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When did common sense leave?
One of the things that really attracted me to my wife when we first met, beside the fact that she was pretty, smart with a great sense of humor, was that she had a boat load of common sense. More than most women I had met. Now I am not saying that most women lack common sense but they do dance to a different drum.
Common sense is probably one of the most important traits for survival in the world in which we live. Yet, it is probably the most lacking of traits in business, education and government. It is probably the most lacking in government with all the PC crap that they do.
Common sense says that when there is a tragedy, you do something. That you act upon your instincts. You don't just sit there and wait for someone else to do something.
The gulf oil spill is one of the most recent events that has shown a total departure from common sense. Everyone waited for the government to do something. BP requested permission to act accordingly but was denied any action by the government hell bent on trying to evaluate the situation. "Let's wait and see how bad it will be" before we react is not common sense. Let's turn it into a real disaster before we act on it. A total lack of common sense. BP missed the boat as well trying to be PC. They should have done everything themselves and ask the government for forgiveness later rather than ask for permission. Governor Jindal of Louisiana requested permission to build berms to protect the shoreline but after 6 weeks of studying it on the federal level, the government decided it was too late to build them. It wasn't "too late" when he first asked for help. Where is the common sense?
Another example of common sense gone wrong is from Providence, R.I. where a young man, David Morales, age 8, wore a hat to school on "Hat Day" and it had tiny soldiers glued to the hat with tiny guns. It was a salute to our men and women serving our country in the armed services. You would think this young man was a terrorist from the reaction of the school officials. "Weapons are not appropriate in school". HUH! Get real!
Another great example of common sense missing is in San Joaquin Valley in California where they have been experiencing a drought because the government, make that environmental wackos, has decided that the extinction of the silver fish is more important than the extinction of farmers and has turned off their water supply.
The result has already been devastating for the state's farm economy. In the inland areas affected by the court-ordered water restrictions, the jobless rate has hit 14.3%, with some farming towns like Mendota seeing unemployment numbers near 40%. Statewide, the rate reached 11.6% in July, higher than it has been in 30 years. All because of a complete lack of common sense and a silver fish.
Let's bring common sense back to society.
Common sense is probably one of the most important traits for survival in the world in which we live. Yet, it is probably the most lacking of traits in business, education and government. It is probably the most lacking in government with all the PC crap that they do.
Common sense says that when there is a tragedy, you do something. That you act upon your instincts. You don't just sit there and wait for someone else to do something.
The gulf oil spill is one of the most recent events that has shown a total departure from common sense. Everyone waited for the government to do something. BP requested permission to act accordingly but was denied any action by the government hell bent on trying to evaluate the situation. "Let's wait and see how bad it will be" before we react is not common sense. Let's turn it into a real disaster before we act on it. A total lack of common sense. BP missed the boat as well trying to be PC. They should have done everything themselves and ask the government for forgiveness later rather than ask for permission. Governor Jindal of Louisiana requested permission to build berms to protect the shoreline but after 6 weeks of studying it on the federal level, the government decided it was too late to build them. It wasn't "too late" when he first asked for help. Where is the common sense?
Another example of common sense gone wrong is from Providence, R.I. where a young man, David Morales, age 8, wore a hat to school on "Hat Day" and it had tiny soldiers glued to the hat with tiny guns. It was a salute to our men and women serving our country in the armed services. You would think this young man was a terrorist from the reaction of the school officials. "Weapons are not appropriate in school". HUH! Get real!
Another great example of common sense missing is in San Joaquin Valley in California where they have been experiencing a drought because the government, make that environmental wackos, has decided that the extinction of the silver fish is more important than the extinction of farmers and has turned off their water supply.
The result has already been devastating for the state's farm economy. In the inland areas affected by the court-ordered water restrictions, the jobless rate has hit 14.3%, with some farming towns like Mendota seeing unemployment numbers near 40%. Statewide, the rate reached 11.6% in July, higher than it has been in 30 years. All because of a complete lack of common sense and a silver fish.
Let's bring common sense back to society.
posted by Brian J Perks at
7:11 AM
1 Comments:
Brian, I'm sorry, but you have failed yet again.
What you refer to as "Common Sense" contradicts "Scientific Evidence." It is almost unanimously conceded by the top coastal scientists that the sand berms would be a horrific idea.
Many have spoke from past experiences that witnessed the berms beginning eroded almost instantaneously with their construction, not to mention the enourmous amount of oil it would trap inside of the area of water seperating the coast from the berms.
Even if they had started the day the oil spill happened, they would just be completing the berms, and it would have cost millions of dollars. Millions of dollars that would have come from guess who "Mr. I Hate the Government Except When They are Providing Essential Services!?!?"
Yup, the taxpayers. Millions of dollars to construct little sand castles around the coast, a coast that is notorious for being pounded by Hurricanes harder then a scenario from Wilt Chamberlin's memoirs.
They would be a band aid on a gun wound, they would be extremely vulnerable and quite frankly, according to the opinions of people who dedicate their lives to studying the science involved with situations like this, they would be counterproductive and almost surely a complete failure.
Just because you're the Governor of Louisiana, doesn't mean you're learned in scientific opinion or the actual execution of naive proposals.
I agree with you (for once) that the response has not only been egregiously slow but staggeringly ignorant from all parties involved, especially our President.
But we're dealing literally with uncharted waters here, this is not "Obama's Katrina" (I know you didn't refer to it as such, but many have) because we are not simply executing procedures that are applied almost annually, we are attempting to combat a confusing, nightmarish problem that is bewildering the top minds in the scientific and technological community.
I know science is not solution to everything, I'm also aware that we must replace the rhetoric with action, but can't just grandstand for ideas that have been rejected by the experts.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, Common Sense is relative, something that might seem like the most obvious idea in the world, could be laughably out of place to another.
We must work fast, but as we've learned from 9/11, it's important to act efficiently, but we must make sure that our actions are not emotional or simply reactive.
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