IN THE COMING WEEK

we could be treated to the spectacle of New Orleans reopening for about 180,000 residents, only to have to re-evacuate them as yet another hurricane approaches.

And no, New Orleans hasn't replaced all those buses yet. Mayor Nagin, do you have a plan to get these people out of the city? Doesn't look like it:

NEW ORLEANS -- Residents began streaming back Monday as part of a plan by the mayor to reopen New Orleans one neighborhood at a time, despite repeated warnings from the top federal official on the scene _ and President Bush himself _ that the city is unsafe.

Mayor Ray Nagin, under mounting pressure to rescind his decision to let people in, defended the move and complained that the federal official in charge in New Orleans, Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, had made himself "the new crowned federal mayor of New Orleans."

More griping at the feds for doing what the locals can't and won't do, even on a sunny day. Nice.

I say we sell that swamp back to the French and be done with it. But they have to take Nagin and Blanco or the deal's off.

MORE: PunditGuy says Nagin has Larry Vaughn syndrome.