Stalwarts?

"It's a race against time to save Ike stalwarts" reads the headline.

I don't think so.

Not that they shouldn't be saved, I'm emphatically not saying that. But as someone whose sister is a firefighter with a cop for a partner, I am saying that I would hate to see any rescuers die trying to save someone on Galveston island who refused to leave. Those people aren't "stalwarts", they're foolhardy. And they should be called that.

Sure, I get it - Gustav wasn't as bad as feared, and people who left, as it turns out, may not have needed to. But Ike didn't sneak up on anybody, and people who stayed because they "always stay" or "God won't let" bad things happen disregarded the warnings of the people who are now risking their lives to save them.

And we ought to use the right words, instead of glorifying people who choose to stay in the path of the storm or the slope of the volcano.

(update 1:10pm) Interesting. The headline now reads: "Rescue crews race clock to find, save Ike victims", but it's the same story, including the interview with the 5-yr-old who "falled in the attic"... (and damn, who keeps a 5-yr-old in the path of a hurricane?)