Like everyone else, I'm horrified, stunned by the destruction of New Orleans and the Mississippi/Alabama gulf coast towns.  I listened to the President's address today, wherein he said something like "no idea is too crazy, all ideas will be considered."  He was talking about rebuilding the city.

But New Orleans has been a disaster-in-waiting for a long time.  Should we really be rebuilding it in its old location?  Should we put back the levees and just hope it's another century or more before the city sees another "Katrina"?  Or should New Orleans be relocated?

How about this crazy idea:  could we make an American version of Venice?  Should we?

The mind reels at the scale of this tragedy.  A city of half a million people, destroyed.  Whole towns on the gulf coast erased from the shore.  Unimaginable grief.