Sometimes my posts do tend to chap some butts (and some are even intended to), The previous one was not. I did not mean to offend anyone. I simply wanted to testify that in my book, anything short of welcoming back all residents to resume their lives, for better or worse, would be discriminatory, and an imposition on other areas who had welcomed them in their time of crisis. I do concede there is a bit of biased PR going on here, due to the sheer number of Katrina victims displaced and living here. A lot of the increase in the crimes REPORTED here is of crimes committed by folks from N.O. In truth, there are as many crimes that are perpetrated against them, either by the local thugs, or by other evacuees. It's just better fodder for headlines, I guess, to identify the NOLA folks and make it a STORY. I stand by what I wrote, in principle. Houston or New Orleans............Big Easy or Big Sleazy,greasy Bayou City, both have their charm and their good points, both have their foul underbelly. This time N.O. needed us. Next time, the Galveston Bay/Houston Ship Channel petro pimp, refinery row complex may incur the wrath of God, and the shoe will be on the other foot. We will be relocating in droves to the industry center from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, looking for work and a dry place to sleep. I do not doubt for a second, that if the delta country is restored, and up to the task, that the favor will be returned.

I am a Texas native, but one born in our "Golden Triangle", the TexLa bayou country, sometimes lovingly referred to as "Baja Louisiana". I am equally at home eating a plate of enchiladas and salsa verde as I am having boudin and cane syrup over biscuits for breakfast.

To quote a wise man from L.A., well okay, Rodney King,(after a sound *** whippin', and a few riots) "can't we just be friends?"

Hey, I heard on the noon news that Ray Nagin's in town, stumping for the NO mayors spot b4 the displaced residents here. I'll hold out for a while, before making an assessment of what is reported and chiming in - if I do at all. It'll be interesting to hear his plans and ideas for his city's future at this point. I have no doubt his heart is in the right place. If it is to be, for him to return to office, I hope and pray he is up to the daunting task he faces, and that the old LA, good ol' boy politics do not supplant efforts to reconstruct (once again) a legendary piece of southern culture.