City Santa, Country Santa

I realize the whole Santa myth is highly implausible.  But that somehow doesn't stop Mrs. Claus from holding me up in traffic on the way to work.



Like any photo of Santa or Nessie or Big Foot or Sean Payton this shot is grainy.  I wish I had done better.  You can see more detail in the larger version.  Her trike is adorned with a black and gold canopy. There is a message on the back (in black and gold lettering) which reads, "God gave his only begotten son Jesus Christ."  The license plate reads "#1 ⚜ FAN" There is a boom box in the rear basket which was tuned to the "smooth jams" station.

I tailed her for five whole blocks before she finally meandered far enough to the side of the road for me to pass. I didn't have time to determine what she might have been drinking that morning which unfortunately leaves this report incomplete. 

Meanwhile, there's still time to visit Celebration in the Oaks where you can watch the Cajun Night Before Christmas light show.



The lights are synchronized with a recording of the one-time auto dealership ad turned holiday classic read by an obviously shameless individual putting on a fake accent.  I have no idea what would possess a person to participate in such an activity. But if you happen to find it completely unavoidable, these alligator-reindeer make a pretty decent craft accompaniment.




Still going to be on a very reduced holiday posting schedule here for a few more days. Here's a quick list of things I've been reading this week.

Bobby Jindal is scrooge-ing health care in Louisiana even worse than we thought.

Wal-Mart is a corrupting influence... on the freaking Mexican government.

The Times’s examination reveals that Wal-Mart de Mexico was not the reluctant victim of a corrupt culture that insisted on bribes as the cost of doing business. Nor did it pay bribes merely to speed up routine approvals. Rather, Wal-Mart de Mexico was an aggressive and creative corrupter, offering large payoffs to get what the law otherwise prohibited. It used bribes to subvert democratic governance — public votes, open debates, transparent procedures. It used bribes to circumvent regulatory safeguards that protect Mexican citizens from unsafe construction. It used bribes to outflank rivals.

In the "age of austerity" cuts to higher ed are making college less and less affordable for most of us.

As we come up on the end of the year, Alex Parnee's annual "Hack List" is always a good place to reflect on your crappy political press. 

The City Council is back to being a completely elected governing body.  Somewhere in the draft folder there's a post about the election results that will eventually see the light of day in one form or another.

Same goes for the bridge tolls referendum.  This lawsuit may be ill fated but that doesn't mean someone shouldn't be filing complaints somewhere regardless of how impotent they may be.

And the... um... doubly same goes for the football writing in this space which has more or less been serving out a suspension for much of this season.  I haven't had the time to even get my late-in-the-week recaps done on time recently.  If it weren't for Twitter, football might cease to exist altogether.  But, I promise, there's at least one more Saints post in the hopper that will show up before (or perhaps just after) the end of the season.

But since this is a "links" post, allow me to direct you to where you can find some quality writing on this week's game here, here, here, and also many other places you might care to look. 

In the meantime, here's a scene from late in fourth quarter last week. We visited Misters Cl10 and DillyBerto and their funny hats in World Famous Section 635 to watch the so-called "worst defense in NFL history" complete a 5 takeaway shutout of a team it also executed a goal line stand against this year.  It was good times.



Happy Holidays.  Back in a few days.