Thanks for Commenting
Darren White is a true public servant and deserves our thanks and prayers along with the other deputies and firemen from Albuquerque. THANKS DARREN
Mario, you should give more emphasis to one sentence: Sheriff White led them!!!
Thanks for the post.
I couldn't agree more with Mario and Mickey. Sheriff White and the other deputies and firemen have left the comfort of their surroundings to wade through squalor and relieve suffering and save lives. Thanks to all of them for their efforts and their examples.
I agree. Mr. White is a leader in every respect. He is, what we want others to see. The fact that he did this without regard for his own comfort, speaks loudly about his character. Actions do speak louder than words. Thanks.
A hearty thanks to Darren for making all New Mexicans proud.
What a great example set by Sherriff White. While others mouth off, he leads.
The 9/9/2005 Albuquerque Tribune (http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_local/article/
0,2564,ALBQ_19858_4067806,00.html) reports that Darren White was wearing waders when he was thrown out of his airboat and into 5 feet of water yesterday. The waders immediately filled with water and pulled him down. He was apparently rescued from drowning by Deputy Dean Miera and other officers. No doubt about it; these guys are BRAVE!
Of course it’s possible to be bravely wrong, and the article also notes that “when members of the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department came into the wrecked city of New Orleans earlier this week, they expected snipers, gunfights with looters – maybe even riots – would be the greatest risks they would face.” These fellows headed for New Orleans before the levees broke and expected to be involved only in establishing police control of the area. The search-and-rescue stuff they have wound up doing wasn’t what they thought they were going to be doing. They went there as a paramilitary unit.
They probably had more of the attitude of Gen. Gary Jones of the Louisiana National Guard’s Joint Task Force as quoted in the 9/2/2005 issue of Army Times in an article titled “Troops begin combat operations in New Orleans” (http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-
1077495.php): “This place is going to look like Little Somalia. We’re going to go out and take this city back. This will be a combat operation to get this city under control.” The article went on to talk about how “while some fight the insurgency in the city, others carry on with rescue and evacuation operations.”
“Insurgency”? “Combat operations”?
Sounds like a lot of genital-swinging to me. There is no “insurgency” there, and we don’t need any “combat operations” against scared and angry victims.
How about the two Navy pilots who were disciplined for rescuing victims as reported in the 9/7/2005 issue of the New York Times? They had completed their assignment to transport material to the Stennis Space Center which carried them out of radio range of their base. They then rescued many flood victims on their way back. They refueled at a Coast Guard landing pad and received permission to continue their rescue work. The next morning they were officially reprimanded for rescuing the victims before they received official permission. One of them (Lt. Udkow) was taken out of flight rotation and reassigned to guard pet kennels at Pensacola as punishment. The NYT article said that “in protest, some members of the unit have stopped wearing a search and rescue patch on their sleeves that reads ‘So Others May Live’.”
It’s simply not true that there’s a hero “behind every badge.” It takes more than a badge to make a hero, and we have a few stinkers wearing those badges.
These Navy pilots were real heroes, and I thank them for their guts and their intelligence. Sheriff White has more nerve than a bum tooth, but I hope that, when he gets back into the airboats,
(continued from previous post)
he leaves his waders off unless he has to leave the boat in water low enough not to flood them. He may not be as lucky next time as he was today. There’s a thin line between bravery and stupidity.
I hope all of them get back home safely.
I love this republican circling of the wagons around this cream-puff, blow-dried sheriff.
This guy is about the press coverage/PR first. Doing good comes second.
How can you say that Jerry? He is down there helping people like so many of us would love to do. He is not doing this for the PR, he has a real heart and should be thanked for his efforts!
Thanks Darren!
Jerry just sits on his ass and does
nothing...Pathetic loser.
Again, I love seeing the circling of Republican wagons on this one. If White was so altruistic, maybe he wouldn't spend a significant amount of his time in New Orleans granting press interviews and spend a little bit more time helping people
My guess is if Sheriff White and others on the gorund did not give press interviews, you would have people like Jerry complaining about media blackouts.
Jerry is a classic example of liberal mentality. They bitch because they think enough is not being done, they bitch when something is being done. Their obsession with lynching anyone Republican is far greater than their desire to actually help and make the situation better. You just can't win with such irrational people. On the other hand, I suppose it's not very charitable of me to chastize an imbecile.
Come on guys, let's not be too hard on Jerry. After all, it's got to be hard work sitting in a air conditioned room while you Monday Morning quarterback what the rescue team in New Orleans is doing. Jerry, you just relax and open up another beer while the EMT's, firemen and police do what they can to help.
(Oh I'm sorry Jerry. Am I circling the republican wagons on this one? But riddle me this: wouldn't I have to be a republican to do that? Or, like any good liberal, is that what you call anyone who doesn't agree with you?)
Jeez, I don't know how addressing the sheriff's PR machine makes me a liberal. I kind of feel like the Sheriff's promo forces have been told to quash everyting that JErry says.
I just wish the guy had little bit more class, modesty, etc. . . I admire those people who admonish the press for trying to stick their noses into tragedy. It would just be wonderful to see the sheriff say, "Sorry, I don't have time for an interview, I'm rescuing people." But given his penchant for the press, I don't see that happening.
"They bitch because they think enough is not being done, they bitch when something is being done."
Actually we're pointing out that the right actions aren't being done and that wrong actions aren't a good substitute. Sheriff White and many others see the problem as looting in an area with a Democratic governor and a Democratic mayor. They think the biggest need is establishing paramilitary control.
Go to http://www.comedycentral.com/sho...how/
index.jhtml and choose the Brian Williams segment. He gives eyewitness testimony to the military and paramilitary attitude in New Orleans, including being drawn down on unnecessarily.
This whiny Rush Limbaugh crap about "well, what do these LIBERALS want, anyway? There's just no pleasing them!" is simply stupid. If you ask me for help and I hit you on the head, you're entitled to point out that, however well-meaning my whack may have been, it wasn't helpful.
FEMA is paying the Sheriff's office over $300,000 to provide services like setting out tuna for abandoned cats that may be nice but ineffective and overly expensive.
Sheriff White is a brave guy. He's also not the sharpest knife in the drawer. More social workers and fewer cops are needed there. Social workers don't make good cops, and cops don't make the best social workers, either. You can't fight a hurricane with automatic weapons. Telling about your plans to fight the hurricane does not give aid and comfort to the hurricane. Sheriff White's skills, whatever they are, are not really needed in New Orleans.
His intentions may be honorable, but his actions have been laughably inept. Nobody is questioning his courage, just his intelligence.
Charles, I'm not sure a guy who bolsters his arguments with clips from Comedy Central should be questioning anyone's intelligence. But hey, it's good to know where the Democrats are going for policy guidance.
The Daily Show is one of the most accurate news show on TV today, and I'm happy to use the Brian Williams segment as evidence of my point on the situation in New Orleans.
Who do you get information from, Mario? Fox? Limbaugh? Hannity? Instapundit? Do you consider them less laughable than Jon Stewart?
I guess I must have made my point fairly well if you're reduced to ad hominem argument.
Commenting by HaloScan
