I'm not happy. I'm just contrarian on this issue.

And I was mad about how things were going in New Orleans (still am - don't seem much better 3 months later.) Heaven help other parts of the country if we have natural or man-caused disasters of this magnitude. Can you imagine your life disrupted like this?

With all the needs of the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, our concern for a little lighthouse kind of pales. One estimate I heard on the radio was it could take 20 years for New Orleans to recover economically from this disaster.

But back to New Canal. If and when it gets put together, it's not going to be a 'restoration' it's going to be a 'replica.' They are going to build an exact replica and perhaps use 10% of the old stuff on the 90% of new.

We've got to call it what it is. Replica. Not Restoration.

Imagine you've got four fenders from a 1917 Model T Ford. You want to 'restore' this vehicle. Fortunately, they probably make NOS ("New Old Stock" [parts]) for all the things you need to complete your 'restoration.' But do you have a 'restored' Model T when you are done?

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it.