I once worked with a fellow that had a theory "Stupidity should hurt, people would learn much faster" and I have to say, I agree whole heartedly. If folks were left to their own resources more often, they might manage them much better. I know that there are many times when the right thing to do is to jump in and help, if a person falls in the water, you don't let them drown. However, if the same person rebuilds in a flood plain, or in an area prone to mudslides, year after year, sooner or later, you have to say, enough is enough. As to how one determines the needy from the not so needy, your guess is as good as mine, but N.O. was a catastrophy waiting to happen for decades. As for the folks in Fl., it's my understanding that building codes and insurance breaks for beefing up construction are encouraging better building, hence better preparedness, good for them. There is no simple answer, here in Il. we have tornados, Ca. has 'quakes, but who ever you are, where ever you are, you deal with it one way or another, and in most cases, it's without the Fed.s stepping in to bail you out. This rant's getting a little long in the tooth, so to sum up, I guess the feeling that some of us have is, pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, and for those who won't or can't, well... the gene pool needs more chlorine.

By the way, I am by no means trying to speak for anybody but myself, but I can't help but think that I'm not the only person that thinks along these lines, and if it's not all touchy-feely politically correct, tough... well, you get the idea.

Troy