Uppity house servant Vice Admiral Allen angers Squire Nagin

Before reversing course Monday, a clearly agitated Nagin snapped that Allen had apparently made himself "the new crowned federal mayor of New Orleans."

That verbal caning because Allen pointed out that NOLA didn't even have basic services such as 911 and working hospitals and thus, it was premature to call people back to New Orleans.

But we mustn't bother the squire with such details; his job is to make the NOLA business community happy. The federal government and military's job is to function efficiently under impossible conditions and know their place.

At least we're settling into the drill: New Orleans business and political leaders make the messes; the hired help -- that being the American taxpayer and charitable givers -- clean them up.

Elsewhere across the city, where the damage was more severe, much of the sentiment seemed to be with the mayor and his attempts to reopen the city quickly.

"Send Bush here and we'll make him a po' boy and tell him to leave us alone," Kathleen Horn said as she cleaned up the debris piled in front of Slim Goodies Diner on Magazine Street in Uptown.

Hush your mouth, Mr. President; just see the checks are written out.

All quotes from the Associated Press