I was watching news coverage of the Hurricane Charley's aftermath in Punta Gorda when I saw and heard something that absolutely floored me.

The majority of the story dealt with the poor souls that have lost their homes, their belongings and even their pets.

Their situation truly is dire; there is no electricity, no water and no food. Every available inch of shelter space is packed.

Although the Guard and law enforcement is doing everything they can looters continue to operate in the shadows at night.

Then the story took a completely unexpected turn; a turn that would instantly politically charge what should be nothing more than a humanitarian effort.

The reporter brought the plight of a woman, mother and wife by the name of Elba Garcia to the forefront. Her mobile home was destroyed by the hurricane; she was left with nothing.

Through her interpreter she described a call to FEMA asking for assistance and the FEMA representative asked her if she was a legal immigrant.

I'll stop the story there for just a moment and share with you some statistics.

A press release from FEMA on Tuesday 8/17 indicated that, as of Tuesday, 1070 disaster payments have been made totaling over $2 million. Registrations for aid were being submitted at the rate of 2000 per hour and by Monday night 23,535 had been received.

Hundreds of travel trailers, hundreds of thousands of gallons of water, hundreds of thousands of pounds of ice, infant formula, baby food, meat and more are being funneled directly into the area.

Millions of customers lost power and as of Tuesday some 700,000 plus were still without.

Conservative estimates of the final cost of Charley are around $11 billion, second only to hurricane Andrew's $19 billion.

And now, back to our story.

It turns out that Elba Garcia is an illegal alien. Her husband and the others in their community are migrant workers. According to FEMA, an "undocumented immigrant" (otherwise known as an illegal alien) will not be eligible for Disaster Unemployment Assistance or cash assistance.

However, FEMA does extend employment and cash assistance to any "Non-Citizen National" or "Qualified Alien." Going off on a quick semantics tangent, why are properly documented immigrants called "Qualified Aliens" while Illegal Aliens are called "undocumented immigrants"? It's interesting.

But I digress. Elba was just beside herself because she, being an illegal alien, did not qualify for cash assistance. Her comment was "we may be illegal immigrants but we still have rights." Interesting.

Here's another way to look at the 'illegal alien' scenario. I know this example can be argued based on the presence of blood-thirsty attorneys, but just work with me for a minute.

I spend my life working hard to earn money. I use that money to purchase a house, give it water, heat and electricity, furnish it and care for it. A burglar breaks in and, while trying to make off with my wife's jewelry, trips on something and breaks his leg. Using Elba 's logic, I should pay the medical bills to have the burglar's leg repaired, provide alternative employment assistance while he is recuperating and finally give him a cash payment for his trouble.

It really is no different than giving any type of government-sponsored assistance to illegal aliens. You and I work hard for our money and pay a good chunk of it to the government for 'general good'. Not only do illegals not contribute to the government but often times a good chunk of what they urn is transferred directly back to their families in Mexico , essentially stealing it from the US economy.

FEMA was created to manage all aspects of major disasters, coordinate aid and provide assistance to affected citizens. The money with which they do this comes from my paycheck and yours. We understand that the taxes taken out of our incomes are used for the good of the country and our neighbors and may, in the case of FEMA, end up helping us ourselves.

Don't get me wrong. I do feel for Elba - she and her family have just survived a major natural disaster, lucky to escape with their lives. She will face the same hardships - water, food, housing, electricity - that everyone else in the area does.

Thankfully there are charities and private assistance programs that will offer aid. I certainly do not want to see anyone suffer. There are thousands of people nationwide that are sympathetic to illegals and offer aid. I, however, am not one and am equally thankful that the money I pay to the government will be used to help others that contribute as well.

I may seem like a cold and heartless jerk, but that's life! One of my favorite sayings is "You've made your bed, now lie in it." Had Elba and her family entered our country legally I'd gladly do all that I could to help.

That's one of the things that illegals just don't seem to understand. Sneaking into our country entitles you to nothing; you're nothing more than a common trespasser no matter what the reason or motive is behind your actions. Enter legally and our citizens and great nation will roll out the red carpet and extend the hand of liberty.

Think about it!