Finally, some common sense

I never thought I'd say it but: "the federal government is right"

Rhode Island's plans to house evacuees on hold

PROVIDENCE -- The state has indefinitely put on hold plans to host 500 evacuees from Hurricane Katrina after the Federal Emergency Management Agency said storm victims did not want to go so far from home, Governor Carcieri said this afternoon.

The state had prepared to begin housing evacuees today in former Navy housing in Middletown, but FEMA notified the state by e-mail this morning that the plans were on hold, and the Department of Homeland Security confirmed the information during a morning conference call, Carcieri said.

"As a result, we are waiting for the federal government to contact us again to let us know if and when Rhode Island will be receiving guests from the Gulf states," Carcieri said in a statement.

Connecticut and Massachusetts have also put reception plans on hold and I think that's a swell idea.

Has anyone given any serious thought to the problems that would be created if evacuees were re-located thousands of miles from home -- away from family and familiar surroundings -- to spend their days with nothing to do but lie on Army surplus cots and count ceiling tiles?

It's a bad idea...even by government standards!

I think it would make much more sense to support them in Louisiana and Mississippi and allow them to get back to as normal a routine as possible.

Creating a massive, internal diaspora is a very bad idea indeed.