I also am not a resident of Galveston.  I have been reading the posts, and would like to say to the person who is so offeneded that his pocket is being picked, that our pockets have been picked by our government for lesser causes, some of which are questionable. 

It is true that Galvestonians "choose" to live on their little island. It seems in the last two weeks I have heard that said more times than I can count. However, if you take that logic out to it's furtherst point, then, also as someone else stated, people in California, Florida, Louisiana and some of the midwestern states should have no expectations of help when disaster strikes. 

It may be true that the island could be rebuilt to be more storm worthy, but again ,that would require money, probably a considerable amount and it would seem, especially during these trying economic times, that our government is not ging to offer the kind of funding needed to make substantial infrastructure changes to Galveston.  

It also seems, that for a group of people who have just been through a devastating and difficult time, the people of Galveston have shown amazing strength and resiliance and have had their hands out far less than other communites who have been hard hit by natural disasters and   I have heard no complaints about how little news coverage there has been,(after other major storms, it seemed the news was all over the story for weeks)

Let's give credit where credit is due, and instead of judging, offer help and support.