My Own Private Katrina

Okay. So Ned Lamont ran against Joe Leiberman in 2006, defeating him in the Democratic primary (causing Leiberman supporters to invent their own party and thus giving rise to the Connecticut Senator's "independent" shenanigans), which was totally cool because Leiberman is a no-good, pro-war, conservative douchebag. But what might be douchier than Leiberman-in-political-drag is 20-year Greenwich, CT resident Lamont hearkening back to one of the deadliest natural disasters in the history of mankind--namely, the 2004 tsunami--by comparing the current financial crisis to that storm, AND, on top of that, calling the crisis his hometown's very own "Katrina":

"It's a Wall Street town. Everyone is shaky," Lamont said at midweek. "It really is a financial tsunami, and it could go either way. It took Japan 20 years to recover from their buying binge [in the 1980s]. How long does it take us to work through the excessive leverage? That could take us years, not months. This is our Katrina."

I know shit's bad on Wall Street and its attendant bedroom communities like Greenwich, and maybe just maybe I can see some parallels between this Fairfield County town--population 62,751, median income $157,232, median home price $1,449,500, home to over 100 hedge funds--and Katrina-ville, USA--population killed 1,836, population displaced in New Orleans alone 180,000, median income $27,355, property damage $90,000,000,000, home to over 200 homicides last year (just in New Orleans).

But tell me something, Ned Lamont--personal fortune estimated between $90 and $300 million--does Greenwich, CT have jazz? Vampires? Shrimp po'boys? Black people? A frequently-sucky NFL football team with awesome team colors?!

I didn't think so. Greenwich's "Katrina," my ass. What a douche.

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