“So, what’s the mood down there?”

The question came from my dry cleaner, but I heard it in various ways from several people yesterday, as I told them of my weekend trip to New Orleans. The BP oil spill and the spewing pipe have become ingrained our national conscious, thanks to some outstanding reporting and nonstop coverage on CNN since April 20.

Want to know how the people in New Orleans feel about the whole thing? Well, they’re pissed. Understandably so – and as we all should be.

Everywhere we went this weekend, the BP spill and its effect on Louisiana dominated the conversation. “It’s Katrina all over again,” ran the common refrain – not in terms of deaths, obviously, but in the scope of the disaster’s environmental and economic destruction and in the response of both British Petroleum and federal government to recognize the seriousness of the problem. Granted, I went to a wedding between two journalists. But it wasn’t just the intellectual elite who voiced their frustration: At Parasol’s, a dive bar/restaurant in the Irish Channel, one guy cracked “We ran out of oil” when the bartender said she was out of softshell crabs.

Unlike what you hear on Fox News, people weren’t singling out Obama for their ire. The brunt of the anger seemed directed at state regulators, who didn’t force the oil and gas industry to come up with backup and contingency plans. As my friend Stephanie put it, “They had the upper hand. Where else were they going to go for oil?” And of course, Tony Hayward’s remark that he “wanted his life back” was bitterly repeated.

I don’t care what your politics are. Pictures of petroleum-covered pelicans should make you furious. As should the thought of fishermen, shrimpers and oystermen losing their livelihood and a region losing a stalwart of its local cuisine. If it doesn’t, I’m not exactly sure where your soul is now, but I have a good idea where it’s going to end up (if I believed in that kind of thing).

New Orleanians are voicing their protest with typical style. A second line called the Krewe of Dead Pelicans protested with a parade while I was there. Just as people inked fleur de lis on their body after Katrina to proclaim their love of the city, pelican tattoos are on the rise, one friend told me. And Mignon Faget, a popular jewelry designer, has a whole line dedicated to raising awareness of the Gulf; proceeds benefit The Coalition of Restore Coastal Louisiana (the popular pelican pendant is four weeks on back order but I’m getting one anyway).

What are your thoughts on the BP oil spill? Sound off below.