wrote in message

But it had nothing to do with race - it had to do
with the breakdown of law and order in New Orleans proper. And that, to
me, is a telling and important point: only in New Orleans proper was
there the extreme level of looting, gunplay, and criminal activity,

At times, this past couple of weeks, I have thought about a discussion, er,
debate, er whatever(thank goodness for your level headed spouse, or we would
have set upon one another with crab forks after a couple more beersg). I
was trying, although near-delerious, to make a case for preventing the
development of a society where the "haves" separate rapidly from the "have
nots". I described how, historically, that type of situation led to anarchy
and revolution. To some small extent, I think we saw proof of that in New
Orleans, and if I am correct, it is a frightening glimpse of where this
nation is headed. Farbeit from me to come up with an easy solution, and I am
of the opinion that we have to get the Gulf mess headed further towards
recovery before trying to have a national debate. Still, the evolution of
the US over the past 25 years or so disturbs me, the idea that maybe 2% of
the populace is distancing themselves in true economic terms from the other
98% is going to breed more, and deeper issues. Just passing a thought along,
hopefully no readers see it as a "blame Bush", or "blame anybody"
observation.
Tom