I could stand here and recite statistic after statistic, indicator after indicator but I don't need to. All of you know where Louisiana stands [health care]. At the bottom.

We are praying that the hurricane dissipates or that it weakens. This state can barely stand what happened to it.

My values, our values, aren't about pointing fingers. They are about offering a helping hand.

The president addressed that issue when he removed Mr. Brown, and I thank him for that,

Poverty is everyone's problem. It cuts across any line you can name: age, race, social, geographic or religious. Whether you are black or white; rich, middle-class or poor, we are ALL touched by poverty.

We also know that our revenue stream is probably going to have a $750 million to perhaps $1 billion deficit because the southeast region produced an extraordinary amount of our revenue stream and that is in hard state dollars,