What On Earth?-Column #51, August 2006

Here we are in August. As we approach the end of summer and the kids head back to school, this is the column where I talk about that, as well as anything else going on in the world. But, of course, this column is going to be dedicated to the victims of 2 major hurricanes last year: Katrina and Rita.

Hurricane Katrina formed in late August, beginning as a Tropical Depression on August 23 and then upgraded to a Tropical Storm the next day. Upon entering the Gulf Of Mexico it became a Hurricane, and it caused major damage in most of the Southern US. The hardest hit area, though, was New Orleans, Louisiana. Some evacuees took shelter in New Orleans' Superdome. Even there, it was a mess, as the stadium took a massive hit from the storm. So, other evacuees came to TX, and Dallas opened up Reunion Arena to them. Even Mississippi, which is next to Louisiana, opened up to the evacuees.

Not long after THAT, Hurricane Rita came to Houston, and almost gave New Orleans a dose of Deja Vu. Luckily, it was a little too close. Anyway, I've a few relatives and friends from Houston and they managed to dodge the storm, but some weren't so lucky. On their way to Dallas by bus, 23 of a group of senior citizens were killed when their bus caught fire. The driver was arrested, but the charges were later dropped. You think the storm was bad, this was even worse, not to mention bizarre!

Weeks later, though, when everyone was cleaning up, they were also complaining to FEMA and its director Michael Brown about their response, as well as the Bush administration. They promised to help rebuild, but as we all know too well, their words have spoken louder than their words. You think the rebuilding is done? Think again! Those evacuees are even blaming politicians from both sides, and those politicians are ultimately blaming each other. This is one of the big issues that will decide who controls Congress in November. And I'm hoping it's the Democrats, and you're looking at one who is actually a Democrat and PROUD OF IT.

Later, some of the evacuees received special debit cards filled with money to help buy groceries, set up housing, and do whatever it takes to rebuild their LIVES (if not their homes). You thought crime would go down after the storm, right? WRONG. Not only were some using it for other things, some were committing fraud by filing bogus claims that they were storm evacuees, and eventually anyone caught would face stiff penalties from jail to fines.

Later, there would be benefit concerts to help the evacuees, and many game shows such as Wheel Of Fortune decided to help. You'll hear about their efforts in a later column. Of course, even celebrities themselves came to New Orleans to look at the damage and decided to chip in a few bucks of their own cash, much like us Good Samaritans would.

That's all I have to say about this for now. Next column will be dedicated to those who lost their lives on 9-11. This is John Lee saying, "Go HOME."