Commenting on how quickly time passes is trite enough without me belaboring the point. Nevertheless, Thursday came rather quickly this week. Perhaps it’s because I’ve had so many early morning meetings this week. I have done some work on the computers at home this week which has occupied a lot of my evenings. We also bought some additional foliage for the back yard and because of that I know how my Saturday morning will be spent. Meanwhile, the motorhome is back in it’s accustomed spot with a fixed and now fully functional fridge. We’re headed for Seattle at the end of the month for a couple of days and I’m looking forward to taking the motorhome. It might be the last time this fall before the snow flies and I have to winterize the machine.

All the mainstream news attention is on hurricane Katrina and the blame game. I’ve gotten rather tired of the poor coverage and the fault finding. The storm was bigger than New Orleans and in reality bigger than the surrounding area. The fact is, however, the local governments were singularly unprepared. However, if one listens to the mainstream media, the Federal Government is at fault and we’ve got a president accepting that blame. Very dumb, George W. Very dumb. The Federal Government should the the third or fourth level responder, not the first level responder. Government priorities are mixed up and the mainstream media “reporting” is messed up as well.

Most of those who didn’t evacute probably could not have evacuated on their own. They have no money or means to leave and no ability to sustain themselves should they leave. The reason? They live from the government welfare trough. The government takes care of them. The government feeds them. The government provides them housing, clothing, and health care. These folks were very well trained by the government! Then they were suddenly not taken care of by the goverment. No wonder they were angry and spiteful.

This sordid mess also points out the serious problems with our current governmental welfare system. It makes people dependent and takes away their ability to make their own decisions and to make their own way in life.

Some of these programs are Federal Government programs. Some are State Government programs. These agencies were woefully unprepared. They created a dependent constituency and then left them out in the cold and wet when disaster struck. Unfortunately, in whatever witch hunts that happen in the wake of hurricane Katrina, changing this problem will not be an outcome. These “investigations” will be primarily driven by the Democrats whose mission in life seems to be to make people dependent on the government and then portray them as victims.

One of the stories my dad likes to tell is about Ike and Mike’s mule. “When they finally taught it how to live without eating, well, it died.” When we teach people how to live without contributing back to society, we all die a little.