Last time I checked, I wasn't running for any elected office, so I can feel free to agree with geophysicist Klaus Jacob:

Should we rebuild New Orleans, 10 feet below sea level, just so it can be wiped out again? Some say we can raise and strengthen the levees to fully protect the city. Here is some unpleasant truth: The higher the defenses, the deeper the floods that will inevitably follow. The current political climate is not conducive to having scientific arguments heard before political decisions are made. But not doing so leads to the kind of chaos we are seeing now.

It's not a question of if, just a question of when another hurricane would destroy a rebuilt New Orleans. We rebuild the World Trade Center with something bigger and better, because that's an appropriate response to terrorism. In response to mother nature, the same equation doesn't compute.

It is time that quantitative, science-based risk assessment became a cornerstone of urban and coastal land-use planning to prevent such disasters from happening again. Politicians and others must not make hollow promises for a future, safe New Orleans. Ten feet below sea level and sinking is not safe.

So, what are the odds common sense will prevail over good-old-fashioned-American-never-say-die-George-Custer-style stubborness? I'm guessing not good.  ¶ 10:19 PM