This was e-mailed to me. Has anyone heard about this? Can this be real?


It's hard to know whether to laugh or cry!

You're gonna LOVE this!!!! New Orleans's Phantom Police

Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans, lashed back at critics after the FBI
discovered that up to 700 so-called members of the city police force
simply did not exist. Funding for many of these officers was provided
by the federal government.


"During the storm and aftermath we'd heard reports that hundreds of
New Orleans police officers had deserted their post," said an FBI
spokesman."


Further investi gation indicates that these posts had never been
manned and the funds supposedly paid in wages has disappeared." "Sure,
we overstated the number of officers on the force,"said Nagin. "We did
this to deter crime."


As Nagin explained it, the "phantom officers" were used as a decoy to
"frighten" would-be offenders. "Just as George Washington lit fake
campfires to lull the British troops before his surprise attack at
Princeton, we in New Orleans have employed a similar strategy."

The effectiveness of Nagin's alleged strategy is in doubt, though.
New Orleans has one of the highest crime rates per capita in the nation.

As for what happened to the funds that were supposed to have paid
police salaries, Nagin asserted that they were used to hire consultants
and purchase computer software needed to sustain New Orleans' "Virtual
Police Force." "The software had to be custom made," said Nagin. "It's
not something you can buy at CompUSA. Software designers don't come
cheap. Neither do the public relations experts who de veloped our media
campaign."


The media campaign featured TV spots of various street people
implying that they could be undercover cops. In one ad, an apparently
toothless derelict looks into the camera and says, "I be watchin' you.
So don't you go misbehavin'." Unimpressed by Nagin's explanation, the
FBI asserted it will continue its investigation.


And they want us to give them $40 Billion, no strings attached and
no oversight, to rebuild New Orleans!

Give Me A Break

Sounds just like our esteemed Memphis mayor. Doesn't surprise me one bit.

No it wasn't.

I laughed.

Especially at the part about their "paying consultants." :rolleyes:

While I agree that this is absurd, and probably a picture of corruption at its best, I would suggest that it has nothing to do with the tens of thousands that are still homeless. Although this particular action is a horrible one, how does that mean that the city shouldn't be rebuilt?? Where should the residents go? Should they just live in the Astrodome, since Barbara Bush seems to think that they enjoyed their stay there so much?