"I see stupid people"

I just read an article on MSN reporting on the displaced residents of New Orleans suing the U.S. Government for more than $3 quadrillion. To put this in perspective, that is a 3 with 15 zeros behind it. What is this world coming to?

My wife bought me a t-shirt for Christmas. It’s solid black with white lettering on the front. It says simply, “I see stupid people.” I’m thinking it is quite appropriate for this situation. And for all those people who are trying desperately to find someone to blame for what happened to them, I have a few things to say:

1. The levies always fail. No exceptions. If the flood waters are rising, the levies will fail. You can count on it. Once the water reaches a certain level, the levies will break. It has happened over and over and over again and it will continue to happen because there is nothing manmade or in nature that can withstand the eroding power of water.

2. Contrary to popular belief, George W. Bush is not God. Bush did not call down the powers of nature to send a destructive hurricane to your doorstep. Bush does not have the power or authority to use the forces of nature to target specific neighborhoods. Furthermore, Bush did not build the levies and he certainly did not sabotage the levies causing them to fail. They do that on their own.

3. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you live below sea level in a coastal city … there is the potential for moderate to heavy flood damage. Come on, people. Grow up! I live in tornado alley and I guarantee that if a tornado rips through my house tomorrow I am not going to sit atop the pile of rubble crying until the president and government officials feel my plight and offer to bail me out of my situation. First of all, I don’t want splinters in my butt. Secondly, I’m smart enough to know that if I’m not doing anything to fix the situation, there’s a good chance that it ain’t gonna get fixed. And thirdly, since I live in a volatile area, I half expect a tornado to disrupt my life some day, anyway. I give thanks for every tornado season that passes without incident in my neighborhood.

4. Finally, and I know this one is really hard to believe if you are inclined to lean that direction, but hurricanes are not racist.

Needless to say, I’ll be one upset tax payer if the government uses my money to help these people who want nothing more than a free handout. I have no problem with the government stepping in to aid those who are working hard to better their situations, but I guarantee those people are probably not the ones who are filing multi million-dollar law suits. After all, some people in my part of the world are already paying for mandatory flood insurance policies in order to keep cost down for those who live in legitimate flood planes. That’s asinine enough, but it leads to another point that if they are going to rebuild, they should not rebuild below sea level. It will happen again. And again, the levies will fail.