I have to say that there is way too much to talk about but one thing that I REALLY want to talk about is the reporting on CNN of the devastation of IKE in Texas. I love the ocean more than anyone....BUT PLEASE!  are people crazy AND stupid??? WHY do people insist on building on barrier islands and thinking that they will never be accosted by nature? We have destroyed natural marshes, which contributed greatly to the New Orleans/Katrina destruction....but all along the barrier east coast the same situation is being repeated. We are creating the destruction. 

You think global warming is a problem? Go to the Outer Banks in North Carolina and see the building that has mushroomed. It is completely irresponsible by the investors, builders, contractors.  When will we stop caring about making money that is so self-destructive?

I grew up on the south shore of Long Island - a block from a canal and a hurricane away from having ocean front property. I know what the deal is. And it frightens me.  It's bad enough that Long Island is sinking at a rate of like 1/2" a year because of the over-population there. I got off because there is no way out if there is a disaster. So I hope you all have helicopters in your back yard. You think the LIE is impossible to drive on now?  Just wait.

If you really want an eye opener, get a book by Gunnar Hansen - a friend of my brother's - who did a little personal surveying of this situation a number of years ago. ISLANDS AT THE EDGE OF TIME is the title, and I cancelled my subscription to Coastal Living magazine after I finished it.

So don't whine about the loss of homes, etc.  Whine about what is being done to the coastline which is in many cases irreversible at this point. 

But I suppose people would rather look at somebody else's disaster than focus on the collapse of Lehman Brothers. 

Does anyone care???