The Mayor Nagin Hokey-Pokey

You put your population in, you throw your population out, that's what it's all about. Mayor Nagin shakes it all about as he orders a new evacuation, just a day or so after reopening the city:

Bars, restaurants and shops had just begun showing signs of life when the mayor halted the repopulation of the city and once again ordered everyone to leave town as a new tropical storm headed toward the Gulf of Mexico.

The call for another evacuation came after repeated warnings from top federal officials — including President Bush himself — that New Orleans was not safe enough to reopen.

Federal officials warned that Tropical Storm Rita could breach the city's weakened levees and swamp the city all over again.

The mayor got his knickers in a knot when Vice Adm. Thad Allen, the FEMA on-site commander, suggested that it was too early to repopulate the city.

Although Mayor Ray Nagin backed off his position to begin readmitting residents to parts of the city, a rift between local and federal officials remained.

On Tuesday, Nagin had harsh words for the federal government's top official in the city, Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, who he said "stepped outside his lane by talking directly to the citizens of New Orleans."

"I respect what federal officials are doing down here, but they do not fully comprehend what it's like to lose your home, to lose everything and not know and to be sitting out there for three weeks. So I think it's important for people to come back and at least take a look," Nagin said on NBC's "Today" show.

Vice Adm. Allen probably saved Nagin's rear end by insisting that the city was not ready, despite Nagin's rosey view. Of course, from the mayor's new home in Dallas, I'm sure things in New Orleans look a lot better.