Little Platoons

Here's another report of self-help and mutual aid in New Orleans. The story's subtitle summarizes it well: "A community bands together in civilized self-sufficiency, in stark contrast to the misery in official New Orleans shelters."

Comments

[Jennifer]

Yes, but soon the cops will arrive and confiscate their weapons and force them into a shelter with 25,000 other people. For their own good, of course.

[tarran]

Already done.

The cops even cussed them out for allowing children to be in filth. I guess they should have been good civilians and reported to the concentration camps or drowned quietly.

Government: a disease masquerading as its own cure.

[Crushinator]

These folks are libertarian heroes.

The cops were assholes. They treated those poor people like shit. It is no wonder that there were reports of shots being fired at the "rescuers". These folks were promptly dumped into the hellhole of the NO convention center (and then they will be shipped to the next hellhole - Texas).

[mac]

You've seen the report from the EMT union guys, who had a real odessey, ended up camped on the interstate? They got some ferocious treatment too, when they tried to evacuate on foot. I was wondering why there wasnt a pedestrian evacutation to higher ground. The answer is: the Gretna cops wouldn't let them accross the bridge. They fired live ammo over the head of an organized crowd, baby strollers and all.

[Jim Walsh]

Meanwhile, ABC news asks, "Why isn't the system working..."

And George W. promises, "The government will be with you for the long haul..."

Wonderful...

[Ruthless]

Even though Edmund Burke croaked in 1797, he reached too far with the "little platoon" bit.
Here it is 2005. Let's just first get jiggy with family, eh?

But remember this:
When the going gets chaotic, the Vestal Virgins (Reasonoids) get anarchistic.

Was that pithy enough?
You may need to edit me, Stevo Darkly.

[Slippery Pete]

Liberarian lunacy knows no limits. This event really is a test of whether you propeller-headed dipshits have even the slightest grip on reality. The answer is, no, you do not.

If you like anarcy, move to Haiti.

[Anon]

Partial corroborations of the EMS story here and here as well.

Anon

[Cliff]

Slippery,

It's Libertarian and anarchy, you got propeller-headed dipshit right though. You might want to spend a little time editing your pithy banter or someone may think you are the one that is a propeller-headed dipshit.

[tarran]

I think Slippery Pete is right: the failure of the pathetic, floundering efforts of private organizations and individuals, especially when compared to the prior planning and competent swift actions of expert government officials, really has shown us up. The government solutions were clearly better.

Sigh, I guess I should give up my anarcho-capitalism and join the Democrats.

[Patrick D]

The best part about Slippery Pete's comment is that it is not obvious whether it is coming from a liberal or conservative.

[joe]

Pete, I think the propeller head dipshits raise some good points. I may not agree with their conclusions, but their observations deserve to be considered on their merits, regardless of their propeller head dipshit provinence.

[Crushinator]

Jesse posts a report about a community group that does a damn fine job of taking care of themselves, and when government authorities get involved they fuck it all up. We libertarians praise their initiative and condemn the response of the state. Somehow Slippery Pete understands this to be "Liberarian lunacy" and praise of "anarcy".

Aside from a poor grasp of the English language, Slippery Pete has selected a lousy battleground for his anti-libertarian diatribe. This story is a pellucid example of libertarian ideals succeeding in the real world. I suspect that Slippery Pete posted to the wrong thread or his reading comprehension is worse than his english composition.

[Ruthless]

joe,
Thanks for coming to our defense.
Slippery Pete will get my propeller if he can pry my cold, dead fingers from it.

... or I might just hand it over.

[Ironchef]

"slightest grip on reality"

Okay, yes, Libertarians can be accused of being idealists, but cripes, who isn't? the "Workers' Paradise" of the Left, the fascist dictatorships of the Right, to whatever statist-control-freak-group-think flavor in between, nothing, I mean nothing, forced from top-down will ever work perfectly.

The only thing we "dipshits" consistently preach
is that the individual is best suited to meet their own needs.

Unfortunately, this is the worst solution there is. But it's better than all the rest.

[Mark Borok]

Well, it's true. Small groups of individuals committed to their common welfare will organize into more or less efficient, voluntary, self-governing units. Then they need leaders because without leaders you have a bunch of people arguing incessantly. At some point they settle down and switch from a hunter-gatherer existence to agriculture and animal husbandry. The leaders then need to delegate some of their power to trusted assistants. The leaders (almost) inevitably become corrupt with power and need to be replaced with other leaders. Eventually libertarians come along and wonder if it wouldn't be better if, instead of a large and inefficient gov't we had a lot of small groups of individuals committed to their common welfare, etc.

[R C Dean]

shipped to the next hellhole - Texas.

Hey! I resemble that remark.

I suppose the giant job fair in Arlington, TX that was expanded to include refugees is particularly hellish.

[JD]

Oh, and I get a kick out of the reports that there were gangs roaming the city armed with golf clubs. This has some comic potential. "Muffy, shall we loot the pro shop? I've been dying for that new Callaway wedge." I hope they were remembering to keep their left elbows straight and their heads still, and get a good weight shift onto their left foot when taking a swing at a store window. "Yo, G, yo' backswing be mad fast. Mo' sholda' turn, less wrist hinge." I imagine the local golf courses have quite a bit of casual water on them, not to mention a fair amount of ground under repair, to say nothing of obstructions and loose impediments. Of course, "shotgun start" has a new meaning in New Orleans these days. Remember, when golf clubs are outlawed, only outlaws will have golf clubs. And nobody needs one of those deadly "assault 3-irons".

[Robert Walters]

It seems to me, that there are lot of opinions out here that do not have any real proof as to what actually happened at the time of this incident. We seem to have become a community that lives for rumors. I for one, am going to let the smoke settle and see what was exactly said. I sat with one of the Gretna representatives yesterday and saw a video of mr. Nagin telling his refuges that there were buses, food, and safe housing centers on the west bank of the river. Unfortunately, while he was making up this fairy tale, he forgot to let the west bank know. I have talked to Gretna policemen, Jefferson Parish policemen, and National guardsment that were at the site and their account differs quite a bit from what I see on the media. Why were there no interviews from the actual law enforcement participants? After watching some of the "reporting" that the media has put forth, I will regard any future information with a grain of salt, or treat it as I would any other piece of fiction.