The LuLac Edition #1746, September 8th, 2011

PHOTO INDEX: GOVERNMENT AND FLOOD DAMAGE IN EDWARDSVILLE. (PHOTO BY LISA CRONAURER YANCHECK).

THAT DAMN GOVERNMENT!

Last night I watched on TV as Texas Governor Rick Perry talked once more about making government as “inconsequential” as he could for the American people. He should visit the banks of the Susquehanna.
Today Wilkes Barre Mayor Tom Leighton oversaw an evacuation of the city of Wilkes Barre to make sure people in the line of flood waters had enough time to get out safely.
Commissioner MaryAnne Petrilla sat in the Emergency Management Flood Center in the basement of the courthouse working with Steve Bechanich to have an organized flood escape plan. Petrilla, somber in her assessment urged people to get to safety. Fellow Commissioner Steve Urban made public statements regarding traffic patterns and citizen cooperation.
State Senator John Yudichak, interviewed by Andy Mehalshick of WBRE said that the levers of public safety were running like a fine tuned machine. He added that Luzerne County has always had a preparation plan and wass implementing it flawlessly. Yudichak added that mother nature was a formidable foe but that the command center was prepared.
Up river Wyoming Mayor Bob Boyer took command of getting recalcitrant people out of their houses.
Governor Tom Corbett in Harrisburg, chased away from his mansion held a news conference executing a plan for the entire state that called for mobilization of the National Guard.
Congressman Lou Barletta headed home to oversee some of the damage. I was waiting for the Congressman to tell WBRE that his fellow Republican Congressmen would have to find the money first before any help for flood damage would come to the area. Barleta talked about "hazard mitigation assistance" that would fix problems so they don't happen again. Kanjorski got the levees, does Barletta want to stop the rain? And will his GOP cohorts let him?
Public school buildings were used as evacuation centers for people to have a place to congregate safely.
The levy system and flood gates that the rampaging water is bumping against was a creation of government and got here because of Congressman Paul Kanjorski.
Thousands of public sector workers, police, fire, public works people mobilized to fight the battle against this rain soaked foe.
All of this was duly reported by a dogged hard working media that kept the citizens informed of happenings every step of the way. From WILK’s overnight reports from Bosco, Nancy Kman and Sue Henry, to WBRE’s Kyla Campbell, Dave Kuharchick and Dave Skutnick’s early morning analysis, to WYLN’s L.A. Tarone and Lisa Schuggart’s break in testimonies to WNEP’s blanket coverage of nearly the entire state……the electronic media informed everyone who bothered to be interested. They received their information from public officials who were on the scene doing their job.
All of these instances and scenes have one thing in common, government. Yes that blasted government that so many people demonize. That horrible government that intrudes on our lives by taxing us and regulating the most greedy among us. (Ever wonder why the GOP will embrace the abortion issue, invading someone’s most private space, and then says they want government out of everything else? I guess they care more about the uterus instead of the utility of government!)
Government is like the ugly big relative you don’t acknowledge on your first day at school but he’d be the first guy you’d turn to when you’re safety from a bully or a raging river was in danger. And being concerned for your safety and nothing else, the relative would never have to be asked for their aid. The assumption would be that it was there for your well being.
In the next year in the coming Presidential campaign you will hear about how government is destroying America. You will hear about how people have to be self reliant and not rely on government for their safety and well being. You’ll be hearing candidates decry government as “inconsequential” and how much better America would be if that damned government would just leave us alone and get off our god damned back! And some people in this country, even here in this area might buy this line. Until of course a dangerous river comes knocking on the door ready to destroy our homes and our very lives! Then government is not as bad as guys like Rick Perry and the Tea Party will have you believe.