[Jeff Higgins]

We get our share of flooding up here. It absolutely astounds me that folks are allowed to continually rebuild on flood plains. They are essentially doing it on the backs of the rest of us. Federal grants, insurance payouts; that all comes out of the rest of society's pocket.

I'll never forget one woman on TV several years ago that had lost her home. She was being interviewed with the Cowlitz, or Toutle, or whichever river had flooded, raging in the background. The reporter commented on how heartbreaking and utterly sad it must be to have lost your home and everything in it. This woman had the gall to answer "not really; we keep the mementos and such where we can grab them on the way out. The rest of the stuff is replacable, and we get all NEW stuff every few years" (emphasis added). Maybe these people deserve to be looted; they are certainly fleecing the rest of us.