AUTUMN marks the return of somtory burch outlet e of America's most beloved sights. Children waiting for the school bus. Trees tinged yellow, orange and red. Pumpkins grinning on porches. And baseball fans, hooting with glee or in the depths of depression during the post- season playoffs.

Take New York City, where fans have suffered through the demise of not one,Kobe Vi  but two star teams. The Mets had one of the biggest implosions in baseball's history, blowing a seven-game lead in September. The Yankees lasted longer, yet despite a payroll of

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not won a World Series in 99 years.

Chicago's other baseball team, the White Sox, has fared better- they won Lebron 8 e World Series in 2005. And they have a far less cultish following. Ask a Cubs fan why his team doesn't win, and a no-

nonsense businessman will start talking about a curse placed by a man with a goat tory burch wallet  in 1945, a black cat that crossed a dugout in 1969 and a fan named Steve Bartman, who in 2003 interfered with a Cub trying to make a catch. (Newspaper cartoonists showed Mr Bartman in hiding with Osama bin Laden.)

This season Chicagoans grew giddy as their "loveable losers" advanced to the pla mbt scarpe prezzi More than 42,000 fans came to the Cubs' game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on October 6th, many wearing T-shirts that read "Goat-busters" or "Just Believe!". Less than four hours later, the Cubs had lost again. Some fans sighed; some cried. And the seasons, they go round and round.

Who's to blame?  | NEW ORLEANS From The Economist print edition

HURRICANE Katrina's awful aftermath still poses legal and moral que Vibram Shoes hree recent cases, in particular, have offered ample opportunity for chin-tugging. To what extent can people be held to account for actions that may have caused or hastened the death of others during the worst of times? So far, Louisianans seem disinclined to judge too harshly anyone who lived through those dark days.

The most clear-cut of the three cases, at least in the court of public opinion, was that of Dr Anna Pou, a physichristian louboutin prezzi patients at the tory burch med Memorial Medical Centre after the storm. Thirty-four people eventually perished at the hospital, where indoor

temperatures hovered around 110°F (43°C) for days. After a

lengthy investigation, the state attorney-general, Charles Foti, determined in 2006 that DrMbt ou had knowingly administered lethal cocktails of morphine and sedatives to at least four patients. He had her and two nurses arrested for murder.

The public's reaction was unsparing-towards Mr Foti. Doctors from