Angry New Orleans Links of the Day

President Bush Adds To Louisiana, New Orleans Misery
Steve Sabludowsky of BayouBuzz in this piece brings up the USD 85 billion fuzzy math issue. I read this guy's opinion piece on a regular basis and he's usually pro-Bush on most issues--and now he's turned from that sinking ship. And yep, Mississippi has 1/3 the housing issue we have here in Louisiana, yet they get the same amount of money. No partisan politics there. Right, Mr. Barbour? Mr. Lott?

A City Fears for Its Soul: New Orleans Worries That Its Unique Culture May Be Lost
The Washington Post has consistently put out good New Orleans-centric pieces over the past month or so to try and provide some semblance of a clue within the Beltway of what the hell is going on down here. The Disneyland analogy has been a concern for many of us way long before KTMB. Can't tell you how many times I've had to inform people from out-of-town this is no theme park. Randy Newman sums it up perfectly: "They're tryin' to wash us away. They're tryin' to wash us away."

Rebuilding Wisely
As Richard Baker and the Louisiana delegation as well as other Senators and Representatives begin to question the President's poo-pooing of the Baker Bill, the dubbed Gulf Coast "rebuilding" czar Donald Powell goes into PR overdrive to counter any momentum that might be achieved in favor of the Baker Bill. Now all of the sudden after five years of an absolute spending frenzy the Administration thinks fiscal responsibility is a good idea. I am so sick and tired of being berated that "Mississippi has a plan, and Louisiana doesn't have one" as the scope of the problems and issues aren't in the same galaxy. Mississippi has a clean slate. Louisiana--especially New Orleans does not. Its two completely different types of rebuilding based on the way the damage was incurred. And then of course Powell has to slip in the "Louisiana can't be trusted with this amount of money" suggestion because (as numerous perfectly timed articles and stories point out) naturally our state is more corrupt than most.