So you've heard what the locals are calling New Orleans? "Lake George"

Then there's the quip that Rehnquist actually died on Tuesday, but FEMA only learned about it four days later.

But seriously ....

If swathes of the affected Gulf region will be without electricity for a month or so, and with gasoline both scarce and expensive, couldn't we ask that part of the $5 million in assistance pledged by the Chinese be delivered in the form of bicycles? Nice, old-fashioned, upright bikes with fat tires and panniers. Listen, it works in Bangladesh and India. It could work in Mississippi. Give the bikes away to able-bodied people who agree to use them to aid the elderly and infirm to get needed supplies. If China won't do it, somebody put me in touch with Lance Armstrong's people: if he were to make such a donation to the American people, it would do his image more good than any number of bike rides at the Crawford ranch.

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Has anyone given any thought to the cost of the medical care the survivors will require?

Laurie Garrett at the Council for Foreign Affairs has written a clear-eyed and scary e-mail (at http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200509/msg00032.html) about the disease entities that may be/are spawning in NOLA.

But what are the chances that surviving four or five days in the heat, without adequate hydration, has caused currently subtle but long-term kidney damage in a lot of people? People without medical insurance, but who must now, if there is any decency left, must have their medical expenses met by the government.