MOURNING NEW ORLEANS

While the city begins rebuilding efforts, rumors and accusations fly about it's destiny. I hear the left say Bush and corporate america will turn it into a commercial paradise. Swimming ( no pun intended ) in casinos and million dollar townhouses and condominiums. No bid contracts for the cronies! Is the war cry. I hear Bunnypants say rebuild, and little else. Will NOLA be rebuilt faithful to it's past glory? That will never happen. Will it be a loving approximation of what it once was? I can't tell you and he isn't saying one way or the other, but the repeal of the Davis-Bacon act isn't encouraging.
But rest assured, it will never be the same.
Many of those displaced will not return. The basic element that made it the city it was are gone...dead, in surrounding states starting over, or languishing in shelters.Shelters that are reaching the end themselves, many have given notice to their wards who have no place to go, to go.
So...back to the rebuilding. Who are the laborers doing the hard work? According to NPR, the Houston Chronicle and the LA times, wetbacks, I mean "guest workers". Why aren't these people in the shelters doing the work? Rebuilding their city? Because the "guest workers" are doing it, in fact, if you believe reports, they are flocking to the city to do it and the contractors are snatching them up. Why is this happening? If you believe president Fox of Mexico it's because mexicans are willing to do work "black people won't do", and considering most of the folks from NOLA are black, Fox's foot in mouth comment makes sense.
I don't think that's why, not entirely anyway. Almost all of the "guest workers" I've worked with over the years, or even known, were and are hard working people. Six dollars an hour beats the shit out of the pennies a day they made in mexico and central america...to them it's good money. Even before the repeal of the Davis-Bacon act, contractors have taken advantage of "guest workers" for years,they work harder for less and don't complain, compared to the domestic work force...who generally want more for less, are entitled out the ass (because of how they were raised and the society they were raised in), and complain, and fake injuries, and file lawsuits, and the list goes on and on and on.
I'm not saying its right, but if you were a contractor, who would you rather have doing your grunt work, an illegal alien, that even at time and a half, earns less than that american made unskilled laborer that is practically genetically engineered to believe you owe him ( or her ) something?
So, enough on that soapbox...I'm not saying all american bred unskilled laborers are like that, but there's a reason this phenomenon exists, and I think what I said has a lot to do with it. And greed, lets not forget about that. The contractor that pays less in labor cost sees more in profit. And with these "guest workers" pouring across the border hungry for a piece of the "american dream", why give up a slice when you can pass out crumbs?
Back to New Orleans. When the rebuilding is done, how many of these "guest workers" will stay? Will the population change to a small amount of obscenely rich people and a huge population of latinos? What if it does?
Me and another IJ were opining about this today, and based on our conversations I present:

TOP TEN THINGS DIFFERENT ABOUT NEW ORLEANS IN A GENERATION

10. Crawfish etouffe now crawfish enchiladas
9.Marde Gras replaced with Dia de los Muertos
8.The main float in the parade will be a giant taco
7.Voodoo replaced by Santaria
6.Hurricane replaced by rocks no salt margarita
5.Street mimes replaced by raggedy children and women pushing cheap gum
4.Boudin now called chorizo
3.Rice and beans somehow not the same
2.Tejano bands playing blues and jazz
1.The mardi gras queens face painted up like a skull and she's wearing a giant sombrero, with dingle balls

Bonus: Locals now called "cajucans"

I loved New Orleans...I'll miss her.