Is it me?

[StinkerBell]

Is it me?? Am I missing something here? Or is this person not taking responsibity for thier choices?



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35237043/ns/weather?GT1=43001





click on this video "Family stuck on Pa. Turnpike for 12 hours" on the right on the above link.



Her flight was cancelled and I am sure it had to do with the weather.

[glenn kangiser]

Obviously it would not hurt the gene pool one bit if this animal and her offspring froze in their car.  One less problem for the taxpayers to worry about supporting. 

I suggest we send them Popsicle sticks with instructions on how to make themselves into frozen novelties....another 12 hours should do it...

[StinkerBell]

She was going after the Mayor (I think it was him...someone in government) about how he likes his warm office and the use of a toilet. Why is she mad at him? Was it cause he was smart enough not to go out in bad weather?
She called 911, was it an emergency? Is she on deaths door? ( granted I know in some counties you need to dial 911 just to get the police/sheriffs office)  Such tax payer dollar waste. In a way I see this as why the government has gotten so big. People like this who depend on it. The gene pool needs some chlorine.

[RainDog]

Oh, absolutely! She and her family should just do us all a big favor and die. 

[StinkerBell]

I don't want her die. But dang, why does our government nurture stupidity?

[glenn kangiser]

The dumbing down of America.. she is a product of the system... a breeder of cannon fodder...

She can't understand why the rancher hasn't  put her in the barn and brought her some hay and grain...

[peternap]

You could be an Anarchist...Just kidding. This goes with an argument I'm having with the General Assembly and surprisingly, VCDL this year over emergency shelters.

Way too many people these days want to be kept safe by the Government. That's a joke to me.
The comment I made the other day was that I had been through floods, Blizzards, tornado;s, hurricanes, ice storms, unemployment and business downturns, but had never asked for, let alone demanded, help.

If that makes me an Anarchist, as one fellow put it...I guess I am but I will survive the daily emergencies and not really think anything about it except to say it was "A tough day".

I don't have a lot of sympathy for this person.

[RainDog]

I really don't see the big issue here. She braved the storm, and sometimes when you takes your chances you lose, and she got stranded. She pays federal and state taxes and expects some assistance in a reasonable time frame. Call her "sheeple" or whatever, but although I personally wouldn't be whining like she is about the situation, I don't think there's anything outrageous about her position, and certainly am not inclined to lord over her and look down my nose. To do that strikes me as kinda desperate, like you somehow need to feel superior to someone. A sign of weakness.

[StinkerBell]

Why is it that someone takes unreasonable chances (and I would highly suspect the local government had told it's citizen to stay home and off the roads because they will be dangerous) and the tax payer has to pay for it? Once again what happened to personal responsiblity? This is not a situation that was unavoidable, like an earthquake. This person took the risk.

IMO, this is the same thinking that union's and socialist share. For example the unions want it's workers to share equally in the wealth of a company, but will they share in it's failures? Does it's workers take the risk both financial and professional when starting a business? No they do not. So then why should they have equal share in the wealth?

Same thinking, I pay taxes so I expect to be bailed out whenI take a risk, although the airline would not take that risk, good chance the news told me not to go out on the roads, but dang it I want to and they better take care of me when my risk does not work out (let me point out, this is not a life or death situation it is an inconvience)

[RainDog]

 Yeah, it's terrible to expect services to be rendered after you've been paying for them all your life.

I have no idea whether it was an unreasonable risk for her to make that trip. Perhaps it was important?

Okay, okay, I'll come clean. I know a family that would have been going through that very storm at the same time, 'cept they hit a pothole and it messed the car up and they had to go back home. Shame, 'cause now neither the husband nor his family will get to see his mother before she dies.

I would have considered the trip an acceptable risk had they not had car trouble, and if I were in their position and gotten stranded, I sure wouldn't have suffered terrible guilt if someone dropped me off a hot thermos of coffee and checked on my well being after 12 hours or so. I pay for that kind of assistance, and have never needed it.

Yet.

[StinkerBell]

The problem is its not just her tax money. That thinking is wasteful and part of the problem this country is having. Not only that it is selfish on her part, her actions, her demands place those people who work in Emergency Serices at risk. Lets just hope when an emergency service person is dispatched to help her that a real emergency is not happening somewhere else that gets delayed or worse that while helping her out the  person sent out to help her is not injured or killed.

[RainDog]

The problem is its not just her tax money. That thinking is wasteful and part of the problem this country is having. Not only that it is selfish on her part, her actions, her demands place those people who work in Emergency Serices at risk. Lets just hope when an emergency service person is dispatched to help her that a real emergency is not happening somewhere else that gets delayed or worse that while helping her out the  person sent out to help her is not injured or killed.

You're just making stuff up now. 

[glenn kangiser]

Yeah, it's terrible to expect services to be rendered after you've been paying for them all your life.

I have no idea whether it was an unreasonable risk for her to make that trip. Perhaps it was important?

Okay, okay, I'll come clean. I know a family that would have been going through that very storm at the same time, 'cept they hit a pothole and it messed the car up and they had to go back home. Shame, 'cause now neither the husband nor his family will get to see his mother before she dies.

I would have considered the trip an acceptable risk had they not had car trouble, and if I were in their position and gotten stranded, I sure wouldn't have suffered terrible guilt if someone dropped me off a hot thermos of coffee and checked on my well being after 12 hours or so. I pay for that kind of assistance, and have never needed it.

Yet.

I don't think anyone pays enough taxes to have someone possibly die bringing them a thermos of hot coffee in a storm they were dumb enough to venture out in after being warned it was a threat to their life.  

If they were not warned it was a threat, it is just because they failed to check out the national weather service advisories that were issued before the storm. It is their fault.  Planes were stopped.  Advisories were issued.  

If you think you are invincible in the face of the storm, then it is not the problem of the state.  This is the point where you used your God given right to think for yourself and  die doing it if you so choose.  It is not the responsibility of the state to see to it that you survive at all cost.  

Just as I chose to stay and fight the fire last year, I superseded the states order to leave my property.  From the point of their warning onward my life was my responsibility. Believe me, I made a weighed informed decision and even though I was 99% sure I would be OK since I could go underground, I would not have felt it the states responsibility if by some chance, I was barbecue.

Failure to check their warning is not their responsibility.  It is the responsibility of the person in charge.  A truck driver or pilot are both held accountable for the safety of their load or passengers by the state.  Where does the driver of a car think it is the states responsibility to overcome his/her stupidity rather than his/her responsibility?  We pay these people, not to risk their lives at all cost because we are a stupid lot, but to do the best they can during most conditions, and what they safely can during the worst  conditions.  We do not pay them to give their lives because we are idiots and that is their job.

Failing to check the weather before embarking on a dangerous journey into the weather does not make you the responsibility of the state.  It just makes you another of the stupid and if the state is able to rescue you without danger to their workers, then that is another chance for you to stay in the pool.  

It does not make you deserve it.  In my grandfathers day it was survival of the fittest and neighbors would help each other to the best of their ability.  It is a shame we are such a bunch of entitled wussies now.  If they were unsuccessful then the stupid or unfortunate ones died.  Survival of the fittest.  

That is why self reliant responsible people are superior to the stupid masses that have unfairly been helped to live when they shouldn't, by the excessively heroic efforts of the rescue workers of the state.  It is great that they are able to save more than those who deserve it, but it is really polluting the water in the gene pool....

[RainDog]

 This has gotten really silly.

I can only suppose that anyone here who ever makes a mistake or miscalculation or suffers an accident will wave away any help offered with their dying, feeble hand.

That includes y'all overweight people too. You knew the probable consequences of your less than healthy lifestyle, so no ambulance for you when you drop of a heart attack at the supermarket. Don't complain, the ambulance might be used better for someone who REALLY needs help. How stupid, selfish, and dependent you are to think otherwise.

Bottom line? Everyone makes mistakes, bad choices, and has accidents. Easy to look down your nose at other people, but don't act surprised when someone does the same to you and yours. I can guarantee you that the opportunity will come.

[glenn kangiser]

I agree that it is great if help arrives deserved or not. 

I do not agree that the lady in question in the video is correct in demanding they bring her supplies risking their lives for her stupidity.

[MushCreek]

In many places, if you go hiking and get lost or injured, you're liable for the cost of your rescue. I've actually seen this posted on trailheads. In other words, you assume the risk. When the weather people get on TV and tell  you "the sky is falling; stay in your homes", then when you venture out, you should assume the risk. I couldn't find the link, but it sounds to me she should have stayed home, or at the airport, or somewhere safe. People do the same thing when a hurricane approaches. They go out in it, or stay put when told to evacuate. I've heard of police telling people that if they don't want to evacuate, please write your SSN on your body so we can identify the body. That usually gets 'em moving.

[glenn kangiser]

When I was in Oregon, in the 60's or so, it was announced that there was going to be a tsunami or tidal wave.  People took lawn chairs and sat all up and down the beach to watch it.  Luckily the state had issued a danger warning so they all knew where to go to get the best seats --- the front row on the beach of course.... [ouch]

[Squirl]

The video was not on the link, but this has been an issue in PA.  The fight is about the turnpike and the Governor's office.  The turnpike commission is an exceptionally corrupt organization for political patronism in PA.  Some of it's members are currently under federal investigation.  I would normally agree with some of the posters about personal responsibility for many of the roads except the turnpike.  It is a heavily tolled and government controlled highway with only a few on ramps and off ramps.  If a government agency(or anyone else) is charging someone to be there, I feel they have an obligation for a certain amount of safety and responsibility to the person being charged.  The were hundreds of people stuck like this.  They let the people on, then wouldn't let them off.  Because it is the turnpike and it was shut down, nobody was legally allowed to go help them.  If the turnpike commission was going to shut it down, it should have at least made sure the people it charged to be on the turnpike in the first place could get off.  In addition, the turnpike signs state that if you want to get a hold of the police while on the turnpike to call 911.  Because it is the jurisdiction of the state police and they have their own dispatch and stations it is the proper way to get a hold of them.  Local issues don't always get reported very well for national news.

[StinkerBell]

Thank you for that insight. That does indeed give me a different view of the situation.
It was not presented with those facts.

[MountainDon]

Puts a whole new light on the matter.   

[RainDog]

Yeah.

[Squirl]

I figured a lot of those facts were left out.  They are generally understood in PA and go without saying.  People that don't live here would have no way of knowing. Poor reporting on the part of the national news agency. 

[StinkerBell]

Then I agree with the lady.

Not sure if it falls on the Mayor for the turnpike, but there is an agreement and payment for serivces, an expectation does exist. They had no right to strand them on the road. I be extremely upset myself.

[glenn kangiser]

Thank's Squirl.  I guess I can let her back in the pool now...  [ouch]