Nature 1 - Corps of Engineers 0

The tragedy along the Gulf Coast caused by Hurricane Katrina being broadcast over every network tonight has been years in the making. Cities are flooded, homes and businesses destroyed, and hundreds of lives lost because we all thought that we could outbuild Mother Nature. Turns out that she's a pretty burly broad.

Where to start? How about all those homes and hotels built along the beaches and the barrier islands? I guess that the phrase "barrier islands" is not fully understood by developers and lovers of beachfront property. Those islands expand and contract with the weather. They are there to protect the shoreline from storms (hurricanes). They are not there for condos, hotels, and golf courses. Stop building on the freaking beach!! If you build there, you should not be able to get insurance or government assistance.

How about those cities that build right on the water's edge? If you build a seawall to keep the water out, it will work only until Mother Nature builds a bigger wave. Memo to Mobile- Move those offices to higher ground.

But the trophy goes to local, state, and federal governments. They have spent more than 150 years and countless billions of dollars trying to control the flow of the Mississippi River. A girl called Katrina just demonstrated the folly of it all. It's a big country, let's allow the river to take what it wants and we can work with the rest.

It's time to face the facts. It is time to let New Orleans go! We will never win this battle with Mother Nature, why keep squandering money trying? I have been to New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis, and other river cities. I have seen the levees and the river walls. The time has come to admit defeat. Pull everyone out of the "Big Easy" and let the water have it. Long term, it will be significantly cheaper for the federal government to buy out the property owners than to keep rebuilding the city and maintaining the levee system.

WAIT!! All of you who are thinking, "This SOB has lost his mind" might be correct. But, it's still my blog. This is not as outrageous an idea as you might think. Starting in the Depression, the TVA bought out lots of property owners to build lakes and power plants. All we need to do in this case is buy the property, the lake is already there. The Federal Government established a precedent when it forced property owners to sell their homes and leave their ancestral lands when they established the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Did you just think that everyone wanted to leave and let the government build a park?? Don't waste your breath telling me about the beauty of the French Quarter, have you seen Cades Cove? Today we are spending billions to buy out the tobacco farmers, why not a little more for the jazz clubs and voodoo shops? Why not buy out the property owners of New Orleans and the surrounding area and avoid a repeat of this tragedy??

It's time for taxpayers to speak out. It is our money going to rebuild New Orleans. How long before another storm and we have to pay again? Even worse, the insurance companies will have to raise rates to cover their losses. Neither the government nor the insurance companies pay to rebuild New Orleans. You and I pay for it through higher taxes and higher insurance premiums. Our voices need to be heard. Evacuate the city and give everyone a few months to remove their personal property. When the time is up, blast the levees and walls and let Mother Nature take her course. With any luck, she will take out the last few looters. That which deserves to survive, will.