BBC ø
- 2005/09/05
- ۼ
- /28
- ȸ
- 839
<br>
ø 50 α 67% ϰ, ﵵ Ÿ ι ̱ ó ȫ 谨 Ұ ִٴ ݴϴ. <br> ̶ũ ġ 3 1 ̹ 㸮 ۾ ֳ, ̽ý, ÷θ 3 ̶ ε £ ڿؿ ġǴ ߰ ް ִ Դϴ.<br> ̱ ٸ dz α ڰ Դϴ.<br> ε ʴ β ٸ α Ѵϱ?<br> 㸮 īƮ ̱ ö ڿ ̸ ˷ȴٰ ؾ߰ڽϴ<br>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan"
align=left><FONT size=2><B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">At
the end of an unforgettable week, one broadcaster on Friday bitterly
encapsulated the sense of burning shame and anger that many American citizens
are feeling.</SPAN></B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable
style="WIDTH: 152.25pt; mso-cellspacing: 0cm; mso-table-lspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-rspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-table-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-table-left: right; mso-table-top: middle; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm"
cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=203 align=right border=0>
<TBODY>
<TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes">
<TD
style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; PADDING-RIGHT: 0cm; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; PADDING-LEFT: 0cm; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-element: frame; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-height-rule: exactly"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><?xml:namespace
prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" /><v:shapetype id=_x0000_t75
stroked="f" filled="f" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" o:preferrelative="t"
o:spt="75" coordsize="21600,21600"><v:stroke
joinstyle="miter"></v:stroke><v:formulas><v:f
eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"></v:f><v:f
eqn="sum 0 0 @1"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"></v:f><v:f
eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f><v:f
eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"></v:f><v:f
eqn="prod @6 1 2"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f><v:f
eqn="sum @8 21600 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f><v:f
eqn="sum @10 21600 0"></v:f></v:formulas><v:path o:connecttype="rect"
gradientshapeok="t" o:extrusionok="f"></v:path><o:lock aspectratio="t"
v:ext="edit"></o:lock></v:shapetype><v:shape id=_x0000_i1025
style="WIDTH: 152.25pt; HEIGHT: 225pt"
alt="Downtown New Orleans, near the Superdome" type="#_x0000_t75"><v:imagedata
o:href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40759000/jpg/_40759120_fire203longap.jpg"
src="file:///C:DOCUME~1jkjxpLOCALS~1Tempmsohtml1 1clip_image001.jpg"><FONT
size=2></FONT></v:imagedata></v:shape><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-element: frame; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-height-rule: exactly"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">Flood
victims were left virtually to their own devices for
days<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">The
only difference between the chaos of </SPAN><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">New
Orleans</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
and a Third World disaster operation, he said, was that a foreign dictator would
have responded better. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>It has been a profoundly shocking experience for many across this vast
country who, for the large part, believe the home-spun myth about the
invulnerability of the American Dream. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">The
party in power in </SPAN><st1:State><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">Washington</SPAN></st1:place></st1:State><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
is always happy to convey the impression of 50 states moving forward together in
social and economic harmony towards a bigger and better
</SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">America</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>That is what presidential campaigning is all about.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">But
what the devastating consequences of Katrina have shown - along with the
response to it - is that for too long now, the fabric of this complex and
overstretched country, especially in states like
</SPAN><st1:State><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">Louisiana</SPAN></st1:place></st1:State><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
and </SPAN><st1:State><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">Mississippi</SPAN></st1:place></st1:State><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">,
has been neglected and ignored. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">Borrowed
time</SPAN></B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">The
fitting metaphors relating to the </SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">New
Orleans</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
debacle are almost too numerous to mention. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>First there was an extraordinary complacency, mixed together with what
seemed like over-reaction, before the storm. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable
style="WIDTH: 152.25pt; mso-cellspacing: 0cm; mso-table-lspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-rspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-table-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-table-left: right; mso-table-top: middle; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm"
cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=203 align=right border=0>
<TBODY>
<TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes">
<TD
style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; PADDING-RIGHT: 0cm; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; PADDING-LEFT: 0cm; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-element: frame; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-height-rule: exactly"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><v:shape
id=_x0000_i1026 style="WIDTH: 152.25pt; HEIGHT: 114pt"
alt="Flood victims walk the street in front of the Convention Center in New Orleans, 1 September "
type="#_x0000_t75"><v:imagedata
o:href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40754000/jpg/_40754358_convention203bap._jpg.jpg"
src="file:///C:DOCUME~1jkjxpLOCALS~1Tempmsohtml1 1clip_image002.jpg"><FONT
size=2></FONT></v:imagedata></v:shape><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-element: frame; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-height-rule: exactly"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">The
city's hurricane shelters grew increasingly filthy and
crime-ridden<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">A
genuinely heroic mayor orders a total evacuation of the city the day before
Katrina arrives, knowing that for decades now, </SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">New
Orleans</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
has been living on borrowed time. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>The National Guard and federal emergency personnel stay tucked up at
home. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>The havoc of Katrina had been predicted countless times on a local and
federal level - even to the point where it was acknowledged that tens of
thousands of the poorest residents would not be able to leave the city in
advance. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>No official plan was ever put in place for them.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">Abandoned
to the elements</SPAN></B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>The famous levees that were breached could have been strengthened and
raised at what now seems like a trifling cost of a few million dollars.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>The Bush administration, together with Congress, cut the budgets for
flood protection and army engineers, while local politicians failed to generate
any enthusiasm for local tax increases. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable
style="WIDTH: 156pt; mso-cellspacing: 0cm; mso-table-lspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-rspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-table-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-table-left: right; mso-table-top: middle; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm"
cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=208 align=right border=0>
<TBODY>
<TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes">
<TD
style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; PADDING-RIGHT: 0cm; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; PADDING-LEFT: 0cm; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; WIDTH: 7.2pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent"
width=10>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-element: frame; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-height-rule: exactly"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><v:shape
id=_x0000_i1027 style="WIDTH: 0.75pt; HEIGHT: 0.75pt" alt=""
type="#_x0000_t75"><v:imagedata
o:href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif"
src="file:///C:DOCUME~1jkjxpLOCALS~1Tempmsohtml1 1clip_image003.gif"><FONT
size=2></FONT></v:imagedata></v:shape><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></TD>
<TD
style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; PADDING-RIGHT: 0cm; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; PADDING-LEFT: 0cm; BACKGROUND: #eeeedd; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8">
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-element: frame; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-height-rule: exactly"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-SIZE: 8.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><v:shape
id=_x0000_i1028 style="WIDTH: 18pt; HEIGHT: 9.75pt" alt=""
type="#_x0000_t75"><v:imagedata
o:href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif"
src="file:///C:DOCUME~1jkjxpLOCALS~1Tempmsohtml1 1clip_image004.gif"><FONT
size=2></FONT></v:imagedata></v:shape><B>Too often in the so-called "New South",
they still look positively 19th Century</B> </SPAN><v:shape id=_x0000_s1026
style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; Z-INDEX: 1; MARGIN-LEFT: -22.75pt; WIDTH: 17.25pt; POSITION: absolute; HEIGHT: 9.75pt; mso-wrap-distance-left: 0; mso-wrap-distance-top: 0; mso-wrap-distance-right: 0; mso-wrap-distance-bottom: 0; mso-position-horizontal: right; mso-position-horizontal-relative: text; mso-position-vertical-relative: line"
alt="" type="#_x0000_t75" o:allowoverlap="f"><v:imagedata
src="file:///C:DOCUME~1jkjxpLOCALS~1Tempmsohtml1 1clip_image005.gif"
o:title="end_quote_rb"></v:imagedata><?xml:namespace prefix = w ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" /><w:wrap
type="square"></w:wrap></v:shape><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-SIZE: 8.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"
clear=all><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">New
Orleans</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
partied-on just hoping for the best, abandoned by anyone in national authority
who could have put the money into really protecting the city.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>Meanwhile, the poorest were similarly abandoned, as the horrifying images
and stories from the Superdome and Convention Center prove.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">The
truth was simple and apparent to all. If journalists were there with cameras
beaming the suffering live across </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">America</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">,
where were the officers and troops? <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>The neglect that meant it took five days to get water, food, and medical
care to thousands of mainly orderly African-American citizens desperately
sheltering in huge downtown buildings of their native city, has been going on
historically, for as long as the inadequate levees have been there.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">Divided
city</SPAN></B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">I
should make a confession at this point: I have been to
</SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">New
Orleans</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
on assignment three times in as many years, and I was smitten by the Big Easy,
with its unique charms and temperament. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>But behind the elegant intoxicants of the French Quarter, it was clearly
a city grotesquely divided on several levels. It has twice the national average
poverty rate. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>The government approach to such deprivation looked more like thoughtless
containment than anything else. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable
style="WIDTH: 152.25pt; mso-cellspacing: 0cm; mso-table-lspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-rspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-table-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-table-left: right; mso-table-top: middle; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm"
cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=203 align=right border=0>
<TBODY>
<TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes">
<TD
style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; PADDING-RIGHT: 0cm; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; PADDING-LEFT: 0cm; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-element: frame; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-height-rule: exactly"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><v:shape
id=_x0000_i1029 style="WIDTH: 152.25pt; HEIGHT: 114pt"
alt="New Orleans under water" type="#_x0000_t75"><v:imagedata
o:href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40759000/jpg/_40759114_floods203afp.jpg"
src="file:///C:DOCUME~1jkjxpLOCALS~1Tempmsohtml1 1clip_image006.jpg"><FONT
size=2></FONT></v:imagedata></v:shape><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-element: frame; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-height-rule: exactly"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">It
will be many weeks before the flood waters are
cleared<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>The nightly shootings and drugs-related homicides of recent years pointed
to a small but vicious culture of largely black-on-black crime that everyone
knew existed, but no-one seemed to have any real answers for.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>Again, no-one wanted to pick up the bill or deal with the realities of
race relations in the 21st Century. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>Too often in the so-called "New South", they still look positively 19th
Century. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>"Shoot the looters" is good rhetoric, but no lasting solution.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">Uneasy
paradox</SPAN></B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>It is astonishing to me that so many Americans seem shocked by the
existence of such concentrated poverty and social neglect in their own country.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">In
the workout room of the condo where I am currently staying in the affluent LA
neighbourhood of </SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">Santa
Monica</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">,
an executive and his personal trainer ignored the anguished television reports
blaring above their heads on Friday evening. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>Either they did not care, or it was somehow too painful to discuss.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">When
President Bush told "Good Morning America" on Thursday morning that nobody could
have "anticipated" the breach of the </SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">New
Orleans</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
levees, it pointed to not only a remote leader in denial, but a whole political
class. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>The uneasy paradox which so many live with in this country - of being
first-and-foremost rugged individuals, out to plunder what they can and paying
as little tax as they can get away with, while at the same time believing that
America is a robust, model society - has reached a crisis point this week.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>Will there be real investment, or just more buck-passing between federal
agencies and states? <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>The country has to choose whether it wants to rebuild the levees and
destroyed communities, with no expense spared for the future - or once again
brush off that responsibility, and blame the other guy.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US><o:p><FONT
face= color=#000000 size=2> <br>
By Matt Wells
BBC News, Los Angeles </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
ø 50 α 67% ϰ, ﵵ Ÿ ι ̱ ó ȫ 谨 Ұ ִٴ ݴϴ. <br> ̶ũ ġ 3 1 ̹ 㸮 ۾ ֳ, ̽ý, ÷θ 3 ̶ ε £ ڿؿ ġǴ ߰ ް ִ Դϴ.<br> ̱ ٸ dz α ڰ Դϴ.<br> ε ʴ β ٸ α Ѵϱ?<br> 㸮 īƮ ̱ ö ڿ ̸ ˷ȴٰ ؾ߰ڽϴ<br>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan"
align=left><FONT size=2><B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">At
the end of an unforgettable week, one broadcaster on Friday bitterly
encapsulated the sense of burning shame and anger that many American citizens
are feeling.</SPAN></B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable
style="WIDTH: 152.25pt; mso-cellspacing: 0cm; mso-table-lspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-rspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-table-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-table-left: right; mso-table-top: middle; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm"
cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=203 align=right border=0>
<TBODY>
<TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes">
<TD
style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; PADDING-RIGHT: 0cm; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; PADDING-LEFT: 0cm; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-element: frame; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-height-rule: exactly"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><?xml:namespace
prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" /><v:shapetype id=_x0000_t75
stroked="f" filled="f" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" o:preferrelative="t"
o:spt="75" coordsize="21600,21600"><v:stroke
joinstyle="miter"></v:stroke><v:formulas><v:f
eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"></v:f><v:f
eqn="sum 0 0 @1"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"></v:f><v:f
eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f><v:f
eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"></v:f><v:f
eqn="prod @6 1 2"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f><v:f
eqn="sum @8 21600 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f><v:f
eqn="sum @10 21600 0"></v:f></v:formulas><v:path o:connecttype="rect"
gradientshapeok="t" o:extrusionok="f"></v:path><o:lock aspectratio="t"
v:ext="edit"></o:lock></v:shapetype><v:shape id=_x0000_i1025
style="WIDTH: 152.25pt; HEIGHT: 225pt"
alt="Downtown New Orleans, near the Superdome" type="#_x0000_t75"><v:imagedata
o:href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40759000/jpg/_40759120_fire203longap.jpg"
src="file:///C:DOCUME~1jkjxpLOCALS~1Tempmsohtml1 1clip_image001.jpg"><FONT
size=2></FONT></v:imagedata></v:shape><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-element: frame; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-height-rule: exactly"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">Flood
victims were left virtually to their own devices for
days<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">The
only difference between the chaos of </SPAN><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">New
Orleans</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
and a Third World disaster operation, he said, was that a foreign dictator would
have responded better. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>It has been a profoundly shocking experience for many across this vast
country who, for the large part, believe the home-spun myth about the
invulnerability of the American Dream. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">The
party in power in </SPAN><st1:State><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">Washington</SPAN></st1:place></st1:State><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
is always happy to convey the impression of 50 states moving forward together in
social and economic harmony towards a bigger and better
</SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">America</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>That is what presidential campaigning is all about.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">But
what the devastating consequences of Katrina have shown - along with the
response to it - is that for too long now, the fabric of this complex and
overstretched country, especially in states like
</SPAN><st1:State><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">Louisiana</SPAN></st1:place></st1:State><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
and </SPAN><st1:State><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">Mississippi</SPAN></st1:place></st1:State><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">,
has been neglected and ignored. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">Borrowed
time</SPAN></B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">The
fitting metaphors relating to the </SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">New
Orleans</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
debacle are almost too numerous to mention. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>First there was an extraordinary complacency, mixed together with what
seemed like over-reaction, before the storm. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable
style="WIDTH: 152.25pt; mso-cellspacing: 0cm; mso-table-lspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-rspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-table-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-table-left: right; mso-table-top: middle; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm"
cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=203 align=right border=0>
<TBODY>
<TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes">
<TD
style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; PADDING-RIGHT: 0cm; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; PADDING-LEFT: 0cm; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-element: frame; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-height-rule: exactly"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><v:shape
id=_x0000_i1026 style="WIDTH: 152.25pt; HEIGHT: 114pt"
alt="Flood victims walk the street in front of the Convention Center in New Orleans, 1 September "
type="#_x0000_t75"><v:imagedata
o:href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40754000/jpg/_40754358_convention203bap._jpg.jpg"
src="file:///C:DOCUME~1jkjxpLOCALS~1Tempmsohtml1 1clip_image002.jpg"><FONT
size=2></FONT></v:imagedata></v:shape><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-element: frame; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-height-rule: exactly"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">The
city's hurricane shelters grew increasingly filthy and
crime-ridden<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">A
genuinely heroic mayor orders a total evacuation of the city the day before
Katrina arrives, knowing that for decades now, </SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">New
Orleans</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
has been living on borrowed time. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>The National Guard and federal emergency personnel stay tucked up at
home. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>The havoc of Katrina had been predicted countless times on a local and
federal level - even to the point where it was acknowledged that tens of
thousands of the poorest residents would not be able to leave the city in
advance. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>No official plan was ever put in place for them.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">Abandoned
to the elements</SPAN></B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>The famous levees that were breached could have been strengthened and
raised at what now seems like a trifling cost of a few million dollars.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>The Bush administration, together with Congress, cut the budgets for
flood protection and army engineers, while local politicians failed to generate
any enthusiasm for local tax increases. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable
style="WIDTH: 156pt; mso-cellspacing: 0cm; mso-table-lspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-rspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-table-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-table-left: right; mso-table-top: middle; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm"
cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=208 align=right border=0>
<TBODY>
<TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes">
<TD
style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; PADDING-RIGHT: 0cm; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; PADDING-LEFT: 0cm; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; WIDTH: 7.2pt; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent"
width=10>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-element: frame; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-height-rule: exactly"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><v:shape
id=_x0000_i1027 style="WIDTH: 0.75pt; HEIGHT: 0.75pt" alt=""
type="#_x0000_t75"><v:imagedata
o:href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif"
src="file:///C:DOCUME~1jkjxpLOCALS~1Tempmsohtml1 1clip_image003.gif"><FONT
size=2></FONT></v:imagedata></v:shape><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></TD>
<TD
style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; PADDING-RIGHT: 0cm; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; PADDING-LEFT: 0cm; BACKGROUND: #eeeedd; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8">
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-element: frame; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-height-rule: exactly"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-SIZE: 8.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><v:shape
id=_x0000_i1028 style="WIDTH: 18pt; HEIGHT: 9.75pt" alt=""
type="#_x0000_t75"><v:imagedata
o:href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif"
src="file:///C:DOCUME~1jkjxpLOCALS~1Tempmsohtml1 1clip_image004.gif"><FONT
size=2></FONT></v:imagedata></v:shape><B>Too often in the so-called "New South",
they still look positively 19th Century</B> </SPAN><v:shape id=_x0000_s1026
style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; Z-INDEX: 1; MARGIN-LEFT: -22.75pt; WIDTH: 17.25pt; POSITION: absolute; HEIGHT: 9.75pt; mso-wrap-distance-left: 0; mso-wrap-distance-top: 0; mso-wrap-distance-right: 0; mso-wrap-distance-bottom: 0; mso-position-horizontal: right; mso-position-horizontal-relative: text; mso-position-vertical-relative: line"
alt="" type="#_x0000_t75" o:allowoverlap="f"><v:imagedata
src="file:///C:DOCUME~1jkjxpLOCALS~1Tempmsohtml1 1clip_image005.gif"
o:title="end_quote_rb"></v:imagedata><?xml:namespace prefix = w ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" /><w:wrap
type="square"></w:wrap></v:shape><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-SIZE: 8.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"
clear=all><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">New
Orleans</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
partied-on just hoping for the best, abandoned by anyone in national authority
who could have put the money into really protecting the city.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>Meanwhile, the poorest were similarly abandoned, as the horrifying images
and stories from the Superdome and Convention Center prove.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">The
truth was simple and apparent to all. If journalists were there with cameras
beaming the suffering live across </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">America</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">,
where were the officers and troops? <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>The neglect that meant it took five days to get water, food, and medical
care to thousands of mainly orderly African-American citizens desperately
sheltering in huge downtown buildings of their native city, has been going on
historically, for as long as the inadequate levees have been there.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">Divided
city</SPAN></B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">I
should make a confession at this point: I have been to
</SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">New
Orleans</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
on assignment three times in as many years, and I was smitten by the Big Easy,
with its unique charms and temperament. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>But behind the elegant intoxicants of the French Quarter, it was clearly
a city grotesquely divided on several levels. It has twice the national average
poverty rate. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>The government approach to such deprivation looked more like thoughtless
containment than anything else. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable
style="WIDTH: 152.25pt; mso-cellspacing: 0cm; mso-table-lspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-rspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-table-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-table-left: right; mso-table-top: middle; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm"
cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=203 align=right border=0>
<TBODY>
<TR style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes">
<TD
style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; PADDING-RIGHT: 0cm; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; PADDING-LEFT: 0cm; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; PADDING-TOP: 0cm; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-element: frame; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-height-rule: exactly"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><v:shape
id=_x0000_i1029 style="WIDTH: 152.25pt; HEIGHT: 114pt"
alt="New Orleans under water" type="#_x0000_t75"><v:imagedata
o:href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40759000/jpg/_40759114_floods203afp.jpg"
src="file:///C:DOCUME~1jkjxpLOCALS~1Tempmsohtml1 1clip_image006.jpg"><FONT
size=2></FONT></v:imagedata></v:shape><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-element: frame; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-height-rule: exactly"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">It
will be many weeks before the flood waters are
cleared<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>The nightly shootings and drugs-related homicides of recent years pointed
to a small but vicious culture of largely black-on-black crime that everyone
knew existed, but no-one seemed to have any real answers for.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>Again, no-one wanted to pick up the bill or deal with the realities of
race relations in the 21st Century. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>Too often in the so-called "New South", they still look positively 19th
Century. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>"Shoot the looters" is good rhetoric, but no lasting solution.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">Uneasy
paradox</SPAN></B><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>It is astonishing to me that so many Americans seem shocked by the
existence of such concentrated poverty and social neglect in their own country.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">In
the workout room of the condo where I am currently staying in the affluent LA
neighbourhood of </SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">Santa
Monica</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">,
an executive and his personal trainer ignored the anguished television reports
blaring above their heads on Friday evening. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>Either they did not care, or it was somehow too painful to discuss.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">When
President Bush told "Good Morning America" on Thursday morning that nobody could
have "anticipated" the breach of the </SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">New
Orleans</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: ">
levees, it pointed to not only a remote leader in denial, but a whole political
class. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>The uneasy paradox which so many live with in this country - of being
first-and-foremost rugged individuals, out to plunder what they can and paying
as little tax as they can get away with, while at the same time believing that
America is a robust, model society - has reached a crisis point this week.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>Will there be real investment, or just more buck-passing between federal
agencies and states? <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; WORD-BREAK: keep-all; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric; TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=left><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "><FONT
size=2>The country has to choose whether it wants to rebuild the levees and
destroyed communities, with no expense spared for the future - or once again
brush off that responsibility, and blame the other guy.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US><o:p><FONT
face= color=#000000 size=2> <br>
By Matt Wells
BBC News, Los Angeles </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
- ÷Ͼ