Life's A Beach/Gustav Bears Down

I see where the nimrods in New Orleans have been given evacuation orders to get out of "Dodge" ahead of Hurricane Gustav....you gotta wonder if the majority will take heed? 3 years after Katrina, New Orleans, still has it's "This is Bush's Fault" blinders on....I'm sure the press and the nutjob liberals will be blaming this one on GW as well, after all, in their jaundiced eyes, George Bush is Hitler.

I've gotta tell you, I hope they all get out safe, I also have to say, if New Orleans is hit and hit hard, bulldoze the dump once and for all. The port of New Orleans is worth rebuilding, the city is not! The city is below sea level, run by a totally corrupt and inept government, and the American Taxpayer is still footing the bill for the citizens, elected officials, and bureaucratic mistakes of Labor Day 2005. We should not be spending Billions of Dollars to rebuilt a city that is basically a crime ridden den of perversion. If that makes some mad, so be it, I will continue to call them like I see them. The country is Trillions in debt, we should not be spending Billions on a place that will get hit again and again, if we are to believe the Global Warming alarmists.

The above may seem cold hearted, but not so, it's just an honest, to the point, reflection of my opinion of rebuilding a place that American taxpayers should not be involved in.

Move the people out, set them up elsewhere, and tell them....New Orleans is done, don't go back unless you are working at the Port of New Orleans....we are not bailing you out again.

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Growing up on the Gulf Coast in Venice, Florida, I have a love for the Gulf of Mexico, and I also respect the dangers involved in choosing to live next to it, or any large body of water. As a kid, Venice was only threatened once during my years there....that being 1960 when Hurricane "Donna" made the west coast of Florida it's target. Back then there were only 4 million residents(today 20 million and growing by the minute), and no interstate system....Dad packed up the family and we joined our cousins, the Polings, in heading north. Eventually we joined other evacuees at a 4-H Camp outside Valdosta, Georgia, and stayed there for the duration....Donna hit Venice, knocked over some trees, did some damage at the airport, but all-in-all, I remember no damage, except a door blew open causing some water to stand in our laundry room, at our place.....we survived fine and dandy.

The Gulf Coast from Key West to the south border of Texas is a far cry in 2008 from what it was in 1960...the crowds, and traffic, have grown to excess. The fishing, freedom of movement, and wild life have been pushed to the edge of never land. Sad to say, there is no turning back....I like the Gulf, but as I mentioned in my look back at Growing up in Venice, Florida, a few months ago, it is not the same as before, and will never be again, we are all the poorer for it.

Hopefully "Gustav" will die out, the oil rigs will be safe, and folks can move back in.....but if the worst happens....I stand by my opinions above.

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photos-Top, a couple of Fisherman in Old Venice, Florida back in 1928....showing off the "Devil Ray" they had boated....I remember seeing one this size or larger swimming between the North and South Jetties in Venice around 1960-you won't see any like this today, fishing pressure has moved the big ones out to sea, or killed them off.

(2) Gustav takes aim at the North Gulf Coast

(3) The sail boats in the morning gloaming on Dona Bay during one of my July morning walks in Venice, Florida, my childhood home.

(4) A summer sunset at Venice Beach.