To AR (my brother),
I don't have time to go point-by-point right now, but I don't think this is a sinister plot. I have been involved in a LOT of the disaster readiness stuff since Katrina. We (our government) got caught with our pants down on 9/11 AND the Katrina aftermath. The way I view this... It's most likely part of those efforts.
El Nino is gonna be gone by June, which means the Gulf states could have another string of disasters. I don't know if you've been unfortunate enough to visit one of the major hurricane areas as a responder, but I have (more than one). I can tell you that it blasts the entire area back into the stone age. We thought nothing of the curfews and the national guard checkpoints. the National guard, and every other agency was overwhelmed after Katrina, and it was small potatoes compared to a Cat 5 storm hitting Miami or Tampa.
Anyway... my two cents.