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I enjoyed reading your post. I was driven away from FR for a very long time by the venomous ranting of so many people who obviously have never walked in the shoes of the individuals they judge so harshly. If I read the phrase "welfare queen" one more time, I thought I would hurl, so I stopped checking in.

However, the people here at FR are hands-down excellent detectives when it comes to major news stories, so when I'm really curious about a current event, I come here first. The bitter FReepers with knee-jerk reactions are still in full force and effect, I notice, yet now I uncover more and more people like yourself who take a more objective view of these issues. It makes me want to stick around and share my opinions without feeling the need to don asbestos gloves before typing.

As far the aftermath of Katrina goes, I have firsthand knowledge of the problems in Louisiana because I was persuaded to join my family here two years ago. I don't entirely regret the move because, on a daily basis, I encounter all sorts of surreal things that I never would have imagined up North. I spend a lot of time scratching my head and saying "No way, this can't possibly be true!" It's been a very mind-expanding experience, to say the least.

The one thing I have personally witnessed that is most astonishing about Louisiana is the fact that once you get on welfare, it is NOT cost-effective to work your way off of it. It boils down to the fact that wages are simply too low here to justify abandoning welfare benefits for them.

When I lived in the Northeast, I always thought that the minimum wage was something used to exploit illegal aliens and migrant workers. I couldn't even imagine a teenager rolling out of bed to work part-time at Burger King for less than $8.00 per hour. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that real native-born American citizens worked for $5.15 per hour -- but they do in Louisiana!

If someone gets off of welfare to accept a "good" job at, let's say the "princely sum" of $7.00 per hour, all their support systems are immediately yanked out from underneath them. How many people do you know who can afford to pay for their entire family's groceries, child care, transportation, rent, utilities and insurance out of a monthly net take home pay of only $1,000? Sounds good in theory, but it doesn't work in practice, and that's why so many welfare recipients return to the fold.

People can resent the impoverished New Orleans residents all they want, but at the same time, the government of Louisiana also needs to be held accountable for creating this vicious cycle in the first place. Aside from housing costs, the so-called "lower cost of living" in Louisiana is a deplorable myth and is no justification whatsoever for the miniscule wages here. Do the finger-pointers know there's a 9% sales tax, for example? What about insurance premiums?

I'll get off my soapbox about this now, but I just wanted to reiterate that FR needs more balanced reporting and not just vicious tirades about people whose circumstances they aren't well-informed enough to comprehend.

Thanks again for your comments.

At some point, people are going to have to seriously look at the Louisiana system. If the "plantation " system remained anywhere in the US, I am pretty sure it was in Louisiana.

And here is another thing; I am well-read and watch a lot of news channels. I knew that Louisiana was apoor state, but I had no idea how those people were living. I am petty sure a lot of Americans were as stunned as I was.

Now, had those been folks living in Texas, we would have heard about it from the media non-stop. But since Louisiana is a democrat state, we never heard a word about this.

I have some serious questions for Mary Landrieu, let me tell you.