The few hundred holdouts on Texas' ravaged Bolivar Peninsula will be required to leave in the next few days, and officials said Tuesday they are ready to use emergency powers to empty the barrier island scraped clean by Hurricane Ike.They survived the first storm. Here comes the second.
"I don't want to do it," he said. "I'm doing it because it's in their best interests."What's in another sovereign human being's "bests interests" ain't your call, judge. How leaving their homes and being placed in a government "shelter" (disarmed of course) is the preferable alternative seems debatable.
What's going to happen if someone still refuses, and is prepared to die--and kill--to defy you, judge?
What happens next will be a lesson to us all. Because it will show what we can expect if it's ever our turn.
[Via Stephen S]
UPDATE: Per "Comments," they're ready to impose "martial law." Which means we'll get to see if troops enforce disarmament.
They say they will impose martial law; http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6005187.html
ReplyDeleteHere's the sad joke or the sickness of this. If a person refuses to leave their home and makes it known that they are armed and will defend their right to stay in their own home on their own land. The government will kill them. Now how sick is that.
ReplyDeleteMartial law...I am pretty sure this is one of the things the Second Amendment was set up to protect us from. We should ship some "Come and Take It" flags to those folks in Texas and let history repeat itself. The last time an army tried to disarm the people of Texas the people fought back and won.
ReplyDeleteI don't think these folks are organized and they may not even know what's coming--it's not like they have communications.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I would not have stayed on a sandbar to ride out a hurricane. But if I had, I would not expect anyone to go to any expense--and especially to take any personal risk--to save me from my choice.
As long as that's understood and they stay out of the way of damage control/rebuilding efforts, the decision on whether or not conditions are unbearable should be up to them.
Wish a person could get in there with a generator, a digital video camera, a satellite internet connection/laptop, and food/water. You could really help someone out and you could docoument the shitstorm. No doubt, they wouldn't let you in though - because they don't want YOU doing either one of those things.
ReplyDeleteI live farther inland (Dallas area) and didn't experience anything more than a couple of good days of rain. The wind didn't even pick up here. But, in keeping with the idea that disasters come in two sizes, man made and natural, I was prepared for my family of six to go as far as six weeks with no power and no help (food,water,meds,emergencies,and rescue) even entertainment. I leave it to your imagination on the security thing.I am both crippled and diseased. My children are all under 13, and my wife is not the athletic type. Yet, if it had gotten bad, we would have been fine. Even if the house went. Now, over two million in the Houston/Galveston corridor are stretching out their hands for support and donations as victims and I just gotta say WTF? They had a weeks warning, and they all knew they were living where the wild goose goes, years in advance. I'm not sending any donations, I'm going to wait for that ole' natural selection thing. If I get selected, well, that's what happens. But at least I won't be bleating for someone to come pull my chestnuts outa the fire when I go. Checked with my neighbors, and none were prepared. Guess if disaster does come, a hard heart will be more useful too. As for the "authoritahs" coming to tell me to leave, at my age, a little excitement is welcome. But it will get noisy, and that familiar smell will be in the air. And all six of us are decent shots.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see if the government declares war on the people.
ReplyDeleteI doubt the people will fight back if it happens.
mr bro just moved out of galveston. if he was still there, i would've gone in before the storm because they don't let anyone in afterwards.
ReplyDelete"It's neither your business, nor the business of this damn paternalistic Government, to tell a man not to risk his life doing what he really wants to do."
ReplyDeleteRequiem, by Robert Heinlein, 1955
"Officials at the Texas attorney general's office are trying to figure out how to legally force the holdouts to leave... The peninsula is too damaged for residents to stay, and with no gas, no power and no running water, there is also concern about diseases spreading."
ReplyDeleteThe Prepared would need no help. Propane grill, generator and fuel, bottled water/water filter, storage food. Conditions similar to primitive camping. They may already be well into the cleanup of their own property. Leave them the hell alone. Attorneys general make me tired. They seem to focus on the GENERAL part, as if they outrank us.
Y'all need to see some of the pictures of what is left on the island. "Prepared" does not matter when everything outside or under your house is washed away. Did you keep your propane tanks and gasoline cans in the garage, shed, or under the raised house? Gone, washed away. Did you keep the propane tank or gas cans inside your house? That is a huge fire risk.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of assumptions to be willing to go in and force people who may or may not pose that risk to surrender or fight, anon.
ReplyDeleteWaco turned out to be a huge fire risk, too. But it wasn't until the coercers showed up and forced that choice on them.
david codrea, I was responding to to "defender" who seemed to think the aftermath of a hurricane was like a simple camping trip. Sure, you can prepare, but when 12 feet of salt water and 90 MPH winds submerge and wash your supplies miles away, you don't have them any more. A hurricane is not like a power outage, a tornado, or even BDCO. A truly "prepared" would not live on a huricane prone coast, or have a fully stocked bug out site far inland.
ReplyDelete