OK, Mardi Gras is over. Everyone had fun, there were no mass shootings this year to mar the event, and everyone's gone home now. The slogan for this year was "Drink until Ray Nagin makes sense!" and Old Willie Wonka the Chocolate Mayor didn't help his own image one bit by dressing in army garb and riding in the parades on a horse making like he had something to do with the rescue of all the people that the federal government actually saved.
But now that the fun's over, most of the former residents of that city are back to sitting around demanding that the rest of us hurry up and buy them new houses. And the worst part is that the Democrats just keep proposing plans that will actually do that.
Sorry, but I object as loudly as I can. It's not my job to buy a new house for some sap who chose to live below sea level without buying flood insurance. The people who bought insurance are going to be fine. Those who didn't need to deal with it on their own, just like the tens of thousands of other Americans who are rendered homeless each year by storms, fires, earthquakes and other natural disasters. Did the rest of us pay to rebuild coastal North Carolina after Hurricane Hugo? How about Florida after FIVE back-to-back hurricanes? Of course we didn't. So why should we rebuild the 9th Ward of New Orleans and replace all those crummy trashed shotgun houses with brand spanking new nice ones? The 9th Ward was crap BEFORE the storm and it was that way because the people living there made it that way and refused to do a thing to clean it up or make it safe. Now they want all new stuff for free? Screw that. And screw any politician who tries to ride that issue into office by trading support for these stupid plans for re-election votes.
We already got everyone out of harm's way. That's expected. We also gave everyone thousands of dollars in cash whether they were actually put out or not. FEMA audits have shown that over 900,000 of applications for the 2.5 million cash awards given out contained false information, indicating that the recipients generally screwed us taxpayers over. We also saw that money spent on tattoos, strip clubs, jewelry, guns, and of course drugs and booze. And this was done by people living high on the hog in hotel rooms much nicer than the houses and apartments that most of them had in New Orleans. Of course we paid for those rooms for months too. And did they say "thanks"? No! They filed a bunch of lawsuits when we finally stopped paying their rent 8 months later!
Most of these people have gotten more in cash, clothing, food and rent than they could ever have provided for themselves this past year, and anyone who was really trying to find a job and their own housing could have done so months ago. Many did, leaving behind a hard-core remainder of career panhandlers and second-handers who expect the rest of us to just carry them indefinitely then set them down in nice new free homes with central air and color TV sets. Well I'm tired of paying out only to be defrauded, ripped off, sneered at and sued. I had no problem helping those in need until they could get back on their feet but the gravy train needs to end for the ones who just want to keep sitting and it needs to end right now.
And for those of you who have high-speed internet and want to see a funny but sadly true video spoof about New Orleans, check this one out:
Click here unless you're easily offended.
You'll have to register to see the video, but it's simple, free and worth it.
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