Not Walking to New Orleans

On the plane while returning home last night I read a powerful article about the continued disintegration of New Orleans called "The Killing Fields." (Ethan Brown, Radar magazine, April '08) The title comes from a book about the tragedy known as Cambodia during the reign of Pol Pot. The New Orleans killing fields have no leader. It is an anarchic situation involving guns and a general lawlessness that has overrun the city.

There had been hope that this year's Mardi Gras would reincarnate a phoenix from the city's Katrina demolition, but no such luck. Numerous shootings peppered the event with fear, the city's new mood.

The article paints a portrait of a city with no leadership. Corruption and incompetence have allowed the criminals to essentially get away with murder. In point of fact, there has only been one murder conviction in two years despite the city now heralding its trophy for the highest murder rate per capita in America. Yes, I say heralding because the idiot mayor even stated that the murder rate keeps the New Orleans brand name in the news, as if that were a laudable PR achievement.

Oh well... I did enjoy my visit to New Orleans four months before Katrina, but if you catch my drift here, I won't be going back soon. The cuisine is still wonderful I am sure, but when your stomach is in knots because you don't feel safe, I have to believe there are better places to find a good meal.