...or should Uncle Sam have rebuilt the schools and hospitals of New Orleans before the Super Dome?

The Louisiana Super Dome (better known last September as the Motel from Hell) reopened Monday night. The building sports a new roof, a new field and all new floors. The previous tenants apparently treated the place like they were The Who.(This rock group could have been called "Katrina and the Homeless") The cost of this rehab was $185 million.

It's just possible that I'm being a big wet blanket but $185 million would have bought a lot of lumber to rebuild the homes in the lower ninth ward. Actually, $185 million would have moved a lot of garbage that's still lying around in heaps all over New Orleans poor neighborhoods. Hospitals that were the last hope of the weakest of New Orleans citizens are still in the same condition as they were in September of '05

According to ESPN, (the network that gushed for four hours about how wonderful it was that football was returning to New Orleans) $114 million of the restoration was paid for by FEMA. That would be the same FEMA that couldn't find New Orleans on a map during the worst storm in the city's history then couldn't find the Convention Center for three days. That second part should have been easy. The Convention Center was the building where all those poor black people were screaming for help. George W. couldn't hear them from Air Force One, either.

Well, they were screaming in the Super Dome again Monday Night but this time it was to cheer for the Saints, who, came marching in and mopped the new floors with the Atlanta Falcons.

I know, football is great fun and the Super Dome is used for other events that bring spenders to the Big Easy but I couldn't help feeling just a little queasy watching film of those diligent workmen putting the finishing touches on the luxury sky boxes. After all we wouldn't want to disappoint the high rollers who might miss the kickoff on Monday night. As the ESPN cameras panned the crowd, how many of the 73,000 fans in attendance on Monday Night do you think were former residents of the devastated neighborhoods? The only way that the survivors of the storm saw the big reopening was on a TV in a bar in Houston.

The actual breakdown of the construction cost was; $114 million from FIMA, $13 million from the state of Louisiana (That would be a state where 21% of the population over 19 does not have a high school diploma), $41 million from a bond issue and $13 million from the NFL. The National Football League's contribution works out to about 7% of the total or about $400,000 per team. My impression is that NFL owners make more than $400,000 selling styrofoam fingers that say, "We're #1".

by the way, how come there was no insurance on the SuperDome?

There are several possible reasons for the reconstruction of a sports facility over the restoration of the city's infrastructure and all of them smell as bad as the Super Dome after the storm.

The Saints ownership made it quite clear that if "their" stadium wasn't rebuilt or replaced, (and damn fast), they would relocate the team to a city that was more accommodating. Mayor Naigan needed to get the building finished or risk losing his team.

The administration in Washington, having thoroughly botched the relief effort in New Orleans during and after Katrina, needed some symbol to establish that something was being done to restore the Crescent City. It's a lot cheaper to rebuild one ball park than to replace the levees and rebuild the thousands of homes that were destroyed especially if you are distracted by a foolish war in the Middle East.

My money is on the "Rove Effect". The way Karl sees it, there's no hurry moving all of those Democratic voters back into New Orleans. They're not hurting anyone in Texas or Arkansas. By rebuilding the Super Dome, the Bush gang makes a big PR splash on TV and accommodates all those Republican donors that occupy the luxury boxes. Ya got to love these guys.

Anyway the Saints won, Tony Kornheiser got to wax-on (endlessly) about hope, and America got a "feel-good moment on a Monday night. Who cares if thousands of still-displaced people are left wondering when it will be their turn to get their homes back. At least Reggie Bush has a new house.