At a time such as this, you want the guys who can still thread a line when their hands are wet and cold. They’re descending on Houston in their fleets of flat-bottomed aluminum boats, the sport fishermen and duck hunters outnumbering the government rescuers by the hundreds, their skiffs sitting low in the floodwaters with their human catch in the back, clutching plastic-wrapped possessions.
The country is suddenly grateful for this “Cajun Navy,” for their know-how, for the fact that they can read a submerged log in the water, and haul their boats over tree stumps and levees and launch them from freeway junctions. There are no regulators to check their fishing licenses or whether they have a fire extinguisher and life preservers on board, which they don’t. They’re used to maneuvering through the cypress of Caddo Lake or the hydrilla and coontail of the Atchafalaya, where the water might be four feet or it might rise to 18, and the stinking bog is called “coffee grinds” because of the way boots sink in it. Spending hours in monsoon rains doesn’t bother them, because they know ducks don’t just show up on a plate, and they’ve learned what most of us haven’t, that dry comfort is not the only thing worth seeking.
Interesting that when the left witnesses self-reliance, they are in awe. If only we weren’t all racists.
The next Muslim murder in Canada is on them.
Reminds me of the old sophomore game of who would you want on an deserted island with you if you were to be stranded on a deserted island. While everyone else was picking doctors and engineers etc. I picked farmers and tradesmen. The doctor and engineer would be out of their element while a farmer and tradesman would be in their element. Some people saw the wisdom of my choice.
Yes this is the deplorable rednecked nascar loving people , reviled and maligned by the likes of PETA and Hillary who would risk their life for you and would give you the shirt off their back if it would help you get t of dire circumstances . They just don’t think anyone or the government is entiteled to steal it .
We’ve become a wussified culture. In disasters all the citified folk die waiting to be rescued. I grew up in a rural culture where you did everything yourself and if you couldn’t handle it you called a neighbor. My father built the house I grew up in. His father built his own huge house. I built my own house. My siblings built more than one house each. We trapped, hunted, and fished. We had our own cattle and hogs and about a half acre garden. We had boats, snowmobiles and ATVs. We tore engines and machinery apart, rarely using a mechanic. That used to be the average American or Canadian. Now they are getting pretty rare.
Rachael Welch.
That is real wisdom.
And after a couple of days I would apologise to her for spelling her name wrong.
This looked to me initially like something from Richard Fernandez. Imagine my surprise to discover it is in the Washington Post.
I checked out the writer. Looks like a sportswriter. Makes sense, I’m sure none of their “morally superior intellects” would never touch a story like this.
Something is amiss….. the rednecks are “gitting er done”.
The insolvent magazine Salon has the audacity to claim that the actions of the Cajun Navy do not show America at its finest. Their article claims that oh heck everybody transcends their normal good to something better, it ain’t such a big deal.
Well, they are wrong. The Cajun Navy outdid itself in searching for and rescuing victims. Images of them wading in waist deep water so they can put more victims in the boat just stagger my mind. Mind you, that’s not a one time thing, that’s what they do over and over. Take the best aspects of noblesse oblige, knight errant, empathy, 仁義, the noblest concepts from different cultures and that is what you have here.
They are also wrong that this reaction is universal. While all that is going on, there are looters going through the deserted and damaged stores. So no, not everybody transcends to a higher good.
And at the risk of being called a racist for merely pointing out an objective fact, you may research the predominant races of the rescuers vs. the rioters. No doubt that’s why Salon chooses not to think too much off the rescuers.
Despite ALL the TAX DOLLARS spent on (the now hallowed) “First Responders” … the REAL First Responders are YOU and your family and friends … and … the REAL people. Government won’t save you … from anything (although the FEMA loans will come in quite handy). The most revealing quotation from the article …
There are no regulators to check their fishing licenses or whether they have a fire extinguisher and life preservers on board, which they don’t
Government regulations are NOT going to help the needy. Government employees are not going to help the needy. Only your peers, and your neighbors will help you. Don’t wait for the Coast Guard, don’t wait for the National Guard, the Fire Dept, police Dept. and whatnot. A disaster like Harvey is like Zombietime-Chaos, destruction, looting, mass hysteria. While you are being rescued by the Cajun Navy, the public agencies are still setting up a “command center” with the acronym JTFMOC (joint task force mobile operations center). By the time they get their radios all coordinated to the same frequency … the Cajun Navy has already ferried you and your children to high ground and a hot meal.
The Cajun Navy are the tangible expression of God’s LOVE. Selfless, giving, and seeking no earthly reward (and I would dare say 90% of the Cajun Navy identify as Christian). Simply caring for their fellow man, regardless of obstacle. No government agency will ever or can ever replicate human interaction … direct … person to person.
Wholeheartedly agree.
Anonymous said:
“While all that is going on, there are looters going through the deserted and damaged stores.”
…-
“WATCH: Shotgun-Toting ‘Ex-SWAT Deputy’ to Houston Looters — ‘I Will Cut You in Half’”
“HOUSTON, Texas — A man claiming to be an “ex-SWAT deputy” tells would-be looters on camera, “I will cut your [expletive] in half,” while holding a shotgun.”
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/08/31/watch-shotgun-toting-ex-swat-deputy-houston-looters-will-cut-half/
That is the best remedy for looters. If that were the norm we wouldn’t have to lock our doors and pay for incompetent security systems along with exorbitent insurances. And we would have a safer nicer environment to live in. That is the kind of environment we should be trying to save and not bother messing about with the weather.
That bring me to another point. They keep telling us that climate is not about the weather, yet every time we get a dramatic weather event … the wogs of the left run around blaming it on …. GLOBAL WARMING. so which is it? And why did they go from global warming to climate change. The bullshit .. er … I mean evidence they present is always about heat and melting ice and rising oceans …. THIS INDICATES WARMING …. SO LET US stop calling it climate change and stick to the original term, global warming.
I know that they changed it up when they realized that even with all the false data, we have not experienced warming other than the usual variable regional phenomena that bring about TEMPORARY conditions of extreme weather. Oops, sorry to get off track … I am sitting out enjoying the warming with not much to do.
My culture involves family values, educational values (real education, not government propaganda), Christian values (the ones that gave us our prosperous, cushy modern western world), hard, honest work, kindness to small animals and concern for the less motivated.
I’d say those are superior values that guarantee success.
Compare our ‘white’ values to the values of the multitude of black and brown cultures.
I rest my case.The level of human tha uses a disaster like Harvey to steal from thei fellow citizens, deserve to be shot and pissed on.
This looked to me initially like something from Richard Fernandez. Imagine my surprise to discover it is in the Washington Post.
Am I missing something here? It seems to me that the article is totally condescending. They speak an oddly poetic language, of spinnerbait and jigs, chatterbait and Texas rigs, of palomar knots and turls. Oddly poetic language, as they’re pulling your ass out of the filthy water?
You can’t help but be struck by just how much they know how to do. Who would have thought that people who don’t know how to vote the right way would know so many other things.
To me it’s typical of WaPo, elitist pseudo-intellectuals writing for elitist wanabee intellectuals with neither group actually having a pound of brains per dozen.
Over time there is less and less correlation with coming from a farm family background and being self-reliant. I had 6 local (rural) kids sent to work for me at a campground on the STEP (Summer Temporary Employment Program). Only one could drive a standard. Not one had ever mixed concrete. One star student actually knew what a Phillips screwdriver was. It was an eye-opener.
I would take any of my Scouts from the city, who regularly spend time out camping, etc., over those farm kids who apparently sit at home in front of the TV and computer all day.
Phillips screwdriver? I hope you taught him about the superior Robertson screws which are now available in the USA.
Man-skills are eroding in our society. However, I I tried to teach my kids the basics. My sons both know how to replace their own disc brakes – pads and rotor. And I bought my daughter an older, used, 5-speed used BMW (325i) … when I taught her how to drive the stick … she accidentally put it in 3rd at a stop and struggled over and over and over trying to get off the line (in a deserted neighborhood late at night … no one on the road). When she finally started crying, I explained that she was in the wrong gear. As painful a lesson that was … she still says it was one of the most effective learning experiences in her life. After she graduated college and travelled around Europe (with a small group of friends) for a few months … SHE was the only one who could drive the (manual transmission only) Rental Cars in Europe. None of the “men” she was traveling with had ever driven a stick. Ever. Shocking to me.
I didn’t learn to drive standard until 5 years after I got my driver’s license because the van my father had during that time had an automatic transmission in it.
Both of the cars that I’ve owned had manual transmissions and I found that made quite a difference on the highway, especially when climbing hills. The stick shift and clutch are as essential to me as the steering wheel and the brake and gas pedals.
I inherited my father’s truck, a turbo diesel 4 x 4. I’m going to have fun while getting used to driving with a 6-speed standard transmission.
As far as “man skills” are concerned, maybe I was spoiled. Both of my parents had their journeyman’s papers in their respective trades. I learned how to use hand tools from my father, who was a machinist. My mother was a fashion designer and she taught me how to use a needle and thread.
I happened to mention on this site a couple of years ago about belonging to a SAR group and noticing that at any SAR operation it was predominantly ‘white’ volunteers that showed up for these community organizations. I received a couple of putdowns by the trolls for being a racist, but I still stand by my observations after many years in the Pacific Northwest and BC.
https://youtu.be/3cQNkIrg-Tk Cajun Navy’s official anthem
ITT, racists who get angry at being called racists.
I don’t think you are racist, just stupid!
Being self reliant starts when the power goes off. Unless you are super prepared your life expectancy will be measured in days. You won’t be changing the oil in your car you will be looking for water and food. Hunger Games 101 will be where you live.
I’m betting on the rural routes as being the only survivors – and a lot of them wouldn’t measure up.
In a way, this is the story of Dunkirk all over again. The recent movie about Dunkirk was awful, I thought, because it didn’t once capture the grandness of 30,000 small boats crossing the Channel under enemy fire. Here, once again, they’ve failed to capture the real message – the spirit of helping one’s neighbour in trouble – that still exists in “red” state America. Of course, if you’ve got so much as a flat tire in Philly, NYC, LA, or Chicago, you’d better hope that official help arrives before the “unofficial” help does, as the latter will “help” you out of your car, your wallet, and possibly, your life.