Between apologies and damage control, Mayor Nagin of New Orleans may have failed to grasp one of the most detrimental results of his recent remarks.

President George Bush visited New Orleans August 29, 2006 to offer encouragement and hope to the battered residents of that city. Still immersed in chaos and sorrow residents were reminded of some advances being made as the President visited a new charter school that opened a few days earlier. He also dropped in on the construction teams that were busy putting up new homes under the Habitat for Humanity project.

Nature has struck once again and while many of us sit in our dry snug homes, hundreds of thousands of people are without a roof over their heads, food for their kids or a place they can call home.

New Orleans was terribly hit by Hurricane Katrina in September 2005, resulting in an unprecdented loss of property and lives.  But despite the damage, the people of the Crescent City rallied and pushed ahead with the annual Mardi Gras tradition -- complete with great food, jazz music, flowing drink, funky jewelry, and all the bright accoutrements that help make the event an enjoyable one.

Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville and his crew, who took notice of its rare natural higher ground along the flood-prone banks of the Mississippi. At that time, its location was also deemed ideal because it was adjacent to trading routes and was strategically located between ports. In fact, even before its founding, a lot of traders and merchants had already settled on the banks of the city, which may have been a sign of promise that New Orleans would become a successful trading center.