Friday, October 12, 2007
One chance
Bobby Jindal's new radio commercials tell voters that we have "only one chance to get it right". Isn't that the same thing Mitch Landrieu told us during the mayor's race? Why are all these politicians lying to us about how many chances are available? I'll bet there's like twenty or so more chances Bobby Jindal knows about right now. Do you think he'll tell us about them? Fat chance! Tell Bobby Jindal to stop hoarding all the chances. Oh and ask him what he thinks the "margin for error" might be while you're at it.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Noteworthy
This morning's T-P
John Georges and his water bottles were last seen, by the way, at the Jena 6 rally back in September.
While there isn't much in his background or his platform to suggest that Georges would garner much support from African-American voters this election, it should be noted that his campaign is paying, at least, cursory attention to some of their concerns. And this is more than can be said for any of his opponents. Especially Bobby Jindal who continues to make a very different sort of appeal.
Protesters call for reopening of SUNOOf course no one is surprised that SUNO is the last college in New Orleans still not back to operating at its flooded campus or that the matter only makes news as the result of a public demonstration on behalf of the school's neglected community. What is a bit more interesting is who we find in attendance.
Posted by The Times-Picayune October 10, 2007 2:24PM
By John Pope
Staff writer
Massed in front of a campus building that has not been touched since Hurricane Katrina two years ago, about 200 placard-waving demonstrators today cheered a procession of speakers who called for immediate action to restore the Southern University at New Orleans campus.
For the past 20 months, SUNO has been housed in temporary buildings about a half-mile away. It is the only local institution of higher education that hasn't returned to its campus.
The only gubernatorial candidate to appear was John Georges, who not only spoke and worked the crowd but also provided 3,000 chilled bottles of water bearing his red, white and blue campaign logo.
"I am the man with a plan, and my plan includes rebuilding SUNO," he said to cheers. "It's the last university to be rebuilt; it should have been the first.
John Georges and his water bottles were last seen, by the way, at the Jena 6 rally back in September.
While there isn't much in his background or his platform to suggest that Georges would garner much support from African-American voters this election, it should be noted that his campaign is paying, at least, cursory attention to some of their concerns. And this is more than can be said for any of his opponents. Especially Bobby Jindal who continues to make a very different sort of appeal.
Sophisticating up the whining
New Orleans's new Inspector General, Robert Cerasoli arrived in town with a promise to encourage more "sophisticated" corruption under his watch. So far he seems to be demonstrating a knack for engaging in the good ol' unrefined public whining already in bountiful supply among local public figures. Cerasoli, who operates his tiny office out of a cubicle in the Loyola University Library, has spent the past few days blowing what appears to be an easily resolvable matter of staffing into a very public and unnecessary clash with the City Attorney's office.
Cerasoli had asked for permission to hire independent attorneys with no connection to the city Law Department in order to avoid some obvious potential conflicts of interest. In response, the City Attorney issued a memo that didn't specifically deny this request, but did point out that it would require some clarification or revision of the law that defines the IG's office.
From yesterday's T-P:
Cerasoli then threw a minor hissy fit publicly accusing the City Attorney of having a "conscience of corruption". Talk about swatting at flies with a Buick. While Cerasoli is technically correct in asserting that his office should be allowed to hire independent legal counsel, his McCarthyesque tactics of plastering people with vague epithets which contain the word "corruption" is troubling. It is not unlike Bobby Jindal's baseless insinuations against his Gubernatorial opponents through the use of the term "old corrupt crowd".
Not only is this kind of childish grandstanding inappropriate, it also calls into question Cerasoli's ability to effectively monitor municipal operations. Should he continue to hammer away at anyone who won't give him exactly what he wants exactly when he wants it he could create a situation where he either has too many unnecessary enemies or is generally not taken seriously enough to do his job.
In other words, rooting out political corruption may take more sophistication than the new Inspector General is himself possessed of.
Cerasoli had asked for permission to hire independent attorneys with no connection to the city Law Department in order to avoid some obvious potential conflicts of interest. In response, the City Attorney issued a memo that didn't specifically deny this request, but did point out that it would require some clarification or revision of the law that defines the IG's office.
From yesterday's T-P:
The memorandum, signed by City Attorney Penya Moses-Fields, said a section of the City Charter cited in the proposed law does not authorize the inspector general "to employ general legal counsel," only "special counsel" to handle specific issues. Only a handful of agencies, such as the Sewerage & Water Board and the Civil Service Commission, are authorized to have full-time outside attorneys.
The Ethics Review Board, the panel appointed in December 2006 to hire an inspector general, is authorized to "retain counsel," but Moses-Fields' memo noted that the proposed new law, like the original 2006 version, specifies that the office of the inspector general "is operationally independent" of the ethics board as well as of the council and the mayor's office.
"It is not feasible for the IG to receive legal counsel from the Ethics Review Board if the IG is to remain 'operationally independent' from" the board, the memo said.
One way to resolve the problem would be to amend the law to specify that being "operationally independent" would not prevent the ethics board and the inspector general from sharing attorneys, legal experts said.
Cerasoli then threw a minor hissy fit publicly accusing the City Attorney of having a "conscience of corruption". Talk about swatting at flies with a Buick. While Cerasoli is technically correct in asserting that his office should be allowed to hire independent legal counsel, his McCarthyesque tactics of plastering people with vague epithets which contain the word "corruption" is troubling. It is not unlike Bobby Jindal's baseless insinuations against his Gubernatorial opponents through the use of the term "old corrupt crowd".
Not only is this kind of childish grandstanding inappropriate, it also calls into question Cerasoli's ability to effectively monitor municipal operations. Should he continue to hammer away at anyone who won't give him exactly what he wants exactly when he wants it he could create a situation where he either has too many unnecessary enemies or is generally not taken seriously enough to do his job.
In other words, rooting out political corruption may take more sophistication than the new Inspector General is himself possessed of.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
"This Stuff Never Gets Old"
The title quote is from Carolina kicker John Kasay describing his feelings after kicking his 11th career game-winning field goal. I think it captures the moment in several interesting ways which should be clear to you by the end of this post.
Prior to Sunday's Saints-Panthers scrum, Menckles and I met up with r and Goldschmidt for brunch at the new L'il Dizzy's Cafe location on Poydras Street. For the few of you who aren't familiar, Li'l Dizzy's is the latest in a series of neighborhood restaurants operated by the Baquet family. Perhaps the most popular prior venues were Zachary's on Oak Street and, before that, Eddie's Restaurant in Gentilly.
Quick aside: New Orleans sports fans will no doubt remember the long and unfortunate advertising relationship that developed between Zachary's and then sports talk radio dude, Kaare Johnson. Johnson, who is currently one of the 13 clowns vying for the open City Council At-Large seat, is your typical New Orleans frat-boy son of privilege. His father, Phil, was best known as the editorialist and part owner of WWL Television. During my youth, each week, Phil would inflict his affected baritone gravitas on New Orleans as he talked generally about how naughty the local pols are and told that same stupid Gift of the Magi story every freaking Christmas. Anyway, since little Kaare needed something to do with himself after his six year bachelor's program at LSU, his daddy's friends allowed him to blabber on the radio... stupidly... about sports and, of course, Zachary's. It's impossible to reproduce in this format, but the experience of Kaare's grating, over-excited, extended syllable, speaking style ruminating on the greatness of Zachary's fried chicken became a never-ending source of humor for his listeners... particularly for r and myself. Once, while waiting in line for tickets at the Saints' practice facility, we happened to see Kaare and mockingly asked him if he had any Zachary's chicken on him. Apparently not getting the joke, Kaare told us in all seriousness, "Noooo. You gotta go to OOOOak Street." This is still a catch phrase we return to every so often. It's probably not as funny as we think... but... maybe you had to be there.
The new Lil Dizzy's on Poydras is part of the Whitney Bank Wyndham hotel conversion. On Sunday morning, they were majorly in the weeds due to what appeared to be an unholy combination of a short staff, a pre-game rush, and an attempt to serve a small banquet party in addition to the regular customers. So the staff was visibly nervous and shaken but fairly graceful even if they did forget to fill our mimosas a few times. But we're extremely low maintenance customers so it wasn't a problem. And the brunch was buffet style so we got fed. Oh and, yes, the fried chicken is indescribably good.
Aside Two: Lil Dizzy's owner Wayne Baquet can currently be seen on the teevee endorsing John Georges, of all people, for Governor.
Updated Aside: Oyster expounds upon this in comments
Toward the end of our meal the crowd in the cafe began to thin dramatically. This was partially due to Saints fans making their way over to the Superdome in time for kickoff. But the exodus may have been accelerated by the appearance of a four-piece... um... amateur brass band in the corner of the room. The band of pre-teens were either attempting to serenade the guests (poorly) or were just getting in a little Sunday morning practice... which they are in great need of. We suspect that the kids were related to the owners in some way. Our waitress actually offered an unprompted apology of sorts when she brought our check. It wasn't necessary, of course. We had already accepted the musical recital as a tone poem honoring the 2007 New Orleans Saints and were thoroughly enjoying the performance for its fittingly comedic lack of virtuosity. Fully prepped for the afternoon's entertainment by our morning balladeers, we headed over to the Dome for more follies.
Sunday Follies: (As always, game photos are shamelessly stolen from the T-P gallery)
On the bike ride home from the Superdome, I passed a pickup truck sporting one of those "Winning is an Attitude" bumper stickers. It made me smile as I thought about the multiple modes of homeopathic cures and oddball theories Saints fans are sure to offer in the coming days and weeks to explain the team's "shocking" 0-4 record.
Football fans are a funny lot. This week, Saints fans are reexamining every aspect of their lives from their diet to their wardrobe to the way they fold their towels in the sad but charming hope that their personal habits might have some mystical effect on their team's performance. There are stories this week about the Saints themselves engaging in various arts and crafts projects such as exhuming their buried awards from last season and... Soupy's bizarre stunt with the wagon described here. Superstition is cute, I suppose, but ultimately I think it serves as a placebo cure for people who prefer not to see things as they actually are.
The phrase "Winning is an Attitude" derives from a similar mode of distracted scapegoating, thoughtlessness. People either perform or they don't. Management (in this case football management) has no business preaching to individual adults about "attitude". It is a paranoid resort to nebulous pop-psychology when a simple statement of the facts would suffice. I discussed this briefly with Wintermute in a previous comment thread. Quoting myself:
I'd be more worried about the "attitude" of fans who place so much emphasis on winning that they too often deny themselves the opportunity to enjoy the experience of... well... being football fans. Sure, the Saints kind of suck this year. But so what? It's your team, New Orleans. Every week, large men in black leotards still wear your Fleur-de-Lis and run around in your Superdome colliding with one another at unhealthy speeds for your amusement. Regardless of the record, it's always worth the twelve dollar bloody mary. Plus, this is a team in the process of going from "worst" to "first" to "worster" in one of the more improbable roller coaster rides in sports history. This is some fascinating shit. Or, to quote John Kasay once more, "This Stuff Never Gets Old".
I'll be out of town during next week's game so I can't guarantee I'll get to see much of it. The Saints have a date with the Atlanta Falcons on October 21 in your Superdome. I hope to see all of you there.
Prior to Sunday's Saints-Panthers scrum, Menckles and I met up with r and Goldschmidt for brunch at the new L'il Dizzy's Cafe location on Poydras Street. For the few of you who aren't familiar, Li'l Dizzy's is the latest in a series of neighborhood restaurants operated by the Baquet family. Perhaps the most popular prior venues were Zachary's on Oak Street and, before that, Eddie's Restaurant in Gentilly.
Quick aside: New Orleans sports fans will no doubt remember the long and unfortunate advertising relationship that developed between Zachary's and then sports talk radio dude, Kaare Johnson. Johnson, who is currently one of the 13 clowns vying for the open City Council At-Large seat, is your typical New Orleans frat-boy son of privilege. His father, Phil, was best known as the editorialist and part owner of WWL Television. During my youth, each week, Phil would inflict his affected baritone gravitas on New Orleans as he talked generally about how naughty the local pols are and told that same stupid Gift of the Magi story every freaking Christmas. Anyway, since little Kaare needed something to do with himself after his six year bachelor's program at LSU, his daddy's friends allowed him to blabber on the radio... stupidly... about sports and, of course, Zachary's. It's impossible to reproduce in this format, but the experience of Kaare's grating, over-excited, extended syllable, speaking style ruminating on the greatness of Zachary's fried chicken became a never-ending source of humor for his listeners... particularly for r and myself. Once, while waiting in line for tickets at the Saints' practice facility, we happened to see Kaare and mockingly asked him if he had any Zachary's chicken on him. Apparently not getting the joke, Kaare told us in all seriousness, "Noooo. You gotta go to OOOOak Street." This is still a catch phrase we return to every so often. It's probably not as funny as we think... but... maybe you had to be there.
The new Lil Dizzy's on Poydras is part of the Whitney Bank Wyndham hotel conversion. On Sunday morning, they were majorly in the weeds due to what appeared to be an unholy combination of a short staff, a pre-game rush, and an attempt to serve a small banquet party in addition to the regular customers. So the staff was visibly nervous and shaken but fairly graceful even if they did forget to fill our mimosas a few times. But we're extremely low maintenance customers so it wasn't a problem. And the brunch was buffet style so we got fed. Oh and, yes, the fried chicken is indescribably good.
Aside Two: Lil Dizzy's owner Wayne Baquet can currently be seen on the teevee endorsing John Georges, of all people, for Governor.
Updated Aside: Oyster expounds upon this in comments
Well, since Georges poured in over $100k in support of Baquet's candidacy for State Senate in a special election of summer of '05, and offered to buy out at least one rival campaign, I'd say Baquet (former vice president at Georges company Imperial Trading) owes him a commercial or two. Derrick Shepherd eventaully won the race getting over 50% in the primary.
Toward the end of our meal the crowd in the cafe began to thin dramatically. This was partially due to Saints fans making their way over to the Superdome in time for kickoff. But the exodus may have been accelerated by the appearance of a four-piece... um... amateur brass band in the corner of the room. The band of pre-teens were either attempting to serenade the guests (poorly) or were just getting in a little Sunday morning practice... which they are in great need of. We suspect that the kids were related to the owners in some way. Our waitress actually offered an unprompted apology of sorts when she brought our check. It wasn't necessary, of course. We had already accepted the musical recital as a tone poem honoring the 2007 New Orleans Saints and were thoroughly enjoying the performance for its fittingly comedic lack of virtuosity. Fully prepped for the afternoon's entertainment by our morning balladeers, we headed over to the Dome for more follies.
Sunday Follies: (As always, game photos are shamelessly stolen from the T-P gallery)
- For the first time this season, the Saints were not physically manhandled by their opponent. The Saints offensive line (with one notable exception) played its best game to date providing adequate running room for a still-underperforming Reggie Bush and near perfect protection for one-armed Quarterback Drew Brees who managed nonetheless to thoroughly stink up the place. Even with ample time to throw, Brees repeatedly misfired throwing too high for or behind his receivers. Brees's inaccuracy was responsible for more incomplete passes than the combined number of drops (and there were many) committed by his receivers. He also threw one terrible interception on the first series where he appeared to badly underthrow an open Lance Moore. Brees's second interception was the result of a ball that Devery Henderson should have had but dropped into the hands of a Carolina defender. (More on Devery later) In 2006, Drew Brees was an MVP candidate and the NFC's starting quarterback in the Pro-Bowl. This season, he is rated 21st among NFL quarterbacks with one touchdown pass compared with nine interceptions. No other player's performance better captures the difference between the 2006 and 2007 Saints. And it's clear that Brees himself is every bit as responsible as his supporting cast for this year's failings.
Brees (here cleaning up after his first pick Sunrday) looks like a better tackler than a passer this season - There are rumors circulating about some mysterious injury to Brees's surgically repaired, bionic right shoulder that has limited him this season. I've been inclined to discount this kind of talk as it is more the result of fan speculation than concrete reporting. But after watching the Saints trot out the same "dink and dunk" passing game plan over the first four games, I'm beginning to wonder if there is something they're not telling us. The Saints are reluctant to throw the ball downfield. And when they do so, the results are decidedly ugly. This might be okay, if Deuce McAllister were still around to eat up yards on the ground, but the Saints are relying on a slot receiver to carry the rushing load for them this season so they'll need to find a way to move the ball besides throwing five yard outs and praying for more roughing-the-passer penalties. By the way, we're all getting a little tired of every running play featuring a fake end-around action. It's not fooling anyone.
Bush displays his patented dive-for-the-sideline move. This tactic twice failed to move the chains on Sunday - Like the offense, the Saints defense played its most physical game of the season. Hollis Thomas made his first start of 2007. Hollis must be back on his special asthma medication as his five tackles and two assists contributed to a staunch run defense which held the Panthers to a respectable 88 yards rushing. Will Smith got to David Carr for the Saints' first sack of the season. Smith took his frustration out on Carr when he got there knocking him out for much of the second quarter. After the game, Carr had this to say about the hit.
"We came in here and started praying and started loosening it up," Carr said. "(I) took everything they had in the training room; swallowed it, shot it up, did everything. When I got out there, it started loosening up.
A pill-popping faith-healer kind of player, then?
"It was like someone had stabbed me in the back every time I threw the ball. But I had to do it for these guys. They work so hard, and the defense was playing great."
Said Fox: "The fact that (Carr) came back is a tribute to the kind of player he is."
Bless me, Father for I have allowed myself to be sacked by a Saint. Umm..... It won't happen again. - Tackle Jamaal Brown continues to sucktastically jump offsides, hold, and negate big plays with his various penalties. Sunday, Brown killed an Aaron Stecker touchdown reception by lining up incorrectly. Coach Soupy briefly pulled him from the game. Last year, Soupy first caught our eye by physically abusing his players on the sideline. From what we could tell all Brown received Sunday was an earful. Maybe next time there will be some fun shoving. Although... if I were Soupy, I'm not so sure I'd want any part of that.
Jamaal Brown, seen here doing his job for a change. - Good Devery Henderson: Devery Henderson had, in some respects, his best game of the season Sunday. Devery is the team's fastest sprinter. This makes him its most dangerous playmaker... when he catches the ball. Devery made three spectacular plays Sunday. In the first quarter, Brees... catching the Panthers offsides, decided to take a rare chance at chucking one deep for Henderson who shook free for a 32 yard gain setting up a game-tying field goal. In the second quarter, Devery made a crucial third-down grab while falling backwards to keep another game-tying drive alive for the Saints. And finally, in the third quarter, Devery turned in one of the game's most spectacular plays taking in a pass from Brees, outrunning the Panther defense to the sideline where he made an outstanding move to break another tackle and very nearly scored. The play went for 56 of Henderson's 101 yards receiving.
Bad Devery Henderson: Late in the game, Devery dropped a deep pass that fell into the waiting arms of Carolina defender Chris Harris for a drive killing interception. Although the Saints defense bailed him out by taking the ball back on the very next play, this was still a critical error and all too typical of the maddeningly inconsistent Henderson's play. After the game, he actually appeared to be on the verge of tears.
Oh Noes!!
While Devery Henderson is still useful, he just is not reliable enough to serve as a number one or two receiver. But since Marques Colston seems to be missing in action, and since numerous other Saints receivers have their own bouts with the dropsies (Yes, Copper dropped another two balls Sunday) Devery sees more action than he can actually handle. An over-the-hill Joe Horn would still be a better starter on this team. Meanwhile, Lance Moore continues to catch everything that gets thrown at him. He should probably start next week. - In addition to not getting pushed around as much, the Saints D was dramatically improved against the pass. Sure they were torched once by Kerry Colbert for a 43 yard gain near the end of the first half and again by Steve Smith for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. But by and large, they kept the Panthers in check and even came up with a huge turnover that should have put the Saints in position to win late.
Mike Mckenzie, NOT the Saints' marquee free agent acquisition this year, makes a big interception in the fourth quarter. - Uh oh, the kicker still sucks. Olindo Mare, who the Saints acquired specifically because of his strong leg, missed a 54 yard attempt wide to the left which would have put the Saints up by three with 2:19 remaining on the clock. Earlier Mare completed a 93 yard, and eleven minute, Saints drive by kicking a 20 yard attempt low and into the center of the Panthers rush. The 20 yarder took a lot of wind out of the Saints' sails and the long one just killed them. If you're counting at home, that makes three out of four losses that this site and its commenters have linked in some way to the fact that the kicker sucks.
It should be noted that Mare is only the third player in Saints history to appear in a regular season game wearing uniform number 2. The previous owners of that number were Quarterback, author, honored literacy advocate, and maddening football enigma Aaron Brooks (2000-2005) and kicker Chip Lohmiller (1995) The Chip Lohmiller experience was one of the more surreal moments in Saints history. Lohmiller was brought on to replace longtime fan favorite and future Hall of Famer Morten Andersen who was dumped by the Saints during a particularly hard-headed contract dispute. (Andersen, who later signed with the hated Atlanta Falcons actually described the experience as being "ripped apart" and then "made whole again" by Atlanta.) Naturally, Lohmiller was a basket case and had to be replaced in mid-season. It's hard to watch Olindo Mare out there and not be reminded of Lohmiller. Luckily for the Saints, a far more consitent Doug Brien was waiting in the wings in 1995. This year the free agent pool includes... well... the guy in the post below this one.
This just in: The Saints are trying out several kickers this week. You can read about it here.
This also just in: Olindo Mare was found in his apartment last night after a botched suicide attempt. He had affixed a noose to his ceiling fan, placed it around his neck and attempted to kick the stool out from underneath himself. But... he missed.
Rules to live by: Politicians should not allow themselves to be photographed with Ashley Morris and Saints players should not be assigned uniform number 2.
On the bike ride home from the Superdome, I passed a pickup truck sporting one of those "Winning is an Attitude" bumper stickers. It made me smile as I thought about the multiple modes of homeopathic cures and oddball theories Saints fans are sure to offer in the coming days and weeks to explain the team's "shocking" 0-4 record.
Football fans are a funny lot. This week, Saints fans are reexamining every aspect of their lives from their diet to their wardrobe to the way they fold their towels in the sad but charming hope that their personal habits might have some mystical effect on their team's performance. There are stories this week about the Saints themselves engaging in various arts and crafts projects such as exhuming their buried awards from last season and... Soupy's bizarre stunt with the wagon described here. Superstition is cute, I suppose, but ultimately I think it serves as a placebo cure for people who prefer not to see things as they actually are.
The phrase "Winning is an Attitude" derives from a similar mode of distracted scapegoating, thoughtlessness. People either perform or they don't. Management (in this case football management) has no business preaching to individual adults about "attitude". It is a paranoid resort to nebulous pop-psychology when a simple statement of the facts would suffice. I discussed this briefly with Wintermute in a previous comment thread. Quoting myself:
None of this has anything to do with "mental jinxes" or attitude or what is or is not buried behind the practice field. All of that is just... well... bullshit dreamed up by people who don't like to live in the real world.When football coaches complain about "attitude" what they're really doing is engaging in a cowardly power struggle with their employees; bullying them into accepting a disproportionate share of the blame for a team failing. Fans who paste "Winning is an Attitude" sticker to their trucks are simply enabling this kind of snide intimidation.
You either block the guy in front of you or you don't. You either catch the ball or you don't. It's that simple.
It's also not the end of the world if you don't accomplish those things. One reason people get hung up on superstition or "attitude" is that they have trouble accepting failure. They should grow the fuck up. Stuff sucks sometimes.
I'd be more worried about the "attitude" of fans who place so much emphasis on winning that they too often deny themselves the opportunity to enjoy the experience of... well... being football fans. Sure, the Saints kind of suck this year. But so what? It's your team, New Orleans. Every week, large men in black leotards still wear your Fleur-de-Lis and run around in your Superdome colliding with one another at unhealthy speeds for your amusement. Regardless of the record, it's always worth the twelve dollar bloody mary. Plus, this is a team in the process of going from "worst" to "first" to "worster" in one of the more improbable roller coaster rides in sports history. This is some fascinating shit. Or, to quote John Kasay once more, "This Stuff Never Gets Old".
I'll be out of town during next week's game so I can't guarantee I'll get to see much of it. The Saints have a date with the Atlanta Falcons on October 21 in your Superdome. I hope to see all of you there.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Place holder
If you're here today to read about yesterday's Saints game, have patience. The post is coming but it is going to be pretty long. In the meantime, I would like you to consider this photo Varg found of the man who could soon become the Saints' new kicker and consider how easily the addition of a "hot chick" would qualify it for inclusion on this site.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
The value of good reporting
This week's T-P story by Katy Reckdahl covered an incident in Treme where 20 NOPD cruisers broke up a peaceful funeral procession. It's only the latest in a series of such outrages and I posted the initial article here on Wednesday. In the article, Reckdahl repeated the consensus belief of the marchers that the police were responding to complaints lodged by "newcomers" to the neighborhood who didn't understand the long history of these kinds of funeral processions. While I suspect that this aspect of the story is likely true, Reckdahl did a poor job of checking her facts. I and several other commenters on Wednesday worried about the lack of quotes from any of the complainants and wondered, as mominem put it, "if we are getting the whole story".
Today, Karen follows up with this.
At New Orleans News Notes, Media Maven more thoroughly examines the flaws in the reporting here.
Biased, incomplete reporting is bad reporting... and in this case, potentially dangerous... whether you agree with the reporter's biases or not. By giving a flawed report on this problem, is Ms Reckdahl helping or hurting the cause of those with whom she is in sympathy?
Today, Karen follows up with this.
I have a friend who is one of the "new comers" in Treme. She did not call the Police and she has no idea who did but she was singled out as the snitch.
The rest of the night the crowd that had assembled stood in front of her house screaming and throwing things. She did speak to Katy in depth and I guess she had nothing to say that would support the assertion that "they" the newcomers are trying to ruin Treme.
At New Orleans News Notes, Media Maven more thoroughly examines the flaws in the reporting here.
In the Reckdahl articles we have anonymous sources, unsupported statements and questionable quality of support (a random resident isn't exactly an authority). Did the copy editors raise concerns? Reckdahl might be right that "newcomers" are to blame, but her articles doesn't try to answer that question.
Biased, incomplete reporting is bad reporting... and in this case, potentially dangerous... whether you agree with the reporter's biases or not. By giving a flawed report on this problem, is Ms Reckdahl helping or hurting the cause of those with whom she is in sympathy?
Quote of the day
From Bill Simmons's ESPN.com column:
A reader from Brooklyn named Eric asks, "Did you watch Peter King's Saints feature on 'Inside the NFL' this week? I feel like I gained incredible insight into the Saints' chances this week against Carolina. To start with, Sean Payton staged a mock funeral for their 2006 year, complete with a priest (not to mention Drew Brees also was symbolically buried -- in a city that still believes in voodoo, is this something you want to do to your quarterback?), and King tells us later that for this week's practice, Payton brought out a wagon and filled it with empty chairs. The message was meant to be that no one is on the Saints bandwagon anymore. Something about these blatant symbolic motivational techniques unnerved me. And then I realized the problem: Sean Payton is a sorority girl trapped in a coach's body. I might have lost enough confidence to even take David Carr on the road."
Friday, October 05, 2007
Stuff to Do
My still-sore throat due to residual skank-flu left me less than enthusiastic about the weekend thus no events rundown was posted here. (It may also be responsible for my heightened crankiness.... even for me... in recent posts but that's another matter.)
However, if you're going to the Freret Market tomorrow, you may consider purchasing some art from this folk.
That's it. I'm going to lie down now.
However, if you're going to the Freret Market tomorrow, you may consider purchasing some art from this folk.
That's it. I'm going to lie down now.
City Tax Farming Contract Ruled Unconstitiutional
Tax law ruled unconstitutionalThis is one of the uglier manifestations of political cronies benefiting from privatization of government services. In this case, a collection agency is paid a fee for tracking down delinquent taxes. The 30 percent fee is appended directly to the taxpayer's bill. As is often the case in miserable times, the good money is made in hunting misery bounty.
30 percent penalty set on delinquencies
Friday, October 05, 2007
By Gordon Russell
The beneficiaries of a controversial contract to collect delinquent property taxes in New Orleans may have to return around $30 million they grossed over the life of the deal under a ruling handed down by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal this week.
The appellate court deemed unconstitutional a 1998 city law that established a 30 percent penalty on delinquent taxes for the purpose of paying the Texas law firm that won the collections contract.
The firm, now called Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, shared its fees with a local group with strong political ties called United Governmental Services of Louisiana.
But bounty hunting, being the miserable business that it is, requires an especially amoral disposition in those who seek its ill-gotten fortunes. Just what sort of folk are we thinking about here? Yeah.. the usual.
The contract, signed in 1998, was among the more controversial of Morial's tenure, in part because of the winning partnership's nebulous duties and in part because of its political pedigree.
Partners in United Governmental Services include restaurateur Sam Kogos, a member of Morial's inner circle; lawyer John Keller, a partner with Morial's uncle Glenn Haydel in a lucrative Regional Transit Authority management contract; lawyer William Grace, who was a Morial appointee to the Sewerage & Water Board; and businessman Westervelt "Westy" Ballard, Grace's brother-in-law.
In a separate case, Haydel pleaded guilty to bilking the RTA of $550,000. He is serving a two-year term in federal prison. Keller pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of knowing about, but failing to report, wire fraud committed by Haydel and others.
Any minute now the NOLA-hating Yuppie Left will jump out of its chair and start screaming once again about how this unique New Orleans crony-capitalism can only be cleaned up by young professional reformers from the civilized world. And any minute now, they'll again be not thinking big enough.
Just last week, Paul Krugman pointed out that the same kind of brutal cronyism is being perpetrated on a much grander scale at the federal level. It's astonishing that Federal tax collection and even US military operations are conducted by mercenary outfits for private gain. It's not quite as astonishing... but every bit as repulsive... that municipal and state governments around the country exhibit these same symptoms of societal rot turning the very nuts and bolts of public institutions into private revenue farms.
But the Yuppie Left won't acknowledge this. It interferes with their favorite passtime of telling everyone that if we just turn down the music, build a few more condos, fix the broken windows, and get a real job then maybe we'll be worthy of less scorn. And only then will the corruption be sophisticated enough to justify fixing our Federally flooded city.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Sophisticating up the Corruption
Quote of the day: Bernazzani: "We have some ongoing investigations, as we speak, Once they come up, they'll rock the city again."
(via ATP)
(via ATP)
Nossiter's Harry Lee Obit
Every bit as hacktacular as one might expect. Granted, Lee was indeed a complicated figure but Nossiter, in his own unique fashion, plays the facts with an almost perfectly tone-deaf lack of understanding. And, of course, the usual inaccuracies are thrown in for yucks (between the fat jokes, that is).
The other day, the T-P ran a thorough obit of Lee that more accurately portrayed the man's life and the good and bad aspects of his career. Nossiter's half-completed homework assignment serves as yet another slam against the local "buffoonery" for the enjoyment of his national audience. Maybe Nossiter can serve as a consultant when Fox decides to write in a Sheriff Lee type character to the K-Ville cast.
(Nossiter link via Varg, BTW)
He was born in the back room of the family laundry business on Carondelet Street in New Orleans in 1932 into an immigrant family that spoke Chinese at home and were in a lonely minority in a Southern city that has never had a large Asian population.First of all, I'd like to see Nossiter explain that to the city's sizable Vietnamese poluation. What's worse, the very neighborhood where Lee was born in that Carondelet Street laundry was actually known as New Orleans's "Chinatown" from about the 1870s to the 1930s. Here's a snip from what I could find in T-P back issues.
Final remnant of city’s Chinatown cleared for the ax
Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA)
January 19, 2005
Author: Bruce Eggler
Staff writer
Marketplace of the past
For about 60 years, ending in the 1930s, the two-block stretch of Tulane Avenue between South Rampart and Saratoga streets was the heart of the Chinatown district, where Chinese immigrants and their descendants sold sandalwood, firecrackers, litchi nuts and Chinese musical instruments. Other merchandise apparently included opium and other drugs for the "pleasure palaces" of Storyville, the red-light district a few blocks away.
The Chinatown district also was home to Chinese laundries and restaurants, all centered on a market on the downriver side of the 1100 block of Tulane.
Many early jazz musicians frequented Chinatown, buying gongs and cymbals there, eating at its restaurants and procuring less respectable goods and services, historians say.
In the late 1930s, the Chinese market was torn down to make room for a parking lot, and the Chinese shopkeepers moved away, many of them to Bourbon Street. In 1950, an oil company built a 10-story office building on the site of the old market.
In 1958, many of Chinatown’s remaining buildings were demolished to make way for more office buildings, leaving just a handful of structures. One of those, a former laundry at 160 S. Rampart, was torn down last year.
That left the two-story brick building at 1120 Tulane Ave. Although apparently built in the early 20th century, the structure’s facade has been covered in recent decades with white panels that destroyed the original architectural details.
The other day, the T-P ran a thorough obit of Lee that more accurately portrayed the man's life and the good and bad aspects of his career. Nossiter's half-completed homework assignment serves as yet another slam against the local "buffoonery" for the enjoyment of his national audience. Maybe Nossiter can serve as a consultant when Fox decides to write in a Sheriff Lee type character to the K-Ville cast.
(Nossiter link via Varg, BTW)
Continuing to watch the city die
Block by block.
One of the oldest and most historically significant structures on St Charles Ave is being gutted and turned into a Borders. Aren't we lucky.
Update: Post title is a little dramatic. It's not the worst thing that could have happened at that corner. They certainly could have tried to shove in more condos there. But it does ruin the historic interior of the Bultman building and it threatens the several independent book stores already operating uptown. And Borders is not one of my favorite companies so this still looks like a negative to me. It would be nice to see another deli take over the still dead and rotting former Fortissimo building across the street.
Further Update: The post title is not just a little dramatic It's spectacular-over-the-top lunacy. I really hate it when I write stuff like that. In my defense, it was 1:00 AM... and I was a bit tipsy.
One of the oldest and most historically significant structures on St Charles Ave is being gutted and turned into a Borders. Aren't we lucky.
Update: Post title is a little dramatic. It's not the worst thing that could have happened at that corner. They certainly could have tried to shove in more condos there. But it does ruin the historic interior of the Bultman building and it threatens the several independent book stores already operating uptown. And Borders is not one of my favorite companies so this still looks like a negative to me. It would be nice to see another deli take over the still dead and rotting former Fortissimo building across the street.
Further Update: The post title is not just a little dramatic It's spectacular-over-the-top lunacy. I really hate it when I write stuff like that. In my defense, it was 1:00 AM... and I was a bit tipsy.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
"The Douchebag Movement"
Still going strong according to the results of the 2007 Yellow Blog Douchebag Referendum.
Thanks to all who participated. You may think me cheap for commemorating this with essentially the same link that I posted last year but, in truth, you have Blake Haney to thank for it since he serendipitously threw a link up today to that remarkable site and, in the process, provided me with a title for this post.
Thanks to all who participated. You may think me cheap for commemorating this with essentially the same link that I posted last year but, in truth, you have Blake Haney to thank for it since he serendipitously threw a link up today to that remarkable site and, in the process, provided me with a title for this post.
Thank God We've Got NOPD
To break up our peaceful spontaneous emotional gatherings.
Now police in this town have an awfully bad time of things as it is but when you read something like this you have to wonder not only about departmental priorities, but also about how these officers can live with themselves sometimes.
Of course, maybe it wouldn't be such a big deal if the new Yuppie neighbors would realize that they haven't just moved to Topeka.
But I keep forgetting I'm not supposed to complain about all the new young professionals since they're all here to help us backward dumbfucks become civilized or something like that.
Update: More from Ashley who seems to agree with me.... although somehow I doubt that his new friend Virginia Boulet would.
Updater: More of the same from G-Bitch who writes
And this, I think, is what continues to annoy me... almost as much as the inherent class bias. Some people have an absurdly low tolerance for the minor inconveniences of living with or near other people. I really don't understand this.
Sometimes a squad car arrives and quietly follows the parade. Other times, an officer will emerge and ask for the bandleader, then discuss the reason for the parade and the planned route. In those cases, the two parties may negotiate a different route or ending point, but the parade typically is allowed to continue.
But on Monday night, the squad car meant the parade was over. The band had just launched into the funeral hymn, "I'll Fly Away," and some musicians had tears running down their faces as they sang the lyrics: "One glad morning, when this life is over, I'll fly away. When I die, hallelujah by and by, I'll fly away." At that point, officers used the car's intercom to tell band members that if they continued playing, they would be arrested.
Most musicians kept playing, as they walked into the parking lot. "I wasn't trying to defy police," one trombone player said. "But I was just carried by emotion."
Officers repeated their message, with little effect, so they began running into the crowd and grabbing anyone with an instrument. Some officers grabbed at mouthpieces, others tried to seize drumsticks out of hands.
James' sister, Nicole James-Francois was shocked. "There were so many police cars," she said. The scene was so peaceful and beautiful while the band was playing the hymn, she said. "Then it become almost something demonic, with all these officers saying, 'Don't you play.' "
Soon, 20 squad cars were lining the blocks of North Robertson between St. Philip and Dumaine streets, filling the night with red and blue flashing lights.
Now police in this town have an awfully bad time of things as it is but when you read something like this you have to wonder not only about departmental priorities, but also about how these officers can live with themselves sometimes.
Of course, maybe it wouldn't be such a big deal if the new Yuppie neighbors would realize that they haven't just moved to Topeka.
The confrontation spurred cries in the neighborhood about the over-reaction and disproportionate enforcement by police, who had often turned a blind eye to the traditional memorial ceremonies. Still others say the incident is a sign of a greater attack on the cultural history of the old city neighborhood by well-heeled newcomers attracted to Treme by the very history they seem to threaten.
Police say Monday's response was in part generated from unspecified complaints.
But I keep forgetting I'm not supposed to complain about all the new young professionals since they're all here to help us backward dumbfucks become civilized or something like that.
Update: More from Ashley who seems to agree with me.... although somehow I doubt that his new friend Virginia Boulet would.
Updater: More of the same from G-Bitch who writes
I live here because of the culture whether I participate in in 24/7 or not at all. I do not find the sound of a brass band annoying as it passes or lingers near my block. I think fondly of my grandfather when I do hear one. It is what makes this New Orleans instead of Baltimore, Evanston or Seattle. And if you don’t want to hear it, WHY the fuck move to the TREME?
And this, I think, is what continues to annoy me... almost as much as the inherent class bias. Some people have an absurdly low tolerance for the minor inconveniences of living with or near other people. I really don't understand this.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Hope I die before I get old
The first category during last night's rousing session of barroom trivia was "Movies". In this case, the movies in question all happened to be 1980s John Hughes flicks. Therefore every other question contained a reference to Molly Ringwald. After about question five, some dude in the corner piped up, "Who the fuck is Molly Ringwald?" The bar became silent for about two beats before the bartender, logically, asked to see the kid's ID. It turns out, however, that it is entirely possible for a person to have no frame of reference for this topic and still be of legal drinking age.
What's worse is that our team couldn't even prove that old adage about wisdom accompanying age since we only managed to finish second. Granted, the team that finished first was comprised of Clancy Dubos and Bobby Jindal and we already know that they have a virtual monopoly on all things "Gen-X" so we can't feel all that bad, I suppose. Maybe next time if Jindal will actually participate in a Gubernatorial forum instead of playing bar trivia, then I'll have a chance to win something.
What's worse is that our team couldn't even prove that old adage about wisdom accompanying age since we only managed to finish second. Granted, the team that finished first was comprised of Clancy Dubos and Bobby Jindal and we already know that they have a virtual monopoly on all things "Gen-X" so we can't feel all that bad, I suppose. Maybe next time if Jindal will actually participate in a Gubernatorial forum instead of playing bar trivia, then I'll have a chance to win something.
Bummer
No reason to watch The Next Iron Chef, I guess. Thanks, Ashley.
I should mention, however, that in addition to ruining the endings to stuff, Ash has put together a very informative post on the folks vying for Next Iron Council Person.
I should mention, however, that in addition to ruining the endings to stuff, Ash has put together a very informative post on the folks vying for Next Iron Council Person.
Monday, October 01, 2007
College football makes no sense
Failing to put away Tulane for an entire first half is hardly the kind of performance one would expect to vault a team to number one in the AP poll. In fact, it isn't altogether out of bounds to begin to consider firing the coach.
In case you're living under a rock..
... a rock with an internet connection, I guess... you should be aware that Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee has passed away this morning following a frighteningly rapid onset of complications from his ongoing leukemia treatments.
Lee was a colorful and controversial figure on the local political scene for nearly three decades alternately beloved and despised for varying reasons. Lee's legacy will undoubtedly be closely tied to the strange politics of race in Orleans and Jefferson all of which we can discuss later. For now, it's sufficient to note that an era has ended in local politics in tragic fashion.
Update: Very thorough obit from the T-P
Lee was a colorful and controversial figure on the local political scene for nearly three decades alternately beloved and despised for varying reasons. Lee's legacy will undoubtedly be closely tied to the strange politics of race in Orleans and Jefferson all of which we can discuss later. For now, it's sufficient to note that an era has ended in local politics in tragic fashion.
Update: Very thorough obit from the T-P
Crucial issue of the morning
Go see Haney now to get in on the "best iced coffee" discussion.
New Orleans, as many of you know, is one of the great coffee towns in America. The Louisiana State Museum maintains an exhibit in the Cabildo Armory that treats the history of the coffee trade at the port of New Orleans and its lasting cultural impact. A few highlights:
The highlight indicates the sentence that brings the largest smile to my face. Also, I should point out that the "Coffee houses" of the day more often than not traded in stronger drink than just coffee. The New Orleans "coffee house" of the 19th and early 20th century was often interchangeable with the saloon.
And there were quite more than a few of them as this FrenchQuarter.com article indicates.
Today, there aren't exactly 500 coffee houses in town but there is still quite a good number from a surprising variety of operators. So, again, go visit Haney and give some love to your favorite.
And, yes, the evil empire does have a foothold here... but I can't imagine patronizing them except in the most dire of emergencies.
New Orleans, as many of you know, is one of the great coffee towns in America. The Louisiana State Museum maintains an exhibit in the Cabildo Armory that treats the history of the coffee trade at the port of New Orleans and its lasting cultural impact. A few highlights:
Today, New Orleans is the number one coffee port in the country. Around 241,000 tons of green coffee or 27.8 percent of the coffee that entered the United States in 1995 came into New Orleans. Beans are shipped here in large containers from thirty-one coffee-producing countries. This coffee is shipped out to large bulk roasters and smaller specialty roasters around the world.
In the 1920s the coffee break, as we know it, had not yet become a part of the daily ritual of American workers. In New Orleans, however, where business was said to have taken a secondary role to pleasure, the mid-morning break began to take form. In 1928 Lyle Saxon wrote in Fabulous New Orleans:
It is no unusual thing for a business man to say casually: "Well, let's go and get a cup of coffee," as a visitor in his office is making ready to depart. It is a little thing perhaps, this drinking of coffee at odd times, but it is very characteristic of the city itself. Men in New Orleans give more thought to the business of living than men in other American cities. . . . I have heard Northern business men complain bitterly about these little interruptions for coffee or what-not.
We may never know if the coffee break was actually invented here in New Orleans, but the tradition remains popular. In recent years, a new breed of coffeehouse, the gourmet shop, has gained popularity in the New Orleans region in keeping with a national trend. With premium blends of coffee from around the world, these establishments are breathing life into a coffee industry that was suffering from high prices and competition from soft drinks and flavored waters. Workers in New Orleans, now more than ever, enjoy their sacred coffee break ritual to its fullest.
The highlight indicates the sentence that brings the largest smile to my face. Also, I should point out that the "Coffee houses" of the day more often than not traded in stronger drink than just coffee. The New Orleans "coffee house" of the 19th and early 20th century was often interchangeable with the saloon.
And there were quite more than a few of them as this FrenchQuarter.com article indicates.
By the 19th century, New Orleans was already one of the world’s busiest ports and, thanks to its proximity to Latin America, coffee was one of its leading imports. Naturally, coffeehouses sprang up around city. In fact, one city directory from the 1850s lists more than 500 coffeehouses in the rapidly growing port town.
Today, there aren't exactly 500 coffee houses in town but there is still quite a good number from a surprising variety of operators. So, again, go visit Haney and give some love to your favorite.
And, yes, the evil empire does have a foothold here... but I can't imagine patronizing them except in the most dire of emergencies.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Must Read
m.d. filter currently has an excellent post up which examines the design of New Orleans's soon-to-be-demolished public housing projects. The current demolition scheme is not now and has never been about producing better designed public housing. It's about transferring public wealth to private developers and serving fewer people in the process.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
"A Charles Rice Special"
That's your ever-quotable mayor again explaining that he never really wanted those "bombproof" garbage cans in the first place.
I realize I'm practically re-posting this entire article but it's so full of fun stuff I find it hard not to.
But I'm posting this for two additional reasons. First, I figured I could get this up before it shows up on Moldy City where the subject has been treated several times in the past.
There are also related background articles compiled at the Nagin Files here here and here.
Second, I'm posting this because it occurs to me that the "bombproof" cans are apparently available. Would it be possible perhaps for a private citizen to acquire one and... you know.... see if it can or can't be blown up? It would make a fine Mythbusters episode, would it not?
Update: In comments, Oyster observes
$750 trash cans deemed a waste
Posted by The Times Picayune September 28, 2007 8:57PM
By Gordon Russell
Staff writer
New Orleanians, it appears, will never get to find out whether the "bombproof" trash cans the city bought for $750 a pop three years ago were worthy of the title.
That's because all 600, purchased for a steep $450,000, have been junked.
Now Mayor Ray Nagin's administration, which staunchly defended the original trash can purchase, has begun replacing them with a different model. Unlike the old ones, the new ones do not feature advertisements -- nor do they claim to frustrate terrorists.
In a recent interview, Nagin said he was never a fan of the squatty cans, bought with a no-bid contract at the direction of former Chief Administrative Officer Charles Rice. Rice left city government in 2005, a few months before Hurricane Katrina.
"Those little munchkin trash cans? We got rid of those," Nagin said, referring to the trash can deal as "a Charles Rice special."
I realize I'm practically re-posting this entire article but it's so full of fun stuff I find it hard not to.
Told of the mayor's comments, Rice fired back.
"This was discussed with Ray Nagin one-on-one and in a staff meeting in his office," said Rice, who is practicing law. "Ultimately, any decision involving the city of New Orleans rests with the mayor. He approved the purchase of the trash cans, and at the end of the day, Ray Nagin makes the decision and bears the ultimate responsibility."
The trash cans were controversial when they were installed, though the controversy had nothing to do with their size. The problem was that the company that supplied them, Niche Marketing USA, acknowledged a business relationship with Terrence Rice, Charles Rice's brother -- though the Rices have denied the link.
The deal was also a demonstrably bad one.
Typically, companies that deal in trash can advertising supply the cans for free to cities -- and give cities as much as 25 percent of the ad revenue as well.
Niche Marketing not only charged New Orleans full price for the cans, it promised the city only 15 percent of the ad revenue. Because of poor ad sales and the cans' short life span on New Orleans' streets, the city's return worked out to only about $6,000.
But I'm posting this for two additional reasons. First, I figured I could get this up before it shows up on Moldy City where the subject has been treated several times in the past.
There are also related background articles compiled at the Nagin Files here here and here.
Second, I'm posting this because it occurs to me that the "bombproof" cans are apparently available. Would it be possible perhaps for a private citizen to acquire one and... you know.... see if it can or can't be blown up? It would make a fine Mythbusters episode, would it not?
Update: In comments, Oyster observes
It seems obvious to anyone with a brain that bombproof munchkin cans were at odds with the larger goal of "exploding the pie" of New Orleans.He may be on to something there as the Mayor makes the following statement in another snip from today's T-P
"It is a smorgasbord in New Orleans! It is a buffet, an economic buffet! All you can eat!" he told the crowd. "If you have a lawnmower and an edger, you can make money in New Orleans."It seems all too plausible that an exploding pie or two may indeed be on that "economic buffet".
Friday, September 28, 2007
Stuff to Do
- Cripple Creek's production of Bury the Dead continues to run between now and October 20 at St. Mark's (1130 N Rampart St). Showtimes are Thursday-Saturday at 8 PM. Admission is $10.00
- The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Foundation presents its inaugural Congo Square Rhythms Festival This weekend (Sept 28-30) at Armstrong Park.
From the NOJHFF website:This free community event will celebrate the history and cultural significance of Congo Square by bringing music, dance, food and crafts to the cobblestone plaza within Louis Armstrong Park. As the spot where African slaves were allowed to practice their ancestral drumming and dance on Sundays, Congo Square has become famous as one of the birthplaces of American culture
See the site for further details - One of New Orleans's unique insitutions, Deutsches Haus, presents its annual Oktoberfest starting this weekend and going every weekend until the end of October. A front page story in today's T-P features the perhaps too late attempt to save the German cultural center from demolition in order to make way for the proposed LSU-VA medical complex. I have mixed feelings about this project. A teaching hospital in New Orleans is absolutely essential although I am among the minority who believe that the old Charity Hospital should have been salvaged and reopened. Relocating Deutsches Haus... probably to the suburbs... would be a tragic consequence of this new construction. Try and make this year's Oktoberfest. It might be your last chance.
- Be sure to vote in the 2007 Douchebag Referendum.
- The LSU-Tulane football game just ain't what it used to be... but what is? It's still fun to hand the smug Uptown faux-ivy institution of higher privilege the symbolic drubbing it perpetually deserves. Even if the game has lost its luster, you can still catch the annual LSU-Tulane wheelbarrow race at Henry's Bar Sunday at 2PM.
Best of all, no Saints this weekend. So get out and enjoy the weather.
Update: This one comes to us late in the day... but there is still time to catch "torchy jazz chanteuse Romy Kaye" tonight at the Neutral Ground Coffee House at 9 PM.
"You don't have anything to worry about"
I often remark on the de-humanizing and stifling effects of New Orleans's tourist-plantation economy on its working class as its leaders fall all over themselves to fellate the profiteers of this industry. I can't imagine a better example of this than Nagin's remarks to a group of cruise line executives yesterday. One of the main reasons nothing gets done about the crime problem is that, in your leaders' eyes, the important people (business owners and their tourist clients) aren't the people getting blipped.
Watch out for streetcars
From canalstreetcar.com
Update: In comments, Kelly asks,
The answer is: Me! Well, almost anyway. Just about an hour ago.
RTA is turning on the 600VDC power for the St. Charles Line this week. The repairs to the overhead wiring on St. Charles from Lee Circle to Napoleon Avenue are complete, and now they've flipped the "on" switch. They'll test the wiring and make sure all is well, and soon we'll see the 900s extending their run form Lee Circle all the way to Napoleon.
Update: In comments, Kelly asks,
I do wonder how many cars will get hit within the first week though.
The answer is: Me! Well, almost anyway. Just about an hour ago.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Instant Goobernatorial Debate Reactions
1) All candidates other than Campbell appear to favor "dual-track" education beginning as early as "before high school" (according to Jindal) which emphasizes vocational training over intellectual inquiry. To put it another way, these elitist fucks just want the schools to train better slaves.
2) Jindal appears to view higher education as little more than a tool of corporate "R&D"
3) "Biology major" Jindal approves of teaching intelligent design alongside evolution.
4) Walter Boasso apparently wants to "come into your home" and tell people, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" What dipshit adviser told him to say that?
5) Foster Campbell is in favor of pardoning Edwin Edwards. God bless him!
6) Overall impression:
Jindal won this debate simply because his opponents are ill equipped to challenge his bullshit. Is this really the best we can do?
Update: More, better written, and funnier analysis from Adrastos
2) Jindal appears to view higher education as little more than a tool of corporate "R&D"
3) "Biology major" Jindal approves of teaching intelligent design alongside evolution.
4) Walter Boasso apparently wants to "come into your home" and tell people, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" What dipshit adviser told him to say that?
5) Foster Campbell is in favor of pardoning Edwin Edwards. God bless him!
6) Overall impression:
- Jindal is a disingenuous pandering asshole... but you knew that already
- Boasso and Georges are pathetically, embarrassingly inarticulate and hopeless buffoons.
- Campbell comes off as though he believes his oil processing fee will solve EVERY SINGLE PROBLEM ON EARTH. It's the closest thing to a progressive agenda available, but he presents it in a cartoonish one-trick manner.
Jindal won this debate simply because his opponents are ill equipped to challenge his bullshit. Is this really the best we can do?
Update: More, better written, and funnier analysis from Adrastos
A short history of my idiocy
Regular readers of this space have grown accustomed to (or perhaps fatigued by) the oft-repeated use of the currently popular term "douchebag" to describe a certain type of pompous je ne sais quois in some individuals who meet with our disapproval. This descriptor is usually employed as a generic epithet to convey both the distasteful smugness of our subject and our visceral displeasure with said smugness. In other words, I generally resort to this word when someone pisses me off via their own comically over-inflated sense of self-importance. "Douchebags" of note in Yellow Blogging include Bono, the below-mentioned Reggie Bush, and of course Chris Rose.
Last year, I briefly wondered aloud if my overuse of this word was becoming something of a grating self-parody. At the bottom of this post on an unrelated matter, I asked the readership if it was, in fact, time to ban the word "douchebag" from the blog altogether. As you can see there, the response was overwhelming. The people wanted more "douchebag" and we delivered.
But now, I'm beginning to get those doubtful feelings again. Perhaps this is an indication that I should know better than to spend too much time reading my own stuff. Or perhaps it's something else. Therefore, I'll leave it to you to decide this crucial matter once again in this year's Douchebag referendum.
Voting will conclude after the weekend.
Update: Another tantalizing possible substitute: Jennywoman?
Last year, I briefly wondered aloud if my overuse of this word was becoming something of a grating self-parody. At the bottom of this post on an unrelated matter, I asked the readership if it was, in fact, time to ban the word "douchebag" from the blog altogether. As you can see there, the response was overwhelming. The people wanted more "douchebag" and we delivered.
But now, I'm beginning to get those doubtful feelings again. Perhaps this is an indication that I should know better than to spend too much time reading my own stuff. Or perhaps it's something else. Therefore, I'll leave it to you to decide this crucial matter once again in this year's Douchebag referendum.
Voting will conclude after the weekend.
Update: Another tantalizing possible substitute: Jennywoman?
Anyone for piling on? Hell yeah!
We already know that that Saints corporate spokesmodel Reggie Bush is an overrated douchebag. But just how overrated? Try Tony Mandarich overrated.
Defensive coordinators have told me this season that Bush may be seen as a superstar to the general public but he is not someone who keeps them awake at night. They say he's not as fast as he looks, can be covered by a linebacker one-on-one and gets shy around contact. That last description is not exactly what you want to hear about your franchise runner.Meanwhile the Bushless Houston Texans are a surprising 2-1. Thanks, Houston!
Most Boring Election Ever
One of my favorite wacky story lines from the local races is evidently at an end.
Bookmaking
If you feel like reading Bill Kristol's nutty observations about last night's Democratic debate, be my guest. I only link to it to point out that I am in half-agreement with this statement.
Update: Why is Hillary such an awful candidate, you ask? Her campaign is being run by men who epitomize the word douchebag.
Before last night, I thought it was 50-50 that the Republican nominee would win in November 2008.My only quibble with this is Kristol's Hillary contingency should be reversed. Hillary as the nominee doubles the odds of the Dems crashing and burning in 2008.
Now I think it's 2 to 1. And if the Democrat is anyone but Hillary, it's 4 to 1.
Update: Why is Hillary such an awful candidate, you ask? Her campaign is being run by men who epitomize the word douchebag.
Things that will go largely unnoticed
Since the truth behind nasty bald-faced lies doesn't sound so harsh in romance languages... or something like that.
(Oyster noticed How does one say "patience" in Spanish anyway? And does it sound anything like "murder"?)
(Oyster noticed How does one say "patience" in Spanish anyway? And does it sound anything like "murder"?)
My Verizon contract is up
Should I renew or tell them to kiss my ass?
Update: Verizon say, "Oopsie!" That didn't take long. Maybe they can still have my money.... and I can continue receiving non-stop photos of r's new puppy.
Update: Verizon say, "Oopsie!" That didn't take long. Maybe they can still have my money.... and I can continue receiving non-stop photos of r's new puppy.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Party of Suck
Today the Senate passed the Kyl-Lieberman amendment to the Defense Authorization Act. Kyl-Lieberman is a "Sense of the Senate" statement regarding Iran that may be read as a "back door" authorization for the use of force against Iran by the US military in the near future. Voting in favor of this amendment, and possibly more war:
Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
Courageously absent from this vote:
Barack Obama (D-IL)
Way to go, guys.
Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
Courageously absent from this vote:
Barack Obama (D-IL)
Way to go, guys.
Jindal is Bad
On Monday I wrote the following about Clancy's Gen-X icon,
In this post, David elaborates on Jindal's lack of any there there, after a visit to "Geek Appeal"'s website.
Update: Oyster (even if he is a whiny baby) observes this fun bit of anti-NOLA race baiting in the "News" section of Jindal's site.
Notice the way the Jindal people execute a slick declension from "corruption" to "New Orleans" to "the people who once composed a great deal of the electorate in Orleans". Jindal's "Slay-the-Dragon" campaign has deftly substituted the word "corruption" for whatever bogeyman the target electorate can imagine. In this case, Jindal's war on a word targets the not-so-subtly-racist anti-NOLA vote. Plus Jindal's campaign is more or less openly stating that the slow recovery of New Orleans post-flood is somehow a good thing. Is this the kind of advocacy New Orleans needs in the Governor's office for the next four years?
Jindal isn't running against his opponents. He won't even debate them. In fact, it's hard to say he's even running for Governor of Louisiana since he talks so little about the unique problems Louisiana faces with regard to insurance, or storm protection, or coastal restoration, or our crushing poverty.
In this post, David elaborates on Jindal's lack of any there there, after a visit to "Geek Appeal"'s website.
For somebody who's supposed to be just about the brightest sumbitch in the whole entire gad dang state, Jindal doesn't seem to be very clear on the concept. If you tell people that can read your detailed paln on your website, they expect to be able to read the plan, not that you have a plan. Of course, Jindal's just using an increasingly common political ploy -- be as vague as possible, while saying that details are available on your website. It generally works, because most people, including most journalists, don't bother going to the website. Four years ago, he wasn't a politician, now he's using the newest, oldest politician's trick in the book.
Update: Oyster (even if he is a whiny baby) observes this fun bit of anti-NOLA race baiting in the "News" section of Jindal's site.
In the "News" section of the web site, Bobby links to a supportive letter by John "fan belt" Cooksey, printed in the Ouachita Citizen. The letter celebrates the displacement of New Orleanians from their home state after the largest disaster in U.S. history. I repeat: the letter celebrates the displacement of New Orleanians from their home state after the largest disaster in U.S. history."Fortunately, not all of the state's electorate is from Orleans Parish. Fortunately, many of the people who once composed a great deal of the electorate in Orleans no longer lives in Louisiana. Thus, they are not taking part in the patronage system which has existed in New Orleans for at least 150 years and is the source of so much corruption."
Notice the way the Jindal people execute a slick declension from "corruption" to "New Orleans" to "the people who once composed a great deal of the electorate in Orleans". Jindal's "Slay-the-Dragon" campaign has deftly substituted the word "corruption" for whatever bogeyman the target electorate can imagine. In this case, Jindal's war on a word targets the not-so-subtly-racist anti-NOLA vote. Plus Jindal's campaign is more or less openly stating that the slow recovery of New Orleans post-flood is somehow a good thing. Is this the kind of advocacy New Orleans needs in the Governor's office for the next four years?
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Jindal is Bad
Adrastos sums it up pretty well. You'd think our bold new "whiz-kid" "Geek Appeal" leader guy would be a bit less whiny and paranoid.
This time the world did what it told me it would*
For two weeks now the signs have been out there. From afar, football fans in New Orleans have watched with an increasing sense of intrigue wondering if these early indicators could really mean what they appear to mean. On Monday night, a crowd of over 70,000 New Orleanians piled into their beloved Superdome giddy with anticipation to discover for themselves in person something they could thus far only glean from the out-of-town dispatches. Those who weren't in the building can only now learn second-hand of that magical moment of revelation experienced by fans in attendance as they watched their team rush through the smoke onto the field led by a guy on a motorcycle and a pep squad carrying black and gold flags which proudly spelled the word, S T N I A S. The fans in that stadium knew then that their suspicions had been confirmed. Saints football is back in 2007!
The Saints are back and they are on a mission. This team is ready to suck old school. The 2007 Saints are here to make exactly the wrong call at the wrong time, to turn every opportunity into a comical mishap, to subject their star players to devastating injuries, to consistently lose professional football games by more than ten points; in short, to show the world how we do things in New Orleans. Welcome home, Saints. Your fans have missed you.
Last night's exciting highlights: (Unless otherwise indicated, all game photos, as usual, have been gleefully stolen from the T-P gallery)
The best part of all of this is that, thanks to the open date, the Saints and their fans get two full weeks to bask in the glory of their 0-3 start before returning to action against the Carolina Panthers (a team who swept the Saints last year) in the Superdome. Fans who grew up watching this franchise know how to appreciate bad football and will return to the Dome on Oct 7, to be entertained once more by their beloved losers. Those fans who fail to show up just don't get it and probably never will.
*
Update: Some of you may wish to point out that the presumed flag mishap is really just a matter of perspective. To that I say, the folks sitting on the press box side of the stadium were simply out of position to recognize the true nature of the dark portent.
Upperdate: Here are some Saints fans who refuse to leave early under ANY circumstances.
Uppestdate: Jason David, the Saints' marquee free agent acquisition of 2007, will miss 4 to 6 weeks with a fractured forearm. So the value of that transaction has become even clearer.
The Saints are back and they are on a mission. This team is ready to suck old school. The 2007 Saints are here to make exactly the wrong call at the wrong time, to turn every opportunity into a comical mishap, to subject their star players to devastating injuries, to consistently lose professional football games by more than ten points; in short, to show the world how we do things in New Orleans. Welcome home, Saints. Your fans have missed you.
Last night's exciting highlights: (Unless otherwise indicated, all game photos, as usual, have been gleefully stolen from the T-P gallery)
- The most disappointing news to come out of last night's game is the season-ending injury to Deuce McAllister. The torn ACL is his second such injury in three years and could be an indication that his best days are now truly behind him. Deuce is one of pro football's good guys and deserves better than this. He's also the best player on the team. Before this injury, Saints fans were missing Deuce simply because he was underutilized. Now they won't even have that to complain about.
This inevitably means that we'll be watching Saints corporate spokesmodel Reggie Bush attempt to carry more of the rushing load. Last night, Bush carried 7 times for 15 yards and dropped a pass in the endzone.
What could make the 2007 season even more sucktastic? Yup, even more of this guy. (NFL.com photo) - For the third week, the Saints were badly outplayed at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. While the Titans did not put up world-beating rushing numbers, they did manage to continuously push the Saints front seven backwards throughout the evening. Even when Saints defenders managed to contact Tennessee ball carriers at or near the line of scrimmage, they more often than not failed to make the tackle without first being carried for an additional three or four yards. And with the exception of one hit in the second quarter, Vince Young's pass attempts were largely undisturbed by Saints pressure. In short, the Saints D got their asses whipped by a more physical team.... again.
Also getting their asses whipped, the Saints offensive line. So far this season, "J-Five" has looked more like the Jackson Five failing to produce running lanes and... more spectacularly... failing to protect Drew Brees. And Brees is proving not to be the sort of quarterback who manages to produce when the protection breaks down. (More on the one-armed man later)Fittingly, for this team, the worst performer on the o-line has been the man with the highest billing. In every game this season, left tackle Jamaal Brown has committed at least one costly penalty and has allowed multiple defenders to consistently harass Brees. In the first quarter, the Saints attempted a gimmick deep pass on fourth down and one from their own 45 yard line. Even if the idiotic pass had been completed, it would have been negated by Brown's holding penalty. Brown left late in the game with some sort of finger injury. The pass protection immediately improved but it was too late.
That's Jamaal Brown on the ground getting his ass whipped again. (nfl.com photo. The T-P images suck this week for some reason) - Sure, Brees's protection has been poor. But that doesn't, by itself, explain his horrendous performance. Brees threw four interceptions Monday night. Only one of these appeared to be the direct result of defensive pressure. Brees has a nasty habit of misreading coverages in the flat and allowing defenders to jump routes for easily returnable picks. He's also developed a tendency to throw high passes which his receivers then have to leap awkwardly after. This was exactly the kind of thing that led to McAllister's injury and could cause similar havoc if Marques Colston is made to continue contorting himself chasing after Brees's passes. Furthermore, Brees seems to have lost that intuitive feel for the flow of a play he so often displayed last season. Instead of avoiding sacks by subtly shifting in the pocket, Brees is bailing out and running for his life before most pass plays can properly develop. And unlike, his opposite number on the field last night, Drew Brees is not at his best while improvising out of the pocket. Any way you slice it, five turnovers by the man expected to lead your offense is unacceptable. Brees's fumble on the first play of the fourth quarter set the Titans up with a short field and proved to be the crucial turning point of the game.
Keith Bulluck returns yet another Brees intercetption. At least he managed to land on Bush's head. - Coach Soupy's decision to go for it on fourth and one from his own 45 yard line on the team's second possession of the game not only set the Titans up for their first touchdown, but also set the tone for the rest of the night by declaring just how desperate and unsure of themselves the Saints were. This was the worst strategic decision of the game and perhaps the very low point of Soupy's career thus far.
- This week's Dome complaint: Getting to the game is usually a simple affair. The Superdome is a light ten minute bike ride away. Tying up the bikes on Girod street directly across from the Superdome access ramp certainly beats languishing in traffic whilst in search of a 25 dollar parking spot. Unfortunately, when the weather behaves the way it did last night, other arrangements have to be made. Such arrangements involve not only cab fare, but also umbrellas and ponchos and other assorted extraneous equipment all of which I packed into my brand-spanking new backpack for carrying convenience.
As we were entering the stadium, we were stopped by the security personnel who informed us we were not allowed to carry the bag into the dome. I opened the bag, removed several suspicious looking items that had been wrapped in little plastic bags, and handed them to Menckles who was allowed to take them right through the door without inspection. I then displayed my now empty backpack to the security asswipe who still refused to let such a nefarious item enter the building on his watch. Meanwhile, dozens of unchecked handbags at least as large as my backpack and containing God-knows-what zoomed right by us on all sides. Disgusted, I abandoned the bag at the door. The very idea of subjecting sports fans to compulsory pat-downs and bag checks is insulting to begin with. The absurdity of disallowing an empty package in the interest of simply being a dick is profound.
Also the temperature inside the Dome was noticeably warmer than usual. Any day now, Stacy Head will be issuing subpoenas for Superdome administrators in order to sort out the problem with the air conditioning. - Bad Jason David: Cornerback Jason David, the Saints marquee free agent acquisition this season, was badly burned by Brandon Jones for a 35 yard touchdown in the second quarter proving the Saints' tendency to give up the big play is more of a feature than it is a bug.
Good Jason David: David, the Saints' marquee free agent acquisition this season, intercepted a Vince Young pass deep in Saints territory preventing the game from getting too ugly too early.
Really Bad Jason David: After this interception, and with the score 10-0 in favor of the Titans, David, the Saints' marquee free agent acquisition this season, posed with his arms extended toward the heavens as though it were perhaps Jesus instead of the football he had just received. David continued to strut and exalt with pride over his minor accomplishment for an uncomfortably long time after the play. Let's all hope he enjoyed that as much as we did.
Jason David: The Saints' marquee free agent acquisition this season - Yes, that actually was the Kerry Collins who took over for a temporarily shaken Vince Young at the end of the first half. I wonder if he got a chance to try the bloody marys.
- With 7:22 remaining to play Brees threw his second interception of the game. The entire team had played like crap and it was becoming more doubtful that a win could be finagled from this mess. Still, the Saints were only down by ten points with plenty of time left on the clock. It didn't look good, but the outcome was far from certain. Amazingly, Saints fans began to empty the stands certain that there was nothing left to see.
Unless you have some pressing plans after the game, there is just no reason to leave this early. While losing football may not be quite as gratifying as winning football it is certainly no less entertaining. Allowing oneself to be satisfied with only one kind of outcome severely limits one's ability to truly enjoy the experience. Saints fans should have an especially acute understanding of this. And still, over half the crowd was gone while a significant portion of the game remained to be played. I can't say I'll ever quite get that.
The best part of all of this is that, thanks to the open date, the Saints and their fans get two full weeks to bask in the glory of their 0-3 start before returning to action against the Carolina Panthers (a team who swept the Saints last year) in the Superdome. Fans who grew up watching this franchise know how to appreciate bad football and will return to the Dome on Oct 7, to be entertained once more by their beloved losers. Those fans who fail to show up just don't get it and probably never will.
*
Update: Some of you may wish to point out that the presumed flag mishap is really just a matter of perspective. To that I say, the folks sitting on the press box side of the stadium were simply out of position to recognize the true nature of the dark portent.
Upperdate: Here are some Saints fans who refuse to leave early under ANY circumstances.
Uppestdate: Jason David, the Saints' marquee free agent acquisition of 2007, will miss 4 to 6 weeks with a fractured forearm. So the value of that transaction has become even clearer.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Reasons America should tune in to see an 0-2 football team tonight
- Unlike the previous two games of the season, this one figures to be entertaining. The Titans are a well coached, up-and-coming team anxious to make an impression in front of a national audience. The Saints are last year's darlings, desperate for a win, and playing in front of their home crowd for the first time this year.
- The only other thing on at the time is K-Ville.
- Star power. Tonight's game features the first professional meeting (in a game that counts) between Tennessee quarterback Vince Young and Saints corporate spokesmodel Reggie Bush. The two last met in the 2006 Rose Bowl, a game in which Young is remembered for leading the Texas Longhorns to an upset victory over Bush's overrated USC Trojans and in which Bush is best remembered for ruining a 35 yard pass play with an idiotic attempted lateral during the second quarter.
- Sure the Titans' uniforms are ugly... but nothing even close to that embarrassing high-school uniform the Philadelphia Eagles wore yesterday. The worst fashion faux-pas viewers are likely to encounter tonight would be the Saints' black leotards.
- On a personal note, due to the inconvenient underwater status of my hometown, I was forced to spend September 2005 in Nashville, TN and I am here to tell you that this was no picnic. Nashville is a sprawling, boring, hilly Houston-like series of stripmalls and Wal-Marts without even so much as a drive-thru daiquiri shop to break the mood. I don't like Nashville and I certainly can't condone them sending their strangely costumed football team down to ruin the Saints' dome opener.
What's worse, about six (my God is it six?) years ago, my mom's company relocated her job to Nashville where she has been living and working and generally making holidays very inconvenient for my family ever since. Now I am (in most respects) a grown man and a fairly independent one at that. But goddammit, Nashville done took my mom away and that shit just ain't cool.
I think that's about it. Kickoff is 7:30.... promptly since Bono isn't here this year, thank God.
Snitchin is Bitchin
Adrastos has another witness to Jindal's "outside agitators" remark on Shreveport television last week. Also, Oyster's original commenter has returned to this thread to explain herself a bit more.
The fact remains that without video evidence, there isn't a whole lot more that can be done with this. And even then, I can't imagine it would be likely to hurt Jindal very much if it were out in the open. Jindal wants to appeal to the cracker base in N. Louisiana and is not above employing this kind of hateful codespeak to do so. It can only help him politically in that "part of the world". His election seems like a fait-accompli at this point in what has got to be the most boring Governor's race ever.
What is frustrating is the way the Dragon Slayer Squad (the New Orleans press and the Yuppie Left) treat Jindal with such fawning teenage lust rarely... if ever pointing out how nakedly phony his slogan-driven campaign has been to this point. I say rarely in case anyone out there happened to catch Stephanie Grace's column yesterday.
And why not? As Republicans have demonstrated for the better part of a decade now, it's much easier to run against a word than it is to run against your opponent... or much less run for anything at all. Running against "corruption" is particularly good coin in Louisiana right now because it's such a versatile word. It's a catch-all for the widespread discontent that now characterizes our political atmosphere.
In the suburbs surrounding New Orleans, to run against "corruption" means running against the Bill Jefferson machine, and against Marc Morial, and the Landrieus and all the rest of "those people" who the suburbanites voted against with their feet a generation ago. To the degree that "corruption" gets conflated with "incompetence" it allows Jindal to run against the retiring Governor Meemaw and the perpetually troubled Road Home program without having to provide a reasonable answer as to how it can be saved. In North Louisiana, running against "corruption" means running against New Orleans altogether which is always a winner in those parts regardless of the context.
It's a wonderful strategy so long as one is allowed to get away with it. And to this point, Jindal has been allowed to dragonslay the entire race away. In such an important election, one would hope for more substance. But that's your local press for you. And this brings us back to Jindal's supposed Jena remark. Should someone out there manage to dig up a recording of this quote, it likely won't hurt Jindal very much at all. But that's not why I want to see it. I want to see it come to the surface so I get to read Clancy Dubos's column about why Jindal's callous race baiting is really just a hip form of X-treme marketing that appeals to the new "Gen-X" electoral demographic. What a quote like this will do is demonstrate clearly just what kind of politics the Yuppie Left and New Orleans media will rush in to endorse all in the interest of slaying dragons. As it is, we have to rely on the conservative press to ask the interesting questions... and that's just plain icky.
The fact remains that without video evidence, there isn't a whole lot more that can be done with this. And even then, I can't imagine it would be likely to hurt Jindal very much if it were out in the open. Jindal wants to appeal to the cracker base in N. Louisiana and is not above employing this kind of hateful codespeak to do so. It can only help him politically in that "part of the world". His election seems like a fait-accompli at this point in what has got to be the most boring Governor's race ever.
What is frustrating is the way the Dragon Slayer Squad (the New Orleans press and the Yuppie Left) treat Jindal with such fawning teenage lust rarely... if ever pointing out how nakedly phony his slogan-driven campaign has been to this point. I say rarely in case anyone out there happened to catch Stephanie Grace's column yesterday.
Jindal also has gone so far as to hurl the term (corruption) at his opponents, even if their supposed offenses fall way short of dishonesty, evil or whichever definition you choose -- or if it's unclear just what the alleged transgressions are supposed to be.And here you have it. Jindal isn't running against his opponents. He won't even debate them. In fact, it's hard to say he's even running for Governor of Louisiana since he talks so little about the unique problems Louisiana faces with regard to insurance, or storm protection, or coastal restoration, or our crushing poverty. No, Jindal is running to "slay the dragon". Like Buddy Roemer before him, he's running against "corruption".
It's almost as if anybody who aggressively campaigns against Jindal deserves the label
And why not? As Republicans have demonstrated for the better part of a decade now, it's much easier to run against a word than it is to run against your opponent... or much less run for anything at all. Running against "corruption" is particularly good coin in Louisiana right now because it's such a versatile word. It's a catch-all for the widespread discontent that now characterizes our political atmosphere.
In the suburbs surrounding New Orleans, to run against "corruption" means running against the Bill Jefferson machine, and against Marc Morial, and the Landrieus and all the rest of "those people" who the suburbanites voted against with their feet a generation ago. To the degree that "corruption" gets conflated with "incompetence" it allows Jindal to run against the retiring Governor Meemaw and the perpetually troubled Road Home program without having to provide a reasonable answer as to how it can be saved. In North Louisiana, running against "corruption" means running against New Orleans altogether which is always a winner in those parts regardless of the context.
It's a wonderful strategy so long as one is allowed to get away with it. And to this point, Jindal has been allowed to dragonslay the entire race away. In such an important election, one would hope for more substance. But that's your local press for you. And this brings us back to Jindal's supposed Jena remark. Should someone out there manage to dig up a recording of this quote, it likely won't hurt Jindal very much at all. But that's not why I want to see it. I want to see it come to the surface so I get to read Clancy Dubos's column about why Jindal's callous race baiting is really just a hip form of X-treme marketing that appeals to the new "Gen-X" electoral demographic. What a quote like this will do is demonstrate clearly just what kind of politics the Yuppie Left and New Orleans media will rush in to endorse all in the interest of slaying dragons. As it is, we have to rely on the conservative press to ask the interesting questions... and that's just plain icky.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Note
This supposed Jindal quote I mentioned this morning may or may not be real. It originated from an anonymous commenter on YRHT who cited a Shreveport television station. I mentioned it here in the hope that someone out there in intertubesland might know if there is a video or audio record of it somewhere.
If this quote is real, it is massively shameful. If it is false, then I regret even mentioning it. I still would like to see the persons seeking the highest political office in the state speak out more clearly and boldly against institutional racism in Louisiana. None of them... including Jindal... has done so.
Update: The commenter responds here. There's still no source on this. It still sounds plausible, but is useless without a record.
If this quote is real, it is massively shameful. If it is false, then I regret even mentioning it. I still would like to see the persons seeking the highest political office in the state speak out more clearly and boldly against institutional racism in Louisiana. None of them... including Jindal... has done so.
Update: The commenter responds here. There's still no source on this. It still sounds plausible, but is useless without a record.
Ooh I like this game!
City may open storm shelters but won't say where
Posted by The Times-Picayune September 21, 2007 12:16PM
Mayor Ray Nagin said Friday morning that if winds associated with a tropical depression heading toward New Orleans reach 35 to 40 mph, he will call for New Orleans residents living in trailers to evacuate the temporary homes.
Nagin said the city will open shelters as a last resort for trailer dwellers who cannot seek refuge in their partially rebuilt homes, or with friends or relatives.
The mayor said city officials have identified the shelter locations, but he refused to say where they are or how many shelters will be available.
"We'll give you that list if we need it," Nagin said.
Let's play Find-the-shelters! What do we do? Scramble toward the highest ground... or just go wherever the wind is blowing?
Wouldn't it be fun if these mysterious "shelters" are really just the Superdome?
I believe this is why there are "Darwin Awards"
Freaking idiots
via: Varg, who writes
Exactly. I have been trying to point out in comments here and elsewhere that the Jena march is against Racism with a capital R because the incident involves racial bigotry forcibly backed up by an institution of the state.... in this case the District Attorney's office. Regardless of your feelings about which of the principals is or is not a nice guy or what the school should or shouldn't have done, racially motivated intimidation carried out by a powerful arm of the state should not be tolerated.
Any politician who tries to take your eye off of that point by praising the "Louisiana court system" and decrying "outside agitators" is really speaking in favor of brutal institutionalized Racism.
ALEXANDRIA, Louisiana (CNN) -- Authorities in Alexandria, Louisiana, arrested two people after nooses were seen hanging from the back of a red pickup Thursday night, the city's mayor told CNN.
Alexandria is less than an hour away from Jena, Louisiana, and was a staging area Thursday for protesters who went to the smaller town to demonstrate against the treatment of six black teens known as the "Jena 6" in racially charged incidents.
Police say the 18-year-old driver of the truck was charged with driving while intoxicated and inciting to riot and also may be charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor -- the 16-year-old passenger.
As police were questioning the driver, he said he had an unloaded rifle in the back, which police found. They also found a set of brass knuckles in the cup holder on the dashboard, according to the police report.
The passenger told police he and his family are in the Ku Klux Klan, the police report said. He also said he had tied the nooses and that the brass knuckles belonged to him, the report said
via: Varg, who writes
Also, I know there was some debate about the necessity of the march on Jena going on on local radio stations yesterday. I hope this puts that to rest. But, knowing what I know about racist white folks, they will never give an inch to the other side. Even when overwhelming evidence is presented against them.
The funny thing is if you call them a racist, they will deny it! That’s because our great country has done an excellent job communicating to its masses that racism is wicked. But we have poorly executed the tutelage of what racism actually is.
Exactly. I have been trying to point out in comments here and elsewhere that the Jena march is against Racism with a capital R because the incident involves racial bigotry forcibly backed up by an institution of the state.... in this case the District Attorney's office. Regardless of your feelings about which of the principals is or is not a nice guy or what the school should or shouldn't have done, racially motivated intimidation carried out by a powerful arm of the state should not be tolerated.
Any politician who tries to take your eye off of that point by praising the "Louisiana court system" and decrying "outside agitators" is really speaking in favor of brutal institutionalized Racism.
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