I've watched some of those dire prediction documentaries about what global warming (whether or not it is human-caused) is going to bring. They talked about the sea levels rising over the next decades, and I remember thinking it's too bad I won't be around to see if it comes true, and what would it look like.

Then along came Hurricane Sandy, and now I have a pretty good idea of what is to come.









Last year Mitt Romney said he would do away with FEMA and have the state and city governments handle disaster relief "... or better yet, push it to the private sector," he said.

What it means for the private sector to be involved is that when your power lines are downed by a storm, everyone on your street is going to receive a big fat bill for the repairs in the mail, and if you don't pay it, a lien will go against your property. We've gotten used to our tax dollars paying for the maintenance and repair of utilities. I suppose the GOP would call this a feeling of entitlement.

A couple of years ago I saw some of this in action at my place in Colorado. The fire department wanted a mill levy passed, and when it was defeated they sent out an annual bill of $130 to each landowner. I had three parcels, so that was $390 I was paying in addition to my expensive homeowners insurance.

If a homeowner didn't pay the assessment and had a fire, they would be billed for what the fire department claimed they owed. Someone's barn caught fire and they were billed $10,000. A few months later, the town said they'd decided that every single piece of equipment didn't have to roll on every single call (firemen always show up in force), so maybe next barn fire would cost less. Next election, the voters approved the mill levy for the fire department.

I wonder how much of this sort of municipal blackmail we are going to see in the future.