Check out the massive padlock on the Superdome. That will tell you all you need to know about Hurricane Gustav and the federal government's carefully orchestrated response. The padlock, which looks roughly the size of a Frisbee, is set firmly around the doors. It articulates a message that would be clear to even a Bush or a Brownie: this storm will not be Katrina. By that I don't mean, "We've learned a lot in the last three years" or whatever talking points the White House is putting out.

The padlock makes clear that the public relations hurricane battle has been well engaged. There will be no photo ops of 30,000 people herded into a luxury stadium that magically morphs into a homeless shelter from hell. There will be no opening up the stadium to the poor and unwashed, not after spending $185 million bucks to rebuild the dome and not with the NFL season right around the corner. There will be no one left behind, even if it means putting people on buses, taking them hundreds of miles away and not even telling them the destination. And, more than anything else, the padlock in all of its metallic, glistening glory, is a self-indictment. It is an admission that despite what we were told three years ago, a stadium isn't really shelter; that the act of forcing people at gunpoint into the dome was a criminal act; and that believing any stadium could have redeeming social value as an emergency evacuation center, is a lie.

The padlock on the Superdome prevents any more ugly backdrops for When the Levees Broke II, and preserves the pristine field for Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and the rest of the New Orleans Saints. But it also raises more questions than answers: if people aren't in the dome, then where are they?

Where are New Orleans' 12,000 homeless residents, double the pre-Katrina numbers?

Where are the 17,000 residents of greater New Orleans still living in FEMA trailers?

Where will people live when they return? Why won't the city call for the suspension of the planned bulldozing of the city's four largest housing projects? How will the people being bussed out be able to move back if their homes have been flattened? If people can't make it home, will they find their residence somewhere even more frightening than the dome?

New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin said over the weekend, "Anybody who's caught looting in the city of New Orleans will go directly to Angola [Louisiana State Penitentiary]. You will not have a temporary stay in the city. You go directly to the big house, in general population."

Considering that many of the so-called looters after Katrina were fighting for their lives, and considering that the media had color-coded looters, with white residents classified as heroes, the implications of Nagin's dictate are chilling. It's horrifying to think that they could be laying their head in the former slave plantation known as Angola.

And what will the fate of the wetlands? They absorbed the worst of Gustav, before the hurricane slammed into the great city. As New Orleans resident and comedian Harry Shearer said we're losing wetlands "at the rate of a football field every hour or so." The padlock is also a reminder of all the people, 25 percent of the pre-Katrina population, who haven't been able to return to the city. How can they have the hope of return when rents have gone up 46 percent in the last two years? When will this ever be addressed?

The future of New Orleans will depend on our ability to answer these questions. And no amount of shameless political posturing can avoid this.

Comments (14)

1. Good grief Zirin.

   Would you like some cheese with that whine?

   Posted by Benchrest at 09/02/2008 @ 11:07am

2. day one of an embarrassing hurricane-shortened sad reminder of a GOP convention and they still managed to arrest 300 "protestors" basically anybody who thinks Iraq war is a disaster, the wrong war, and is trying to save middle class....by the election, most independent voters will be in jail, most others will be disenfranchised, as they are already denying right to vote in many states unless you have at least five different forms of ID, etc. and mcbush will "win".....just like hanging chad fiasco...gore did the whole country a disservice by not fighting til the end for an illegal tainted election...other countries people riot for less.....if you are going to jail, at least have a riot first, it is somewhat a letdown to get arrested for peacable protest...bush just outlawed protesting or gathering on washington mall......

   for peopl getting arrested for being patriotic and demanding their freedom and being citizens with balls, most other sheep will just stand around dumb-founded, ignorant, and apathetic...

   at least before you go to jail, go knock up some palin kid, oops, too late...is the boyfriend who knocked her up in jail?? isn't that underage, not in alaska???....is she competing with that utah couple who has eighteen kids??? maybe they can babysit her infants 4 month while she is attacking some other country or destroying her own state by just authorizing thousands of miles of new gas and oil pipelines to be completed by 2010.......

   she is facing criminal charges RIGHT NOW for troopergate....can somebody run while being investigated for a crime????? apparently....NOBODY in alaska even knew (rightly so) that she was in running for VP, so none of this would come to light??? isn't that stupid and/or a

   the future's so bright "and hot" gotta wear shades.....

   Posted by jrs112 at 09/02/2008 @ 11:32am

3. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Posted by JOMAMMA at 09/02/2008 @ 11:13am

   Shows a real care for your fellow American citizens there. I guess that's how the right addresses the unwashed rabble eh? Do you kick homeless people when you see them?

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 09/02/2008 @ 11:49am

4. I live in Birmingham, and, as a lifelong Dem am no friend of the rethugs. What disgusts me is the way that the MSM has portrayed the Republican Governors as the heroes.

   Nagin has done a great job at getting people out of harms way. Here in Birmingham, we have over 12,000 folks, and our City staff and some church and volunteer groups have done an outstanding job at accommodating our temporary refugees.

   Posted by tulipan at 09/02/2008 @ 11:54am

5. All about the image....

   can't have a reminder of "Katrina" the SAME WEEK as the GOP Convention...

   going to be hard enough with all the "explanations" of the various and sundry "Palin Problems"!

   heheh

   Posted by Maskdelta at 09/02/2008 @ 11:55am

6. So the Federal Government put the padlock on the Superdome? It seems to me that a lot of people were evacuated quickly and efficiently. Kudos to George Bush for that!

   Posted by abell12ct at 09/02/2008 @ 12:33pm

7. The dome is needed...for football....the proof is in the death tolls.... Posted by JOMAMMA at 09/02/2008 @ 12:32pm

   Death tolls from football? What hell football are you watching, Murder Ball?

   I'm glad they got it right this time though.

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 09/02/2008 @ 1:03pm

8. Posted by abell12ct at 09/02/2008 @ 12:33pm |

   Abell, perhaps you don't get thanks enough around here, but we SHOULD thank you.......

   sometimes people forget that the 28% Club (who still support Bush) is still 28% and deserves some representation too!

   Posted by Maskdelta at 09/02/2008 @ 1:10pm

9. I have relatives down there I would like to see the FEMA actually function.

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 09/02/2008 @ 1:14pm

10. OMG! America is filled with conservative idiots! "The situation was handled this time" is the never-ending justification for the failure to handle Katrina! You self-righteous animals! Do you feel better about yourselves now? Do you think the God you serve is going to say, oh, they handled Gustav, so their prior blatant transgressions against their fellow Americans, fellow human beings will be forgiven? If that is the God you conservatives serve, I'm turning in my Church and God cards because that is NOT the God I'm serving!

    Posted by pmarquie at 09/02/2008 @ 10:40pm

11. Please ignore JOMAMMA! It is a paid for conservative set loose on the Internet to spread ignorance!

    Posted by pmarquie at 09/02/2008 @ 10:41pm

12. We cared for our fellow citizens this time by putting responsive and responsible people in charge..Jindal was most impressive and Chertof obviously learned from the past errors...

    Posted by JOMAMMA at 09/02/2008 @ 12:32pm

    how is it that the cubans get it right every time?

    Posted by frosty zoom at 09/02/2008 @ 11:31pm

13. sometimes people forget that the 28% Club (who still support Bush) is still 28% and deserves some representation too! Posted by Maskdelta

    28% is better than the 9% approval rating for the Democrat Congress

    Posted by abell12ct at 09/03/2008 @ 10:02am

14. Zirin, you are right about everything except the padlock. Bush made sure the Big Easy was evacuated to avoid further scandal, certainly not because he cares, and the stadium was not needed. New Orleans should be rebuilt as a model sustainable community, with lower income housing constructed to near-zero energy consumption standards. It is a unique opportunity for gov't to do the right thing for the Easy's disenfranchised AND set a shining example of how America's energy future can be improved. Bush hasn't and won't do it, but might Obama?

    Posted by Slader at 09/04/2008 @ 03:22am