Holy guacamole! Brad Pitt, a hometown boy, has gotten involved with some imbecilic project called "Make it Right". He wants you, average taxpayer, to contribute to building a bunch of houses on stilts on the Louisiana coast, in Katrina-ravaged New Orleans. If memory serves, that particular area is 9 feet below sea level. Am I the only one who sees something wrong with this picture?

I grew up in the same town as Mr. Pitt, we have mutual friends, went to rival high schools. Here the cataclysm of choice is tornadoes. If you don't want to take the chance of being tossed a mile or ten, MOVE! Likewise New Orleans. It's a flood plain. It's below sea level. If you want to be an idiot and remain underwater, since when does anyone else have to fix your stupidity? I'll take my chances, you take yours, but I don't expect anyone else to bail me out for my mistakes. Brad, you had Angelina and the kids here over Thanksgiving to "show them the values you grew up with." Apparently, one of them wasn't self-reliance. Stop the feel-good silliness and show a few true traits of this neck of the woods; namely, independence, ability, and patriotism. I don't give handouts, but I will lend a hand up. I know you worked hard to get where you are, shouldn't everyone else? Think on it.