Clarion Ledger Letter of the Day - March 5, 2006

From the comfort of his (hurricane damage-spared) stone (stone, mind you, not glass) home in suburban Jackson, Mike Walker of Brandon, tells the good people of New Orleans, ALL of whom are basking in the comfort and luxury of extended stay lodging (except for a few) to be more like the good people of Waveland and live in tents, dagnabit! Oh, and WALK to school, too....none of this DRIVING.....

Hey, you! Yes, you, the one without a house or any clothes or a job or money, based solely on the fact that you were the victim of possibly the single worst disaster in U.S. history, and one which for some reason apparently spared Mike Walker, quit yer durn bellyachin, ya hear? Go build you a house, man! Just go to the Home Depot and get some lumber, get a few pipes and build you a nice house down there. Heck, that's what ole "Iron" Mike Walker would do (if he had to, of course, which he doesn't, but ya just know he would, what with his refusal to be treated like a 2 month old). What are ya waitin for, disaster victims? Get out there and prove Mike Walker wrong!


N.O. residents should stop 'whining'

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin appears to have terminal "foot-in-mouth" disease on national television, while Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour deals with Congress one-on-one, pointing out the fact that Mississippi Gulf Coast residents are doing their best with what they have.

Evacuees from New Orleans are on the airwaves complaining about the hotel rooms they have been staying in for lo these many months, while Waveland and other Coast survivors are still living in tents, basically exposed to the elements, without bellyaching.

The media constantly talk about New Orleans, probably because, erroneously, they say New Orleans is where Katrina hit, not the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

I know this is a generalization where New Orleans' evacuees are concerned, and to the few that this description does not fit, I apologize. The rest of them should get out of the hotel rooms, get a tent and go back to New Orleans and start rebuilding. They should hush about the accommodations and stop whining!

It's time all of us quit expecting the government to feed us and change our diaper like a 2-month old child and started taking responsibility for our own actions, or lack thereof!