03 March 2006

And what did you do when....?

Apparently the Main Stream Media has decided to lie again.

Needless to say everyone gets into the bandwagon, yet again, with the yelling and finger pointing and all that goes with it. Yes, Katrina was mismanaged at all levels of government, mostly due to inaction and buck-passing for decades on the part of Citizens. The finger of blame points directly at... Yourself. For every time you point one finger out in accusation, three point back at you and one to the ground to remind you of the final resting place.

Yes, every accuser is thrice damned upon himself.

When it 1 or 5 or 10 or 15 or 20 years New Orleans suffers this fate another time, the question of who is to blame will be immediate: Everyone now pointing a finger at someone else.

The MSM is thrice damned for every time they spin, mangle, sound bite, misreport or otherwise dilute actual and factual news reporting. Sometimes there is no *story*, but one needs be invented and they do just fine at that. This is called instant fiction to suit political and ideological needs. I stopped paying attention to all save the most *entertaining* a few years ago. To me, MSM news reporting is *entertainment* and is devoid of factual content. I will now put more trust into a man, woman or child with a laptop reporting what they see out their window or in a cafe more than any news organization on the planet, bar none.

But in this case, of the aftermath of New Orleans from last year, the story is one that is not easy to tell but has a simple, basic fact that cannot be spun, manipulated, sound bited, or otherwise misinterpreted in any way, shape or form.

The City of New Orleans is *sinking* below water level. And will continue to do so as every minor *fix* we put into the Mississippi Delta makes the problem *worse*. Apparently in all the fingerpointing, we have forgotten the catch phrase from Lt. Gen. Honore "stuck on stupid"

The immediate disaster is over and let blame fall where it may. The crisis of what to do with the city of New Orleans continues on.

To anyone listening to the MSM on the topic of who is to blame, consider this: when a child orgrandchildd asks you about 'what did you do to save New Orleans?' what will your response be?

Will it be: "Well, I pointed finger of blame at everyone."?

Or will it be: "I criticized everyone who had a part in it, but left it up to the bureaucrats to figure out so that I could continue criticizing without end."?

Or will it be: "I realized that there was a problem that was larger than just the city or even state could handle and contributed my part as a citizen to get a good idea of how to save the city in place. I realized I could not trust the Governments to do the right thing. It took years but was worth the effort."?

Being a Citizen of the United States has responsibilities attached to it. The generations before this thought it was a good idea to pass the buck to the Governments and not give their input on how to do things. They abdicated the hard work of building a better country and the worries of that for the pleasures of leading a somewhat simpler life then.

And we now have the bill for the inaction of our parents and grandparents.

Are we to do the same? Again?

It is not only our Right to build a better government and better country, it is our RESPONSIBILITY to ensure that it gets done. Some questions are too important to leave up to the politicians and bureaucrats.

If you pass the buck on *this*, then you are losing your rights to have a say in your government.

You will be shirking the hard won right to be a constructive force for society. Yes, this is one of those wonderful unenumerated rights reserved for you. You have tons of them.

In this case as in many others, there is only one name that describes the finger-pointers.

Cowards.

Put up or shut up, lest you lose any say at all in your life.

If you won't stand up for your rights *now*, then *when*?

Perhaps when it is too late and the knock on the door is for you?

Excuse my intemperance, but to any who complain about the tag of 'Coward'... will you stop complaining and *do* something constructive?

I can barely offer ideas. Safe in my home, but barely. Walk a bit of distance with effort. But I can think and offer alternatives that others may have missed. I do not claim them to be *good* ideas. But I will say that it is more than the MSM and political blame-gamers are doing.

The Republic needs you and calls softly, faintly. Can you close your mouth long enough to listen? Then open your hand to help?

The Country needs YOU, now more than ever. Not your agenda, not your ideology, not your bigotry or hatred or bias. It needs ideas and hard work to make them come true.

Today is when it needs you, not tomorrow.

If you cannot grasp that, cannot offer constructive ideas, cannot stop pointing your finger and, in general, can't get it through your head that YOU control the Government, then you are truly to blame thrice over.

I will blame when needs be, but I will also do my damnedest to give a better way or different way of *helping*.

It is sad that I am alone in that.

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