New Orleans

There's a weird twist in this article on the celebration of New Orleans from
ABC News

New Orleans celebrated the first masked Mardi Gras in 1837, and the first float parade in 1857. The Roman Catholic Church licensed Carnival, which translates "farewell to the flesh," as a celebration of indulgence before adherents begin the fasting of Lent.

It's an odd word to use "licensed". License can mean approval, or it can mean the acting without responsibility.

With so many of the old citizens of New Orleans, gone and never to return, it seems strange that people from all over and going to this place where they behave badly, acting in drunkenness and lewdness. It's the urge to sin that can't be stopped.

Tourism to New Orleans this year takes on an notion of merit: I'm not merely having a good time, but "I'm bringing tourist dollars to this devastated area". I think it's really a donation to self-interest: If Mardi Gras was a financial failure this year, more carnival-related businesses would close and there would be less partying next year.

Meanwhile, thousands of families still are getting hotel vouchers, and when you divide the money spent by government on all levels by the number of people affected, it's approaching $100,000. For a family four, you can do the math.

Thousands of checks and $2,000 debit cards to people whose identities and claims
FEMA never checked. (USA Today)

I don't have an issue with helping people after a disaster, but at this point for the Katrina victims, it's a case of charity fatigue.