Suckling from the Government teat

The title is this: "Road to New Life After Katrina Is Closed to Many." It has been two years since Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and the levee flooded and destroyed New Orleans. But we are hearing still that people are wedged in trailer parks, children living off food stamps and no where to go. Last time I checked, the only rule to using U.S. highways is having a driver's license. And I'm supposed to feel sad for these people?

When Katrina hit and devastated much of Louisiana and Mississippi's coasts, I was sad. Just as sad as I am when any natural disaster strikes. It's the 'walk a day in their shoes' argument. So we all do our little part if we can, many do more, but the storm quiets and people stand up and get back to work, back to life. (See, Tsunami in Sri Lanka, fires in California, floods in Oklahoma and Texas.)

But this article does nothing but create a rise of anger and frustration as I watch the people of New Orleans bitch and moan over their sad lives and the "lack of government aid."

Their options whittled away by government inaction, they represent a sharp
contrast to the promise made by President Bush in Jackson Square on Sept. 15,
2005.
“Americans want the Gulf Coast not just to survive, but to thrive; not
just to cope, but to overcome,” Mr. Bush said. “We want evacuees to come home,
for the best of reasons — because they have a real chance at a better life in a
place they love.”

Government IN-Action? Yup, blame Bush for this too. Does it not say a paragraph down:

As of late May, however, there were still more than 30,000 families displaced by
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita spread across the country in apartments paid for by
the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Yes, FEMA, a FEDERAL government agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. 30,000 families are still suckling off the government teat. If these folks are still so poor and unhappy, here's an idea: pack up, move out, and get a new job! Let's make an argument for self-sufficiency. It's about getting out of bed, finding motivation, determination, energy to work, and getting a job, or a second job if need be.

Those still in trailers and FEMA apartments are the least equipped to start
over. In Houston, according to a city-sponsored survey in February, a third of
the people in those apartments were elderly or disabled, a third were employed
in mostly low-wage jobs, and a third were still looking for work.

Hmmmm. If you're elderly or disabled, you can ask for help from friends, neighbors, family. If you're employed in a low-wage job, get another one. Try to actually SAVE your money. If you're looking for work, KEEP looking, and LOOK HARDER.
I find it hard to believe these folks, including all the disabled, elderly, 'poor from before' Katrina hit, et. al. do not have friends, family, or neighbors to help them. If your living conditions are less than accommodating, move! Ask your friends or family for a hand, save up for a month and rent a car if you don't have one. You don't have any housing costs, you likely have help for food and other necessities, so you should easily be able to save enough money from your job(or two!) to move somewhere else. Heaven forbid you have to work 14 hours. Theme: Be self-sufficient!

The underlying problem (drum roll please) is that Katrina 'victims' don't want to be self-sufficient. They are glaring examples of the entitlement society that has infested our nation. "Dear Federal Government, I am miserable and unhappy, poor and living in a ghetto. Please send me a check to fix my problems."

But this claims the government is an obstacle to some people. Then AVOID the obstacle! The government doesn't have to solve all your problems.

“I was born poor; I’m probably going to die poor; and before the storm came
through I was doing pretty good,” Ms. Anderson said. She and Mr. Evans paid $325
a month for half a duplex in the Uptown section of New Orleans, with “a little
porch watching the laundrymat,” she said, “and a backyard.

I have no sympathy. You think your destiny is poverty, it will be. The power of the mind is that strong.

Can we stop pitying those who have no desire to do better for themselves? As long as the government teat is available, future generations will find it OK to suckle: it perpetuates the problem of poverty and welfare, to depend upon someone else or a government institution to give them what they need. Let's celebrate those communities that DO overcome, that work together to rebuild homes and businesses, to work double overtime for the extra milk money.

Let's applaud the thousands of families who have moved off disaster aid, the 56,000 people that have returned to New Orleans in the last year.