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Text Box: their deceased ancestors from Africa. Some black Roman Catholic priests allowed the drum beating to take place at their churches. In the second week of November, 2005, some faculty of Southern University in New Orleans and community leaders held a prayer service for the recovery of New Orleans - the prayer service being held before and around a “prayer pole” erected on their campus. A prayer pole, for those who are not aware, is a phallic symbol. Neither of these activities was Christian. The culture of immorality is not second nature to New Orleans (not in New Orleans, but to New Orleans). It is the prime nature for a significant portion of the City. The City promotes homosexuality, sexual promiscuity and perversions, drunkenness, gluttony, gambling (called gaming to get around anti-gambling laws), outright paganism, and other excesses as a means of obtaining revenue from visitors and residents alike. This attitude of immorality continues into the operations of government and financing, where those dealing on a large scale with financial institutions, and those who desire to have dealings with government facilitated in any manner, are expected to pay. But public corruption is not the bane of the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana. Immorality is is the bane of both City and State. AND IT IS COMMON TO ALL “RACES” AND ETHNIC GROUPS. Elected and appointed officials in Louisiana continue to do everything possible to protect their individual turfs. In protecting their individual turfs they maintain their power, even though in many instances it is akin to being the biggest fish in a dried up pond. In protecting their individual turfs, the officials are leery of working together, because working together may weaken an official’s power in his own bailiwick. So Louisiana does not speak with a unified voice. Louisiana does not have a unified policy of recovery. Louisiana simply does not have a recovery policy.

Text Box: One of the effects of this is that New Orleans officials complained for two months, that FEMA was not supplying trailers and campers for the returning citizens. However, City officials had closed New Orleans to returning citizens - and had actually had issued an evacuation order prior to hurricane Katrina’s landfall. When portions of New Orleans were reopened, so that citizens could return, New Orleans officials failed to issue written notice to FEMA, that the City was open for return of its citizens. Without official notice, which means written notice, FEMA could not release trailers and campers to the citizens for their use while rebuilding. The officials simply are not accustomed to working with anyone, nor with accepting advice from anyone. As a result, the citizens suffered and continue to suffer. Another effect of this turf protection mentality is that Orleans parish public schools have not yet reopened, while those in Saint Bernard Parish have reopened. Many Orleans Parish (City of New Orleans) school facilities were not damaged by the hurricanes, yet none of those schools have reopened. All Saint Bernard Parish public schools were destroyed by the hurricanes, yet Saint Bernard Parish public schools have reopened, using an assortment of mobile and temporary buildings, and the upper floors of the damaged school buildings. This does not mean that Saint Bernard Parish is immune to the “protect your turf” attitude which permeates Louisiana. But it does mean that the school and other Parish officials made a decision to fulfill their duties themselves, while Orleans Parish school and other officials have not, or are incapable of fulfilling their duties. If it seems as though New Orleans is the seat of immorality, what is happening in Mississippi is equally immoral. Hispanic workers, many legal, some illegal, and many native born citizens of the USA, are having their wages stolen from them by their employers. Thousands of Hispanics came to New Orleans to obtain employment in the clean up activities.

Text Box: As of this time it appears they are being paid properly. But in Mississippi, many are not being paid at all, and others are being paid less than the agreed upon wages. The employers - contractors are just stealing the labor of these people and pocketing the money which should be paid to the workers as compensation for their labour. Civil litigation to obtain the wages due them by the laberours would take years, and even if the laberours win, stealing an employee’s wages (called withholding wages) is not a crime in Mississippi. FEMA’s response was totally inadequate. It continues to be totally inadequate. It was inadequate last year in Florida, has been inadequate in the past, and will continue to be inadequate. While there are many people who work for FEMA who attempt to and some who do perform their duties, the vast majority of FEMA employees seem to be doing nothing more than occasionally putting in their time and collecting a pay check. There are thousands of FEMA trailers waiting to be distributed to victims of Florida’s hurricanes of last year, while the victims live in automobiles and in tents where their homes once stood. And there are thousands of FEMA trailers waiting to be distributed to victims of Katrina and Rita who are living under the same conditions. FEMA distributes flood insurance proceeds. It did not even realize it was running out of money, or if it did, it did not request additional funding from Congress until the money was virtually gone. It is possible that if FEMA retained its employees who actually work, and fired those who do not, it would have fewer than one hundred employees - and only one of them would be in management. That one is the man from FEMA (name forgotten) who went to New Orleans and stayed during Katrina, sending e-mail and other messages to the head of FEMA requesting specific assistance, while the head of FEMA worried how he looked in his suit as he planned dinner.

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