Government Compassion Fatigue

Yesterday, I wrenched my back and several leg muscles I forgot I had. I was insulating my water heater. What a time to find out that the prior owner did his own inept plumbing jointwork! Corroded pipes and a shameful ignorance of where the exterior cutoff is on our new home (I know NOW!) caused a simple insulation project into my own domestic disaster area. Do you think that President Bush could declare me a federal disaster zone so I can pay off the plumber bill? (Overtime plus-plus is a fearsome thing to behold!) It's all FEMA's faut! Why has no help arrived! Just kidding, of course. I used four bath towels and a mop wringer to stay up with the flood for thirty minutes while help arrived. I couldn't even get the interior cutoff to work! Corrosion is awful when it is linked to past incompetence. I want my Ibuprofen! I want my FEMA grant! Where is President Bush!?

All of this did focus me onto what is going on with Rita/Katrina. I started to ask my own questions. I watched the TV newsbarbies talk about storm damage. "Watch out! Those winds could still do something! Watch out! You might get rained on! Pics of traditional damage sites- mobile homes, anything aluminum had obeyed the rules of gravity and some folks have no power. It is probably much worse than my piddly little plumbing problem. But anything in our lives can force us into a basic human desire to ask help of others. The news media and the politicians know this extremely well.

So why (I ask myself after going through three tropical storms last year personally) are the media barnyard fowl telling us the sky is falling when Rita is merely for many just a rain event? It is very simple, friends. The powers that wanna-be are telling you that things are worse than they are (And remember they did so, predicting the French Quarter would be a ruined morgue...) because they want you to rely on a government that has never been up to the task of helping you in the first place! The liberals in government and the media measure success by how many folks need them. That is why 800+ people died in New Orleans, waiting for people a thousand miles away to come to their aid. Even the inept local government had this misplaced notion , withholding local funds and supplies until the feds showed up. I swore that I was not going to politicize this disaster, but it must be said. This is why people were spooked in Houston into fleeing a storm that never came. This is why two dozen elderly died in a bus accident for no good reason for a storm that never came. The tragedy of the 2005 storms will be written about later- of poor folks, conditioned all their lives to look for help that has never lifted themselves out of poverty, now looking for aid that will ultimately do even less. These are the same victim class in New Orleans who were left by Mayor Ray when he (1) left hundreds of busses to the flood waters and (2) let prisoners free to prey on the indigent class.

All this has let my friends and I to seriously re-evaluate our own survival ideas. This is my current list:

1. Never rely on the government for your survival in the first week of any disaster. It will only place you in the victim class. I saw hope in the Texas folk leaving when I saw one family stocked to the gills with water inside and gasoline stacked on top of their SUV. Self Reliance will do far better for you.
2. Rely on yourself, your Friends, your Church, in that order, instead. Lutheran Relief, The Red Cross, the Salvation Army and many other faith groups were there at or before the disasters. The Governments (again) were often the main obstacle to getting the aid to the people.
3. Unless you really need it, a generator is useless. If you have COPD, yes, get yourself one. But again, it's only useful as long as the fuel runs. Or, just resolve to bury a 50-gallon drum in your back yard, and hope the local EPA never hears about your gas reserve.
4. If you can afford it, consider going at least partially off the grid. Many states will have the local electric company buy power that you don't use. Plans exist for a solar hot box that can easily heat a home at no cost. I have a spare freezer that I fill up with gallon jugs of water. They keep the power bill low, keep the freezer cool in an outage and provide drinking water.
5. In light of the above, try and think the way your grandparents did and you'll do well in an emergency. Candles over generators; Charcoal over gas. Pulp saws over gas chainsaws. Better yet, have both on hand. Better yet, try to use your imagination. Your best friend may turn out to be a waxed canvas tarp, if it keeps your home livable. Given our technology, what would your grandparents rely on? Right now, a solar stove looks very appealing, but then again, so does a case of tuna fish.
6. In last resort, prepare to defend yourself. A dog and a machete is enough in most cases. In extremis, a gun of some sort may save your life. Florida now has laws that honor your right to self-defense. However, a unified neighborhood is still the best defense, to my mind, if your society ever goes the way of New Orleans.
7. Think seriously about evacuations. Think seriously about a group approach. The people I felt the most for were those going 2 MPH away from a storm approaching at 15 MPH or better! Given that horrible scenario, consider alternate transportation We own a VW camper van. If we have to, we'll just go on an extended camping trip in the local stste park, after the storm. Or we might just camp in our front yard if our home is worth defending. Consider rail evacuations. Consider buying a good-sized sailboat, if you live directly on the water. The government sends its assets out of harm's way in advance of a storm. You can too.

This is just the beginning of my own thoughts on this sort of thing, and I hope you begin thinking about these things as well. If not for hurricanes, then for terrorist attack. Or civil unrest. Saints preserve us, don't we live in an interesting world?

-The Big Fisch ><+>