[garinda]

Originally Posted by steeljack

bit of a cheap shot ........Katrina caused havoc and death not only in New Orleans (where the TV cameras happened to be) but all along the Gulf coast , Mississippi and the western parts of Alabama taking a bigger hit , but due to political correctness and TV ops much of the world only saw the effects of Katrina on New Orleans , the place (apart from the touristy French Quarter) was a vipers cess pit before Katrina, the murder capitol of the US , and even with a reduced population is rapidly achieving that dubious reputation again, thru lack of effective local leadership and corruption from the local political elite (Mayor Nagin etc.)
Whole communities along the coast for 200 miles were wiped out , such as Pass Christian in Mississippi but they are rebuilding the town and their lives , despite being ripped off by the insurance companies and being ignored by the Federal Govt. ......probably these are the folks who you would describe as 'white Bible thumping rednecks', but believe me when I say these are good people who believe 'god helps them who help themself ' not those who wait for or demand a Govt. check which can be spent in liquor stores and strip clubs like many of the evacuees from New Orleans did .

Wasn't meant as a cheap shot. It's a fact that this was the first time a lot of the world realised that the U.S.A. isn't just the land of milk and honey, and that it has it's own impoverished underclass, and from your own government's figures 12.1 million children live below the poverty threshold, many of whom were seen on the news for the first time following Katrina.