Cant believe this...

Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras for those of you who parlez
francais. Fat Tuesday is the end of Carnival and
the beginning of Lent. It is also an opportunity for
people, whether they're Catholic or not, to eat and drink
themselves senseless, so I hope you took precautions and
stayed safe.

I was just reading a story about how New Orleans, the U.S.
city most famously associated with Mardi Gras, has one of
the highest murder rates in the country so far for 2007.
27 murders in the last seven weeks.

One example the story cited was the recent shooting of a
teenage boy. It seems after a 17-year-old was beaten up,
his mother gave him a gun and told him to get revenge, and
he killed the boy he fought with.

When police went to his home to investigate, they found the
mother with cocaine and a family photo on display of the
son with a gun in one hand and a fistful of cash in the
other. Obviously not a lot of fear of the police any more
in New Orleans.

But despite this the streets were still full for Mardi Gras.
Mayor Ray Nagin urged tourists to spend money. "We need the
tax revenue bad," he said encouragingly.
Source - form a newsletter