In the early eighties, when NYC was in dire need of some financial help from the federal government, then President Gerald Ford turned the city down flat. The next day's tabloid headline in NY was: "Ford to NY: Drop Dead!" After spending three days in New Orleans, I have concluded that Bush is saying the same thing to New Orleans. The devastation is so much greater than what I have seen on television. Katrina turned out to be an equal opportunity destroyer. I drove through middle-class white neighborhoods and middle class Black neighborhoods, and working class neighborhoods of every color on this earth, and it was so depressing. There is no water and no electricity and no schools open in these neighborhoods. I thought as someone who had lived through 9/11 in New York, that I could understand how residents of these neighborhoods feel. But as one cabdriver astutely pointed out to me, "There is one key difference. Almost everyone in New York had a home to go back to, whereas here people have nothing to come back to." He's right. Where is the outcry? I'm afraid Brian Williams' and Anderson Cooper's outrage on camera is not enough to bring the plight of New Orleans to light. Where is Hillary Clinton when we need her? I will talk about the state of New Orleans food in my next post. Sorry to be getting on my soapbox, but it is what I do.