Crowderfarms
Well-known member
> Beyond the historic architecture, the spice-laden cuisine and the
> beguiling
> voodoo underground, live close to 500,000 people, mostly poor (more than a
> quarter live in poverty), mostly black (more than 66 percent), clustered
> into 73 distinct neighborhoods.
>
> Crime, even before the hurricane, was high. The murder rate has come down
> in recent years, but remains 10 times the national average. Last year,
> researchers had police fire 700 blank rounds in a city neighborhood one
> afternoon. No one called to report the gunfire.
>
> Maybe New Orleans should be nicknamed The Big Un-Easy, due to a high
> violent crime rate and a high unemployment rate. There's also a
> significant
> number of suicides and divorces.
>
> The city's school system is a shambles. The district almost went broke
> this
> past year - teachers nearly missed a paycheck - and 55 of the state's 78
> worst schools are in New Orleans.
>
> Dozens of school employees are under indictment for corruption. But then,
> corruption in New Orleans is nothing new - politicians, judges, the police
> have all been caught.
>
> These government failures are not merely a matter of incompetence.
> Louisiana and New Orleans have a long, well-known reputation for
> corruption: as former congressman Billy Tauzin once put it, "half of
> Louisiana is under water and the other half is under indictment That's
> putting it mildly. Adjusted for population size, the state ranks third in
> the number of elected officials convicted of crimes (Mississippi is No.
> 1).
> Recent scandals include the conviction of 14 state judges and an FBI raid
> on the business and personal files of a Louisiana congressman.
>
> In 1991, a notoriously corrupt Democrat named Edwin Edwards ran for
> governor against Republican David Duke, a former head of the Ku Klux Klan.
> Edwards, whose winning campaign included bumper stickers saying "Elect the
> Crook," is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for taking bribes
> from casino owners. Duke recently completed his own prison term for tax
> fraud.
>
> The rot included the New Orleans Police Department, which in the 1990s had
> the dubious distinction of being the nation's most corrupt police force
> and
> the least effective: the city had the highest murder rate in America. More
> than 50 officers were eventually convicted of crimes including murder,
> rape
> and robbery; two are currently on Death Row.
>
> Ten billion dollars are about to pass into the sticky hands of politicians
> in the No. 1 and No. 3 most corrupt states in America. Worried about
> looting? You ain't seen nothing yet.
>
>
> beguiling
> voodoo underground, live close to 500,000 people, mostly poor (more than a
> quarter live in poverty), mostly black (more than 66 percent), clustered
> into 73 distinct neighborhoods.
>
> Crime, even before the hurricane, was high. The murder rate has come down
> in recent years, but remains 10 times the national average. Last year,
> researchers had police fire 700 blank rounds in a city neighborhood one
> afternoon. No one called to report the gunfire.
>
> Maybe New Orleans should be nicknamed The Big Un-Easy, due to a high
> violent crime rate and a high unemployment rate. There's also a
> significant
> number of suicides and divorces.
>
> The city's school system is a shambles. The district almost went broke
> this
> past year - teachers nearly missed a paycheck - and 55 of the state's 78
> worst schools are in New Orleans.
>
> Dozens of school employees are under indictment for corruption. But then,
> corruption in New Orleans is nothing new - politicians, judges, the police
> have all been caught.
>
> These government failures are not merely a matter of incompetence.
> Louisiana and New Orleans have a long, well-known reputation for
> corruption: as former congressman Billy Tauzin once put it, "half of
> Louisiana is under water and the other half is under indictment That's
> putting it mildly. Adjusted for population size, the state ranks third in
> the number of elected officials convicted of crimes (Mississippi is No.
> 1).
> Recent scandals include the conviction of 14 state judges and an FBI raid
> on the business and personal files of a Louisiana congressman.
>
> In 1991, a notoriously corrupt Democrat named Edwin Edwards ran for
> governor against Republican David Duke, a former head of the Ku Klux Klan.
> Edwards, whose winning campaign included bumper stickers saying "Elect the
> Crook," is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for taking bribes
> from casino owners. Duke recently completed his own prison term for tax
> fraud.
>
> The rot included the New Orleans Police Department, which in the 1990s had
> the dubious distinction of being the nation's most corrupt police force
> and
> the least effective: the city had the highest murder rate in America. More
> than 50 officers were eventually convicted of crimes including murder,
> rape
> and robbery; two are currently on Death Row.
>
> Ten billion dollars are about to pass into the sticky hands of politicians
> in the No. 1 and No. 3 most corrupt states in America. Worried about
> looting? You ain't seen nothing yet.
>
>
