The first comment above made by Barbara from Tullahoma, TN expresses my feelings exactly. I would certainly rather see the money spent to help the residents and small business restore their lives.

The Superdome upgrade is government (read: my) dollars being spent for a special interest target. There are many honest, hard-working American citizens who are not sports fans. I would rather see my taxes spent helping to rebuild homes and small businesses in New Orleans. The Superdome is simply another big business venture at tax payers expense.

If the Netherlands can build a Cat 5 protection system to protect themselves...why can't the most powerful nation in the world do it for its own people? 4 BILLION DOLLARS SPENT PER MONTH in IRAQ. All we need is 1 BILLION PER YEAR to build Cat 5 levee protection that has already been built in Europe. And, has been proven to work!!! If we can spend 4 BILLION A MONTH in Iraq, why can't we spend 1 BILLION a year IN OUR OWN COUNTRY? Brian, please continue to come here and tell our story.

Wow personal attacks from people. I thought this was a civilized debate. While I don't agree with some of the positions stated here I sure won't stoop down to attack you. I would rather spend money on New Orleans Charity Hospital than on Baghdad Charity Hospital, but my government has seen it prudent to spend HUNDREDS of BILLIONS of our tax dollars to make a point. Maybe the levvees were not up to par. The levvees may have been better funded if capital gains and divindend taxes weren't cut, and the estate tax was kept intact. Democrats and Republicans alike are to blame. The mentality of rebuild and rebuild, or fight until the opposition is beaten into submission, doesn't work on people, why on Earth do some think it would work on a weather phenomenon. I do feel for the people of New Orleans, the ones who couldn't get out. People physically unable to leave, but for those who chose to stay to, "ride it out" well keep on riding it out. My tax dollars should be spent on books for schools (less than 50% of New York City students have textbooks) college tuition for those who don't have the means to go, and more police on our streets. New Orleans is still sinking and until we find a way to stop that, we will be in the same position again soon. The arguement that it is a port for international trade is valid until you look at all the other ports that could receive the freight and not have the problems New Orleans now faces. While I do pray for the people of New Orleans, it is not for a quick and safe revival of the city, it is a quick and safe realization that sometimes you have to cut your losses and make the hard decision to look around you and make for the hills. Come up to my city and get a hearty meal and a pat on the back, while we figure out which house you want and what job sounds best

I am all for helping rebuild N.O., but come on lets fix the levees to withstand a big storm first. It seems like they are doing it backwards. God forbid they get another Katrina we'll be doing it again next year.

FOR SOMEONE THAT HAS LOST EVERYTHING, SOMETHING SO
SMALL CAN MEAN SO MUCH. LAST COUNT ON TICKET SALES FOR THE SAINTS WAS 59,000 PLUS ! THEY WILL REBUILD
AGAIN AND AGAIN IF NEED BE ! GOD BLESS NEW ORLEANS
AND ALL WHO HAVE SUFFERED. SOME OF US WILL ALWAYS
BE HERE FOR YOU ! GOD BLESS YOU ALL !

To AC in L.A.: Point take on the previous headline, "Scene of the crime." I have changed it to simply "Back in the Superdome."

And for those of you who think Nightly News is spending too much time covering New Orleans, I refer you to these previous posts from Brian:
http://dailynightly.msnbc.com/2006/04/final_word_from.html
http://dailynightly.msnbc.com/2006/01/a_word_about_ou.html

He may have more to say later today, but as you'll read, he's been outspoken from the beginning about his commitment to and passion for this story.

Re Nick In Indiana: What about people who thought their insurance would cover their losses--but find out their insurance doesn't cover them?

This isn't a matter of fine print or of not reading one's policy carefully--there have been cases for example in Mississippi where people have ended up suing their insurance companies because their homes suffered wind damage which their policies say is covered, but the insurance companies claim that it's water damage, which wont' be covered without flood insurance.

Also, when one has flood insurance, the deductibles can be high, so one can still be out a great deal of money.

Well Nick of Indiana, I'm with you. If a person CHOOSES to live in a high risk area, then they have CHOSEN to face the consequences. I didn't CHOOSE to live in a place which is below sea level with a history of hurricanes, and I don't CHOOSE to bail out those who made that choice - but then, seems I have no choice as to how my tax money is spent.

Here's what I think about your CHOICE if you CHOOSE to live in a known danger area: Grow up and fix it yourselves if this is where you just HAVE to live! And my feelings are the same for those who CHOOSE to live in earthquake zones, in the shadow of volcano activity, etc. Few of us are free from the possiblity of tornados, but tornados are unpredictible - hurricanes are a known risk along the coasts and if you just can't bring yourself to live anywhere else, please tell me why I should pay for your CHOICE? I just don't get it.

So sad to see how our government has done so little to help these people out. OH..but when something devastating happens overseas..OH AMERICA is the first one to help out...just screw our people??? How sad a country we live in.

Hello Brian, Interesting that your headline reads back in the superdome Brian, because my recollection is that your first broadcast from Louisiana was from - gasp - Metairie - while ya intrepid brothers and sisters were reporting from the real ground zeroes of the disaster, the conference hall and the dome. Glad to see your self serving recollections are still in effect.

For all we cared, we were following the reports of your siblings, not yours. You could have stayed in NJ.

Bye

Nightmares fill our sleep and reality is worse, the collateral damage of people lost to katrina is a untold story, thousands have died from simply being displaced and yet the super dome gets a headline, if you are a real new person leave the dome and drive east for fifty miles and if you still thank the dome is a headline story, quit your job because you are out of touch with reality, bodies are still being found every day and every day people die, too old too tired to fight the big insurance companies, the city, the state and the federal government, the Saints play a game, the victims of Katrina face cold reality.

If America is the greatest nation in the world, why can't we rebuild a city bought by one of our four fathers? Let's do the so-called-impossible and rebuild for the people who live here. The Superdome is just one icon that is being rebuilt to show the world we are coming back (and because Tom Benson is an old man loaded with money). Everyone here lives for this area because of the culture and our unique heritage. The Cajuns were forced out of France, England, Canada, Acadia, and settled here by the water. We're not moving, at least I'm not, so find some people who CAN build good levees. It's not our fault they failed. If the Dutch can do it, we can do it!

Quick note to Nick/Dick, the worst weather you get is deep snow and large hail. So be quiet, Indiana has never lost a city that has the historically significant past that New Orleans has because you don’t have one it's equal. Otherwise, I find it hard to believe that we live in a country where we can spend billions of dollars delivering countries from cruel dictators, (a quite worthy cause, I just retired last summer from 20 years active duty and quite agree with our president), and we can't figure out a way to keep the Big Easy dry. This nation has a lot of problems; let's not tear ourselves apart squabbling about mis-spent tax dollars and a government that doesn't do everything we want. We have always been a nation that pulls together when we hurt, we always will be. When the Saints play a the home opener, our nation should rejoice that a fallen sister city is regaining her feet. It's a sign that the south is rising again and I for one will continue to look forward to when I can get back to the gulf coast and eat at every waffle house I can find. Best wishes!!

I am surprised that a Sportsdome comes ahead of rebuilding homes for people to live in, food to feed them and the necessities of carrying on one's life. May the Lord help us to get our priorities in line with the start of a new hurricane season!! Sports are fine...but there are alot of things in life that should come first!

This string is one of the clearest examples I have seen that America is truly a fractured country. What ever happened to the comraderie and positive patriotism this country was founded and built on? Did the media magically become liberal the day President Bush was elected? Did we ask NYFD widows what kind of insurance they had post 9/11? Did the gulf coast states secede from the union during the last year? Have some compassion for your fellow AMERICAN and "least among us" as Jesus directed and stop choosing sides!

To those in Indiana (like you, Nick) and your viewer in North Dakota who says he's tired of the coverage, I give you these few nuggets of information:

- A vast majority of us in New Orleans had insurance. Having insurance and getting insurance to pay what they should are two different things. From the responses of some of those who watch NBC Nightly News with Mr. Williams, my guess is that the folks responding from Indiana or North Dakota has ever had to deal with insurance companies.
- As FINALLY admitted to by the Army Corps of Engineers, this catastrophe was caused by FEDERAL negligence. It's time for the Corps to do its job CORRECTLY.
- For those who wonder why the recovery effort is moving so slowly, please consider this: over 100,000 homes sustained over 50% damage to their homes because of Katrina. If each house had just nine construction workers, that would mean 900,000 construction folks in a city that held around 500,000 pre-Katrina. Do the math. It doesn't figure, does it?

My thanks go out to Brian Williams. As a native New Orleanian, I cannot begin to tell you what you and NBC mean to me. You have earned more than my viewership. You have my unending appreciation.

The Scene of the Crime indeed. It must be hard to be back - I will never forget that little baby who died from lack of water at the SuperDome so long after the storm had passed. God bless him and his poor mother who had to watch him go so slowly.

And bless you, Brian, for your coverage of Katrina. I thought you were probably just another pretty face until I saw you break the news that the levies had been breached. I believe that your dedicated coverage helped to save lives and I thank you for being there then and now.

I am proud of NBC news for staying with their coverage of our ravaged south. There must be a tremendous amount of economic and political pressure to abandon this and related news for something less contentious. I remember the faces of all those whom you covered last year. I will never forget the pain on the faces or the apathy of our leaders. Please know that you have this tv watchers loyalty, gratitude, and full support. I've watched your newscast for the last 25 years. Every story you do about our southern states just reinforces to me that your team is on the right course, even if our country isn't. God bless Brian.

The Scene of the Crime? Wow that's a loaded headline. Are you referring to the murder, rape and mayhem that the media reported at the Superdome which in actuality never occurred? It would be nice if the press stopped patting itself on the back for one minute to debunk the Katrina myths created by mis-reporting from New Orleans in the first week after the storm hit. It’s such a shame that we have to rely on Popular Mechanics, who did an excellent cover story in their March 2006 issue, to get such an important story right.

I appreciate the history and attachment that makes people feel as though we need to save New Orleans at any cost, but if we spent the rebuilding money to relocate people to a safer location that isn't below sea level, wouldn't it improve the quality of life for the residents and be a better use of tax money? Perhaps we can maintain parts of the city for historical purposes, but I cannot justify spending this money to rebuild a city below sea level protected by category 3 levees. We will be rebuilding New Orleans for a 2nd time in a few years.

Dear Brian,
Thank you for continuing to tell our story as we recover and rebuild our city. To those of you who still can't understand what would drive thousands of us who live here and who want to get back and live here, thrive here and just plain old "be here", the only explanation I can offer is that you have to be born here to understand why we want to live here. This is a place like no other--the music, the food, the atmospher, the culture, the heritage, the history but more importanly, the people. Our mayor said it best today--we are a people who are survivors. History will one day write about the dramatic change this great city has taken on and when all is said and done, we will again stand and stand strongly and proudly. Don't forget us, Mr. Williams, even after the story has faded away.

In response to the shame-on-you-who-lost-it-all- that's-what-insurance-is-for mentality, the flood insurance program (still) maxes out at $250K. Most of my neighborhood had flood insurance, but they have homes valued at twice the max, or thereabouts. And that's just the structures. These people are not upper class, or even upper middle class, mind you, I'm talking about normal working types. Hoosier Nick , your explanation doesn't cut ice with my neighbors, who are now without any equity in property with a mortgage, NOT because they live in a hurricane region (50 miles from the Coast), but BECAUSE THE LEVEE SYSTEM FAILED!

Next question -- why is NOLA where it is? Ask yourself that next time you want to export your wheat, or import your oil and drive your SUV. We kind of need workers here to run the Port. And don't forget that America would be a lot less cultured without the America's only indigenous music form. We could all stand for a little more culture, couldn't we? (And compassion.)

Brian, it must take courage to come into one of the most politically corrupt, crime ridden, welfare laden cities in the country. Yet, somehow your reporting gives a sense that yes, there were terrible blunders, miscalculations, death, disease and destruction everywhere on a scale that overwhelms even the imagination of those that have never even been near the Big Easy, but ending your broadcast on an upbeat, positive and encouraging and nourishing environment of a people who are determined to re-build...that is once the sydicates of corruption have fully re-entrenched the channels of funneling everyones money into the pockets of those who need it the least. Bravo for your continued broadcasts. Keep up the good work. OH, By the way, is that a local union worker dangling you high above the city streets for an aerial view or an 'undocumented immigrant' ??

Ya know, in the past 10 months I've read SO many beautiful sentiments from others all over the country for the people of NOLA and the entire Gulf Coast, that I almost pass over idiots like "Nick from Indiana" without comment. But to set the record straigh for him...it is sadly, a misconception that insurance pays for everything. The fight to get the insurance companies to pay even overtly legitimate claims is incredibly difficult and still ongoing for MANY of us. Even so, the last thing we would want is your sympathy Nick...but you can come on down and lend a hand. We'll even cook ya a good meal, thank you heartly for your help, and if you're really lucky, take you to a jam-packed Saints game in The Dome! Ask anyone who's been...it's a good time for all!