Bringing Them Back is One Thing, but Keeping Them There is Another

Mayor Ray "Schoolbus" Nagin is aggressively trying to repopulate New Orleans, despite the serious misgivings of state and federal authorities. Maybe this is why hizzoner is the only one enthusiastic about this idea:

"We're moving out of this stinking city," Billy Tassin snarled as he loaded his daughter's belongings into a truck, a day after finding his home fouled with knee-deep mud. "They can finishing destroying it and burning it down without us."

Most areas of the city are clear of bacteria-laden floodwaters, but residents and business owners are coming home to the stench of garbage, undrinkable tap water and a broken sewage system.

Roads are littered with downed branches and broken-down cars that were flooded by Hurricane Katrina a month ago. Stretches of the city are pitch-black at night and homeowners are finding moldy walls and refrigerators oozing foul-smelling liquid.

And this was in the "good" part of town. Can you imagine what it must be like in the sections that have gone through two major floods?