Laid-back town needs an attitude adjustment(Catholic hammers Chocolate City)

Here's where Ray Nagin got the "Chocolate City" moniker from. It is a song from the Parliaments from the seventies.

"Chocolate City"

Uh, what's happening CC? They still call it the White House But that's a temporary condition, too. Can you dig it, CC? To each his reach And if I don't cop, it ain't mine to have But I'll be reachin' for ya 'Cause I love ya, CC. Right on. There's a lot of chocolate cities, around We've got Newark, we've got Gary Somebody told me we got L.A. And we're working on Atlanta But you're the capital, CC Gainin' on ya! Get down Gainin' on ya! Movin' in and on ya Gainin' on ya! Can't you feel my breath, heh Gainin' on ya! All up around your neck, heh heh Hey, CC! They say your jivin' game, it can't be changed But on the positive side, You're my piece of the rock And I love you, CC. Can you dig it? Hey, uh, we didn't get our forty acres and a mule But we did get you, CC, heh, yeah Gainin' on ya Movin' in and around ya God bless CC and its vanilla suburbs Gainin' on ya! Gainin' on ya! Gainin' on ya! (heh!) Gainin' on ya! Gainin' on ya! What's happening, blood? Gainin' on ya! Gainin' on ya! Gainin' on ya! Yeah! What's happening, black? Brother black, blood even Yeah-ahh, just funnin' Gettin' down Ah, blood to blood Ah, players to ladies The last percentage count was eighty You don't need the bullet when you got the ballot Are you up for the downstroke, CC? Chocolate city Are you with me out there? And when they come to march on ya Tell 'em to make sure they got their James Brown pass And don't be surprised if Ali is in the White House Reverend Ike, Secretary of the Treasure Richard Pryor, Minister of Education Stevie Wonder, Secretary of FINE arts And Miss Aretha Franklin, the First Lady Are you out there, CC? A chocolate city is no dream It's my piece of the rock and I dig you, CC God bless Chocolate City and its (gainin' on ya!) vanilla suburbs Can y'all get to that? Gainin' on ya! Gainin' on ya! Easin' in Gainin' on ya! In yo' stuff Gainin' on ya! Huh, can't get enough Gainin' on ya! Gainin' on ya! Be mo' funk, be mo' funk Gainin' on ya! Can we funk you too Gainin' on ya! Right on, chocolate city! Yeah, get deep Real deep Heh Be mo' funk Mmmph, heh Get deep Bad Unh, heh Just got New York, I'm told

Thank you for your kind and supportive words.

I come from a prominent family in New Orleans. I wont say which for obvious reasons. So I know some of the movers and shakers there, or who used to be there - those with the wherewithal to help rebuild the city. And though my evidence is only anecdotal, no one I know, or anyone they know, is going back, for the reasons I have listed. And since they have been forced by the depraved incompetence and ruthless greed of little men to move elsewhere, they are already making new lives for themselves there. As one would expect from those types of people. They, as am I, are happy where we are now, the loss of property not withstanding.

BTW. I was there for the entire disaster. I thought we had gotten through it unscathed. Well, with the exception of a couple of tons of tree on the back of my house. There was hardly a puddle of standing water. That was until I saw the wall of water coming down the street. I knew we were in serious trouble then. It wasn't like a wave. It was a whole body of water which moved at once, like it had a purpose. One could not have outrun it on foot. It wasn't just water either. There was debris in it, whole trees that acted like battering rams.

As you probably know, it is an old tradition in the Deep South that some men stay behind in situations like these. It is fortunate that I did. I pulled two women and two children out of the flood waters. They were in serious trouble. They were fleeing the 17th street breach, heading right into the London avenue breach. They didn't have a prayer. I thank God I was there. I dried them off and fed them. They were in shock. They just sat there and gazed out the window, not saying a word. Then when the rescue boats came to gather them (my second story patio was now a boat launch) they broke down and cried. It brings tears to my eyes just to recollect it.

I would suggest to you, that time is no substitute for justice.

Freegards, S4T.

Correct. P&O [the old Penninsula & Orient group] has been bought by a U.A.E. company ... that gives us the current problem much in the news. The potential for peril from such a company running U.S. ports is immeasurable.

Why can't we have a good ol' homegrown company ... Halliburton comes immediately to min ... run our ports?

Bid or No Bid contracts would seem irrelevant when it comes to keeping our ports out of muslim hands ...

S4T, I cannot even imagine what you and others have been through.

I do know that God has a plan for us all ... but sometimes it is really hard to comprehend where God's plan may be leading us.

Sadly, without something completely disastrous [like Hurricane Katrina] New Orleans would have continued to spiral downward into a bottomless pit. At least now, it seems to have hit bottom and there is nowhere to go but up. Probably the best thing to come out of all of this has been the spotlight it has thrown on New Orleans and Louisiana. It will be a lot harder to sweep the same ol' garbage under the same ol' rug in the future ...

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