Evacuations in California and New Orleans

500,000 people have been evacuated in California, due to fires threatening to destroy their homes.

Coincidentally, that's the number that evacuated from New Orleans in 2005, due to flooding threatening to destroy their homes.

I saw pictures on the TV of the rich San Diego evacuees, in their stadium. It looked like a party, complete with buffet, set with overwhelming amounts of food. Too bad the poor New Orleans evacuees didn't get buffets. Actually, the Red Cross was told that they couldn't go in and feed the people in that stadium, because then they wouldn't leave. At that time, of course, the idea of totally depopulating a city because of a disaster was unheard of, but after 3 days of hunger, the people in the stadium lined up for the buses out.

Yes, people shouldn't live in a flood zone, and probably New Orleans should be rebuilt on higher ground, not back in the flood plain, but people shouldn't live up in dry mountains, either. Global warming makes hurricanes with floods, and drought with high winds and fire, more likely, and people are going to have to adjust.

But, how much do you want to bet that the rich will be allowed to rebuild in the mountains of California? They always have been. I grew up in LA, and the rich have had fires and mudslides as long as I can remember, and they always rebuilt, with help from the taxpayers. In other words, we poor people who lived down in the smog choked valley paid so the rich could go up into the cleaner air and dry brush of the mountains.

I say ship the rich evacuees of San Diego to a stadium in Houston, and then spread them out around the country, or stick them in trailer parks. Give them a $2,000 credit card, but then prosecute them for using it in 2 years. Fair is fair.