"The Loved Ones"

When things go wrong, somebody has to take the fall. When what goes wrong is something as bad as the drowning of a city, then the punishment must fall on those who cannot shield themselves from blame, and it must be all out of proportion to the crime. That's not to say that Sal and Mabel Mangano are innocent exactly, just that punishing them to the maximum extent might be less about whatever negligence they may or may not have committed themselves, and more about finding somebody to target the enormous rage and grief that followed the disaster that was Katrina. Anyway, I can't describe this powerful (albeit slightly dated) article by Tom Junod in Esquire to any greater extent without diminishing it, so read it for yourself. And again, lament all those who died in New Orleans who didn't have to.