Reaching to Make a Point?

Now, I’m all for people being self-sufficient and not using government services as a crutch or excuse to be lazy, but Bill Jolly, the author of this editorial I found on the Lone Star Times blogsite, may be a little too quick to bring down the gavel in this case. His article is commenting on an October 16th story from the Houston Chronicle’s website reporting that FEMA is denying claims of some victims of Hurricane Ike whose needs have not yet been met and are on the verge of becoming homeless. Jolly is contending that the Houston Chronicle’s editorial staff is liberally biased despite their claims that they are neutral. He’s using this article as evidence of his contention. I am not going to argue against his claim. It does appear that the article does have somewhat of an agenda that it is promoting; and for the most part, I think that his argument is justified. However, there is one aspect of Jolly’s rant that strike’s me a tad hypercritical. He asserts that Joyce Washington is entirely at fault for her situation and that the Houston Chronicle’s editors are intentionally spinning this as a sob story (which may very well be the case). Washington’s situation is that her FEMA claim is being denied on account that he residence is inhabitable, but Child Protective Services will take her children away if they find they are living in such an unsafe environment.

Jolly’s reaction to this is “How much you want to bet it isn’t habitable because she hasn’t gotten off her arse and cleaned the place up?”—which is normally the same kind of reaction I would have. But in the article, it says that her ceiling came down. To me, that sounds like a mess that me might not be able to be entirely responsible for. Who knows what the situation is with the apartment complex that she was living in—or the status of the building for that matter. This may actually be a legitimate case where someone is getting screwed by FEMA. One this is for certain. There is definitely something awry if FEMA claims her residence is “habitable”, but CPS would not let her kids live there. Despite the fact that I agree with his belief that people ought to get up off their “arse” and help themselves instead of relying on the government, I’m given the impression that Bill Jolly is being overly judgmental in this instance in order to help his case that the Houston Chronicle is written by liberals.

The second women’s story appears to be less complex. It seems that her situation is being portrayed as one in which she is a helpless victim being shunned by the FEMA and the Red Cross when in fact, it looks like she can easily take care of her own situation. Her FEMA claim application is being held up because she cannot provide proper identification as her purse was stolen. It is not that difficult to obtain identification. The article is also telling us that she has no way of getting around. She is quoted in the article as saying, "Even if (the FEMA adjuster) called and said OK, we're going to go out and look at your property, what am I going to do? Thumb it?" Um, ever heard of public transportation? Basically, I agree with Bill Jolly, but I do think he may be reacting a little too harshly in the case of Mrs. Washington.