Naturally. New Orleans is--was--a black, Democratic, city. Three strikes. Reason enough to write them off. (Not that you're next, no no no no.) WaPo:

Two full years after the hurricane, the Big Easy is barely limping along, unable to make truly meaningful reconstruction progress. The most important issues concerning the city's long-term survival are still up in the air. Why is no Herculean clean-up effort underway? Why hasn't President Bush named a high-profile czar such as Colin Powell or James Baker to oversee the ongoing disaster? Where is the U.S. government's participation in the rebuilding?

And why are volunteers practically the only ones working to reconstruct homes in communities that may never again have sewage service, garbage collection or electricity?

Eventually, the volunteers' altruism turns to bewilderment and finally to outrage. They've been hoodwinked. The stalled recovery can't be blamed on bureaucratic inertia or red tape alone. Many volunteers come to understand what I've concluded is the heartless reality: The Bush administration actually wants these neighborhoods below sea level to die on the vine.

Why would this surprise anybody? It's the usual Bush policy of malign neglect:

Too often in the United States we forget that "inaction" can be a policy initiative. Every day the White House must decide what not to do.

New Orleans appears to be largely abandoned by the Department of Homeland Security, except for its safeguarding of the Port Authority (port traffic is at 90 percent of pre-Katrina numbers) and tourist districts [white] above sea level, such as the French Quarter and Uptown. These areas are kept alive largely by the wild success of Harrah's casino and a steady flow of [white] undaunted conventioneers.

Sounds like Iraq, where all Rummy decided to protect was the oil ministry.

If Bush LIHOPs a third city, can anyone imagine the same thing won't happen?