Only in Louisiana:

If you’re in the race for a seat in Congress, you would want to avoid:

1. federal corruption charges
2. already being an ineffective incumbent
3. keeping $90K in [marked]cash in your freezer in separate food containers
4. being linked to bribery schemes
5. having siblings indicted in federal corruption cases

And the answer is NONE OF THE ABOVE because if you’re U.S. Rep. William Jefferson you can still win in the Democratic Party runoff.

Read about Michelle Obama‘s fashion statement. The dress is from designer Narciso Rodriguez‘s Spring 2009 collection. Dresses in this collection can cost between $1,500 and $3,000.  [Not that anyone's interested anymore in wardrobe costs for today's women in politics].

In 1980, the New Orleans Saints football team was dubbed the ‘Aints. Losing an “S” wasn’t so bad considering they’d lost their first fourteen games. Fans–well, them maybe just ticket holders who couldn’t afford to pay people to take their tickets–would show up at the Superdome carrying paper bags. To wear over their heads.

In the past 28 years, the team’s earned its “S” and if you have any doubt that New Orleans loves them, watch the 2006 season opener in the Dome. Makes grown men cry.

Speaking of grown men, I’d like to resurrect the paper bag. For Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans.

As Hurricane Ike was barreling through the Gulf of Mexico headed for Galveston and Houston, Nagin said he wanted to return the favor and help those who had sheltered those displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

“We have 13,000 to 15,000 hotel rooms that are available for anyone from Texas to come here, and just ask for the Mayor Ray Nagin special.”

How generous, right? The mayor of a city whose occupants filled the Astrodome, Reliant Stadium, and untold numbers of homes in and around Texas, offering to pay back those who had helped us.

Not so much.  Here’s the P.S.:

Mayor Ray Nagin says he was only joking when he suggested that Hurricane Ike evacuees should request a discount — the “Nagin special” — when they stay at New Orleans hotels.

Is there a bag large enough?

As of Wednesday afternoon, this is the five-day forecast for Hurricane Gustav. Perhaps, by the time you read this on Thursday, the forecast line will have shifted. Or not.

If you look at the state of Louisiana, you’ll see a tiny circle of water near the toe. I live directly above that circle.

Am I dealing with post-Katrina-stress-syndrome?

Like you wouldn’t believe.

Yesterday, Ken and I were in the grocery–a trip we’d planned even before Gustav decided to be difficult–and I could feel the ripples of panic. Even though bread and water were still on the shelves, all it would have taken would have been one cart stocked with hurricane supplies to start the frenzy.

I downloaded the “Emergency Preparedness Kit Checklist” from the website set up by the new governor’s office (www.getagameplan.org). Kudos to Gov. Jindal for the foresight, but someone left TOILET PAPER off the list.  Some of the items are curious…like tape. If flying debris comes through any of our windows, tape’s just not going to matter.  We opt not to board our windows because we have twelve of them across the back of our house alone. I don’t want to wait out a hurricane feeling as if I’m in a ginormous coffin. Plus, if there’s a tree falling, I want to know which direction NOT to run in.

We happen to live in an area 100′ above sea level. Flooding isn’t the issue. It’s being surrounded by pine trees, wind damage, and the resulting weeks of no electricity. We stayed for Katrina.  An experience I said I’d not repeat.

Now I’m not so sure. The notion of moving at the speed of three miles per hour for 350 miles, trapped in the contra-flow with other post-K survivors makes watching 150 mph winds whip around your house seem like a Universal Studios ride.

But here’s what I love about my state. The first LSU game is Saturday at four in the afternoon. The game will go on. The contra-flow will work around it.

We have our priorities, you know. The Tigers are, after all, trying for a third National Championship.