Library Chronicles

• The New Orleans Saints will continue pass the ball well and play zero defense for the rest of the season on their way to an 8-8 finish. If they finish any worse than that, Coach Soupy may not be back next season. Poochie will continue to annoy people and Bush will lose at least three more fumbles before the season is done. Morten Andersen may be the next kicker. I think Deuce, Grant, Smith, and Nesbit all got shafted by the NFL's draconian and pointless drug testing PR scheme and look forward to their various legal challenges. We'll discuss all of this at length after the election.



• I've already said that Obama will get more than the 17 percent of the Louisiana white vote predicted by this poll. But I don't think he's likely to actually carry the state as some of the more excitable kids seem to be saying.



• The Italian guy will be the next Orleans Parish D.A.
  
  Oh okay, I think the Williams endorsement complicates things but Cannizarro still has the edge.



• John Neely Kennedy will complete his spectacular failure to obtain what was previously thought the "most vulnerable" Democratic Senate seat in the country.



• Dollar Bill will go back to Congress after comfortably trouncing Metairie Barbie.



• The goofy "We agree to whatever plan you haven't told us about yet" charter change will fail.



• Steve Scalise will survive the challenge from Jim Harlan in Congressional District 1



• The Democrats will pick up 30 seats in the House and will reach exactly 60 votes in the Senate. Unfortunately vote number 60 will be Joe Lieberman who will demand to be named King of All That is Sensible with weekly parades in his honor on Friday which will henceforth be known as "Joe The Lieberman" Day.



• Taking the Mayor up on his invitation to stay as long as he likes despite the fact that his office is being dissolved, Ed Blakely will move into the same Loyola University library cubicle that once housed Robert Cerasoli's office. Library staff will complain from time to time about having to clean up his half-finished plastic cups of wine... but since he'll be continuing to spend most of his time in Australia and Dubai anyway, nothing else much will change.

Labels: 2008, Barack Obama, Dollar Bill, Ed Blakely, Helena Moreno, John McCain, Louisiana, Nagin, politics

Labels: 2008, Barack Obama, television

Labels: politics

This is where I think some of the recent “socialism” scare talk and so forth gets interesting. Presumably, come January and February conservatives are going to be wanting to argue that Obama’s got no mandate, that Republican legislators have no need to fear him, and that Democratic legislators should live in terror of overreaching. To that end, it’ll be helpful to argue that Obama got elected as a tepid centrist. But in their last-ditch efforts to beat him, they’re doing the reverse, and dramatically overpainting Obama as a wild-eyed radical ready to unleash Marxism on the country. Well, if you spend a month or two running around saying that, and then the voters back the Marxist anyway, he’s got pretty much carte blanche to do what he wants if he wins.

Labels: 2008, Barack Obama, John McCain, politics

Labels: Barack Obama, income tax, John McCain

Labels: saints, sports

Labels: 2008, Barack Obama, Louisiana, politics

Labels: celebrity gossip, music, New Orleans

Labels: 2008, health care, John McCain, politics

Convinced that the city was ready to go national, Bennett tried to buy the Hornets and keep them in Oklahoma. According to a letter Shinn subsequently wrote to Stern, Stern recommended that he sell. "You pressed me to sell the team," Shinn wrote. "You even told me that owners were asking you, 'What's wrong with George - why doesn't he sell his team[?]' " Shinn's response made it clear that he, too, coveted the new territory. "We need to immediately begin laying the foundation for what I believe will be great relationships in Oklahoma City," he wrote. "I believe there are several options that we have, none of which involve returning to New Orleans."

Labels: Hornets, sports

Nagin tried to dismiss Blakely's interview with The Times-Picayune by saying, "I think a reporter sat him down after he had a couple bottles of wine, he got a little too relaxed and started talking about how homesick he was."

The newspaper story did note that Blakely was sipping wine at the time, but he had only just begun his first plastic cup following an hours-long meeting with federal, state and local recovery officials. Bottles of wine were wheeled into the conference room moments earlier while Blakely was delivering a speech about the recovery being at a critical time.

Blakely did not say he was homesick, but rather said his absence had been hard on his wife and kids, who are grown. He said his wife would have a great deal of input in whether he comes back to New Orleans.

"Dr. Blakely has been somewhat of an interesting person who has come to us," the mayor said.

But Nagin went on to give Blakely a strong review for his two years on the job, saying, "He has done, in my opinion, a lot of great work. I don't think this recovery would be where it is today without his great work."

Labels: Ed Blakely, Nagin

Labels: saints, sports

Labels: media, politics

Labels: media, New Orleans

Labels: saints, sports

Labels: George W Bush, movies

Anyhow, for those of you who care about this sort of thing, any songs that R.E.M. performed off its first two albums are older now than "Moon River" was when R.E.M. played it twenty-four years ago; any songs from "Fables of the Reconstruction" are as old.

Labels: events, music, New Orleans

• From the T-P's endorsement of President Obama this morning,

  He possesses expertise that should endear him to the New Orleans area. He knows cities - historic cities, gritty cities. He came by his knowledge pounding the streets of Chicago's South Side as an organizer, grappling with the needs of poor people. For our own great and complex city, we could use a national leader who appreciates that we are more than a sentimental memory of a college romp on Bourbon Street; that we are a culturally rich American treasure, filled with resilient citizens and worth protecting from the encroaching forces of nature.




• I think the Saints minus Bush and Poochie are the strongest they've been all season and have an excellent chance to win today.



• I think that Les Miles should be fired immediately.



• I think Chris Rose can be an enormous douchebag as evidenced by ridiculous columns like this one... but a man's personal demons are no laughing matter and are deserving of every human's sympathy and concern.

Labels: 2008, Barack Obama, politics, saints, sports, Times-Picayune

Labels: 2008, New Orleans, politics

Perhaps, but Richard White Jr., a professor at LSU's Public Administration Institute and author of "Kingfish: The Reign of Huey P. Long," said that doesn't mean that Long and Obama didn't and don't invoke similar fears on Wall Street.

With Obama and a Democratic Congress, White said, Wall Street sees the return of a more tax-and-spend, redistributive regime in Washington with a dread that he believes helps explain the severity of the recent market collapse. "It's the New York Stock Exchange reaction to the certainty that Barack Obama is going to be elected president," White said. "They know there are rough days ahead."

Labels: 2008, Barack Obama, John McCain, politics, Times-Picayune

Suffice it to say that among its other nasty side effects, the spectacle turned Al Sharpton a household name. It also revealed the utter absurdity that some on the post-modern left are capable of. I distinctly remember one professor earnestly telling me that even if Tawana's story was false, it was still a crime because it represented the "mythic" truth of what had been done to African American women in America.

A legal standard that would, admittedly, make for some pretty interesting "mythic" trials.

As nutty as the reaction in some corners of the far left was, the reaction on the far right (which is to say, among mainstream conservative pundits) was even worse -- with Brawley and her advocates becoming the proof points for every claptrap racial theory ever peddled by conservative "scholars" such as the AEI's Charles Murray.

The McCain spokesperson's claims -- which came in the midst of extraordinary and heated conversations late yesterday between the McCain campaign, local TV stations, and the Obama camp, as the early version of the story rocketed around the political world -- is significant because it reveals a McCain official pushing a version of the story that was far more explosive than the available or confirmed facts permitted at the time.

The claims to KDKA from the McCain campaign were included in an early story that ran late yesterday on KDKA's Web site. The paragraphs containing these assertions were quickly removed from the story after the Obama campaign privately complained that KDKA was letting the McCain campaign spin a racially-charged version of the story before the facts had been established, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

Labels: 2008, Ashley Todd, politics

Labels: 2008, Barack Obama, music

Labels: 2008, politics

Labels: 2008, politics

Labels: bloggers, music, politics

Central City house razed before deadline for appeal
by David Hammer, The Times-Picayune
Thursday October 23, 2008, 10:53 PM

Delores Jones called the city of New Orleans frantically this week when she heard that a demolition crew had arrived at the Central City house she and her husband have owned since the early 1970s.

The 73-year-old woman had in her possession a letter, dated Oct. 1, saying she had 30 working days to challenge a plan to raze her two-story rental house at 2401-03 La Salle St. on the grounds that it was in "imminent danger of collapse." But Wednesday, just 16 weekdays after the date of the letter, Jones' house was turned into a pile of rubble by Dynamite Demolition, a city subcontractor.

"I started to go around there and I started to have an upset stomach because I didn't want to see it go down, " she said, her voice cracking. "Nobody's house is safe."

Labels: demolitions, New Orleans

Labels: Ed Blakely, New Orleans

Bottom Line

Gallup Poll daily tracking suggests that 18- to 29-year-olds are not nearly as likely as older voters to be registered to vote, to say they are thinking about the election, or to express strong intentions to vote. Thus, as of mid-October, there is not convincing evidence in the Gallup data that young voters will in fact vote at higher rates than in past elections. But even if things change over the next two weeks and many more young adults do become motivated to vote, turnout alone would do little to change the candidates' overall support, according to Gallup's likely voter models.

Gallup will continue to monitor the responses of 18- to 29-year-olds to the likely voter questions between now and Election Day to see whether the current situation changes.

Labels: 2008, politics

Labels: 2008, media, New Orleans, Times-Picayune

Labels: coffee, economy

Labels: John Labruzzo

Dr. Ed Blakely, the New Orleans recovery director, denied reports Thursday that he may leave his post in January when he completes his second year in the position.

Blakely called a Thursday story by the Times Picayune a "false report," and said he doesn't want to leave and doesn't have any intention of leaving.

Blakely said that the decision on whether he stays is one that they have to revisit every year with the mayor.

“Every year we talk about this. I might be going in 2012, 2015 – who knows? I have no idea where they got January from,” Blakely said.

While sipping wine provided after a meeting with local, state and federal hurricane recovery leaders Wednesday, Blakely said he plans to discuss his employment in the coming months with Mayor Ray Nagin and with his family, who live in Australia.

"I haven't made a decision, but I've told some people I'll be looking in December and January at what's happening because obviously this has been tough on my wife and kids, but it's very exciting for me to see all of this happening, " Blakely said.

When asked for comment, Nagin said “it’s Blakely’s thing.”

Labels: Ed Blakely

Labels: 2008, Barack Obama, John McCain, politics

Labels: 2008, politics

Labels: 2008, politics

"We're asking people to please be patient and to sort of adopt the attitude that you're going to the Jazzfest: Wear comfortable shoes and bring water."

Labels: 2008, Jazzfest, New Orleans, politics

Labels: books, economy, oil

Does WWL have anyone on staff who isn’t a Republican Party ideologue?

Labels: media, New Orleans, radio

If we only we could trade him for a future draft choice, or a seasoned player more ready for the big time.

I've often made that suggestion to people from other places. Turns out, they don't want him either.

Labels: Nagin, Reggie Bush, sports

• The Saints may have learned how to play ball-control this week. During the second quarter, they took a 7-3 lead by putting together an 18 play 86 yard drive which took 10:59 off the clock. Deuce McAllister... strangely scarce against the Vikings... carried 13 times for 65 yards as the Saints pushed the Raiders around all day long. We know the Saints can score points. But winning consistently means being able to control a game the way they did Sunday. Let's see if they keep at it.



• I don't want to hear this shit. Anyone who watched the Saints against the Bucs, Redskins, and Broncos has no business suggesting that they are playing reliable run defense or that they've stopped surrendering big plays. I'll allow that the run defense played well against Minnesota and Oakland .. but as I've said already that's because Sedrick Ellis isn't in there ignoring his gap responsibility any more. We'll see what happens when he comes back. In the meantime, I don't want to hear any shit about the so-called improved defense at all.



• Overlooked stats: Billy Miller 3 receptions 53 yards. Mark Campbell 3 receptions 37 yards and one touchdown. Both Saints tight ends are playing exceptionally well this season. But there's this expensive and annoying Poochie guy waiting to play as soon as his groin feels better and we all know Soupy will demote the other two guys to accommodate him.
  
  Jeff Duncan writes us a story about Poochie's current gig as sideline mascot. You can check it out if you like but the gist is that Poochie is such a loud, insecure, and attention-starved boob that he feels the need to insinuate himself into situations that have very little to do with him. Poochie stalks the sidelines in his street clothes screaming in the coach's ear, offering unsolicited advice to teammates, and yelling at the officials. Clearly, this is a guy who can't understand that not everything is about him. In high school, our coach used to refer to this behavior as "rah rah bullshit" Poochie would not have been tolerated.



• Reggie Bush's knee hurts. It's hard to tell but in the photo below, you can see where this injury may have occurred as Bush makes a move on a Raider defender on his way to scoring his second touchdown of the day.
  
  



• Uh oh the kicker STILL sucks: Taylor Mehlhaff missed his first field goal attempt. The crowd went wild in voicing its approval.

Labels: saints, sports

Labels: Ed Blakely, New Orleans

We've been conditioned by thirty years of certain arguments working--and John McCain made most of them last night against Barack Obama: you're going to raise our taxes, you're going to spend more money, you want to negotiate with bad guys, you're associated somehow--the associations have gotten more tenuous over time--with countercultural and unAmerican activities.

Again, these arguments have "worked" for a long time. The Democrats who got themselves elected President during most of my career were those most successful at playing defense: No, no, I'm not going to do any of those things! And so the first reaction of more than a few talking heads last night was that McCain had done better, maybe even won, because he had made those arguments more successfully than he had in the first two debates. I disagreed, even before the focus groups and snap polls rendered their verdict: I thought McCain was near-incomprehensible when talking about policy, locked in the coffin of conservative thinking and punditry. He spoke in Reagan-era shorthand. He thought that merely invoking the magic words "spread the wealth" and "class warfare" he could neutralize Obama.

But those words and phrases seem anachronistic, almost vestigial now.

Labels: 2008, Barack Obama, John McCain, politics

Two independent groups on Wednesday raised red flags about the long-term financing behind the city's ambitious and unprecedented school construction plan.

At a meeting of the state school board, the groups also probed school officials for more details about the costs of individual projects. Representatives of Tulane University's Cowen Institute and the Bureau of Governmental Research argued that if money is not found for later phases of the plan -- a likely scenario, they say -- it would exacerbate inequities in children's access to quality school programs and buildings. Specifically, they said, it would lead to a situation where some students attend school in state-of-the-art buildings while others remain indefinitely in decrepit, outdated buildings.

"We probably will not be able to fund the final phases of this plan, " said Tara O'Neill, policy analyst with Tulane University's Cowen Institute. She said that means the plan "will lead to greater disparity between facilities."

The six-phase school construction and renovation plan will cost about $2 billion. New Orleans officials have at least $685 million in financing available for the first phase. That leaves up to $1.3 billion unfinanced, although school officials have said they will likely be able to pull together at least another couple hundred million dollars for future phases.

The problem isn’t so much the nuts and bolts, but the process behind it. Critics of the School Facilities Master Plan (SFMP) say that while they have specific worries regarding the current plan, their larger concern is the lack of communication from the Orleans Parish School Board and the state’s Recovery School District.

Labels: education, New Orleans, SFMP

Labels: 2008, politics

Labels: 2008, John Kennedy, Louisiana, Mary Landrieu, politics

Labels: Chris Rose, douchebaggery

During Obama's replies, McCain has been staring into space with the sort of glassy-eyed fixed grimace you'd see on a Furby that's two seconds away from going for your throat.

Labels: 2008, Barack Obama, John McCain

Labels: 2008

High school principal bans book teacher assigned

03:29 PM CDT on Wednesday, October 15, 2008

L. Kasimu Harris / Houma Courier

RACELAND — The principal of Central Lafourche High School banned a teacher’s assigned book about a failed U.S. Special Forces mission after a parent complained about the author’s use of curse words, officials said.

Labels: censorship, Gsus, Louisiana, sports

Labels: crime, New Orleans

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Labels: internets

As one of his reasons for denying Moyo's motion to postpone the trial, Barbier cited her erratic behavior in and out of the courtroom since her arrest a year ago.

He said she protested when an area set up at the federal courthouse for her to do legal research was in a holding cell and "not some kind of hotel suite."

"She attempted to disrobe and then feigned some sort of heart attack, " Barbier said. "She had to be carried out by EMTs. But when they got to the hospital, they checked her out and everything was OK."

Moyo could have had a public defender but has insisted on representing herself, saying she had been "burned" by attorneys in her two federal convictions -- in 1989 on multiple counts of fraud, and in 1990 for using stolen Social Security numbers.

Moyo has undergone a court-ordered psychiatric exam and was deemed competent to make a "knowing and voluntary" decision to represent herself.

She has been assigned a "stand-by" attorney, who can provide procedural tips but cannot give advice on matters deemed strategic. Or, apparently, cosmetic.

Despite Barbier's warning about proper decorum, when Moyo returned to open court at the end of the day for the first time since jury selection began that morning, she again pulled out her compact and spent a few minutes touching up her makeup.

Labels: corruption, Moyo, New Orleans

Labels: 2008, politics

Labels: economy

Labels: 2008, John McCain, politics

1. The production value is very high. The sets are well-designed and quite beautiful. I almost wish I had more time to look around without being distracted by the cast members.



2. The stage show is always cheesy but entertaining. This one is election-year themed and... well... very cheesy. In the organizers' defense, there really is no combination of faux-Satanism, fake blood, and pyrotechnics that can compete with the horror of a real live McCain rally these days.



3. This is a Death Metal-themed haunted house. In other words, it's an awesome-themed bag of kick-ass.



4. As always, the scariest element of this event is the high concentration of idiotic white-trash teenagers in the audience. But, if you manage not to get in line right next to the rowdy ones, they aren't as likely to ruin things for you.



5. The highlight of the entire experience, though: watching Menckles address the cast members in her best Palin-ese "How ya' doin'? Hail Satan, you betcha!"

Labels: Halloween, New Orleans

Labels: Helena Moreno, Rita Benson, sports, Tom Benson

Labels: 2008, John Kennedy, politics, Steve Scalise

"What about the route?" I asked. "Traditional Uptown? Or like Endymion's route?"

"None of the above, Scribe. Listen closely. It begins at Elysian Fields and Decatur, proceeds on Decatur past the St. Louis Cathedral to North Peters, takes a right at Canal Street, makes a U-turn where Bourbon and Carondelet intersect with Canal, proceeds back toward the river on Canal Street, takes a right at Tchoupitoulas, a left at Julia, a right at Convention Center Boulevard and ends up at the new East Bank Blaine Kern Studios near the Robin Street Wharf, where there will be a post-parade soiree. Got all that?"

"Got it. And what kind of route would you call that?"

"Touristy," Float said. "But not far off from what the Krewe du Vieux does. So folks here should be able to pick up on it real fast."

Labels: Halloween, New Orleans, tourism

Labels: saints, sports

Labels: LSU, sports

There are no records of exactly how many buildings have been torn down since Hurricane Katrina, but the number of demolition permits filed with the city since the storm is at 12,700 and growing daily, according to Matt McBride, an activist who maintains a database of such permits.

While the dwellings are in need of repair, numerous owners have complained the city is rushing to demolish structurally sound structures that could be rehabilitated. Many owners who cannot afford repairs also find rebuilding cost prohibitive.

The latest available figures from June show new construction permits had only been filed for about 10 percent of the razed lots. People with an interest in real estate say the growing acreage of vacant lots could present problems as neighborhoods slowly rebuild.

Labels: demolitions, New Orleans

Labels: sports

• The shock tactics began before the opening kickoff when the pre-game introductions were accompanied by giant streams of actual fire set off by pyrotechnicians on the field. Presumably this touch was added to fit the Monday Night atmosphere, but I think that Dome officials were gong for a cheap scare right at the outset. It was a little jarring but nothing we couldn't handle. I think Menckles shouted "I am the great and powerful Oz" until the flames went away and we could just get on with things.
  
  And the getting on with things seemed to be going fairly well. Frenchy Thomas returned the opening kickoff across the 50 (more on the crappy Vikings kick coverage later) and then Drew Brees hit Devery Henderson for a 17 yard touchdown and the Saints were in business.
  
  
  Brees. Another day, another 330 yds passing that nobody notices until the game is over with
  
  Things continued to go well as the Saints outplayed the Vikings for much of the first quarter. Even the beleaguered and injury-ridden Saints defense stuffed Adrian Peterson and would keep him in check for the rest of the game. During the week, when Sedrick Ellis got hurt, I mentioned that his tendency to overreact and ignore his gap responsibility had hurt the Saints' run defense. With Ellis out of there, the Saints held an all-pro runner to 32 yards.



• Then it got weird. Before the end of a first quarter that seemed to be going so well, the Vikings would run up ten "unearned" points which kept them in a game where they had been otherwise outplayed. First, Minnesota's Antoine Winfield returned a blocked Martin Gramtica field goal attempt 59 yards for a game-tying touchdown. This brought on a rather bizarre argument in our section where I repeatedly insisted that Gramatica's kick came off the ground too low because he is too short to kick over the defense and where everyone else repeatedly threatened to hit me.
  
  We went on like that until, following, a successful Gramatica field goal, Coach Soupy inexplicably decided to squander his lead and momentum with an ill-advised attempt at an onside kick. After recovering the kick, the Vikings managed to drive exactly one yard... but still came away with three points since Soupy had already kicked them into field goal range. In a comment thread Tuesday morning, Leo compared Soupy to an unholy combination of Mike Martz and Denny Green. That stings.
  
  
  Even Drew is considering that comparison, though. You can tell.



• Overlooked fact: Tight ends Billy Miller and Mark Campbell combined for 100 yards on 7 receptions. Campbell picked up extra yardage with a nimble run after the catch which included a Reggie Bush-like hurdle over a defender. Miller turned in a huge 41 yard catch and run in the fourth quarter on the drive that should have won the game for the Saints. Jeremey Shockey (AKA Poochie) was inactive with a hernia injury. The Saints don't have a second round draft pick next year for some unfathomable reason. Some have suggested that this may be by design.... but let's try to keep to one conspiracy theory at a time for now, okay?



• A Brees fumble on the Saints' 5 yard line set up a go-ahead touchdown for the Vikings on a halfback pass. Then it got really weird.
  
  Over my many years of watching and attending Saints games, I've been accustomed to seeing or hearing fans in the top row of each section bang on the metal walls in order to create noise when the opposing team has the ball. When we purchased our season tickets in 2006, we selected seats in the top row so that we could participate in this time-honored bit of idiocy which has been in practice basically since the Superdome opened in 1975. During the second quarter of a crucial Monday Night game in 2008, Superdome security decided that it was time to crack down.
  
  A few minutes into the second quarter, for no apparent reason, a uniformed security person shouted at everyone in our section that the next fan seen banging on the wall would be thrown out of the stadium. We were mystified. Is this some bizarre interpretation of the NFL's notorious new "Fan Code of Conduct"? The section adjacent to ours is typically filled with fans of the visiting team. Did one of the Vikings fans complain? If so, why? And also fuck them. Over the past three seasons, the Superdome has become an ever-more fan-unfriendly environment. What can be done to reverse this trend?
  
  
  Seriously. The Saints NEED YOU ON THAT WALL
  



• But if the wall weirdness had Saints fans confused, this was nothing compared to the ensuing weirdness on the field courtesy of some confused game officials. Because this was a nationally televised game, and because Ed Hochuli's crew of officials has been under such scrutiny lately, the non-call of a face mask penalty moments before Reggie Bush's fumble has gotten a lot of attention. (I happen to think Bush fumbled the ball on his own and not as a result of the face mask but that's hardly relevant.)
  
  
  Nobody had better lay a finger on that wall, but this... this is fine for some reason
  
  Because Coach Soupy was recently fined $15,000 for whining about the officiating in the Denver game, the Saints have resorted to more subtle means of protest over the blown call. Fans in the Superdome were not quite so passive aggressive. The already loud and restless Monday Night crowd booed and chanted "bullshit" (clearly in violation of the Code of Conduct, btw) for the next half hour or so. Their outrage was heightened by the fact that the very next play was an obvious incomplete pass to a Minnesota receiver which Hochuli's crew judged to be a reception. The play was eventually overturned by replay but only after another five minutes of near rioting from the fans.
  
  The next Vikings possession brought an opportunity for more of the same. Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson appeared to fumble the ball. It was picked up by Charles Grant who ran for about fifteen yards before lateraling to Mike McKenzie who brought the ball all the way back near the Minnesota 10 yard line. The play, which took a long time to develop, was never whistled dead. After the fact, however, the officials decided that Peterson was down before the ball came out. It was actually a very close call which prompted another replay challenge from the Saints. After five or ten minutes of jeers from the fans, Hochuli offered his explanation. The ruling, delivered in a confounding Sarah Palin-esque verbiage, seemed to state that, yes, the ball was coming out as the player was going down but since his hand was still kind of touching the ball as his knee hit the ground, Minnesota retains possession. I've never heard anyone explain a non-fumble that way. I hope it happens again soon, though. The disgust in the stands was beyond hilarious.
  
  
  Here Soupy appears to have possession of the red challenge flag. But who can truly judge such things?



• Brees threw two interceptions in this game. One was on a Hail Mary heave with two seconds remaining in the game. Lance Moore, who ordinarily catches everything thrown at him, inexplicably bobbled a ball causing a big Second Quarter interception; one of the many many weird things that happened Monday night. Brees has thrown six interception in five games this year. I can't remember a single one that was explicitly his fault.



• Deuce McAllister: 6 carries 13 yards. The 49ers game was an emotional moment for Saints fans who saw Deuce's triumphant return to the fold as perhaps a turning point in the season. Against Minnesota, however, McAllister was once again conspicuously absent from the game plan. Before Reggie Bush's first touchdown, the third quarter was looking like a major snooze-fest. The Saints could get nothing going offensively. Perhaps this would have been a good time to get Deuce involved. He carried once for two yards during this portion of the game.
  
  DEUCE MCALLISTER NOT PICTURED



• Then it got really weird. With about two minutes left to play in the third quarter, the Vikings lined up to punt the ball away to Reggie Bush. Bush had been having a largely unremarkable game thus far save for a halfway decent night receiving. R (big R, not little r... they're two different people) leaned over and said "Bush is about due for a big play here," to which I added, "Yeah either that or another fumble." 71 yards later, the Saints were suddenly back in the game.
  
  On his very next punt return opportunity, Bush, obviously aware at this point that he was on TV, very nearly broke another one. Instead he fell on his face for no apparent reason. r (little r, not big R) looked at me and said, "He tripped over his own douchebaggery." Seems a reasonable explanation. The Saints concluded that possession with a successful 53 yard field goal by Martin Gramatica. For that, there simply is no reasonable explanation.
  
  But it gets weirder. On his very next punt return opportunity, Reggie Bush took it all the way back again. The two punt returns for touchdowns tied some sort of NFL record and had the Saints ahead late in the game for reasons every bit as strange as the reasons they trailed for most of the first half.
  
  Lost in all the excitement over Bush's punt returns (remember, kids, he also fumbled twice) is the overall poor performance of the Vikings' kick coverage. Pierre Thomas also had a big night returning kickoffs. Frenchy had 5 returns for 168 yards compared to Reggie's 5 returns for 176. (He also didn't fumble once all night) The fact that the Minnesota special teams coach still has a job this week is a bit of an upset in its own right.
  
  
  Also see this amusing anecdote about the Vikings' punting strategy




• Pants factor: The 2-3 Saints are now 1-1 in their idiotic looking black pants and 1-2 in the more traditional and sensible gold. Obviously the data does not show a clear bias at this point. The Saints have worn white jerseys in every home game this season. Has anyone got any idea why?



• And THEN it just got freaky nutty type weird. Bush's two touchdowns had the Supedome rocking and the Vikings back on their heels. Just then, the 37 year old Viking quarterback, Gus Frerotte, took a dead-on kill shot from Will Smith as he haphazardly chucked the ball straight up in the air. The crowd winced, then "ooh"ed, and then fell silent as Frerotte lay motionless on the ground. R (big R, not little r) looked over at me and said, "Dude, Frerotte is dead. They killed him."
  
  My answer this time: "Who gives a shit? The dude caught the ball!"
  
  Bernard Berrian had made the improbable reception 36 yards down the field. Two plays later, Frerotte returned from the dead to hit Berrian again for the game tying touchdown. You really have to just give it up to Gus Frerotte here. Getting up off the mat like that was some straight up tough stuff and probably the most remarkable play in a remarkable game.
  
  
  Frerotte gave as good as he got Monday
  
  
• Devery Henderson had a big game and is playing the best football of his career so far this season. However, we would be remiss if we did not mention that on a crucial 3rd and 9... on the Saints last meaningful possession of the game... one play before Martin Gramatica missed a potential go-ahead field goal... Devery ran the wrong route. Brees adjusted to Minnesota's all-out blitz and threw an out route. Devery ran deep. Incomplete pass. Enter Gramatica.
  
  
  It's been mostly Good Devery this year... but sometimes we still see Bad Devery



• Uh oh the kicker sucked! Enter Gramatica... and now Exit Gramatica. After Martin Gramatica's sucky kicking cost them two games this season, the Saints have cut their losses and will start again this week with the guy who lost the job in training camp. We're not enthused, but something certainly had to happen.
  
  
  We will miss his amusing hair, though

Labels: saints, sports

Labels: 2008, politics

Labels: New Orleans, Stacy Head, surveillance

Kennedy flip-flops on bill for farmers
by Jan Moller, The Times-Picayune
Wednesday October 08, 2008, 9:31 PM

BATON ROUGE -- One month before Election Day is typically not the best time for a Louisiana political candidate to lash out against legislation designed to help the state's hurricane-stricken farmers.

But that is what state Treasurer John Kennedy did last week when he sided with a conservative Oklahoma senator who single-handedly derailed a bill that sought to provide $1.1 billion in disaster aid to farmers in Louisiana and other states affected by recent natural disasters.

Kennedy's opposition to the bill -- which he now says he supports -- appears to have handed his Democratic opponent in the Senate race, Mary Landrieu, an easy campaign issue in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 4 election.

Labels: Jan Moller, John Kennedy, Louisiana, Mary Landrieu, media, Times-Picayune

Labels: saints, sports

Labels: 2008, John McCain, politics

Labels: 2008

Labels: 2008, Barack Obama, John McCain

Labels: saints, sports

Labels: John Kennedy, Louisiana, politics, Steve Scalise

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Labels: New Orleans, politics

Yes, How?

I'd missed this when it happened back in April on ABC:

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you have any doubt that Barack Obama shares your sense of patriotism?

SEN. MCCAIN: I'm sure he's very patriotic, but his relationship with Mr. Ayers is open to question...how can you countenance someone who was engaged in bombings which could have or did kill innocent people?

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Obama says he was eight years old when that was happening.

SEN. MCCAIN: But he became friends with him and spent time with him while the guy was unrepentant over his activities...

I'd like to make some jokes here, but I don't have the heart. What a country this is.

Labels: 2008, Barack Obama, John McCain, war

Labels: city plan

Labels: economy

But perhaps nothing reflects the editorial bias of the Times-Picayune better than their absolutely ridiculous endorsements for this Saturday's Orleans Parish School Board Race. They pick the conservative establishment choice in every instance such a choice is available.

...

The Times-Picayune pretty much endorses the most conservative Board possible, the whitest Board possible, the most anti-union Board possible, the most pro-master plan Board possible.

Labels: Times-Picayune

Labels: New Orleans, politics

Labels: saints, sports

Labels: economy, politics

Labels: 2008, politics, Sarah Palin

Labels: 2008, Barack Obama, John McCain, politics

Labels: 2008, politics, Sarah Palin

The claim from this debate that is still sitting with me is this: Gov. Palin said that Sen. Biden supported McCain's Iraq policies "pretty adamantly until this race." Well, that's complete nonsense. At least since 2004 they've been on completely different sides of this question. That was one of her biggest attack lines through the debate. And it's completely false.

We'll be hearing more about this.

Labels: 2008, politics, Sarah Palin

Labels: Gambit, media, New Orleans

Labels: 2008, politics

Labels: 2008, politics

Look, there’s no doubt that Sarah Palin isn’t the sharpest knife in the corpse. But when she can’t give the name of a supreme court case, or name a newspaper she reads, it’s not the same kind of stupid vapidity that spews out the rambling gibberish she passes off as interview answers. She’s trying not to get caught. She doesn’t trust the question; she thinks she’s going to be made a fool of somehow, in a way she doesn’t quite understand yet. She’s like a child being questioned about some unspecified infraction.

She is, of course, a politician, and one who has used the standard late-20th-century GOP playbook to good effect. She may not be quick and she may not be deep, but please. The woman is not so dumb that she can’t name a newspaper.

We're used to seeing such blatant cultural caricaturing in our politicians. But Sarah Palin is something new. She's all caricature. As the candidate of a party whose positions on individual issues are poll losers almost across the board, her shtick is not even designed to sell a line of policies. It's just designed to sell her. The thing was as much as admitted in the on-air gaffe by former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan, who was inadvertently caught saying on MSNBC that Palin wasn't the most qualified candidate, that the party "went for this, excuse me, political bullshit about narratives."

The great insight of the Palin VP choice is that huge chunks of American voters no longer even demand that their candidates actually have policy positions; they simply consume them as media entertainment, rooting for or against them according to the reflexive prejudices of their demographic, as they would for reality-show contestants or sitcom characters. Hicks root for hicks, moms for moms, born-agains for born-agains.

Labels: 2008, politics, Sarah Palin

Jeffrey over at Library Chronicles, which I believe was to be a sports blog about the Saints (but not absolutely sure), has something to say about the Mayor's re-entry plan in his post entitled "Piss on Ya"

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