Posted by Ben
Thu, 08 Dec 2005 11:23:00 GMT
As I was driving home from school today, I flipped the radio over to KSL at the top of the hour while I waited for Glenn Beck to start on KNRS. I caught up with the national news via the short hourly ABC news broadcast when a story started that I thought would be a short memorial that this was the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. Instead this is what I get (paraphrased):
“Today is a day remembered by the world war 2 generation, the kind you remember where you were when you heard the news. But tomorrow is day remembered be another generation. Dec 8th, the day John Lennon was shot.”
The story then went on to quote movie stars talking about the tragedy, and how the world was never the same.
Maybe I’m alone in this, but I really think they could’ve saved that story for tomorrow, when the anniversary actually happens. Today should be about remembering an event that plunged the country into a world war. A war that this generation is quickly forgetting.
Posted in News | 1 comment | no trackbacks
Posted by Ben
Sat, 03 Sep 2005 05:32:00 GMT
“For the past few days, I have found the news from New Orleans to be confusing. People were not behaving as you would expect them to behave in an emergency—indeed, they were not behaving as they have behaved in other emergencies. That is what has shocked so many people…
“When confronted with a disaster, people usually rise to the occasion. They work together to rescue people in danger, and they spontaneously organize to keep order and solve problems. This is especially true in America. We are an enterprising people, used to relying on our own initiative rather than waiting around for the government to take care of us…
“So what explains the chaos in New Orleans?”
From: An Unnatural Disaster: A Hurricane Exposes the Man-Made Disaster of the Welfare State
Posted in Politics, News | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by Ben
Wed, 31 Aug 2005 02:45:00 GMT
USA Today Article
Joy Schovest, 55, was in the apartment complex with her boyfriend, Joe Calvin, when the water began rising. They stayed despite a mandatory evacuation order.
”The water got higher and higher,” she said, breaking into tears. “It pushed all the doors open and we swam out. We grabbed a lady and pulled her out the window and then we swam with the current. It was terrifying. You should have seen the cars floating around us. We had to push them away when we were trying to swim.”
You know, sometimes I wonder how some people get through life. Its very appearant that common sense wasn’t divfied up equally. How hard is it to understand the a hurricane is a mighty dangerous thing, and riding it out in an apartment building is not exactly the best idea.
The article also talks about 300 people sitting on their roofs waiting to be rescued. The only people among that group that I have any sympathy for are the emergency police/fire personnel who were waiting to help with the relief effort. Even still, there had to be better places for these guys to wait besides their houses.
I know of one person who said that she was going to ride out the storm and if it was her time, God would take her. That attitude amazes me. Its putting yourself in such needless danger and then demanding a miracle.
Here’s a thought, how about going to the nearest freeway, putting on a blindfold, and starting to walk across the freeway while saying, “If its not my time God will protect me.” The danger in that case is just as needless as those people waiting out the hurricane who had the capacity to evacuate the area.
This is a truly serious disaster, which I’m sure will take a lot of time to get cleaned up. That doesn’t mean, however, that people have the license to be bone-heads.
Posted in News | 1 comment | no trackbacks
