Numerous individuals in the news media seemed appalled by what has turned out to be a refugee-like situation in the Gulf States because of hurricane Katrina. A large portion of the population of the city of New Orleans and other gulf coast cities that have fled the area will be displaced for some time, and some even permanently.

One cable news anchor, standing amid the devastation of New Orleans, outside the Superdome, repeated over and over his disbelief that a refugee situation was taking place right before his eyes, "right here" in the United States.

In mid-September Pope Benedict XVI addressed a group of 180 student exorcists at an undisclosed location near Rome. According to the London Telegraph of September 16, the students are following a 10 week course which includes exorcism rites, how to talk to the Devil, the tricks the Devil uses to fight back and signs of the occult hidden in rock music and video games.

Saturday's hurricane headline read: "Running On Empty, Fleeing Rita, stuck in traffic." How can you flee when you are stuck in traffic? The approach of Hurricane Rita prompted nearly 3 million people—more than 2.5 million in Texas as well as hundreds of thousands in Louisiana—to evacuate their Gulf Coast homes.

As bad as the destruction and misery have been from storms which have pounded Florida and other southern states these last two years, their worst effects may be yet to come. If all the lettuce is wiped out, or if the English peas are destroyed, no one will starve, because the essential food sources for the United States are soybean, corn and wheat. Even farm animals are dependent on these basic foods. Now future yields of these major crops are in doubt because of unexpected effects of hurricane Ivan last year and Katrina, Ophelia, Rita and other storms yet to come.

Would you build your own house in a flood zone on ground below sea level? Most would not do this and if they did, they would lack common sense. How about a city? Does it make sense to build and perpetuate a metropolitan area on land below sea level? The question might be—can it be done? Obviously, under optimum conditions it may be done and maintained if massive funding is available. Even then, there is no guarantee that natural forces will not overwhelm man-made systems.