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Ottawa may have the reputation of a government town, but it's also home to Canada's military-industrial complex.

Disaster profiteers make millions while local companies and laborers in New Orleans and the rest of the Katrina-devastated Gulf Coast region are systematically getting the short end of the stick, according to a major new report from the nonprofit CorpWatch.

Click here for the press release, to read the text version or to download the report.

Some New Orleanians desperately want, and fear, their utility bills.

But Tom Morgan, a DJ at New Orleans' local radio station WWOZ, hasn't seen one in months. While many residents have been hobbled by the cost of having a certified electrician reestablish electric and gas connections to their homes, somelike Morgan-have been unable to find out how much they owe and fear a gigantic bill they won't be able to pay, meaning-to add insult to injury-they face having their power cut off.

"I haven't gotten a bill since October," Morgan told CorpWatch.

As with other behemoth multinational companies, Irving-based ExxonMobil's annual meeting is strictly a formality. Most of the crowd that packed the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in downtown Dallas to vote on shareholder resolutions last week were retirees who own relatively small amounts of company stock.

So, we're sitting in our office, and under the door comes a note advising us that there will be a press conference the next day where African-American and Hispanic groups will release a report showing how minority populations will suffer most if the United Nations Global Warming Treaty (Kyoto agreement) passes the U.S. Senate.