In my younger years, I was voted the Ultimate Party Hound of Mardi Gras five years running, but it’s been years since I’ve visited the New Orleans.

Yes, there are lingering signs of Hurricane Katrina, but it’s good to see Bourbon Street and the French Quarter are back up and running at full speed. You can still see men dressed as women and you can see ALL of real women in certain establishments, if you know what I mean.

It’s also good to see corruption and political shenanigans in Louisiana are just as they were before Katrina.

Hell, you could throw a Po Boy in almost any direction and hit malfeasance.

People here are outraged that the state legislature just voted itself a 123 percent pay raise. I was actually impressed by the legislature’s restraint; the original bill called for tripling their salaries.

Then there’s U.S. District Judge Thomas Porteous of Metarie, a suburb of New Orleans, who a panel of the nation’s highest judiciary wants impeached for criminal and ethical violations. It would be the first Senate impeachment trial of a federal judge in 19 years.

You know, little accusations like perjury, signing false financial disclosures and receiving cash and “other things of value” from lawyers appearing before him.

Then there’s Congressman William Jefferson. The feds found $90,000 in his freezer, and he was indicted by a grand jury on 16 charges related to corruption.

He was re-elected.

Oh, and they just now found that first truckload of $85 million in federal relief supplies.

They’d been sitting in a Texas warehouse for months.

Where’s “Brownie” when you need him?

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