[texgal]

I don't think the thugs ever really left as far as the State Guard, all I saw was a few (very few) police in cars. I would never choose to live in a place like New Orleans. It feels like the working class is there to be preyed upon by those who choose not to work for a living. I personally feel that the good Lord gave the place a much needed bath and gave some folks an opportunity to get out of Sodom & Gomorrah. I can't wait for my son-in-law to graduate and for them to come back home to Texas.

[griffmorpho]

It's a shame. Not to romanticize (old) New Orleans, but I understand it used to be a much better place to live years ago --- at least the crime rate hadn't yet reached the disgracefully high levels of the 1980s to the present.

You're absolutely right about the working class being the main victims of the people who don't care to work. In San Francisco, for example, there are plenty of limousine liberals who are insulated from the effects of their own stupid policies. The rich left-leaning Democrats in Pacific Heights don't have to rub shoulders with the vagrants and the drug dealers downtown, unlike the average working guy who has to ride the bus.

There could be an opportunity for real change in N.O. (i.e. bring law-and-order to the place), and clean up more than just the debris left over from Katrina, but I'm skeptical. Especially if the incompetent Ray "Chocolate City" Nagin retains his post.