You tell em, girl! our government is always cleaning up after dumb americans partying and mistakes. idiot citizens:) it is true, though. people on average are dumb! yes I think you should come down, I know just the tattoo place.... havent gotten it yet but the time is nigh approaching!

To play the devil's advocate here, they did scale back Mardi Gras somewhat (fewer parades and shortened routes). Also, there is a sense in which holding it helps bring NOLA back...as tourism is a huge industry down there. Besides that, don't underestimate the emotional impact of keeping to tradition and what it does for people. I don't think non-Coastal Americans understand how much a part of the culture this is down there...of course, all that said there are plenty of reasons other than Katrina to look down on Mardi Gras (but that would be a discussion for another post) :)

I have heard those arguements before, and I can understand where you are coming from. However, I think the priorities should be evaluated. What is more important? Offering a parade where people in the area can spend their money on food and alchohol and costumes and the city spends millions on security and clean-up, or skip a year, tighten their belts, focus on the task at hand, and feel a sense of accomplishment when they pull through this?

In general, when I look at our generation compared to generations of the past, I see us becoming a people who more and more rely on our government to make sure we are healthy and wealthy and wise instead of those before us who took the situations at hand and dealt with them and became stronger because of them. I just think that we are becoming dependent and, well, weak instead of smarter and stronger. Not just in talking about the Katrina situation--I see it everywhere. Are we a generation that could have survived the Oregon Trail? Could we have made the sacrifices necessary to win WWII? Maybe, but we sure do like comfort, and we really want Washington DC to make sure we have it.

Bravo, Mandy! I see that our culture is raising a generation of Americans who thrive in comfort, flee from pain, and want to bargain their way out of anything remotely resembling discipline. I speak as a middle school teacher. Yikes.