They'll take care of you when you're old? No.

You've probably heard about this already. From cnn.com:

"The attorney for a couple charged with 34 counts of negligent homicide said Tuesday his clients never abandoned the nursing home where people tried to ride out Hurricane Katrina."

It gets worse.

"I told her I had two buses with two drivers that would take them wherever they want," Bertucci told CNN.

But he said he was told that five special needs patients could not be evacuated. "She said, 'I have five nurses, I have a generator, and I've spoken to the families and they said it was OK.' "

OK to leave their old, frail, sick parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles to face a Category 4 hurricane?

"At the end of the day the relatives of these people decided that it was best for their relatives to be there."

Beats having Mom and Dad grumping around the house and needing their diapers changed in the middle of a hurricane, huh?

"Workers at the nursing home called each family, Cobb said, to tell them they were prepared with supplies and medicine and were staying at the home. Only six people came to get family members."

Out of 34 old people, six had family that took care of them when they were old.

Those aren't very good odds.

Make sure you're putting money away for your old age, because you cannot rely on family to be there for you. Not children, not grandchildren, not siblings or nieces or nephews, even come both hell and high water.

The care you get when you're old won't depend on how many progeny you have; it will come down to how many dollars you have.

Oh, how this warms my heart.

I’m officially sick of parents offloading the responsibility for raising their children on electronic entertainment companies.

You're not alone, buddy. You're not alone.

Hellicane

If you pay any attention to the news, you know that Hurricane Katrina broke all hell loose on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Please make a donation to help the people and also to help the animals caught in this horrible storm and its wretched aftermath.

Donate to the charity of your choice, but donate sensibly. Don't be scammed. Don't make a donation to someone who solicits you over the phone. If you receive an email asking for donations, don't click any links in the email.

Your best bet is to donate directly to the charity itself on that charity's website (and make sure it's a known charity, not some fly-by-night thing set up to rook people via Paypal or other means), or send a check through the mail. Also consider donating through telethons. If you didn't donate during the MSNBC telethon, another celebrity 'thon is coming up on September 9, 2005, and this weekend is the Jerry Lewis MDA telethon. This year, he's collecting for Katrina victims as well as for the muscular dystrophy kids. Go, Jerry.

Look out for yourself while you're looking out for others, and your money will go to those who need it, not to crooks.