From the Ninth Ward

Probably you caught the news that John Edwards announced that he's running for president and 2008, and more interestingly, made the announcement from the Ninth Ward. Turns out that our friend Cynthia Joyce was there, and wrote about it for Salon. It wasn't hard to find the event, she writes: "In this nearly deserted swath of the city, where few locals have returned and screen doors dangle from abandoned houses, a gathering of more than three people is pretty conspicuous."

Even in New Orleans, where a sort of poverty pornography has taken hold over the last year and a half -- everyone from Brad Pitt to Juvenile has paraded through to pimp their pet projects -- "people feel forgotten," Edwards said. He urged Americans to "get their hands dirty."

It's an interesting read, particularly a brief encounter toward the end with a woman who lives near the spot where the TV cameras were gathered for the Edwards news. Check it out....