09-13-2005, 02:08 AM
As I was sitting in the igloo, polishing my bison hunting rifle I was not concerned when I heard a hurricane was headed to New Orleans. I thought to myself, as battled with Fangy, my polar bear, over the hockey puck the next day, "Surely, the Americans know that they have been damning the Mississippi River for two hundred years, and that an vestigial of the buffer created by the quickly receding delta would have no impact on the storm." Fangy voiced my thoughts as he deeked past me and put a third one in the net for a hatrick, "They have got to know that if the sea rises it's going to go straight over those tiny levees, cause, man, New Orleans is a lot lower than in the 30's!"
Later that night, after lighting up a home-grown bowl with my friend, Dave, the mountie and watching some of the BBC, we were happy to see that there was an evacuation notice for New Orleans. It was obvious that they recognized the hurricane was going to do more than knock over some palm trees and flood a few dozen houses, like in Miami. Oh yes, we went to bed that night sure that the city would you know, use the city buses, the military would come in with some trucks, and they would get the people out.
The next day, Dave, the mountie, showed up and we harnessed up the dog-sled and skidoo, took our 22's and went hunting some pesky coyotes that had been harassing our elk herd. We stopped in town on the way home, had some Molsons, and gave the news a passing glance. "Guess that storm is recalling hitting New Orleans," the barkeeper said.
"Good thing they issued that evacuation notice," I commented, which was met with a general nodding of heads.
Well, then my cousin's friend's sister's neighbour's cat was going to have kittens, and this was big news up here. So we headed into the city. The drive only took a couple days, and soon enough we were sitting around my cousin's friend's sister's neighbour's tv, watching the CFL pre season.
Much to our horror, the Eskies and Stampeders were whisked away and replaced with "Refugees fill stadium" "Stadium roof collapses" "Blacks looting" "White families 'finding' supplies" "Vancouver rescue unit dispatched to help devastated New Orleans" "Vancouver search and rescue reaches NO before Americans" "Aid workers short at" "Evacuees refuse to leave" "Death" "Chaos" "Disease filled sludge" "Acid burns from being in the water" "Survivor found after seven days".
We were awestruck. Filled with horror. Deeply saddened. Frustrated. Filled with anger. Empathetic. Disgusted. Incredulous.
Never, could we imagine the richest country in the world failing it's citizens so utterly and completely. The people weren't evacuated, they were left to rot. How can you even begin to say that being armed and knowing how to use it would have helped? How can you say it is the key to upholding a democracy. Your government is in NO WAY responsible to it's people. It let them DIE.
Truly, if you think being armed gives you a voice, and this is what makes a democracy work, you have been mislead. It does not matter that your guns give you the right to speak, when you obviously have not been taught how to speak. Your government had a simple job. Rescue a city of less than a million people. It failed, and is answering to no one.
Sure, a single politician might lose his job over this, even a handful might. You think that is meaningful? You think your guns make the government answerable to the citizenry? Can you not see how wrong you are?
Now, now, the government is trying to step in and help people by fixing the city. Least that's what it looks like to Fangy and I. They want to drain the city of waste, and the decontaminate it so that people have more to go back to than a breeding ground of disease and squalor. Of course, they are running into citizens who like their guns, and whatever piece of land they happen to be sitting on. Citizens who are quoting things like your amendments to people, who from our perspective, look like they finally got their act together enough to try and help the city.
The government grants you meaningless rights like, "liberty," and you are so blinded by this that you cannot see they have taken away your most basic human rights. You have liberty, and freedom, sure, these are cheap, the government can give them away for free. They don't mean squat to someone who is drowning in an acidic slurry of contaminated seawater and human waste. Shelter and food.
Try starting with those two. Once you've got the government responsible enough to it's people to make sure everyone has those, then we can talk about guns.
Course, I'm not down there, so what do I know. Poverty at the hands of government is a foriegn concept to me, much like basic health care would be for many Americans. So is destruction on a scale like this. Looks to me like the government failed it's people in a catastrophic fashion, and if any guns should have been raised in opposition to the governement, it should have been by the citizens unaffected, but witness to the travesty taking place, the should have been demanding assistance. Not after the inital horror, not when the government finally tries to help.
Later that night, after lighting up a home-grown bowl with my friend, Dave, the mountie and watching some of the BBC, we were happy to see that there was an evacuation notice for New Orleans. It was obvious that they recognized the hurricane was going to do more than knock over some palm trees and flood a few dozen houses, like in Miami. Oh yes, we went to bed that night sure that the city would you know, use the city buses, the military would come in with some trucks, and they would get the people out.
The next day, Dave, the mountie, showed up and we harnessed up the dog-sled and skidoo, took our 22's and went hunting some pesky coyotes that had been harassing our elk herd. We stopped in town on the way home, had some Molsons, and gave the news a passing glance. "Guess that storm is recalling hitting New Orleans," the barkeeper said.
"Good thing they issued that evacuation notice," I commented, which was met with a general nodding of heads.
Well, then my cousin's friend's sister's neighbour's cat was going to have kittens, and this was big news up here. So we headed into the city. The drive only took a couple days, and soon enough we were sitting around my cousin's friend's sister's neighbour's tv, watching the CFL pre season.
Much to our horror, the Eskies and Stampeders were whisked away and replaced with "Refugees fill stadium" "Stadium roof collapses" "Blacks looting" "White families 'finding' supplies" "Vancouver rescue unit dispatched to help devastated New Orleans" "Vancouver search and rescue reaches NO before Americans" "Aid workers short at" "Evacuees refuse to leave" "Death" "Chaos" "Disease filled sludge" "Acid burns from being in the water" "Survivor found after seven days".
We were awestruck. Filled with horror. Deeply saddened. Frustrated. Filled with anger. Empathetic. Disgusted. Incredulous.
Never, could we imagine the richest country in the world failing it's citizens so utterly and completely. The people weren't evacuated, they were left to rot. How can you even begin to say that being armed and knowing how to use it would have helped? How can you say it is the key to upholding a democracy. Your government is in NO WAY responsible to it's people. It let them DIE.
Truly, if you think being armed gives you a voice, and this is what makes a democracy work, you have been mislead. It does not matter that your guns give you the right to speak, when you obviously have not been taught how to speak. Your government had a simple job. Rescue a city of less than a million people. It failed, and is answering to no one.
Sure, a single politician might lose his job over this, even a handful might. You think that is meaningful? You think your guns make the government answerable to the citizenry? Can you not see how wrong you are?
Now, now, the government is trying to step in and help people by fixing the city. Least that's what it looks like to Fangy and I. They want to drain the city of waste, and the decontaminate it so that people have more to go back to than a breeding ground of disease and squalor. Of course, they are running into citizens who like their guns, and whatever piece of land they happen to be sitting on. Citizens who are quoting things like your amendments to people, who from our perspective, look like they finally got their act together enough to try and help the city.
The government grants you meaningless rights like, "liberty," and you are so blinded by this that you cannot see they have taken away your most basic human rights. You have liberty, and freedom, sure, these are cheap, the government can give them away for free. They don't mean squat to someone who is drowning in an acidic slurry of contaminated seawater and human waste. Shelter and food.
Try starting with those two. Once you've got the government responsible enough to it's people to make sure everyone has those, then we can talk about guns.
Course, I'm not down there, so what do I know. Poverty at the hands of government is a foriegn concept to me, much like basic health care would be for many Americans. So is destruction on a scale like this. Looks to me like the government failed it's people in a catastrophic fashion, and if any guns should have been raised in opposition to the governement, it should have been by the citizens unaffected, but witness to the travesty taking place, the should have been demanding assistance. Not after the inital horror, not when the government finally tries to help.