There has been a lot of chaos in the United States during the time that hurricane Katrina and Rita have paid us a visit.  I’m not talking about the wind, the rain, the flooding, the deaths, or the property damage.  It’s the chaos in Washington that really concerns me.

Once they appear, hurricanes can be tracked.  They are a logical, understandable, natural phenomenon.  They consist of high winds and lots of rain.  But once they’re gone you can clean up and life slowly approaches a normal state.   The politicians in Washington, including the President and virtually every senator and congressman in a leadership position, are illogical.  Worse yet, when they are done with the American public, we are stuck with their racism, high deficits and increased fiscal burden that will last long after we have cleaned up and rebuilt from these hurricanes.  They’ve all made me sick the last three weeks, regardless of party affiliation.

First of all, the politicians have shamefully used the hurricanes to play the race card.  The President and others have given lip service to the plight of blacks in America, stirring up the cauldron of race, and citing inequality and lack of funds for entitlement programs for “African Americans.”  I’ve got news for these politicians.  The fact that the majority of those stranded in New Orleans were black is not a result of discrimination or racial inequality.  It is, simply, a statistical certainty.  In a city where 67.3% of the people are black, roughly 67.3% of those stranded will be black.

Listening to the press, you would think that all of those evacuated were black folks who couldn’t leave the city due to the lack of transportation or funds.  In fact, a survey done of evacuees transported from the Louisiana Superdome to the Houston Astrodome indicates that well over sixty percent of those who rode out the storm in New Orleans voluntarily chose to stay.  That leaves roughly 35 percent who couldn’t find transportation or didn’t have the money to get out of town.

Frankly, I’m sick of this “African American” garbage.  I don’t know anyone who refers to himself as a European American or an Asian American.  It is time that journalists and others start referring to blacks as Americans, period.  To do otherwise is racist.  It is also time that blacks start taking back their families and pride by not listening to the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who continually remind them that they are “victims” of slavery, racism, discrimination, injustice, and God knows what else.

All Americans, regardless of race, should be outraged when blacks are treated like little children by government programs that encourage them to be increasingly dependent on Government.  Such programs are the modern-day equivalent of slavery.  While blacks are not slaves in the literal sense, government programs have caused the break up of black families and encouraged foolish choices that have made blacks increasingly dependent on government, their new slave master.  As government slaves, they are less likely to avail themselves of the almost limitless economic opportunities that America still provides.  Getting out of this mess requires a new “can do” attitude on the part of black leaders; an attitude that is not possessed by Mr. Jackson, Mr. Sharpton or their ilk.

On one of the wide boulevards of Hubbard, near the downtown, lives Mayor Marsha Lipper-Daley.  Fifty-ish and still thin, Hubbard’s older men still consider her attractive, which never hurts around election time.  During the winter months she frequently visits the tanning salon, keeping her now leathery-looking skin just the right color.  She depends on smoking for weight control, much to the dismay of her two grown children, both of whom live in Chicago.

The only daughter of a wealthy Chicago real estate developer and his socialite wife, Lipper-Daley moved to Hubbard 34 years ago while a student at Hubbard State University.  Money was never a problem for her, thanks to the net worth on Daddy’s personal financial statement, which contained eight zeros.  While in college, hanging around in Hubbard’s college watering holes, she met a townie named Johnny Lewandowski.  Johnny wasn’t in college.  Instead he had decided to pursue the career of “roofer”, working for a local contractor.

Marcia wouldn’t have given Johnny the time of day, except for the fact that he was so handsome.  Johnny was the kind of guy who could walk into any room and instantly draw the eyes of every female present.  Tall and finely muscled, with a strong jaw and intoxicating smile, Marsha realized that this roofer guy was nothing short of incredible.  When college junior Marsha first saw Johnny walk into the College Bar and Grill, she just stared at him with her mouth open.  How could a creature that gorgeous be from Hubbard?  Furthermore, as Marcia was to find out, Johnny was charming, with a quick wit and wonderful sense of humor.

Martha was an above-average student, majoring in political science.  She was one of those people who don’t have to study much to get a good grade.  This served her well in college since she largely spent her time on other activities; like pursuing the “Hunk of Hubbard”.  Johnny had not gone on to college after high school, but he was “street smart”.  He knew the advantages and disadvantages of a roofing career.  The main advantage of a roofing career is that it requires only an 8th grade education and a good, strong body.  The main disadvantage is that your knees and back are shot by the time you turn 40.  Every good roofer needs something to fall back on when the knees go.  Having a rich wife might not be a bad idea.  As for Marcia, well, all you had to do was look at Johnny and you were hooked.

Needless to say, Daddy in Chicago wasn’t happy to see his Marcia marry a bum like Johnny, but after his adult, college graduate daughter flew into a number of tizzy fits, he finally relented and made the best of it.  In July of 1975 there was one heck of a wedding in Lincoln Park, complete with a reception on the shores of lake Michigan, which included a “big band” and a feast for 500 people.  Will’s parents and all of the other Lewandowski’s still talk about how fancy it was.  There was none of Uncle Wally’s venison sausage at this wedding reception!  Marcia chose to keep her original hyphenated name, Lipper-Daley.  After all, if she took Johnny’s last name, her kids would have to be called Lipper-Daley-Lewandowski, and that would just be too much!

After joining a number of Hubbard volunteer associations Marcia eventually became accepted as one of Hubbard’s own.  A natural politician, she served a couple of terms on the city council and was elected Mayor of Hubbard in 1998.  The marriage lasted 18 years.  Johnny is as good-looking and charming as ever, which proved to be both the stimulus for and the Achilles heel of their marriage.  It all came to an end one night down at Lake Shady when a neighbor called Marcia and asked her why Johnny’s truck had been down by the dock all day.  Marcia drove down to the dock and found Johnny and a young female acquaintance inside their sailboat.  He didn’t even know her last name.   Marcia is bitter to this day.

The steady climb of gasoline to $3.00 per gallon represents a burden for all but the richest Americans.  I saw a self-employed contractor the other day at the gas pump.  He had one of those large pickup trucks with dual gas tanks.  He told me that his last fill cost him $100!  For him there is no other alternative.  He needs that truck to make a living.  Many of his countrymen are also struggling with the increased cost of gasoline.  This represents a “tax” on American consumers, limiting the money they have for other expenditures.  While $3.00 gasoline won’t necessarily bring about a recession, this “tax” will slow our rate of economic growth.

There is, however, a bright side to $3.00 gasoline; namely that more costly methods of recovering oil are now economically viable.   This will reduce our dependence on oil from Saudi Arabia and other gulf producers.

The United States has large quantities of oil shale, especially in Colorado.  In Alberta they have “oil sands” which are also rich in petroleum.  The problem is that recovery of the oil in both cases involves costly processes, making oil from these sources much more expensive than drilling for conventional sources of oil.  Nevertheless, oil sands now represent 50% of Canada’s oil production.  The amount of oil sand reserve in Alberta alone, that is deemed to be technologically retrievable, is 280-300 billion barrels.  This is larger than the estimated reserves of Saudi Arabia, which are estimated at 240 billion barrels.  Some geologists estimate that the oil shale reserve in the United States is also roughly as large as the reserve in Saudi Arabia.

In the final analysis, we need Saudi Arabia and other gulf producers not because they have oil, but because they have cheap oil.  Now that the barrel price of oil is above $50 the production of oil shale and oil sands is even more viable and will drastically increase.  China will continue to demand a lot of oil from the Persian Gulf.  The United States will demand less from Gulf producers as our oil sands replace what we currently get from them.

The silver lining of $3.00 gasoline is that Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich governments will no longer be able to blackmail the United States.  The Saudi’s won’t be able to talk out of both sides of their mouths by supporting terrorists and radical Muslim schools while at the same time pretending to be our friends.  Higher oil prices will change the geo-political landscape forever, and to our advantage.

Hurricane Katrina has dominated the news this week, a horrible tragedy to be sure.  The only good thing about the hurricane is that it has spared us from the daily litany of bad press spin from Iraq and the continuing coverage of teen Natalee Holloway, forever missing in Aruba.

Like the killer earthquake that will inevitably hit California, the time finally came for the sea to fill up the bowl that was the crescent city, the big easy, our beloved New Orleans.  This was a beautiful city with a garden district full of classic antebellum homes, the French quarter, and famous restaurants and nightlife.  This was a truly unique place.  Having visited it nearly 30 years ago, New Orleans instantly joined New York and San Francisco as one of my top three favorite American cities.  Regrettably I hadn’t been back for second visit.

Talk of abandoning the city is idle, unrealistic chatter.  Its strategic location at the gulf of the Mississippi river will forever cement the necessity of its presence as a port city and as a center for gulf petroleum activity.  The precise methods used to rebuild the city remain to be worked out, but like Chicago, which re-built itself after a devastating fire of 1871, there will always be a New Orleans.

The loss of life due to Katrina pales in comparison to the over 200,000 souls who perished in the recent Asian Tsunami.  Nevertheless, the loss of lives and property over the past week is a major catastrophe.  Those of us who have not been directly affected by the hurricane can only imagine how terrible this must be for those that were in the path of Katrina.  Good people were badly hurt by Katrina and it has been appropriate to keep them in our prayers and assist them with our pocketbooks.

That being said, like water flushes rats out of a sewer, this flood made visible the human vermin of New Orleans.  It is one thing to break down the door to a grocery store when your family is starving.  It is quite another to steal guns, jewelry, televisions, and the like.  Worse yet, gangs began ruling the streets brandishing automatic weapons, killing, raping and pillaging like crazed animals.  Even relief helicopters took gunfire from these thugs.  The total breakdown of security made the big easy look more like Fallujah than a city located in the United States of America.

The security will be soon restored, but the images created by these lawless New Orleans parasites will make it difficult for many Americans to have any sympathy, even for those who truly deserve relief.  Make no mistake about it, the actions of the few will reduce by millions the contributions of ordinary citizens that would otherwise have had compassion on the many.