Are we ok?

I have to admit it's really hard today. Would have been nice to have the day off.

Don't miss this NOLA.com then and now gallery.

Watch Spike's film tonight.

Be safe.

Try to be ok.

Where were you?

One year ago tonight I was contraflowing through the state of Mississippi with only a few days clothes and a woman I hardly knew at the time trying to find a place to stay in Hattiesburg, then Meridian, then... anywhere.. until we finally crashed in a red cross shelter in Tuscaloosa, Alabama around 2:00 AM or so. When I went to sleep on the floor of that gym I was far too exhausted to worry. I had no idea it would be October before I was allowed to return home. Moreover, I had no inkling of just how much of my home would be changed forever. When I returned, one of my first tasks was to enter the flooded library branches in search of salvageable materials.. and personal items requested by various staff members. Branch libraries often reflect the character and vitality of the neighborhoods they serve. When a neighborhood suffers, its library reflects that suffering as well. A year after Katrina, these six libraries, still shuttered, continue to provide a window to what is still missing in New Orleans

Robert E Smith Regional ...... Lakeview

Norman Mayer Branch ...... Gentilly

Rosa Keller Branch ...... Broadmoor

Nora Navra Branch ...... Seventh Ward

East New Orleans Regional Branch ...... East New Orleans

Martin Luther King Branch ...... Lower Ninth Ward

Pass the "Stallpepper"

The Saints have apparently traded Donte Stallworth for Mark Simoneau and a 4th rounder. Let's hope this doesn't shake out to be another disappointing hoax.

Things I learned at Rising Tide

1) Talented and motivated individuals with only a few summer months to work with can indeed pull off an engaging day of meaningful discussion fun and food worthy of the sacrifice of one's Saturday.

2) The after party was worth missing the Saints game.

3) There is indeed some substance to the theories about the disconnect between the news and op-ed departments at the Wall Street Journal.

3-b) Buy Chris Cooper and Robert Block's Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security in fact buy two so you can use one as a hood ornament or Christmas tree topper.

4)Something very much like the Burr Conspiracy is alive and well in Louisiana.. mostly in the person of Shane Landry.

5) Dangerblond knows how to make an exit. Video available here.

6) According to Ray, Da Po'Boy is actually..... Peggy Wilson!

7) We need to this again soon.

How is Hillary Clinton exactly like Richard Nixon

Matt Taibbi explains

The Iraq war has surely produced many landmark moments in the history of American cynicism -- Bob Ney storming the House cafeteria to crusade against French fries before jetting off to a Scottish golf junket with Jack Abramoff is a particular favorite of mine -- but no one in the whole course of this conflict, not even George Bush, has yet sunk as low as Hillary's Democrats are sinking now. They're making a conscious effort to try to cash in politically on the Iraq catastrophe without making any admission of culpability or responsibility, hoping to limp across the finish line first in the midterm elections with nothing but a semantic absurdity -- for the invasion, against its "execution" -- for a war policy.

Read the whole thing.

Getting Desperate

Not a good sign

The New Orleans Saints have acquired LB Scott Shanle from the Dallas Cowboys for an undisclosed draft pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. Entering his fourth season, Shanle has been one of the Cowboys' top special teams performers since joining the club in 2004 and has also started 11 of 37 games in his career. The trade is pending the player passing a physical.

Shanle (6-1, 240) opened eight of 15 contests in 2005 and had 50 tackles and 1.5 sacks. In 2004, he finished fourth on the special teams units with 15 stops and recorded 26 tackles as a starter over the final three games of the season.

If you're still looking for players at this point, you're not in good shape. And you certainly aren't going to acquire any quality without giving up something other than future low draft picks. They could still shop Donte Stallworth around... but his value seems to diminish daily. Ashley Lelie, another reciever drafted in the same year as Donte, was traded to the Falcons earlier today.

I swore I'd never do this

I'm using my personal website (pictures make that link load funny.. scroll down to see disclaimer) to promote a library event. If you have nothing going on this morning you can see the Charmaine Neville band at the Nix branch (Carrollton & Willow) in about an hour from now.

Happy Blog Day

Yup it's been three years since I let my daily emailing to everyone I know of news stories that pissed me off finally evolve into this stupid Aol Journal and ultimately to the yellow monstrosity you see here. Unlike some of the truly talented individuals who comprise the NOLA blogosphere, I harbor no illusions that anything produced here amounts to any sort of journalistic service. Instead it's just evidence that I, like many other internet users and conusmers of news, have learned that the news is slightly more entertaining when you can kind of holler back at it a little. Incidetally, lots of stuff has happened in the three years that I've been hollering. We've seen and learned a few things. We've seen a failed attempt to bring about meaningful regime change in America. We've seen the Boston Red Sox win the World Series. Yup that happened! We've learned that literacy advocate Aaron Brooks makes public appearances in his pajamas. We've learned that our 30's suck every bit as much as our 20's. We've learned not to trust Daisy with our library card. We've become familiar with the dark underbelly of life in the slums. We've learned that some mornings bring truly awful books to our attention. We've learned that viable music criticism necessitates gratuitous use of the word "fuck". We've learned that we never want to become a public school principal. We've learned that skookses float. We've seen what happens when the world very nearly ends. And, of course, we've seen what happens when it actually does.

But I think, above all else, we have learned that Chris Rose is an enormous douchebag!

But don't take my word for it, dear victim... I mean.. reader. Just take a look at some of the feedback this site has generated over the years.

• "Fun read...Militant librarian" Dangerblond
• "Blatant disregard for everything" Daisy
• "Yellow ocean of ingratitude" Oyster
• "A fun and gentle site" Kate J

Here's to continued useless inanity. See you around.

Your Weekly Gambit Preview

This week's Gambit (not yet available online) features an interview with Mike Tidwell, whose new book The Ravaging Tide Strange Weather Future Katrinas and the Coming Death of America's Coastal Cities predicts that American coastal cities from Miami to Baltimore will soon face flood control problems similar to those of New Orleans due to rising sea levels and soil subsidence.

Coincidentally I have recently picked up Tidwell's Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast (2003) in which the author visits the Louisiana bayous with a mind toward writing a travel/adventure article and comes away having written an engaging account of Louisiana's problem of rapid coastal erosion and the threat it poses to the entire region's way of life. I plugged Bayou Farewell the other day in resonse to this YRHT post to which Greg Peters responds

Jeffrey: Tidwell has gone around the bend lately. He's recommended that NOLA be abandoned and claims that the NWS prediction of a less-busy-than-last-year hurricane season this year is the result of a secret government conspiracy. Whee.

This would be unfortunate.. but I don't see Tidwell arguing that the city be abandoned in the Gambit piece.. or on his website. And the farthest I can find him going into "government conspiracy" territory is criticism of the Bush Administration's shameful downplaying of the evidence for global warming.. as well as its effects on tropical weather. I'm not saying I don't believe Greg. I think he may be referring to this LA Times OP-Ed where Tidwell lays out the choice, either fund coastal restoration and flood protection in Louisiana or abandon the city... which is sadly closer to reality than hyperbole.

Also in this week's Gambit: Greg's two-page Katrina anniversary cartoon which, in his usual dark and biting idiom, is one of his best.

Broken Levees

Schroeder has started the inevitable discussion. I'm reposting my comments below:

From what I've seen and heard of Spike on the subject, it seems that his intention was to let his subjects speak for themselves. Not having seen the film, I deduce from that the interviews are going to be all over the map with some (perhaps many) people saying nutty stuff absent of any editorial correction. I'm okay with that. I want to see this movie.

Secondly, I'm certain I don't need to tell any of you that the existence of the "myth of the dynamite" true or not speaks volumes about the history of the well earned suspsicion of the powerful by the powerless.

We've all read Rising Tide so I don't have to repeat to any of you that there was at one time an actual conspiracy by the powerful to sacrifice the powerless by dynamiting levees.

I don't believe the industrial canal levee was dynamited. But I also don't believe that it would not have been if those with the means to so believed they would benefit from it.

The fact that the myth exists says something relevant about the context of New Orleans and its history. I don't have a problem with its inclusion in a film.. particularly given the film's format.

I may change my mind when I see it. I don't think I will.

You might have guessed

That I'm still too busy to do much posting today so consider this a friendly hello.. with notes.

This weekend:

1) Consuela's birthday. Consuela is still Katrinaed to Memphis. Lets hope there's room to party there.

2) I'd like to attend the Alternative Media Expo and Geek Dinner 2.. but suspect I will have time for neither... or just one. We'll see.

Further notes:

1) August 21 marks three years of this particular yellow internet tube you are currently reading. I may do some obligatory navel gazing at that point.

2) The quote nobody got from a below post is from an obscure apparently Devo-inspired GBV outtake called Phase IV: The Rise of the Ants which appears on Suitcase 2: American Superdream Wow.

Final Question:

During the past few weeks, increasing numbers of people have been coming to the library with this agenda: "I just moved to town and need to get a library card." Where are these people coming from? Furthermore with so many displaced and unable to return why are they able to move here? (they all are moving to Orleans parish) Further-furthermore these people all are of the upper-middle class white professional type. What are they coming here for and is this not evidence that the city is indeed becoming gentrified and ethnically cleansed?

Not much time to update

Too much worky type work. I'll try to be back by the end of the week. Meanwhile keep an eye on these upcoming events.

Alt Media Expo: August 19 Howling Wolf

Rising Tide Conference: Visit the site. Check out the cool artwork. Register. Participate.

Please Raise the Flag of Disaster

Rising of the..

A press release:

Rising Tide NOLA Bloggers Conference

The Rising Tide Conference on Saturday, Aug. 26 2006 at the New Orleans Yacht Club will be a gathering for all who wish to learn more and do more to assist New Orleans' recovery from the aftermath of the natural disasters of both Hurricane Katrina and Rita, the manmade disaster of the levee and floodwall collapses, and the incompetence of government on all levels.

Keynote speakers will be Christopher Cooper and Robert Block, authors of Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security. Other featured guests include Jon Donley, editor of NOLA.Com on the Journalists and Bloggers panel, and Michael DuPlantier, Shane Landry and Peggy Wilson on the Blogging New Orleans Politics forum.

We will come together to dispel myths, promote facts, share personal testimonies, highlight progress and regress, discuss recovery ideas, and promote sound policies at all levels. We aim to be a "real life" demonstration of internet activism as the nation prepares to mark the one year anniversary of a massive natural disaster followed by governmental failures on a similar scale.

Official Schedule

Saturday, August 26th
WHERE: New Orleans Yacht Club, 403 N. Roadway St., New Orleans, LA

8:00 - 9:00: Keynote Address: Christopher Cooper and Robert Bloch, authors of Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security.

9:15 - 10:15: Panel Discussion: Personal Viewpoints moderated by Mark Moseley

10:30 - 11:30: Think New Orleans by Alan Gutierrez

11:30 - 1:00: LUNCH (possible viewing of Katrina-related films)

1:00 - 2:00: Panel Discussion: New Orleans Politics moderated by Peter Athas

2:15 - 3:15: Panel Discussion: Influence of Journalists and Bloggers moderated by Maitri Venkat-Ramani and Mark Folse

3:30 - 4:30: Panel Discussion: Bloggers & Neighborhood Associations moderated by Morwen Madrigal and Peter Athas

4:30 - 5:30: Mixer and cash bar.

No you will NOT get the reference in the title. I DARE you to even TRY

Your Weekly Gambit Preview

Since, on Monday mornings, this week's Gambit exists only in the archaic print form I cannot yet link to its articles.. raising the question If trees were felled to produce a Clancy Dubos column, and it isn't posted on the internet how do we know those trees ever existed at all?

Actually it is Clancy's column I'd like to draw attention to this morning because

1) It is titled Don't Count Jeff Out which is a sentiment we can all share.

2) The argument is basically that Bill Jefferson has a very good chance of being reelected to his House seat. Which I think is probable.

3) I think Clancy might be reading some of our blogs these days. For example.. the following excerpt.

Yep, having lots of opposition actually plays into Dollar Bill's hands - as far as his re-election prospects are concerned.

Now maybe Clancy has used this nickname before and I just missed it... but I could have sworn that it orginated here.

Any thoughts? Oh and hi, Clancy... You only bug me a little bit.

Out for the weekend

Coming soon.. internet at home. No one will be safe. Until then, all questions and complaints go to Raul.

Oh and also to Farney.

Notable

Last night on the RI forum, "sunny" wondered "So, if the plot was foiled, why was the terror alert raised? That in itself tells me everything I need to know."

link

Better yet... coming soon to theaters.

If ever there was a reason to stop voting Republican

Just remember, New Orleans, it enables these fuckers who hate you enough to go on TV and call you "potential terrorists"

via World Class

Update: Don't miss Michael's graphic take which perfectly captures the paranoid zietgeist.

A good reason to steal HBO

I have a feeling Spike Lee's Katrina film is going to be really really good.... despite the NYT reviewer's unfortunate descent into cliche. Regardless of your opinion of Spike, try to keep an open mind about this film. My impression is that he really gets it.

Lee interviewed more than 100 local newsmakers and citizens for the project, and he said he learned something about us from them.

"What I was really amazed by was the spirit of the people of New Orleans," he said, during a recent meeting with TV critics in Los Angeles. "We know that there are people that aren't coming back, but the majority of them are going to stick it out. And we interviewed so many people who said, 'I was born here. I'm going to die here.' And they mean that.

"Another thing I found amazing was the humor. Even though all the stuff they'd gone through, there were still many times where the stuff they were saying had the crew dying laughing. I know it might seem like it's gallows humor, but just the spirit of the people -- I think that's what makes New Orleans the most unique city in America.

"And that's tough for me to say, being from New York. But I got to give it up. New Orleans does hold that distinction. And you see it in the people."

I could be wrong. It might suck. I don't think I'm wrong though.

Breeswatch '06: Fake Game #1

How many hits will Drew Brees's surgically repaired shoulder be able to take before it comes apart permanently? We'll get our first look Saturday. I think I posted a poll on this back in the spring. Voting is still open.

Also... there is a really good piece on nfl.com on the symbolic importance of the Saints' return. I continue to expect two things this year 1) A truly enjoyable and renewing football season for New Orleans. 2) 3-5 wins.

Killing the internets

Call Mary and Vitty. Get them to stop DOPA or library patrons and students everywhere will lose the ability to use any net resource the "enables communication among users." Included in this would be... blogs, email, Amazon, e-bay... pretty much anything on the internet that is actually useful.

Yes it has already passed the House. Yes this is a big deal.

P. S. I am not a crackpot

Let's review the sequence of events:

1) Leading Democrat is toppled as anger against war shakes up party

2) Rove Offers Help to Lieberman

3) Bush says U.S. still at risk of attack

Message: "Vote against the imperial war, and we won't let you take your soda and hairspray on the plane anymore" Or something like that... In any event I hardly think that it's going to far to say that today's sudden return of the terror alert system is unrelated to the coming election season.

Geek's Progress

The Rising Tide event schedule is looking like something to see. You guys rock.

Nightmarish

Yes I did see this! Not on white linen night... just some day recently while ambling around the quarter. I had blocked it from my memory.. but yes.. it does exist.

Did you do White Linen Night? If so, perhaps you happened to mozy down to the Quarter to the Egan Hand Gallery where "personal photographer" to Mayor Nagin, Bernardo Wade, held an exhibition of photographs taken of our illustrious mayor during the Katrina crisis...exhibit or homage, it's hard to tell.

Hundreds of little C Rays adorning every surface of the room. Really really super freaking creepy. Thanks for helping me recover that memory.

Oh and there is also some actual substance to that Dambala post so check it out.

Term of the day: "Carpet-Blogger"

Credit for that goes to Maitri in this thread.

Oh yeah... it's that much of a hot-button issue don't miss this discussion either.

Or this one.

Or, if you like, this one.

Must be election season

U.K. Foils Plan to Bomb Planes; Terror Alert Raised

Today's note to the T-P

Want to improve the reporting over there in a hurry? Get somebody to hire Dambala and David and put them on the municipal affairs beat.

Oh and Michael as a graphic artist.

Echo Chamber Time

Just to keep it in circulation, I'm linking to Schroeder's excellent Where's Ray Ray? post. Everything you want to know about what's going wrong in New Orleans is there.

Story Time this morning

One of my goofier duties. (Click here for the only surviving photographic evidence of such activity from pre-K times) Here's what we're planning this morning.

Click Clack Moo Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin
Cows acquire a typewriter use it to express greivances to farm management touching off a brief labor relations crisis.

Duck On A Bike David Shannon
Another farm-themed tale. Duck steals a bike goes around showing it off and making all the other animals jealous inspiring them to emulate his liscentious thievery resulting in a farm-wide bicycle riot.

How I Became Champion of the Universe Kenny Harrison
Epic tale of interstellar sporting triumph.

Thought of the Day

Mr. Melpomene:

All of this yuppie utopian elitist blather about urban planning is a distraction from the bigger issues -- everyone now knows where the high ground in the city, just look for the waterline.

Read the post. I think he's on to something

T-P

If you intend to spend half of your feature article debating the merits of measuring population change through post-office change-of-address filings, the headline New "Population Statistics Gloomy" doesn't quite capture the essence of the article does it? No it actually reads more like an endorsement of numbers which the article itself begrudgingly points out are questionable at best. Maybe you meant something like "Collecting Reliable Population Statistics A Gloomy Business To Be At Due To The Inexactness Of Measuring A Population Which Remains Largely In Flux" But maybe you just ran out of space. You might have said "Population Difficult to Measure" but that might not have come as close to reality as "T-P Misleadingly Edited."

New Weekly Must-Read

Matt Taibbi has a new online column in Rolling Stone. Word of advice, pay attention.

Zero Tolerance for Douchebaggery

The following Saints players should be cut immediately:

• Mike Karney
• Zach Hilton
• Donte Stallworth

Why, you ask?

That's it for me for the weekend. Any complaints or questions between now and Monday should go directly to my brother Raul.

Thanks, Houston

Many of the kids who have been hanging around the library this summer are going back to school in Texas this fall. Thus we have noted that the "superior" Texas public schools compile summer reading book lists that prominently feature the Left Behind Kids series.

Terror Tactics

The obscene score-card for death in this latest war now stands as follows: 508 Lebanese civilians, 46 Hizbollah guerrillas, 26 Lebanese soldiers, 36 Israeli soldiers and 19 Israeli civilians.

In other words, Hizbollah is killing more Israeli soldiers than civilians and the Israelis are killing far more Lebanese civilians than they are guerrillas. The Lebanese Red Cross has found 40 more civilian dead in the south of the country in the past two days, many of them with wounds suggesting they might have survived had medical help been available.

Link

More here

Attention NOLA geeks

Free idea.

I just noticed this on Americablog

It's an easy-to-use public-accessible internet crime database thingy for DC. I'm hardly the one to try.. but.. it seems like some of the folks on the blogroll here could put together a New Orleans version of this pretty easily.

Update: Looks like the source data for their site is not available for New Orleans.... but it should be.

Score one for NCAA

The organization once referred to by Dale Brown as "gestapo bastards" has stepped in to put a stop to LSU's offseason yogalates program. Lets hope they've acted in time to placate the football gods.

I don't like it

The ominously named and soon to be hurricane Chris appears to be taking a rather unfortunate track.

Chocolate Alert Status upgraded to:

Toblerone Bar

Wistful "Night Out" In

Adrastos has some neighborly photos from his 'hood's Night Out Against Crime event last night. For me it's yet another occasion to throw pre and post-Katrina New Orleans into high contrast.

I've lived on the edge of the "Triangle of Death" for six years now. Every year prior to this one, our neighbors on Carondolet street have hosted a popular block party on NOAC night. Lots of people.. free food... all that good stuff. In all these years, I've never participated. It seemed I always had other plans. Last year, for example, Consuela and I spent the evening taking in Rob Zombie's Devil's Rejects. (Reviewed by me here, BTW) On our way out to the car, one of the neighbors stopped us and invited us to join the party. As we were already close to being late for the movie, we had to decline.

After returning to the neighborhood this past October, I thought a lot about the opportunities I've missed to better know the neighbors. I've actually taken to sitting out on the sidewalk in a lawn chair with a book in the evenings in a stupid effort to... I don't know.. participate? Last night came and went and there were Night Out block parties all across the city. But not on our block. The hosts have moved away. Their old house is currently occupied by what looks to be ten or so itenerant laborers. You never know what you end up missing.

Official Lib-Chron Seemingly-Against-The-Grain Prediction of the Week

Your next US Senator from the State of Connecticut: Joe Lieberman

(Remains to be seen if he has to go indy to do it... but this feels like another example of the insular lefty blogging community overestimating their strength)

Media Event News Flash

The August Antigravity is available for download at the AG site here.. where the following announcement may also be viewed.

ANTIGRAVITY: Your New Orleans Music & Culture Alternative is proud to announce its ALTERNATIVE MEDIA EXPO is set for Saturday, August 19th at the Howlin' Wolf!

The AME is in its fifth edition (four twice-a-year events from 6/03-4/05 make up its previous rounds) and features over 50 exhibitors with 'zines, comics, films, handmade and original clothing, independent CDs and records, indie and grassroots organizations and much more!

The AME is sponsored by the Charitable Film Network, Dirty Coast, The New Orleans Craft Mafia and NOLAFugees.com. The first 250 attendees will receive a swag bag created by the Craft Mafia.

The special guest of the Expo is Treme-based writer Mat Schwarzman, author of The Beginner's Guide To Community-Based Arts.

The AME is modeled after national comic conventions, like San Diego's Comic-Con but more like San Francisco's Alternative Press Expo, but with other types of media included. The point of the Expo is to provide media makers an opportunity to network while exposing attendees to product and another things that mainstream media either ignores or doesn't properly cover.

When: Saturday, August 19th, 4pm-10pm
Where: The Howlin' Wolf (907 South Peters)
Cover: $5

Contact: Leo McGovern
E-Mail: leo@antigravitymagazine.com
Phone: 504.881.7508

All our exhibitors:

504 Whatstyle, Adornments by Draillia, ANTIGRAVITY, Ashe' Cultural Arts Center, Backporch Revolution, Blank The Plague, Bluecamp Arts, Caesar Meadows, Calamity's Ball, Cecelia Hopes, Chris Nicholas, Clothes Rock, Constance, Corey Sanders, Crossroads Project, daFa Fungus, Defend New Orleans, Dismantled Designs, Dirty Coast, Goldfish Jewelry Designs, Humid Beings, Impulss, Iron Rail Bookstore/Library, Itchy Stitches, Jazzy Knits, KK-NOLA, Kelly Baugh, Kick It Fashions, Kill Time Productions, Kina's Kreations, Kody Chamberlain, Live New Orleans, Les Moutons Roses, Mana Media, Media Underground Comics, Midnight Girl, Ms. Placed, New Orleans Filmmakers, New Orleans Network, New Orleans Voices For Peace, NOLA Fugees, NOLA Tonight, Penguin Productions, Reel Fellas, Rising Tide Blogger Conference, Rox, Shutter Magazine, Sigh Co., Spirit Of Humanity Festival, Tedd Walley, Thaddeus Conti, Timecode: NOLA, Toby Craig, Unique Products, Watermark

Hyperlinks added by me to things I've either seen before or have some vague idea about what they are... might have missed some... will correct later... maybe. Looks to be a good lineup.

Update: Chocolate Alert System Adjustment

In a development funny to only a handful of people, this one is called...

Tropical Storm Chris
August 01, 2006

As of early this morning, our 3rd named system of the season has developed near the Leeward Islands. Chris should continue a WNW track through the week, with some gradual strengthening expected.

The exact track over the next few days will be important, for if he takes more of a northerly track, staying north of the islands, he will have a better chance for staying in the Atlantic, while more of a southerly track into the Caribbean would make it more likely to move into the gulf.

His development will also be dependent on the track, for the islands of Hispanola and Puerto Rico can weaken it significantly. Something to watch closely over the next several days.

Chocolate Alert Level upgraded to

A Big Pot of Blue Chocolate

Best. Coach. Ever.

Saban turns down dinner with President Bush

Reader's Advisor

Three words: Read Moldy City David's continued excellent analysis of the questionable practices of your local government and the T-P's utter willfull failure to report it is some of the best stuff on the internets these days.

101st Fighting Keyboarder

No, a real one.

In a (pin)ch?

Is Rock N Bowl in trouble?

Pollgate Poll

Not sure what to make of this.

Maybe you can help.

Something Rotten?

All the juicy stuff is over here.

What the hell?

No shots of fat guys with luggage this year.

Media blackout
July 27, 2006

Media outlets were surprised to learn that there would be absolutely no access granted to Saints players arriving for training camp Thursday.

Saints public relations members informed media that no video or photos could be shot of any players unpacking and arriving and that no interviews would be granted until after Friday's first practice.

Requests to interview head coach Sean Payton were also denied.

While rarely resulting in news, first day pictures are usually used in newspapers and on TV to accompany articles and televison reports.

First-day interviews normally provide at least some colorful commentary, especially from the likes of Joe Horn.

Needless to say, most of the media was unhappy about the announcement.

I suspected the new coach was a pompous control freak. I hate him already.

Some thoughts as the Saints report to camp

1) Get over it, people. They aren't going to be very good this year but that's hardly the point. Football season brings New Orleans to life like no other time of year outside of Carnival Season. They may not win a single game.. but this season is still a success if we remember that we didn't fall in love with the Saints because we enjoy watching quality football.

2) We're wearing white at home. Who the fuck do they think they are? LSU? No, they're not that good. The Dallas Cowboys? No they're not that obnoxious. I hope this isn't the beginning of some unecessary fiddling with the uniform born in the soulless marketing department. The Saints have the most compelling team name, the best color scheme, and certainly the best logo in all of football. Please don't screw this up.

3) Reggie Bush will (probably) play for the Saints this year. I think the holdout will last most of the preseason though.

4) The Saints have already committed their first greivous error of the year by releasing former Grambling star Bruce (The Chunky QB) Eugene. I like this guy (I'm always partial to the fat guys for some reason). Watch him wherever he lands.

5) With Aaron Brooks out of the picture? who will emerge as the team's new literacy advocate?

6) Drew Brees is broken. Even if he is ready to play.. his arm will never be what it was pre-surgery. (It wasn't very impressive to begin with.) I don't expect him to play the whole year.

7) I don't have cable. How the hell am I supposed to watch Monday Night Football?

8) This is a make-or-break year for Adrian McPherson. I had huge hopes for this guy when we drafted him last year. Before taking even one NFL snap, McPherson was implicated in a delicious series of gambling and forgery scandals. This had the potential for high comedy. Since he joined the Saints, we haven't heard a peep. Not one arrest... not even a slimy rumor here or there. Something needs to happen soon or this is the team's biggest draft bust since Shawn Knight.

9) Rita Leblanc scares me. Tom Benson was always something of a clown and a hothead and therefore hard to take too seriously every time he threatened to move the team. Rita seems.. on the surface.. to be much more together mentally than her grandfather and her ties to the city are far weaker than his. I'm very worried about what might happen once she assumes full ownership.

10) Oh and they still have zero defense.

Condo Condo Condo

Blech

The New Orleans City Planning Commission gave its endorsement Tuesday to developer Elie Khoury's plans for a 530-unit condominium development in Central City.

Leave my neighborhood alone, pigs!

Oh Good Christ!

Rob Couhig on the 100 days:

"I don't want to over-commit," he said. "One of the things we've tried not to do in this 100 days is not get out and tell you, 'We're going to do these things,' but rather wait 50 days and say, 'Here's what we've done.' "

Translation: We have no "plan" but we figured we're full of enough bullshit to slide by without anyone noticing.

Also of note in this article: So long Chocolate City. Welcome to Emerald City.. where, indeed, no one ever pays attention to the man behind the curtain.

The Rev. Frank Davis, a co-chairman of the mayor's housing task force, said the city will open an informational center in Houston on Aug. 22 to provide New Orleanians living in Texas with details about housing, employment, education and social services in their hometown. This will be the first of several centers planned in cities with large numbers of evacuees. "We want to get them on the yellow brick road, which everyone knows will take you to the Emerald City, which is New Orleans," Davis said, adding that a welcome center will open Aug. 23 at New Orleans' main library downtown.

Also the welcome center at the library bit is interesting. The main library has hosted a FEMA/SBA Disaster Recovery Center for several months now so this should be... similar... but hopefully with less mercenary security necessary.

Problem Pt 2

Mark's response to Maitri's homework assignment results in a brilliant rendering of the recovery process to this point. Don't miss this.. it's too perfect.

The Problem

Pretty much summed up right here

This can't be a good sign

Benson confident Bush will sign

Daily Apocolypse

Weather looking really rough out there... I actually enjoy these summer thunderstorms. I'm already taking bets in the library over what time we're going to lose power.

Well there's your problem right there

Was New Orleans left to ruin because of a depleted coastline? Poorly constructed levees? Inept evacuation planning? Indifferent federal response?

No.. it was the fact that for the first time ever Nash Roberts didn't stay and wave his magic marker at the hurricane to scare it away.

Goddammit, Nash, this is all your fault.

Ah.. who am I kidding? Nash Roberts is in fact one of the city's greatest heroes.. we're one of the few places in the world where the weatherman can ascend to such heights. See Wikipedia for more.

Correction: I seem to remember that Nash wasn't around for Ivan either... and that was quite the close one... forced me to spend the whole evening at Igor's waiting for the end of the world.

Tide is rising too freaking fast

I can barely keep up. I haven't even gotten around to linking to the main site yet and the Rising Tide NOLA blogger conference planning is already spinning out of control. This event is either going to be a spectacular moment in local citizen media.. or a spectacular mess. Either way it's going to be spectacular.

Aww Cute

It's one of those quaint little Republican get-togthers. I hope they take lots of pictures.

Nagin attends DLC Convention in Denver

Big Time?

Well he's not quite there yet until Gambit says so... but some guy named Mark is the newest contributor to TPM's After The Levees. Go check it out.

"Fix these raggedy streets"

The quote is from my favorite TV spot of the 2002 mayoral campaign in which then candidate Richard Pennington promised to... well fix the raggedy streets. The reference is to this morning's T-P whose lead story put me in mind of this episode from back in the day.

Football Season Approacheth

That's right we're less than a week away from those awe-inspiring first local news stories featuring fat guys carrying luggage into their training camp dormitories. You can capture some of the pre-season magic with WWL's new Saints Blog.

Funny.. coulda swore we already had one of those.

Martial Law and T-P Crime Porn

G Bitch looks into the numbers behind yesterday's T-P headline.

A huge rise in misdemeanor arrests sounds like the police up to their usual--harassing and dragging away anyone who "looks" like a criminal, especially having dark skin, being male, wearing a big white t-shirt and/or baggy pants, standing on or near a corner, especially in Central City.

Yesterday I started off on an incoherent bit about how the T-P seems to be slanting coverage more and more toward sensationlist stories like the mercy killings case as well as sinking back into the tried and true "if it bleeds it leads" school of lazy journalism that we had come to expect from them pre-K.

Crime porn journalism works upon New Orleans in much the same way that War on Terror rhetoric affects the national political scene. It exploits the Culture of Fear in such a way as to drown out any movement for constructive change in the wake of catastrophe. I expect much more of this from the T-P in the coming months.

Ferry Tale

Resume ferry's hours, council says

The New Orleans City Council added its voice Thursday to the chorus of those asking the state to keep the Algiers-Canal Street ferry running until midnight.

I've never understood why the ferry didn't run 24 hours in the first place. If the justification for extending hours is to serve people who live in the Point and work in the Quarter... how many of those folks are typically home by midnight? I'm guessing not many.

Go, Meemaw, Go

Blanco sues federal agency over offshore environmental damage
7/20/2006, 3:16 p.m. CT
The Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Gov. Kathleen Blanco sued the federal government on Thursday in an ongoing dispute over Louisiana's share of federal royalties generated by oil production off the state's coastline.

The suit accuses the federal Mineral Management Service of disregarding the environmental damage caused by oil and gas exploration, particularly after the damage done to the coastline last year by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Blanco seeks an injunction blocking a scheduled Aug. 15 lease of 4,000 blocks in the western Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas exploration.

The lawsuit is the latest in Louisiana's push for a share of federal royalties from oil and gas production off its coast. The issue has been brought forward every year, so far unsuccessfully, by the state's congressional delegation.

Courtesy Sticker

C. Ray wants your house.

Mayor Ray Nagin, appearing on the Eyewitness Morning News, reiterated his plan to enforce an ordinance giving homeowners until August 29 th - the one year anniversary of Katrina - to do something about their damaged homes or face the prospect of losing it.

Nagin said teams of workers will be sent out as next month to evaluate which homes haven't been gutted or worked on. At that point he said a "courtesy sticker" would be placed on the home warning that if action isn't taken the city will expropriate the land.

Here, Adrastos explains why this move is a particularly discourteous sticking of ACORN to whom Nagin pandered to on this very issue during the campaign.

For the record, I disagree with Adrastos about the 1 year deadline. I think it's yet another tool by which the post-Katrina power structure is working to concentrate wealth in the city.

Cool Photo of the Day

Go see the Metblog

Sinn Fein Must Read of the Day

Boyd Blundell begins an interesting discussion on TPM Cafe with this thought.

New Orleanians are increasingly less likely today to think of themselves as Americans first. The experience of dealing with the lies, the incompetence, the evasion of responsibility, and the sheer indifference has led many to re-evaluate their sense of national identity. This strikes me as a pretty big deal.

Particularly interesting are the comments. I've got some thoughts here... but they're still bouncing around... I may have more on this tomorrow.

Update: Commenters here are already pointing out that "Ellen" is being less than constructively contrary for the sake of being so and has done so previously (not that I would find much fault with that) In this case I think she has something of a point.. albeit likely on accident. She comes close to hitting upon one of the most important aspects of the recovery effort that we see on a daily basis in New Orleans but doesn't play well nationally. There is more to this than just "us" against Washington. Blundell is right on the money in pointing out that the obscene degree of federal obstinancy has caused many New Orleanians to (a little bit more than jokingly) wonder if we really are fully American citizens. The real struggle over how New Orleans will be rebuilt is going on between the powerful and the powerless within the city itself.

Katrina demonstrated to a national audience the wretched results of the last thirty years of war waged by the powerful upon the working class and the urban poor. The disaster was a short play which revealed the now pervasive American attitude which enables the government to engage in total dereliction of responsibility to its own citizenry. In 21st Century America, we neglect our infrastructure, ignore those in peril, and ultimately avert responsibility by blaming the less fortunate for their own plight.

I've spoken previously about the parallel between the post 9/11 and post Katrina missed opportunities to set right long standing injustices. After Katrina, the nation chose to ignore the obvious social injustices revealed by the crisis and instead frame the issue as the fault of those stupid New Orleanians with their corrupt politics and below sea level houses. This is the genesis of the general feeling of ostracization Blundell is referring to. What Ellen almost hits is that the same myths used nationaly to keep New Orleans from recieving the reparations it deserves, are being used by the rich and powerful in New Orleans in order to rebuild the city according their design. And so far, they seem to be winning... or at least.. a daily perusal of the headlines should give us a good idea of who is driving the agenda.

I submit that if the city were truly being rebuilt from a social justice perspective the top items on the daily agenda would be:

• Flood protection
• Affordable housing
• Affordable quality health care

Instead what we seem to be getting from the major local media are

• Crime
• Penny ante "corruption"
• Sensationalism

Who do you think the intended audience is here? And can we take that Pullitzer back now?

It CAN happen here

Maitri points out that even "freedom loving" India has taken to censoring many personal websites. Congress is very close to making this easier to do in the U.S.

Note: Blogger crapped out on me several times before I could post this. (Cue spooky music)

Running Out of Time

When the Corpse wasn't ready with this project by June 1 no one was surprised.... but, at the same time, no one was worried yet. Now that we're coming to the end of July it's not quite as amusing when they keep mucking it up.

Federal engineers announced earlier this month that the 17th Street Canal floodgates and pumps would not be functional on July 7, making it the second missed target since work began in late winter. Initially, the 11 gates and first set of new pumps to move storm water around the gate structure were to have been ready by the June 1 start of this hurricane season. Until the gates are ready, the corps plans to drive sheet piling to block storm surge if necessary.

Along with start dates, the corps also has provided target dates for steadily increasing pump capacity at the canal to reduce the prospect of internal flooding from rainwater if the gates are closed against a storm surge in the lake. But all those dates have come and gone, and, at least for now, corps engineers are saying only that their tentative long-term goals are to have 5,100 cfs capacity available to drain the 17th Street Canal by the end of October -- just a month before the hurricane season ends -- and 7,300 cfs by the start of the 2007 season.

Just how much of that planned capacity will be available at any time during the height of the current season, generally considered to be August and September, depends on a number of variables that are not yet known, corps pump specialist Jim St. Germain said Tuesday.

"We're meeting with our contractors on a daily basis going over all the new modifications," he said. "These are construction dates that depend on everything coming together. And when we feel we have solid dates, we'll put them out there."

Related: Roll Out the Beryl

Mr. Out of Touch

Has anybody seen our friend Rose this week? Did he go on another vacation? Can we bring him back again by talking about chocolate?

What's really going on?

Adrastos has an interesting take on the mercy killings case.

My understanding of the case is that the patients involved were in an hospice program, which means that they were near death before the storm. The hospital's generator failed rather quickly post-K so these patients were in for a very painful and horrible death because of the conditions. Additionally, the doctor who brought these allegations to public attention is a publicity hound whose story has changed 97 times since he appeared on CNN last fall.

No crimes were committed at Memorial Hospital last fall. The doctors and nurses did the best they could in truly horrible conditions. They were stranded at that hospital for nearly a week and inevitably some of the sickest patients died. It's a tragedy but whatever happened at the hospital, no crimes were committed.

I have to admit.. charging doctors and nurses who stayed behind during Katina with homicide seems a bit far reaching. If this is a publicity stunt on Foti's part it's a particularly shameful one.

Bush emergency management plan swings back into action

That old familiar feeling

Waiting around Beirut with bags packed and fingers crossed, U.S. citizens derided the embassy for busy phone lines, a lack of information and gnawing uncertainty over when and whether they will get out. Hundreds were expected to be shipped to Cyprus today, but how long the full evacuation will take remains uncertain.

"I had heard it might take a week, two weeks. You hear so many things," said Pamela Pattie, a 65-year-old professor. "Why in the world aren't we getting it together?"

The frustration has been intensified by news that other countries have already pulled many of their citizens out of Lebanon, efficiently and free of cost. A ferry chartered by the French government carried about 800 of its citizens and several dozen Americans to Cyprus on Monday. The U.S. military evacuated about 60 Americans by helicopter Sunday and Monday.

Other nations have packed people into rented tour buses and driven them over the mountains to Syria. The U.S. State Department has warned Americans against traveling to Syria.

The main U.S. evacuation plan involves a Pentagon-contracted cruise ship, the Orient Queen, due to arrive in Lebanon today to ferry people to Cyprus. The ship can carry about 750 passengers for the five-hour trip. Defense Department officials said other private ships were likely to be hired as well.

Americans have been told to wait for a telephone call that could come in hours — or days. They've also been told they can't board a ship unless they've signed a contract agreeing to repay the U.S. government for the price of their evacuation.

The rules have angered Americans who are already fatigued and nervous after days of explosions. "I'm freaked out that our government is treating us this way," snapped a Rutgers University student who had been studying Arabic at the American University of Beirut. She declined to give her name for fear she would be taken off the passenger list in retribution for criticizing the evacuation effort.

"Are we a Third World country or what?" she said.

Rest assured next week we'll learn who should have moved the school busses to higher ground before the missiles were fired.

Oh no! He'll steal all their retirement money!

Saints, Lay agree to terms

Meffert Out

Greg Meffert, the man responsible for launching the most poorly performing site on the internet, attempting to install surveillance cameras in New Orleans classrooms, as well as not quite winning the battle for free municipal wi-fi, is leaving City Hall apparently to go make millions of dollars somewhere... a largely unremarkable development aside from the fact that it has prompted some particularly hideous sycophantic reporting from Frank Donze this morning.

Greg Meffert, the brash computer whiz recruited by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin in 2002 to bring digital technology to a horse-and-buggy city government, has resigned unexpectedly, becoming the last original member of Nagin's inner circle to leave the administration.

Yup.. he actually used the word, "whiz." And then there's this.

Nagin announced that Mark Kurt will immediately replace Meffert. In a sharp departure from normal procedure, the administration provided no background on Kurt, failing to give basic information such as his age and whether he had been working for the city.

Really? The Mayor's office is being less than forthcoming with what should be public information and this is a "sharp departure"? Could have fooled me. Also could have fooled Clancy DuBos, who I heard on the Garland Robinette show yesterday afternoon talking about how secretive the Nagin administration has been. He even talked about how he recently comiserated WITH DONZE about how hard it is for reporters to get their phone calls returned at City Hall. Maybe Donze figures he can get back in the loop if he puckers up enough.. I don't know.

Also.. for more on the City's bizzare opacity and the T-P's repeated failings to penetrate it see.. just about everything David has written for the past month or so.

Update: Applicants already lining up to replace Meffert. And they come with rec letters

Rundown of Weekend Minutae

1) Okay I'm 32 now... they say it's the new 29 and a half.... I'm pretty sure I stopped maturing at 13 or so... which means I'm younger than I look.... which is a bad thing... I think.

2) Liuzza's is back to serving food.

3) Cafe Atchafalaya is also back after a recent remodeling. Dad took me my brother and Menckles there on Friday night and we found it quite good... not exactly knock your socks off but good.

4) On Saturday night, Cafe Amelie was.. well.. disappointing. This wasn't entirely the restaraunt's fault. For one thing, we sat outside even though we knew it would be really nasty hot and mosquito-ish... and it was. This would have been bearable had we also not been treated to an unfortunate lounge act which consisted of a woman singing non-ironically hammed up and drawn out versions of "My Girl" and "At Last" to an audience of folks from her church group. The citrus glazed shrimp were pretty good but I had trouble refraining from spitting them up as the singer carried on.. "I'm talking 'bout... lemme tell you who I'm talking 'bout... oooh yeah.. oh talking.. I'm talking 'bout..." and so forth. I couldn't decide if the fact of this act was more depressing than the obviously entranced tourists singing along at the table next to us. Fortunately I didn't have to worry about these comical wailings getting stuck in my head for too long because later that night...

5) MOTT minus keyboards and other effects equals purer punk/metal with some.. theatrics.. involved and rocks just as much as one would expect.

6) I was otherwise engaged and unable to witness this fact but.. it bears noticing. The geeks have united. Be very afraid indeed.

7) What I saw of the new Pirate movie was pretty good. Too bad the power went out at the Prytania halfway through. I understand it's supposed to end in a cliffhanger anyway... so I guess this is just preparing me for it.

Obligatory Bastille Day Post

All I can think to do today is recommend Hilary Mantel's A Place of Greater Safety It's a HUGE ambitious novelization of the French Revolution. It might not be for you unless, like me, you're a sucker for the historical fiction genre (I read a lot of Gore Vidal) or, also like me, something of a French Rev geek. If you are... great.. pick this up. Vive La France.

The slow pace of progress

Over 10 months after Katrina and only now is Google Maps beginning to integrate post-K imagery into its New Orleans map set. The photos of parts of New Orleans East, some of Jefferson Parrish, and the Ninth ward appear to have originated shortly after the storm. Here we see the Industrial Canal breach... complete with the infamous barge.

And then there's this

A few upcomming media events folks should be aware of:

• Alternative Media Expo V August 19



• Yes, Virginia, it's the Rising Tide NOLA Blogger Conference
  Keep watching site for details



• There will be geeks eating.. or drinking.. or playing grabass or something tonight at 7:00.



• M.O.T.T. Saturday. Checkpoint's. 8:00 PM

Alcohol and Birthdays

You can still go and wish Lisa a happy 18th anniversary of motherhood... complete with photos of junior's first beer. On a related note... if things go as planned I should be found face-down in a gutter happily clutching a bottle of... something marked with big Xes by the end of this weekend.

Following Up

Gambit's Best of New Orleans survey is now online. Remember, only YOU can prevent this from sucking once again.

Slime slime slime

According to the Batts, if you care enough to act against the destruction of your community, your actions"border on terrorism"

via Northwest Carrollton

Feingold on Gulf Coast rebuilding

When I visited Banda Aceh in February 2006 - a little over a year after the original tsunami hit - though many of the reconstruction programs had yet to be completed, there was visible progress being made, thanks in large part to the generosity of the American taxpayer. I saw homes, roads, buildings, and bridges being built with funds that the American government generously gave to the victims of the tsunami.

What I saw in New Orleans, New Orleans East, the 9th Ward, St. Bernard Parish, and Lakeview, was that in many ways, despite people's tremendous efforts, there has been less progress in those areas than there was in Banda Aceh a year after the tsunami. It is something I will never forget.

link via Gentilly Girl

View from the bottom

This kind of thing actually scares me.

City reinstates abandoned vehicle unit

03:35 PM CDT on Wednesday, July 12, 2006

WWLTV.com

The City of New Orleans announced Wednesday that it has re-instated its Junked and Abandoned Vehicle Unit.

The unit'’s primary responsibility is to respond to complaints of abandoned vehicles around the city. After investigating each complaint, the unit can issue citations, have the vehicle removed and even put up for auction.

At first the unit will only respond to complaints on the West Bank. A state contractor has been clearing the vehicles on the East Bank.

To report abandoned vehicles on the West Bank, residents can call (504) 658-8200. For the East Bank, residents can call toll-free (877) 244-2540.

I park my 94 Tercel on the block but use the bicycle as my primary means of transit... which means the car will sit in the same place on the street for days..Sometimes weeks at a time. About two months ago, a random vandal smashed my rear driver's side window for no apparent reason (certainly not in order to break in as nothing was taken from the car and I keep a lot of crap in there). Because I am (a) perennially near-broke and (b) too lazy to bother spending time and money on what I deem largely cosmetic repairs, the hole has been plugged with Homeland Security standard issue plastic sheeting and duct tape. My concern now is that some of my Y-word neighbors...particularly the ones trying to sell their house across the street may be tempted to report my car as abandoned. Yes there is precedent for this. I'm thinking of spelling out the words "Please Don't Tow Me" in duct tape on the hood. Any better ideas?

It's a start

LRA has a plan to get affordable rental property back up and running in New Orleans.

The Apartment Association of Louisiana estimates that of the 45,000 rental units in the metro area, only about 60% were being lived in. But the federal government has a plan that could help both owners and tenants: a 0% silent mortgage for rental property owners with ten or fewer properties.

“A 0% silent mortgage loan means the mortgage sits there on the property, but you don't pay it back until you transfer the property,” said Walter Leger, a member of the Louisiana Recovery Authority.

And if apartment owners decide against transferring their property, they never have to pay it back.

Here's how it works:

--The government will pay $25,000 per unit to property owners who promise to charge fair market value rent, which, before Katrina, was $780 a month.

--They’ll pay $50,000 to charge less in rent and $75,000 if you charge even less. However, those numbers haven't been worked out yet.

Blogging Around

Exactly! Negligent fucking Homicide. At least they try to get justice for their citizens over there in the United States.


It's officialer. T-P sucks This morning's story about mayoral fundraising left out any mention of the exploits of Billboard Ben. If I'm not mistaken.. his independant pro-Nagin advertising expenses wouldn't factor in to the official campaign finance report... but should be mentioned in a responsible story about these reports.


It might not be time to give up on Meemaw after all.

We're all Wasted

Since today is video share day, here is my modest contribution. It's Bob Pollard performing The Who's Baba O'Reilly with Pearl Jam. GBV did this live during their last New Orleans show.. which was way way waaayy back in the day.

In Louisiana we wouldn't have this problem

Voters could either reject Lieberman in the open primary.. or even send him to the runoff against Lamont. In less democratic electoral systems than ours... such as those in the United States... you end up with herky-jerky end-runs around the rules like this that end up fragmenting rather than building coalitions through the electoral process.

What we're learning at the library this morning

Roosters have an impeccable sense of comic timing.

Headline of the Day Award

Goes to Mr. Clio

Since it worked out so well last time...

You may want to see this year's annual hexing of the hurricanes this Saturday at 7:00 PM. (Click the link for details)

And remember.. Danto likes Florida Water

Frosty Mugs All Around

Liuzza's is back

Speaking of Surveys

How do you expect to create a "walkable" neighborhood with no corner store to walk to?

The survey responses lend support to the idea of trying to prevent the reopening of corner liquor stores that have been magnets for criminal activity, and for adding sidewalks, traffic controls, parks and other features that increase the "walkability" of a neighborhood, a report by the Tulane center says.

And no I don't mean yuppiefied versions of what corner stores might look like to people from Wisconisn that seem to be popping up on Magazine Street lately. I mean real corner groceries that sell cheap po-boys, chinese food, and, yes, liquor, you tight-asses.

Note: Congrats to me for using my favorite pejorative, "yuppie" in consecutive posts. I believe this may be a first for me.

Note: That crashing sound rumbling in from the West is Daisy slamming her fist against the desk as she reads the split infinitive in my previous post. I intend to leave it there as I am quite the bastard.

Election Season

This week's Gambit (not yet online) features the dreaded annual Best of New Orleans survey. As many of you might expect I am continually infuriated by the results provided by Gambit's largely mushbrained yuppie readership. (I really can't imagine why Outback Steakhouse seems to do so well) But.. again many of you might expect.. that I tend to obsessively follow those things which bother me the most. Which is why I am pleased to notice that this year's survey includes a "Best Blog" category. Recently Scout Prime posted a nice little homage to all of the New Orleans bloggers (whose numbers increase by the minute these days) and suggested that they be nominated for some sort of group Koufax award. In lieu of this I think we should just all vote for Oyster. Makes the most sense.. plus if we're nice to him he might let us set up a dunking booth at the Rising Tide Conference that should be loads of fun.

Just One thought for the weekend

Geaux France

Shameless commercialism

No I'm not getting a cut.. I just really like the Dirty Coast T-shirts and therefore don't mind posting their banner here. You can too if you are so minded.

Upcoming events

• In case you haven't been paying attention, Oyster is trying to organize a NOLA blogger's equivalent of Yearly Kos or something to take place around the anniversary of the Katrina landfall. It's a neat.. if ambitious.. idea which I promise not to pooh pooh or make fun of in any way.. mostly because I want to help... but only if there's liquor involved.



• M.O.T.T. this Saturday at One Eyed Jack's or if you miss that see them the following Saturday at Checkpoint's... which happens to be my birthday so you owe me a favor.



• I will post my long anticipated ALA and library renovation story.... soon.. I promise.

LSU Football headed for winless season

Why, you ask?

So it's a totally new library...

..with totally new stuff including a brand spanking new freshly painted white book drop out on the sidewalk.. which is quite easy to distinguish from the multiple green waste receptacles located roughly 30 yards away. To aid passersby in the demystification of this distinction, the words BOOK RETURN have been printed in large black lettering over the slot. Which is why we were completely unsurprised to find that our very first emptying of the new book drop yielded a box of loose twigs and the remnants of two cocktails from the neighborhood drinking establishment. New library... same old public.

Morning Geek Question

Why is Gmail still considered "Beta"?

Back from the long holiday

But STILL working out the kinks in the new library. Soooo... you know.. light posting likely. Apologies all.