Off on a great vacation... but first, something about New Orleans.

I know I've been negligent these last few weeks, dear readers. Between work, trips to Philly and DC, and other mounds of planning, I've been more than a little distracted. And now, I'm signing back on to tell you I'm going to California to see some folks. Should be an awesome time, travelling down the coast for a week. Anyone have any recommendations for this time of year?

I also was moved to write again by the devastation that seems to stay mired in New Orleans:

A year ago, Ms. Larsen, 36, and Mr. Langlois, 37, were hopeful New
Orleanians eager to rebuild and improve the city they adored. But now they have
joined hundreds of the city’s best and brightest who, as if finally
acknowledging a lover’s destructive impulses, have made the wrenching decision
to leave at a time when the population is supposed to be rebounding.

Their reasons include high crime, high rents, soaring insurance premiums
and what many call a lack of leadership, competence, money and progress. In
other words: yes, it is still bad down here. But more damning is what many of
them describe as a dissipating sense of possibility, a dwindling chance at
redemption for a great city that, even before the storm, cried out for great
improvement.

“The window of opportunity is closing,” Ms. Larsen said, “before more
people like us give up and say it’s too little, too late.”

From the Judy Miller, drumbeat to Iran War Times. The conditions are still so bad, that some are leaving. Why does this government fail here? How can we think about building some other nation when we can't even support our own?