But I find I keep thinking about the future of New Orleans (and the other affected areas) and the future of the poor people who used to live there. Simply put, will they return? On TV - I forget which channel - the reporters were interviewing a poor black man who claimed that he heard "them" blowing up the levees to purposely flood the poor neighborhoods. This way the poor would be moved out of New Orleans.

The Mayor of New Orleans (black but rich) denied that hypothesis and I tend to agree. Storms have no agenda.

But people do, and it's is interesting that the massive amounts of Federal money to New Orleans for various levee improvements over the years kind of, well, vanished. Funny that Federal money has that awful habit of disappearing into various corporate accounts without much too show.

Back to the point. So the poor parts of New Orleans are shot to hell and the poor have been re-located. What next? Will the poor be allowed back to their homes to reclaim anything they can find?

After rebuilding, will the poor be allowed back to their old homesites? What about those who can't afford to rebuild?

I think what may happen is that the rebuilding of New Orleans will take a conveniently long time. The levees will be strengthened properly. The slums will be razed, fumigated, and rebuilt. New Orleans will become a straight Middle-to-Upper class enclave with pristine new shopping areas. Tourists wil find big new hotels. Think Las Vegas without the 120 degree summers. The Saints will have fans who can afford to see them.

And the poor? By then, the poor will have settled somewhere else. They'll be welcome to visit the New "New Orleans" but they won't be able to visit for long. And to those poor folks who need a place to stay I suggest Crawford, Texas. Plenty of ranches, plenty of room and some nice friendly folks live there. They'll gladly give you a job in the Government. Just say "terrorist" and you'll be hired.