I was watching some of the footage last night and agree with Haley Barbour. The Mississippi coast looks as if an atomic bomb were dropped on it. Amazing. There may be a million people homeless, unemployed and hungry and thirsty. I said to the wife, "We should send the Red Cross a donation." Then I saw footage of looters in a Wal-Mart in N.O. and not only that, cops were in there taking stuff. The reporter asked them what they were doing and they said, "Looking for looters." He said, "Take a look around. They're everywhere." The cop said, "I notice you're inside the store too." He said, "I'm reporting on the looting." The cop said, "Yeah but your inside the store and you're not supposed to be."
I sat there with my mouth open as a guy was stealing a child's PLAYHOUSE than was in a box so big, he couldn't carry it. As I went upstairs to bed, the thought crossed my mind, "Why should I send money to help people who would do that?" Looting food, water or baby formula is one thing, but taking 100 pairs of shoes from Foot Locker in the middle of a flood is insane. I'm going to send money, but I'm going to designate it for use in Mississippi and or Alabama.
The more I've looked at the engineering problems and the economics of rebuilding NO at its current elevation, the more I think it's a collosal mistake. You cannot deny the physics of attempting to live below water levels. I know if I had a business there, I would not relocate there. No business, no jobs, no city. People can continue to build on top of dunes at beaches if they want, but that also makes no sense. These storms are not a matter of if, but when.
