Scalawags and Carpetbaggers in Mississippi

Post-Katrina snakes of the human variety are crawling all over the Biloxi area. Speculators are snapping up waterfront homes, even damaged ones, pushing prices up 10 to 20 percent, according to published reports. Some fear the frenzy will engulf what's left of modest bungalow neighborhoods that are among the Gulf's oldest communities. In fairness, some of the Biloxi buyers are locals whose own homes were destroyed. About the headline: After the Civil War, scalawags were southern "traitors" who took jobs in Reconstruction governments; carpetbaggers were out-of-towners.