Bidding on hurricanes, bidding on heartache

These days, you can bet on anything.

Sports, those annoying "American Idol" winners, bloody Britney Spears’ marriage, etc. etc.

So I guess it was logical that the next step would be something no one could control. The thrill of betting on Mother Nature and her fury. The thrill of betting on the pain, suffering and heartache of hurricane sufferers.

So the question begs – how do you get the gall to bet on how many homes, hopes, dreams and lives will be destroyed in the next hurricane? Do you estimate how many months you think the power will be out, how many trees will be uprooted, houses flooded and destroyed and cars swept away?

Do you live in the hope that the next one will be a whopper, just so you can make a bit of cash off the misery of others?

Shame on you, I say.