Why not New Orleans?

The Pentagon and World Trade Center had to be rebuilt, for countless reasons, brick by brick, block by hallowed city block, and so should New Orleans. What will need to accompany that effort is a rehabilitation of the city's psyche as well. For while it is easy to point to the watermarks left behind by the flooding, it is far more difficult to identify in sum the emotional wounds that are just as prevalent and in need of cleansing. With this in mind, it seems fairly obvious that the need to restore any American city to its original state in the wake of such physical and emotional devastation is not a matter of debate, but merely one of civic obligation. Holding the inhabitants of such a city hostage to the moral and financial posturing we are currently witnessing, when doing so accomplishes little more than to toy with the hearts and minds of those that have been toyed with enough, is in fact "unjust and un-American."—Roger Wilson, GambitWeekly

Editorial: Sewer alchemy

The ancient alchemists who struggled to turn lead into gold would appreciate the work underway at the Waco Metropolitan Area Regional Sewer System.

Officials at this sewer plant located on the Brazos River, downstream from Loop 340, are in the process of turning solid wastes into gold – or, at least, a revenue stream.

As this editorial describes, the alchemists had the right idea, just the wrong materials.—Waco Tribune Herald