We toured New Orleans in April... It was supposed to be a flying
vacation, but the weather (no surprise there) intervened and we
drove... The high spots on the expressway along the West and South
sides of Lake Ponchartrain that are now sticking out of the flood on
the TV News are roadways we drove along... From New Orleans we drove
the coast to Florida (and other places for 4,000 miles)... Many of the
bridges, highways and towns now in the news as destroyed we passed
through, some of the towns we stopped and visited, had lunch, etc.. I
get a knot in the pit of my stomach as I watch the video feeds on
CNN... It's a bit hard to comprehend emotionally, though
intellectually I understand...

If we were rational people we would forbid the flood areas of the
hurricane coast for towns, only allow by law dirt roads, grass runways,
and fish camps, and forbid any use of public monies for reconstruction
after a hurricane... But then, we are not rational and there is not a
politician alive with the cajones to bring it up... Instead, the
politicians will pour billions of tax dollars into reconstruction of
these disaster areas, people will flood back in, and down the road it
will all happen over again - and the tax payer who has the smarts to
live in a less scenic, boring, but more stable part of the country gets
to pay for it all over... And the billions spent reconstructing New
Orleans and the coastal flood plains, monies that should have been
spent for dredging the intercoastal waterways and harbors and rivers,
money that should have been spent on repairing the highways and the
deteriorating runways of municipal airports, monies that should have
been spent improving the National Parks, monies that should have been
spent on hospitals, monies that should have been spent on education,
monies that should have been spent securing the borders against illegal
penetration, monies that should have been spent insuring that not one
freighter enters a U.S. harbor before a complete inspection for
terrorist weapons, and on, and on; those monies will have been flushed
down the drain rebuilding roads, houses, skyscrapers, domes for
multimillionaire athletes who cannot complete a coherent sentence, and
of course levees to store water so it can flood New Orleans again,
someday...

Do you comprehend what even a fraction of 1% of what the politicians
are going to give away to rebuild this flood plain would do for GA if
applied to airports across the country? There would not be a crumbling
ramp or runway left in the country without a shiny, new, surface...
Every airstrip, no matter how humble, would have a GPS approach
plate... Real time weather feeds to the Garmin 396 in your airplane,
and your boat, and your car, would be free, no monthly charge...
Aviation charts would be mailed free of charge to every pilot with a
valid medical, upon request... And there would be money left over...
But then, we are not rational, as I mentioned..

denny