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Stifling Our Children
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Another Perspective
Blown Away
So how was your Saturday?
How to handle a hurricane? Well, to heed the non-stop advice available via 24/7 TV coverage, I suppose that the order of business at minimum was to stock up on all available comestibles, dash off to the nearest hardware store to buy every flashlight and battery on hand, gas up one’s vehicles and trundle off to the nearest ATM to lay in a cache of cash. The last of these was necessary, we are told, in case credit cards cannot be processed electronically. What you would be able to buy in that scenario is unclear, but so said the innumerable experts at the Weather Channel.
And so my fellow residents in Connecticut spent the week before the storm emptying grocery store shelves and forming lines at ATMs and gas stations. It’s funny. Many people who are atheists and agnostics reject religious strictures, saying, “Who is the Church to tell me what to do?” but have no such qualms when it comes to the edicts of “experts,” especially those employed by the government.
In the hours leading up to the advent of the big blow, we were treated to a plethora of on-site reports of the most comical variety; with reporters in slick, rain suits rippling in the wind, advising of the impending doom while scores of passersby ambled happily down the boardwalks behind them. On and on nattered all manner of ashen-faced pundits, dazzling us with their expertise in matters of disaster.
So, in the face of all this invaluable advice, what did my husband and I do? We stocked up on the ingredients for homemade Italian gravy and gave a pre-catastrophe dinner for a few friends. One of those friends and I chuckled over a prediction we made years ago — when a local TV station issued a “flat-roof” warning in advance of a snow storm — that networks, in their pursuit of scaring viewers into submission by fear, might have finally succeeded. Following this, we repaired to our local club where we whiled away the hours leading up to certain doom by having a few cocktails before calmly driving back home to await the storm.
After all, we, as well as the army of newscasters, had access to radar maps and knew almost exactly when the weather would change, and therefore saw no good reason to change our Saturday plans. In this, we were not in the company of most Northeastern city and state potentates who saw fit to add to the coming misery by cancelling events and shutting down mass transit way in advance of even a drop of rain, thus giving the whole affair an air of emasculation.
The imperious fiats of his highness, New York Emperor Mike Bloomberg, led to the cancellation of a Saturday afternoon NFL game — the epitome of American macho — while elderly golfers and five year-old soccer players availed themselves of the summer climes until sunset. Joining his fellow executives, even conservative Chris Christie got into the act, shuttering casino operations as well as closing down resort towns up and down the Jersey coast, a day in advance of the predicted devastation. These governors, it seemed, were determined to govern.
It’s easy to understand why. After all, what else has a governor to do in the day-to-day operation of his office? Other than appointments and wielding the rare veto pen, the true importance of executive power in modern America lies in the area of emergency management. Because Hurricane Katrina changed forever the way executives will be judged by the almighty media. I say, by the media, because if there were any fairness or objectivity in the majority of news outlets, the blame would have been put squarely on the weak shoulders of tragicomic New Orleans Mayor, Ray “Chocolate City” Nagin and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, instead of the usual suspect, George W. Bush.
So, much of the current nonsense of pre-hurricane overkill must be attributed to Katrina syndrome: the idea that more government can save lives and property, when in actuality, less bureaucratic interference and more individual responsibility would suffice. One only had to look at the effects of the same Katrina in the neighboring state of Mississippi, where, granted the difference in geography and population, the resulting loss of life and property was considerably less devastating.
Here in Connecticut, where we have Nor’easters year round, Big Irene barely caused any more damage than a severe thunderstorm. Yet, given the huge advance notice of this storm, and for all the many city, state and federal agencies meeting, consulting and coordinating with the inept Connecticut Light & Power Company, many in my state — including yours truly — will be without power for up to a week.
Because, despite the admonitions of rafts of “professional” advisors, nothing — particularly the trudging behemoth of government bureaucracy — can replace the quickly vanishing ingenuity and common sense of the American people. It is said that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure; but in the case of government, it is usually a pound of flesh… yours.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (41) | Leave a comment
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Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 8.31.11 @ 6:50AM
It was a perfect moment for big government.
Government officials seized the moment and could rightfully bloviate all day long and then all night long and then all day long and then all night long. Stop me if I'm boring you.
Yes, they looked downright stupid after a short period of time and it became an over hyped event.
But the purpose of those bloviating bureaucrats wasn't to help the public.
It was to help themselves and prove that big government is the savior. Snap decisions were made to close highways and entire cities.
It should have been a good lesson for the public of what is to come if the government takes over health care, i.e., you'll bend over and take it and like it.
But many in the public are stupid and don't see where this is going. When many do it may be too late to stop it.
Nancy in NC| 8.31.11 @ 7:09AM
We survived Irene, but instead of running to the store for the last loaf of bread and more batteries, we stay prepared. Because of an out of control government we've joined the crazies and actually have food, water and batteries on hand at all times. We made sure our cell phones were charged, and we had plenty of things to read and gas for the generator. We brought all the outside furniture in, and removed all "flying objects".
Forunately (and thankfully) we suffered no damage and power was restored on Sunday. Not everyone we know has been so lucky. Many folks have roof and structual damage to their homes and still don't have power. We didn't have much flooding here, but other counties didn't fare as well. The wind was the culprit here.
Even though the governor (a Dem) couldn't wait to declare ours a disaster area and call for FEMA, communities and individuals are banding together and cleaning up the mess. A few people did lose their life, but most was due to stupid behavior (like going outside in the storm and getting hit by a falling tree, driving in deep water, etc.).
I am still unsure what FEMA's purpose in all this. I always assumed that homeowners had insurance to cover life's disasters. My house is paid for but I carry insurance with a large deductible, but if FEMA were to show up, I would say no thanks.
For heaven's sakes, this isn't Japan. We didn't suffer a major earthquake or tsunami. Mother Nature just did what she does every few years. If you live near the coast you should expect these things to happen, just like a tornado in the Midwest should not come as a huge surprise.
I wonder what Americans did a hundred years ago before FEMA, the weather channel, the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.
TrueBlue| 8.31.11 @ 2:06PM
They acted responsibly and fixed/rebuilt what was damaged, with the help of their neighbors, then got on with their lives.
Nancy in NC| 8.31.11 @ 7:16AM
I lost some respect for C. Christie during this storm. I don't need the governor to tell me what to do during a storm...do these people live in a bubble? It's calling an opportunity to thin the herd...survival of the fittest, ala Darwin.
If you live in a mobile home or low lying area and even the stupidest know a storm is on the way, would not a sane person realize they need to take care of themselves? The Nanny state strikes again, and Americans become less likely to think in the future.
JimH| 8.31.11 @ 8:49AM
Survival of the fittest is somewhat tautological because it claims that which survives and can reproduce is by definition fittest. Look around and see who is outbreeding who and see if you agree with that assertion. It’s a lot easier for the government to have everyone leave ahead of time. It means they don’t have to be rescued later and it looks as if they are being proactive. I will agree with you this much, no mandatory evacuations, but don’t look for help if you stay.
TrueBlue| 8.31.11 @ 2:08PM
The only reason a lot of those stupid people survive to breed is the nanny state looking over them all the time. Otherwise they'd all be out on the street or starving because they lack any motivation to do anything for themselves.
Nancy in NC| 8.31.11 @ 3:53PM
Agreed. I call it thinning the herd. Nature works very well if we only allow it. Unfortunately, the busybodies keep sticking their nose into other people's business. How does anyone ever learn if others clean up their mistakes?
I recently read an interesting article by Walter Williams and how he spent his lunch money on something else when he was a kid. His mom told him tough luck, and he went hungry for a couple of days at lunch time. But he learned a valuable lesson. Now they would get lunch for free regardless, so no lesson will ever be learned. Does no one understand that's not really being kind in the long run?
Melvin| 8.31.11 @ 8:24AM
Living in Jacksonville, NC I prepared as Nancy in NC family had done. My wife gets quietly annoyed with my redundancy of things. I have backups for backups. We have on hand flashlights, extra batteries, hurricane lanterns with extra lamp oil, long life candles, chem lights.
One very smart buy was a small wood burning stove, called the Earth Stove, that can utilize all the organic material that has fallen and we can cook on it, with the worry of running out of gas, or charcoal.
If the shingles on the roof get stripped off, I have tarps on hand. Our refrigerator and freezer were powered by a small generator. We have two types of water purifiers to utilize the rain water out of my rain barrel in the backyard.
Being as prepared as you can be is a matter of surviving on one's own for a brief time. I was prepared to run an extension cord over to my elderly neighbors to run their fridge for a while so they're food wouldn't spoil if the power stayed off too long.
My coworker came over and replaced a number of shingles that had blown off my house, and I put the gutter back on that had blown off.
Myself and my neighbors didn't wander the streets with outstretched arms wailing to Shepard Smith or Heraldo, "Where's FEMA, no body cares about us, we need government to do something." We banded together as neighbors and did it ourselves.
One fella posted on WITN7's web site, that the State was handing out emergency food stamps to cover the loss of spoiled food in the refrigerator. I posted that it wasn't the State's responsibility to replace spoiled food, it was the home owner's responsibility to keep his own food from spoiling. Well many of those who need government to survive immediately pillared me, declaring me as an unfeeling, and racist to the poor and less fortunate.
I would like to give credit where it needs to be, and I cannot say enough about these people. Myself and thousands of Jones Onslow Electric Cooperative customers would like to thank those overworked, and extremely tired linemen who got our juice back on Saturday evening.
Driving to Home Depot Sunday morning our electrical system looked like Godzilla did a dancing with the stars on it. Thanks Jones Onslow.
hardcard| 8.31.11 @ 8:33AM
mayor dumberg is a nanny billionaire a-hole without a clue, thousands of business closed throughout NYC, thousands of non-emergency city workers on a paid day-off, overtime pay for beefed up essential sevice workers and no transfat or salt for anyone, put out that cigar pal.
Sam Vaughn| 8.31.11 @ 8:39AM
Living on a small island off the coast of Maine gives one perspective. Lisa, I chuckled at your article and very much appreciated it. Nor'easters are respected here, not ignored, but life goes on. They're often far more dangerous than a hurricane. There is no fear of a storm we're close to the elements and understand the weather. After a nasty one goes by we don't stand in the street befuddled asking we is our government, where is FEMA! We load up, stack chainsaws in our pickup and we clean up. It harkens back to older times when Americans were independent, self-reliant. When I go back to our city home I am constantly reminded how childish Americans have become, hyped by our media into sucking our thumbs with the doors bolted till a government official gives us the okay. Is that what we have become as a nation? I think not, the roots of who we are maybe be buried under years of "brainwashing" we are still Americans.
Melvin| 8.31.11 @ 8:58AM
Damn Nor'easters sometimes are sneaky little buggers. We down here in NC don't get them at the frequency of your area, but really caught my attention is their suddenness.
Mick Hawk| 8.31.11 @ 9:10AM
That Nor'easter we got about 5 years ago was far worse than this rain fest we got over the weekend. More damage and more flooding all up and down the mid-Atlantic from that one and with less warning that we got from TS Irene.
Sam Vaughn| 8.31.11 @ 9:40AM
ah yes, the Patriots Day Storm...
Denver Todd| 8.31.11 @ 8:43AM
I don't understand why the government always steps in to help homeowners rebuild. Isn't that what insurance is for?
Maddox| 8.31.11 @ 11:27AM
Yes for you and me but not for those whose votes must be bought.
TrueBlue| 8.31.11 @ 2:12PM
Government and Logic are two opposing forces.
Derek Leaberry| 8.31.11 @ 9:50AM
The big government of Queen Anne's County, MD ordered all residents west of the 301/50 split near Queenstown to evacuate. The big government was largely ignored by the county citizenry as the storm surge was smaller than Hurricane Isabel's eight years ago. Enjoying the comforts of one's own home was preferred to huddling up with strangers at some elementary school. For me, it was more fun watching the rain and drinking beer to the alternative of a dry day packed in a school.
Sam Vaughn| 8.31.11 @ 9:52AM
Does anybody remember the "Perfect Storm" made into a movie? That was very real and not "hyped" at the time. Classic Nor'easter "monster" storm. The weather buoys off the coast measure wave height and peg out at around 100 feet. When that storm passed they were pegged out. Far more dangerous than a hurricane. Several of our islanders were washed away from their vessel when a towering rogue wave rolled their boat in February. But just try and ask any of these guys to leave the ocean and earn their living another way.... not going to happen till the DHHS shows up at their door and hauls them to jail for risking their own lives.
The Big E| 8.31.11 @ 12:15PM
". . . not going to happen till the DHHS shows up at their door and hauls them to jail for risking their own lives."
Sssshhhh!!! Don't give them any ideas!
Drunken Sailor| 8.31.11 @ 2:06PM
100 foot waves? No thanks. Went through a winter storm in the North Atlantic in the Navy with 60 foot waves. That was enough. Didn't eat solid food for two days and I got tired of walking on the walls from the 4 point rolls.
Anthony| 8.31.11 @ 10:55AM
I quite agree. Although parts of the northeast were hit hard, Lisa is spot on about the insane media coverage in CT.
I commented to my wife that there should have be two storm images on the T.V., one for the actual storm, and the other for the swirling mass of politicians responding to the media hype and the media reporting on the pols responding to their hype. Truly the perfect storm of today's culture.
Between the midget mayor of N.Y., Bloomberg, who couldn't stay off TV for more than 10 minutes, saying the most insane, stupid stuff just to hear himself talk and push his presidential ambitions, and the fat Gov. of N.J., Christie, doing his best imitation of Tony Soprano as governor, "Get the hell off the beaches"!!!, it was a nauseating spectacle of self interest.
Before the storm even hit Virginia, winds were only 80 mph, yet the CT media still hyped CAT 1 speeds. By the time it hit CT, it was just 5 inches of rain and wind gusts of 30-35 mph.
All in all, it was quite a demonstration of just how disingenuous and paternalistic both the media and the pols have become.
Moe Blotz| 8.31.11 @ 11:39AM
Yo Lisa,didjiz buy a portable generator in the run-up to the storm? Big box stores were all sold out around here on Friday.
Kingofthenet| 8.31.11 @ 11:54AM
I guess Lisa instead of Drinking, you should have been buying a Generator, God didn't tell you to do that? Now you are going to have to throw out all that 'Gravy' or Marinara Sauce for us non Italians.Maybe you can help CPL by cutting back those sick old trees or is that also a n act of God?
Kingofthenet| 8.31.11 @ 12:20PM
A couple tips about buying Generators, buy a LP Gas model (ones that take 20lb grill cylinders) they don't get gummed up or filled with varnish, are easy to hook up(No pouring gas) LP gas lasts a LONG time in a good cylinder unlike gas(Think years) get a couple of the 100lb cylinders and leave them empty, fill them when trouble gets close(You will need a dolly or a strong guy) don't need them get an attachment and use them on your grill.a 100lb cylinder SHOULD power most house size generators for 24hrs, if you run it 16h on 8 hrs off you should get a day and a half of power out of each one.
Dave Williams| 8.31.11 @ 12:42PM
I'm an atheist, and I don't listen to experts...or rather, I should say that I hear their words, but then weigh their advice with my own judgment. Atheism = taking responsibility for your own choices. A good, solid, conservative idea, no?
Margie| 8.31.11 @ 2:07PM
"I don't listen to experts..."
I do. I listen to the Expert Himself, the Creator of the universe and Mankind.
Father really DOES know best!
The Big E| 8.31.11 @ 5:16PM
I know I'm not smart enough to know everything. You seem to think you are. Wonder which of us is the bigger idiot?
The Big E| 8.31.11 @ 5:18PM
That post, of course, was directed to Dave Williams, not Margie. Just wanted to clarify that.
Margie| 9.1.11 @ 2:37PM
why, thanks for that, Big E. :^).
Kingofthenet| 8.31.11 @ 1:18PM
Lisa, I don't want to Alarm you(Pun Intended), but the word is out on the streets of the South Bronx and Bedford-Stuyvesant that you Rich White Crackers have lost your alarm systems and battery backup has run dead.So the Brothers are lacing up their 'Looting' shoes and plan a wilding up there, hopefully that's ALL they will do, if you catch my drift...
wbheff| 8.31.11 @ 3:46PM
Amazingly rude, childish, and scurrilous, and you probably don't understand that last one.
LittleSis| 9.2.11 @ 12:12PM
Rich, white crackers can afford big, bad guns!!!
WGMOW| 8.31.11 @ 1:23PM
I was proud of the response of a fellow New Englander, being interviewed on national TV, up in devastated Vermont. He was some sort of town official, maybe the first selectman, leading a team of contractors who were cleaning up debris from destroyed homes and the busted-up road. He was also directing them as they re-routed the river channel back to its original configuration, which would be safer for the (rebuilt) homes and the road.
The TV commentator smirked as he asked if the town had approval from the EPA. The town official merely grinned and said he's rather ask for forgiveness than permission.
That's the old New England way, except they didn't even ask for forgiveness. We need to get back to those old ways instead of waiting for Big Momma Gov'mint to tell us what to do.
Margie| 8.31.11 @ 2:08PM
Hurricane? What Hurricane?
John G.| 8.31.11 @ 2:27PM
Here in Virginia Beach, we were hoping the rain from Irene would put out that smoldering fire in the Great Dismal Swamp. A post storm flyover by officials reveals about 30 acres still burning. At the smoke has gone from the prevailing winds.
Derek Leaberry| 8.31.11 @ 5:42PM
We could actually smell that Dismal Swamp fire two weekends ago at my house on Maryland's central.
Ernie Shackleton| 8.31.11 @ 5:40PM
You've never scene storms until you've crossed the Drake Passage during a hurricane in a 22 foot boat.
general summerall| 8.31.11 @ 7:35PM
There was a TV docu a few years ago about the Blizzard of (18)88, which killed loads of people out on the prairies (a number of country schools collapsed on the kids inside), and the press of NYC snooted that those hayseeds shouldn't have moved out onto the prairies like they did. A week or so later the Blizzard hit Big Apple and people were dying stuck in snowdrifts all over the metro. (The snow killed Roscoe Conkling, RIP). But when the sun came out and the snow of the century melted NYC began to build its first subway system. For some interesting reading during the next east coast assault by Nature, I recommend Laura Ingall Wilder's The Long Winter; Pa and Ma Ingall and the girls live snowbound through a 7-month long blizzard out on the plains.
POST American| 9.1.11 @ 12:54AM
---------Delightful piece.
BTW ---are we keeping up with the latest in the
Rockefellow/Globalist cover up of the Fukishima
world DEPOP OP?
Seems the meters there are reading 10 ceverts
(meaurement unit) an hour ---the highest reading
on the meters. This has been underway since
the tsunami.
In short, for all we know iot could be pumping
out 50 ceverts an hour. We DON'T know.
Hence MILLIONS are going to die ---there
and around the world.
Think about those GE design flawed reactors
next time you hear about GE's latest tax exempt
scam as they build dirty plants here and across
the world.
Dan Mathewson| 9.1.11 @ 5:07PM
Where is your evidence for your claims?