Eking Out a Life in New Orleans' Abandoned Homes

[Louisiana1976]

They are all but invisible: abandoned people eking out a meager existence on abandoned New Orleans property. No electricity. No running water. They are barely making it.

In the darkened kitchen, the floor is littered with filthy clothing, rotting food, empty bottles and cans. Part of the roof is missing, so now it rains inside. The kitchen floor is soft and sagging. Even the squatters say they're afraid of falling through.

Alondis Jackson, 42, says she has lived in abandoned homes in New Orleans for at least two years. She has a hard time remembering how long it has been. Most people know her only as Peaches.

"I been here awhile," she says. "I been here too long. I just can't get a job."

snip

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113580722&ps=rs

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. .

:cry:

[Submariner]

2. The Cheney/Bush Junta are the cause for all this suffering

[jwirr]

3. They are wrong about God. It was not the hurricane that caused the

deaths - the breaking of the levees that were supposed to be fixed but were not is the cause. Man is once more to blame.

[Louisiana1976]

4. Yes--and the seeds of the levee failure were planted long before they broke.

In 2001 Bush cut the Army Corps of Engineers' budget in order to pay for a tax cut for the rich.