Stayed up late last night and watched Ralph Steadman on C-Span2’s BookTV, waxing gonzo-esque about his buddy and colleague, Hunter S. Thompson. Steadman’s deadpan humor and amazing slideshow of his work is a must-see. Try and catch a re-run. The Joke’s Over and The Curse of Lono are my next purchases.

Dulce et decorum est pro patria enjoy New Orleans.

The Good: On the release of the first post-Katrina Zagat survey, Tim Zagat says, “The patriotic thing to do is to pack up your bag and visit New Orleans. You can help out by coming down and having a good time. That’s a good thing.”

The Bad: At the Krewe of King Arthur meeting two nights ago, we found out that, following outcries from their parents and school boards regarding the recent murders in New Orleans, four high schools’ marching bands have dropped out of our parade.  All four bands hail from outlying parishes and Mississippi.  On the bright side, not one Orleans Parish school band has reneged.

The Ugly: 1) Despite popular opinion, Bush has pledged an extra $1.2 billion for rebuilding and job creation in Iraq and will send 21,500 extra American troops there

2) The Army Corps of Engineers are far behind on their promise to fix New Orleans’ drainage pumps: “Risk of breach on London Avenue canal far higher than we’ve been led to believe”

3) State-contracted ICF backs off ‘Road Home’ target pledge: “Officials backpedal, saying no specific goal was established, despite record”

If you consider yourself a red-blooded, flag-wrapped and troop-loving American, this is my request to you: please pack your bags, visit New Orleans, see for yourself the levee-, bureaucracy- and crime-induced plight of this city and enjoy its sights, cuisine and yet-defiant-and-easygoing people. Then, go back home, discuss your trip with fellow townspeople, write your newspaper, and demand action for New Orleans from your congresspeople and local politicians.

“Our intense focus in on murder.” — C. Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans

“The federal government is committed to building the best levee system known in the world … this levee system will be better and stronger than we’ve ever had in the history of New Orleans.”  — Donald Powell, Federal Coordinator, Gulf Coast Rebuilding

Remember what our politicians promised and act accordingly. Hold them accountable. When they lie here, will they not do the same when disaster strikes you? You are not invincible. No one is.

Much gratitude to those who have given time, effort and financial support to this region and its recovery.  Your work has not gone unnoticed. People like you make the long, strange ride entirely worthwhile. Please continue to fight for America, with us.

Five hundred days after Hurricane Katrina and the Federal Flood washed over this region in all of their fury, New Orleans faces a more violent and immediate threat than tropical weather and poorly-built-and-maintained levees: Murder.

If you are in the New Orleans downtown area tomorrow, please join us in the Anti-Crime March from the foot of Canal Street to City Hall. I will be there in my corporate garb to show that not just “disgruntled hippies,” “union workers” and “underemployed artistes” take to the streets with picket signs in the call for change. As the murders since New Years Eve have shown, gun violence in New Orleans doesn’t color within its pre-ordained lines any more. We are all (and should have been) in this together, and it’s about time. I simply wish Dinerral Shavers and Helen Hill didn’t have to be our wake-up calls.

Let the custodians of this city know that

– they haven’t been doing their job, which is to serve and protect.

– their latest crime initiative is what they were already supposed to be doing and that the community has been speaking for a long time, if they would only listen.

– giving us their ear and relinquishing total control is the first step towards a responsible community which polices itself. Help us help ourselves, please!

– their lip service is not enough. We demand accountability and progress reports or they’re fired.

– this will not just be one day of visible outrage.

America, if you’re out there and watching, Schroeder sums up how a lot of us feel:

For those around the country who might doubt us, we didn“t all vote for Ray Nagin (or Bill Jefferson), but one thing is certain: New Orleanians are in total solidarity in saying, “Stop killing people!“

To make it easy on my out-of-city readers, here’s a list of things that currently have New Orleanian heads a-buzzing.

1.  Carnival Season: The Krewe du Vieux parade is less than a month away and I have not a shred of my costume ready. Holy. Crap.

2.  New Orleans Sliding Into The Gulf:  Coastal wetlands are not just hurricane speedbumps, they also act as the outer limits of the continental shelf and absorb gravity slumps and growth faults characteristic of a passive continental margin. In other words, when the wetlands go, we’re next. Don’t worry, Houston suffers from this problem, too, but they’re farther inland than we are. Their great-grandkids can worry about it.

3. New Orleans May Not Be Adequately Protected From Flooding Until 2010: Considering 2 above and the hottest year ahead, even sub-standard levees will not be ready for another four years. Oh boy.

4. Allstate Pulls Back from Insuring Coastal Homes: Insurance for those who don’t need it. Don’t you just love government-mandated daylight robbery?

5. Murderers Coloring Outside The Lines More: It’s no longer about teenage Gangster A killing pre-teen Gangster B after which B’s peeps take out A in a gun battle across the neutral zone, leaving the NOPD and DA’s office with paperwork and not much in the way of real policing and crime management. Only here does the thought “How soon before we’re next?” seem absolutely ludicrous and perfectly valid at the same time.

Here’s an idea: Have a great Mardi Gras season.  I like to tell myself that the beauty of life right now is my still being alive.