Choo Rouge
My friend Robert Ryder might as well be a poster child for Southwest Louisiana.
He's never so much at home as when he's got his cammo gear on, guns in the rack of his oversized pickup. He looks like SWLA. He sounds like SWLA. He married over his head just like most guys around here, myself included. He's the most unpretentious person I know. When he's not shooting whatever's in season, he's an accomplished entrepreneur with real estate holdings throughout Southwest Louisiana.
Oh, and when he's not doing that, I should mention that he's a seasoned 747 pilot who has logged more international flight hours for United Airlines than the rest of us have logged in the driver's seat of our own cars. Before he flew for United, he flew for Eastern. Talk about turbulence.
Robert's a poker buddy of mine and he's never without an opinion. When a guy has those kind of credentials, you tend to listen to him. So when he called me up and went into a rant, I asked him to put it in writing.
What follows is my edited version of Robert's harrangue, mostly so it won't melt your computer. After watching yesterday's news story about the inmates at the Calcasieu Parish Jail getting $2,oo0 in FEMA money (which was turned back by prison officials), I thought it an appropriate time to share Robert's rant with you. Anecdotal evidence tells me many of you will agree with him. Whether you agree or disagree with him, feel free to post a response. Just keep it civil. This is a family blog, after all.
-Jim
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My wife thinks I'm an angry person.
Maybe it's because I've had two pensions legally stolen from me in one lifetime. Perhaps it's because I've watched the pure debauchery of greed take down two strong and wonderful companies, sanctioned by the government and the federal courts.
Just because I go to work everyday, earn money, pay taxes, pay Social Security (since I was 12), pay for insurance (since I was 16), I don't qualify for FEMA payments. They wouldn't even pay for my chainsaw to remove the trees which destroyed my property when Rita blew through here.
Now the irony of this is that if I had not worked all my life and paid taxes, I would be eligible to receive benefits. "Their" benefits, the FEMA guy told me, not my benefits.
But FEMA did offer me a heck of a deal. They offered to loan me money at 4% interest. Let's make this clear. That's the money I've been paying in taxes that they are willing to loan back to me at 4% interest. They didn't seem interested in compensating my wife Stephanie and me for the hours we wasted jumping through their hoops to apply for the Rita aid that we were ultimately denied because we are both gainfully employed.
Ok, so maybe she's right. Maybe I am a little angry.
I was in Shanghai, China a couple of weeks ago, watching CNN International. Lo and behold, they showed a story about a family from New Orleans. They've been living in New York City for two and a half months. The most expensive city in America. If you've ever stayed at a NYC hotel, you know what those rooms cost. FEMA's been footing the bill. In this story, the mother was meeting with FEMA muckitymucks to determine what more they could do for her, her husband and her kids. Neither she nor her husband were employed, nor are they doing any work now in exchange for these benefits. She told the FEMA muckitymucks they were bad people.
So FEMA agreed to pay for another month in the NYC hotel.
Let's review. My wife and I both work and pay taxes, Social Security and insurance. The government sanctions the theft of my two pensions (Eastern and United), and now they can't even cough up enough money for a chainsaw. They'd be happy to loan my own hard-earned money back to me at 4% interest. Yet they can put people who don't work up in an expensive New York City hotel for over three months.
Angry?? Listen, I've got a big-time case of the choo-rouge. That's French for...well, you know.
I wonder what Americans did back in the 1700's and 1800's when the storms and earthquakes came. Did those countrymen hold out their hands with an angry countenance and seethe about our government? I don't think so. Did our government back a truck up with cash to those who had never earned it? I don't think so. Maybe...just maybe...our citizens and our government went to work rebuilding with what God gave them; their gifts, talent, brawn and brains.
John F. Kennedy said it best. "Ask not what your Country can do for you, but what you can do for your Country."
Somewhere along the line, we seem to have lost our way. We have before us a system which institutionally punishes those who contribute to our nation's vitality, and rewards those who don't. In pilots' terms, we've charted a course right into the side of a mountain. FEMA's already commandeered this disaster, and the courts are flying right seat.
We're all passengers on this flight, and it's time we rise up to regain control before it's too late.
-Robert Ryder
December 2005
He's never so much at home as when he's got his cammo gear on, guns in the rack of his oversized pickup. He looks like SWLA. He sounds like SWLA. He married over his head just like most guys around here, myself included. He's the most unpretentious person I know. When he's not shooting whatever's in season, he's an accomplished entrepreneur with real estate holdings throughout Southwest Louisiana.
Oh, and when he's not doing that, I should mention that he's a seasoned 747 pilot who has logged more international flight hours for United Airlines than the rest of us have logged in the driver's seat of our own cars. Before he flew for United, he flew for Eastern. Talk about turbulence.
Robert's a poker buddy of mine and he's never without an opinion. When a guy has those kind of credentials, you tend to listen to him. So when he called me up and went into a rant, I asked him to put it in writing.
What follows is my edited version of Robert's harrangue, mostly so it won't melt your computer. After watching yesterday's news story about the inmates at the Calcasieu Parish Jail getting $2,oo0 in FEMA money (which was turned back by prison officials), I thought it an appropriate time to share Robert's rant with you. Anecdotal evidence tells me many of you will agree with him. Whether you agree or disagree with him, feel free to post a response. Just keep it civil. This is a family blog, after all.
-Jim
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My wife thinks I'm an angry person.
Maybe it's because I've had two pensions legally stolen from me in one lifetime. Perhaps it's because I've watched the pure debauchery of greed take down two strong and wonderful companies, sanctioned by the government and the federal courts.
Just because I go to work everyday, earn money, pay taxes, pay Social Security (since I was 12), pay for insurance (since I was 16), I don't qualify for FEMA payments. They wouldn't even pay for my chainsaw to remove the trees which destroyed my property when Rita blew through here.
Now the irony of this is that if I had not worked all my life and paid taxes, I would be eligible to receive benefits. "Their" benefits, the FEMA guy told me, not my benefits.
But FEMA did offer me a heck of a deal. They offered to loan me money at 4% interest. Let's make this clear. That's the money I've been paying in taxes that they are willing to loan back to me at 4% interest. They didn't seem interested in compensating my wife Stephanie and me for the hours we wasted jumping through their hoops to apply for the Rita aid that we were ultimately denied because we are both gainfully employed.
Ok, so maybe she's right. Maybe I am a little angry.
I was in Shanghai, China a couple of weeks ago, watching CNN International. Lo and behold, they showed a story about a family from New Orleans. They've been living in New York City for two and a half months. The most expensive city in America. If you've ever stayed at a NYC hotel, you know what those rooms cost. FEMA's been footing the bill. In this story, the mother was meeting with FEMA muckitymucks to determine what more they could do for her, her husband and her kids. Neither she nor her husband were employed, nor are they doing any work now in exchange for these benefits. She told the FEMA muckitymucks they were bad people.
So FEMA agreed to pay for another month in the NYC hotel.
Let's review. My wife and I both work and pay taxes, Social Security and insurance. The government sanctions the theft of my two pensions (Eastern and United), and now they can't even cough up enough money for a chainsaw. They'd be happy to loan my own hard-earned money back to me at 4% interest. Yet they can put people who don't work up in an expensive New York City hotel for over three months.
Angry?? Listen, I've got a big-time case of the choo-rouge. That's French for...well, you know.
I wonder what Americans did back in the 1700's and 1800's when the storms and earthquakes came. Did those countrymen hold out their hands with an angry countenance and seethe about our government? I don't think so. Did our government back a truck up with cash to those who had never earned it? I don't think so. Maybe...just maybe...our citizens and our government went to work rebuilding with what God gave them; their gifts, talent, brawn and brains.
John F. Kennedy said it best. "Ask not what your Country can do for you, but what you can do for your Country."
Somewhere along the line, we seem to have lost our way. We have before us a system which institutionally punishes those who contribute to our nation's vitality, and rewards those who don't. In pilots' terms, we've charted a course right into the side of a mountain. FEMA's already commandeered this disaster, and the courts are flying right seat.
We're all passengers on this flight, and it's time we rise up to regain control before it's too late.
-Robert Ryder
December 2005
posted by Jim Serra at 12/07/2005 09:16:00 PM
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