It was more than a storm, folks. New Orleans is simply gone.

I think they will eventually rebuild, over the next two years or so, but it will be different. Very different. A new city, more or less. Anything that was left in the French Quarter has to have been washed away - old buildings can't stand up to that kind of water - and in my mind the French Quarter was the soul of the city. Hell, if the Superdome and the Interstate bridges couldn't survive, what chance did the Old Absinthe House have? A sad thought to entertain.

At this point, the most we can do it just hope that rescue works can get as many people out as they can... and a large part of my mind says "see a looter? shoot'm in the a leg and leave'm be". And I mean looters: food? Water? Soda? That's survival. Jewelry? Electronics? Escalade? That's looting. I mean, where are people going with looted stuff anyway? The delta is a peninsula on a good day: it's pretty much an island now. Even Gilligan figured out that you were stuck on a circular piece of land. Lootings going to hold up in an isolated patch of high ground, surrounded by contaminated water? Let'm keep the stolen DVD player and leave'm there to rescue themselves. I guess I'm sorta a simple person, like that; I call it practical. Come back for the looters in a few weeks, after the rest of the citizens have been evacuated.

And with that mindset, I can honestly say that I believe this is all France's fault: they opted to build a city on a delta and consequently, the city has always been prone to flooding... it's their fault.