The entire article is worth reading, but I'd like to highlight this paragraph in particular:
This place prides itself on its role in providing oil and seafood to the rest of the country, on its Gulf Coast wildlife, on its Cajun self-reliance. Still, nine months of cleaning up, of fighting insurance companies and of deciphering federal regulations — of wondering who will come back — have taken a toll on the people and those who serve them.
More than a good bit of "Katrina fatigue" and completely forgetting about Rita, IMHO, stems from the myth--promulgated with, ahem, more than a good bit of encouragement from Rove and his twitnut acolytes--the myth that South Louisiana is some sort of drain on the national treasury...you know, the "those people" dismissal. "Those people" should have known not to live there, "those people" should have evacuated, "those people" are just a bunch of welfare queens (unlike the Halliburtons, Lincoln Groups, and Bechtels--who are "contractors" for stuff like sailboat fuel and "good news, another freshly painted Iraqi school" stories).
Well, myth busting ain't easy...but: the Gulf Coast of Louisiana is neither a welfare case nor a pleasure palace. It's a WORKING coastline that benefits the entire country. Between petro-chemical (ugh, but...), a highly productive agriculture and seafood industry, the ports...and the nice little gravy train of offshore royalties that have found their way to federal coffers over the last 50 or so years (YRHT posts today that a deal might FINALLY be in the works to provide the Gret Stet with a partial share)...the region is certainly no welfare case. We've done our part (and continue to do so).
Gulf Coast restoration, particularly here in Louisiana, is not a charity case. It's an investment that has in the past and will in the future return quite a number of dividends to the country as a whole--provided it's not abandoned.
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