Mr Belien, When we in the West have been dumping our money into the bottomless money pits of islamists like afghans, pakkis, egyptians, now shias of Lebanon - where is money left for renewable energy technology - especially in transport type like cars, buses, trains..etc?

We are still exporting old technology to India like Ford Motor Company is selling old car technology [not new hybrids or electric cars] to India adding to the pollution of Indian cities!!..! The corporate crook, ENRON, cheated much more in India than in the West!! So, we owe much to them - the victims of our greed and hate!!!

The German government did not hint that the U.S. government and George W. Bush were to blame for hurricane Katrina, owing to global warming; a high-ranking German official came out and stated so.  What is puzzling to Americans is why goofy statements can be made, by European politicians and authors such as Harold Pinter, and there is no chorus of ridicule in response in Europe.  Even if one fully supports the Kyoto Treaty, that treaty is aimed at reducing emissions in the future.  Today's global warming -- if in fact it exacerbated Katrina's strength -- was caused by emissions over the past fifty to one hundred fifty years by all industrialized economies.  The German government's dumb and utterly insensitive accusation is just another example of the Europeans attempting to project all guilt on the Americans.

Bob Doney's comment about the levees is well-taken.  But it should be noted that it was the environmental left that objected to large-scale projects to strengthen the levee system, fearing that such measures, while saving people directly, might harm the ecosystem.  Yet all blame rested on the Bush administration, which is not exactly buddy-buddy with the eco-left.

Personally I don't think it makes any sense to attribute Katrina to global warming. It was only a category 3, which are ten a penny. It does make sense to create the resulting disaster to the American government, for not maintaining the levees. Simple really.

Bob Doney