Crybabies and apologists
I’ve been watching with some measure of humor the antics of New Yorkers and their mayor this week. Apparently, crybaby New Yorkers “woke up two days straight to an unplowed street outside my frontdoor,” said city Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. “This is not business as usual, and frustration is mounting.”” Oh, my goodness…two days? Imagine how distraught Mr. deBlasio would have been ig he’d lived across the State in Redwood, NY in January 1998 when we went without passable streets and electricity for 16 days.
Perhaps more humorous is Mayor Bloomberg who is alternately telling New Yorkers that he has everything under control and not to expect the government to do much for New Yorkers;
“We cannot do everything all the time and we are doing the best we can. I think that this city has pulled together. I don’t think that we should sit around and think the end of the world is here. We cannot be every place at all times but, if you look around, the people behind me are the best in this country to lead this city and to provide the services we need. We won’t get to everybody every time. We will make mistakes. But we have to continue plugging ahead. Yelling about it and complaining doesn’t help.”
The problem is not that government “can’t do everything all of the time”, though that’s why we pay them. Government can’t really do much of anything correctly. In fact, aren’t we usually surprised when we get our driver license on time, or they don’t screw up our property taxes?
After hurricane Katrina, I’m surprised that there are still people who depend on any level of their government for anything. Government is the reason I have guns stashed all over my house. I know they won’t protect me from criminals, so it’s up to me. I have a snowblower because I can’t depend on them to clear my street.
In fact, I think that’s why most former military members are conservative because we’ve seen up close how incompetent the government can be.
Category: General Whackos
… and so the NYC Government sends help. Whoops …
Jonn-
I distinctly remember the blizzard of ’78. We were in CT and snowed in for a week. I do not recall this kind of reaction from normal people! Instead, we pooled resources, snowmobiles and feet to get to the store or whatever. This shit just continues to make me scratch my head.
In 2000, we got 31′ of snow in Raleigh. Again, not a place you ‘expect’ snow, but it was here and we did what we could and survived just fine. The snow didn’t melt from our shady neighborhood for a while. Yeah, so what?
Gov’t help? WTF? Christie is catching shit, but NJ will be just fine. I wish people would just pull up their adult pants and get the fuck over it!!
This is the endgame of liberalism. People expect government to do everything for them and act all surprised and butthurt when government inevitably fails. Witness Katrina versus other areas which have suffered just as much.
Twice in the last two years I’ve dealt with situations where I’ve lost power for over a week each time (ice storm in 2008, wind storm last February.) The only ones bitching and whining were the ones who were unprepared and expected the government to come in and save their sorry asses.
Again, even with advanced warning, the local & state governments are showing us that we cannot and should not depend on them. Bloomberg KNEW that this was coming and yet, his minions dispatched vehicles that weren’t ready for this kind of weather. The aforementioned youtube video shows exactly how incompetent NYC’s leadership is. Who on Earth would dispatch a snow removal vehicle without chains?? Front end loaders are OK for removing snow, but they really need chains when it gets too deep.
When I lived in MN, not every snow removal vehicle had chains, mainly because the drivers knew how to drive in snow. They also know proper snow removal techniques. I usually had to wait at least a day, if not two before they got to my streets. I can’t tell anybody how many times I’ve taken my snowblower and removed snow from one of the streets I lived on because I knew that I was one of the last to be plowed out. (It was a small cul-de-sac type of street)
I had just returned from deployment and was able to experience the ’78 snowstorm in Norfolk, Va. It took them a long while to get things squared away, but we all survived and I don’t recall a bunch of whining during or after the snowstorm. I learned a valuable lesson then; that was to always keep decent tires of my vehicles. A Government big enough to do everything is also big enough to take everything away.
It’s something mental, I think. A local man crashed his car a couple of years ago in the mountains. Car was totalled, man was unhurt. He sat in his car and froze to death just off a county road, and less than a mile from a ridge-top relay tower. He sat in the car for about three days and wrote good-bye letters to his wife and children. A lot of questions went around about the man’s state of health and mental health, but the point is this: he did nothing to help himself. He just waited to die.
Usually in NYC before a Storm the plows are out ahead of time and pre-positioned. This time it was a goat fuck. a Bro from Baghdad is in NYC sanitation his plow was stuck 16 hours on Queens blvd axles deep. It eventually took 3 other plows to free him. Bloomberg also recently fired several hundred of them and quickly hired contractors for this storm who wrecked cars with loaders as here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt_r-jO3lKE
My Brother who still lives in Flushing didnt see a Plow until monday afternoon and lives on a major avenue. The Subways werent running, the Long Island Rail Road wasnt running, people at JFK were stuck in planes over 11 hours waiting to get off, and as of yesterday still no side streets plowed in much of queens. A Infant died because police fire/ambulance could not get to the home due to snowdrifts 4 ft high. Now Lord Bloomberg is getting snippy and thinks the peasants are asking unpleasant questions of him.
Just a quick note from the snowy south.
nanny, nanny, boo, boo. Go ahead and tell me again how ya’ll handle the snow so muuuch better then us.
Go kiss a ‘gator, Grunt.
Perfect example
Bloombergs street, sanitation Commisioners street, Schools chancellor(doesnt even have the job yet) streets plowed clean
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/12/29/2010-12-29_a_madhouse_out_there_but_not_for_boss.html
Someone suggested that I pray that the north easterners not have so much snow. That is outrageous! If they didn’t want the snow, they would move to the south where it only gets frickin’ cold, and anything that falls from the sky does not need shoveling.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
Let’s see, were I live yesterday’s high was something like 60 with a low around 35. The kids down in Phoenix were making snowmen in the parks with artificial snow, while wearing shorts, and their parents watched over them with their pistols concealed courtesy of new laws that allow c/carry without a permit.
I love Arizona. 😀
Oh, yeah…I really miss the mosquitoes and the rattlesnakes. And let’s see…you have tarantulas down in Arizona, right? And scorpions?
I’ll stick with the snow, thanks.
Someone needs to let Nobama know about this and he can come and organize the community.
Funny how the more we compensate these public union members, the worse they do their jobs. Maybe when you’re making $60,000 a year and have a million dollar pension waiting for you, you think someone else should be out there shoveling for you.
“woke up two days straight to an unplowed street outside my frontdoor,” Uhhhh, I get lake effect snow from Lake Michigan and I have this high tech device called a snow shovel… It’s good exercise, BTW. Now if Bill de Blasio is disabled, there’s the hire a kid on your block to shovel option…
“Government is the reason I have guns stashed all over my house.” Good and having a few walkie-talkies to share with armed neighbors enhances your security. I went to Mississippi during Katrina and that experience prompted me to keep a stash of gamma lid sealed buckets with rice, beans and red wheat berries in mylar bags with deoxygenator packs on hand, too.
“Someone needs to let Nobama know about this and he can come and organize the community.”
BWA-HA-HA!! Good one, USMC Steve! I actually went through the South Side of Chicago and saw the community he did his “organizing” in… Pretty decrepit place. Says a lot when no stores or businesses had public restrooms.
Only in America can a commie terrorist (Bill Ayers) ghost write a book for you and that helps you get elected to the top office in the land, only in America!
Having been bitten by both a rattlesnake and stung by 2 scorpions on the same foot within 3 weeks of each other, I can tell you with some authority that the mosquitoes are the worst part of the South (of which Tejas is not a part), PintoNag. And there are no tarantulas native to North America that are deadly. Their bite is akin to a sting from a wasp and they’re actually quite nice. 🙂
That said, though I do looooove the snow and cold, I will take my gun laws and houses more than 2′ apart any day.
(Addendum: We had 15″ of snow in south Texico on Christmas of ’05. It does snow here, and we call that “Hell Freezing Over”.)
Working for the government turned me from a Republican to a Libertarian because even the GOP wanted too much government for my new found tastes.
Rather reminds me of the great ice storm of 2009. Parts of Kentucky, along with a number of other states were without power (see also: heat), and what we got from the President was an admonition to quit whining (while he cranked up the heat in the WH).
That rant aside, I do find a measure of insight in noting that initiative by the presidents of the various boroughs of NYC, along with the various and sundry managers and captains in charge of keeping NYC trafficable and safe is noticeably lacking. Guessing all operational and logistics decisions are centralized in City Hall, with all real decisions handled only by the Mayor’s Office. So quit whining Bloomberg. You’re the mayor, you own this mess, and you owe NYC the basic leadership even an Army private can provide.
One would think a monstrosity that is NYC would require delegation, initiative, and pride of ownership. But that would be both sensible, and sacrificial to one’s ego.
Hardly any skeeters around where I live, and generally AZ is too dry to support much of a skeeter population. Exceptions would be stagnant swimming pools and living near one of the rivers or lakes. In anycase it’s nothing like I remember of the midwest. I haven’t seen a rattle snake in years even while out hunting or hiking. And tarantulas are considered pets by many around here, lol.
From where I live I can get up in the morning and head north to Flagstaff for breakfast and some snow boarding, then catch lunch in Phoenix and some afternoon bass fishing or water skiing, all in the same day.
Like I said, I love AZ. 😀
ROS #17:
I liked the “Hell freezing over” part. I’ll have to remember that!
Bitten by a rattlesnake and stung by a scorpion on the same foot in three weeks? Okay, one of two things is happenin’…you either need to trade your sandals in for a decent pair of hiking boots, or you’re sleepin’ too close to the ground!! 🙂
It’s my luck, honestly. I was wearing socks and walked out my front door when the snake got me. He ended up stuck to the ground with a shovel stuck behind his head. The scorpions were just inside my front door and had come in with the fire wood, as well as just off the veranda next to my porch swing. (I grew up on a ranch, so shoes are always optional. lol)
I own stock in both Benadryl and ice packs. 🙂
What kills me is when people down here freak out about snow. It dusted a bit last year (2-3″) and the power lines iced over; schools were closed for 3 days.
Come ON.
JAG, I’m surprised no one has asked for an explanation of “lake effect” yet. We do get it, along with Buffalo, and Cleveland, once in a while. And, Nobama’s “organized” area of Chi-town is a disaster.
Back in the blizzard of ’78, I didn’t miss a day of work. It took a collaboration with my neighbors, and fellow cops to get me to work, but I made it. The restaurants ran out of food and coffee, and the gas stations ran out of gas, but, we lived, and didn’t complain, a lot. I still have a pic of the drift and pile of snow at the end of our driveway, I’m 6′ and the snow was taller than me.
Kentucky ’96 we had about 3 feet of heavy icy snow right after the new year. Living in the boondocks meant trudging through the snow to get diapers and formula for my newborn…and beer of course. Never a complaint.
A line of captains on the long march from the housing area up HWY 31. Somehow those good ol boys at the DixieMart never ran out of anything.
I learned to prepare years ago and never counted on help unless it was inevitable, neighbors always checked on each other even during blizzards. Working Katrina and Rita showed me many people are not able to do so, without gummint help!