the widow stranded in her prairie home during a blizzard gets rescued while remembering to tell a city mayor that he has hundreds of busses at his disposal. Americans figure out such things (or should be able to.) You can find such examples in any past Readers' Digest and we are going to hear many more about Katrina in the months to come.

In the meantime I am thankful that as a bunch of political and moral cripples rant and rave from their wheelchairs, we have an adult in command. I am confident that as the water recedes, the smoke clears and the lights start going back on, the truth will emerge and Americans will see infantile behavior (by the MSM, DNC Moveon, etc) for what it is.

[Anker-Klanker]

Good post. But I admit that I'm frankly getting very impatient for the American people to wake up and show evidence that they see through the barrage of lies and misinformation they've been receiving from the MSM. Unfortunately I know of no real barometer to read the true public's mind; those phony polls they're touting are about as useless as you-know-what.

[homesteader]

Anker Klanker,

All we can do is follow our CnC's lead. Keep the faith, do what is right, and be encouraged by how past attempts by the left have blown up in their faces. The only real poll that matters is on election day. Remember how we've felt before each of the past several elections as they strut and crow. Yet every succeeding election seems to make them more and more marginalized and irrelevent.

[dusty]

[GenrXr]

hear hear
_________________
"An activist is the person who cleans up the water, not the one claiming its dirty."
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing." Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Founder of Conservative Philosophy

[homesteader]

Hail To The Chief. No only is our Commander in Chief a man of dignity and honor, he is smart and crafty. He is performing like a man who is confident and comfortable in his own skin. Because he knows he is doing the right thing, he does not have to fear those dreaded investigations, commissions, inquiries. witchhunts etc. In fact, he is so at ease he can step forward and say, "I take responsibility for any federal failures. Now let's figure out what happened at ALL levels." He knows where that will lead.

Like someone else in this forum has just noted, the dems have to be very uneasy and there is going to be a mad scramble to "move on". Methinks the winds of Katrina have blown the cover off a whole bunch of rot. It is rot that everone knew was there and winked at because NO was "so charming". The lashing out by the mayor and governor crossed a line. The rest of the country that will voluntarily and nonvolutarily carry much of the financial burden will not suffer ingrates easily.

Our leader was wise enough to keep his cool, do what needed to be done and give the mayor, governor and senator free reign to expose themselve for who they really are. (We can throw the DNC, NAACP, Moveon and a host of others in the mix too.)