Fun City

Committed!
Originally uploaded by vegacura.

Have the White House press photo wranglers lost their touch? This is hardly the backdrop preznit usually prefers. Nonetheless, it is appropriate for that "lost in the funhouse" way in which he's been conducting himself lately. As Fafnir would say, this talk is crazy talk!

''I will tell you, the contrast between when I was last here and today is pretty dramatic,'' Bush said. ''From when I first came here to today, New Orleans is reminding me of the city I used to visit.''

The president met privately with small business owners and local government officials in the New Orleans visitors bureau, located in the Lower Garden District neighborhood that was not flooded. The area suffered little impact from the storm, and his motorcade passed stately homes with very little damage.

Bush praised the city's success in bringing much of its infrastructure back -- if not most of its citizens and businesses. He touted it as a ''great place to have a convention'' and as an attractive tourist destination.

''It's a heck of a place to bring your family,'' said Bush, seated before a colorful mural depicting jazz musicians, a river boat, masked Mardi Gras revelers and crawfish. ''It's a great place to find some of the greatest food in the world and it's a heck of a lot of fun,'' he said.

Yep. Sounds like "a heck of a lot of fun" ("Brownie" was not invoked, however).

NEW ORLEANS -- Angry homeowners screamed and City Council members seethed yesterday as this city's recovery commission recommended imposing a four-month building moratorium on most of New Orleans and creating a powerful new authority that could use eminent domain to seize homes in neighborhoods that will not be rebuilt.

The commission's recovery plan anticipates a city that will be only a fraction of its pre-Katrina size of nearly half a million residents. The city now has about 144,000 residents and is projected to grow to 181,000 by September and 247,000 by September 2008.

Hundreds of residents packed in a hotel ballroom interrupted the presentation of the long-awaited proposal with shouts and taunts, booed its main architect, and unrolled a litany of complaints. One by one, homeowners stepped to a microphone to lampoon the plan -- which contemplates a much smaller city and relies on persuading the federal government to spend billions on new housing and a light-rail system -- as ''audacious," ''an academic exercise," and ''garbage."

''You missed the boat," homeowner Fred Yoder, who lived in heavily flooded Lakeview, told committee members. ''Give me a break: We don't need a light-rail system. We're in the mud."

But George W. Bush is ready to pah-tee like it's 1975.