The American Spectator

As Bush administration incompetence allows yet another hurricane to bear down on the U.S. territory, I was reminded of George Will’s recent endorsement of Simon Winchester’s enduring fascination with “humankind’s insistent folly in living in places where they shouldn’t.” Earlier in the same column Will warned that “we should have quite precise worries about the incurably unstable ground on which scores of millions of Americans live.” As if Al Gore were whispering in his ear, he then added, “This almost certainly will result in a huge calamity, probably in the lifetime of most people now living.” He was writing about California and earthquakes, but it’s the sort of doomsday logic that could be applied to any populated areas exposed to hurricanes, floods, drought, cold, heat, fire, rockslides, mudslides, avalanches, not to mention mosquitoes. George, isn’t there some erupting volcano we should be fleeing?