November 22, 2005
A Wee Gripe...
While watching the NBC Nightly News tonight, I saw a man from New Orleans who wonders why the country is turning against that city.

His question was in response to some controversy over a geologist's comment that the city will eventually be an island, so everyone should just go ahead and abandon it now.

I think what the NOLA residents fail to realize is that we (i.e., the rest of the country) don't have any problems with the people of NOLA rebuilding wherever they want to. Our problem is this- if you are going to knowingly build your home, business and life in a place that is more than likely going to be washed or blown away, don't expect the rest of us to the foot the bill for it. The tax base is not there for your personal enjoyment. Once was a tragedy, a second time, just plain stupid.

L and I live in an area with a big fault line, and we carry no earthquake insurance. It's expensive and earthquakes really aren't a big thing here in Arkansas. Some day, we might be sorry. But you know what? It will be our problem. We won't be expecting anyone to swoop in and fix it for us. We'll realize that we made choices, and if they were bad ones, we'll have to live with the consequences.

In other news, did you guys see that AR was ranked #2 in the most generous states poll? It's so nice to be at the top of the list in something!
1 Comments:
Blogger Gem said...
I remember when I was at Harding, some guy had predicted that the New Madrid fault was going to have major earthquakes in 1991 or 92, on a specific day. In my Music Analysis class, the professor brought a jello and set it in the center of the table we sat around. He told us to watch the jello and if it jiggled to dive under the table. We did a few practice drills just to be sure we were ready. He was one of my favorite teachers, always ful of sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek humor.