Library Chronicles

I have decided.

But only after reading Adrastos today.

Labels: 2008, Bobby Jindal, politics

The T-P decided to feature letters from two supposedly competing points of view on yesterday's idiot page. I'll post them here so you can get an idea of the "competing" ideas in play.

Painted lines are no protection
Thursday, May 22, 2008

Re: "Busy road makes room for bicycles: St. Claude Avenue lanes get spotlight Tuesday," Metro, May 19.

I'm sorry, but anyone who believes white painted lines will make it safe to ride a bicycle on city streets is seriously out of touch with reality.

I was an avid bike rider for many years, commuting daily from Uptown to the French Quarter. I was very skillful, and rode as safely as possible. Those white lines would have had no effect on the cab that ran a stop sign and put me in the hospital.

The people who drive in this area are simply not mature enough to share the roads with defenseless bicycles. I myself prefer an old, heavy steel Cadillac for protection. There is no way I would regularly ride a bike in traffic again, not around here.

Alan Wahl

Jefferson

In other words, this bike lane is a stupid idea because drivers in this town suck and will probably kill a bicyclist in the near future... at least the letter writer seems to hope so.

Now, for the opposite point of view.

Can't paint out recklessness
Thursday, May 22, 2008

I'd like to say good-bye to a fellow on a bike who created a commotion Sunday afternoon in Harahan. Two lanes of traffic were backed up six cars deep, waiting to turn left onto Hickory Lane, when just as the light changed, this fellow on a 10-speed comes down the line between the cars as though he owned the highway.

Motorists blew at him but he gave no evidence that he heard. Then, two blocks later, he's holding to the dotted line between the two right-hand lanes -- both of which turn right onto Earhart Boulevard -- and he goes straight ahead, almost getting hit by a car turning right. Again, horns were blaring.

This guy is going to be killed soon, mark it down. The death will devastate the driver of the car and the victim's family will be angry. They will have no way of knowing he did this himself.

Ten minutes later, driving into Bywater, I was pleased to see the new bike lanes alongside Rampart Street. Then, reality set in. I realized no amount of bicycle lanes can compensate for stupidity and ignorance on the part of the rider.

When will bike riders learn that they must obey the same laws as motorists?

Joe McKeever

River Ridge

In other words, this bike lane is a stupid idea because bicyclists in this town suck and will all probably kill themselves in the near future... or at least the letter writer seems to hope so.

Are these really opposite points of view? I wonder if the T-P received any letters praising the addition of a bicycle lane on St Claude and the plans to add them to sections of Camp and Magazine Streets in the near future. Or were T-P readers united in their general crankiness toward anyone attempting to operate a bicycle or automobile in the New Orleans area?

New Orleanians often suffer from an exaggerated sense of inferiority. Too much of the local civic discussion is colored by the pervasive idea that "People in this town just don't know how to..." It's the main reason politics here is often more about punishing the incompetents among us than actually solving problems. In other words, it's the root of the Dragonslaying ethic.

The Dragonslaying ethic gives rise to leaders like Governor PBJ who demagogue against "corruption" and push pet projects like school vouchers while the Louisiana coastline continues to recede. It fueled the 2006 Mayoral election which was entirely about reactionary fear and loathing amongst social and racial factions. It's what allows anyone in town to take Ed Blakely seriously.

In the comments section to a recent NOLA.com story about Chevron moving its offices to the northshore, someone found it necessary to wish New Orleans would "die already". It's reasonable to assume NOLA.com users are mostly local people and yet this is a sentiment often expressed there. We absolutely hate ourselves.

Or at least that is the impression one gets from following the general media narrative. Maybe we're not getting the entire picture here. Maybe the real problem is that our major opinion gatekeepers are themselves too cynical or perhaps too lazy to allow for a wider perspective. So again I have to wonder are these letters to the idiot page truly representative of the two "competing" points of view submitted to the T-P?

Update: Today's idiot page:

Bike lanes mean progress
Friday, May 23, 2008

Re: "Busy road makes room for bicycles," Metro, May 19.

These designated bike lanes denote progress! New Orleans is working to join the ranks of other progressive cities such as Portland, San Francisco and Philadelphia by making a safe place for commuters who choose to bike to work.

Bikers are fortunate that New Orleans provides welcome weather for most of the year and is not too large for commuting.

Let us continue to designate more bike lanes. Let us increase community awareness about the many benefits of bike riding, especially to work.

Let us designate next May "bike to work month."

Frank Rosinia, M.D.

New Orleans

Better... but I could do without the subtle implication that New Orleans needs to be more like Portland.

Labels: bicycles, media, New Orleans, politics, Times-Picayune

We don't have time to worry about that right now. We've got to get this shit knocked over before all the "outside agitators" come back with their Volvos. Let someone else worry about environmental hazards.... have them plant some sunflowers or something.

And for Gods sake won't someone please check to see if the condos are still okay?

Labels: housing, New Orleans

What would you stuff a leaky floodwall with?

I vote for more money.

Labels: flood, New Orleans

Because, of course, the cameras don't actually work here.

Rolling Stone:

Big Brother Is Producing Your Rock Video

5/21/08, 3:00 pm EST

Apropos of Naomi Klein’s amazing story in the latest issue of Rolling Stone on the $200 billion surveillance industrial complex comes this Indy Rock video from London, where the rockers performed in front of several of the city’s 200,000 CCTV cameras and then used something like the Freedom of Information Act to acquire their footage from the government.

The result is a poppy, dystopian video Orwell could have hardly imagined

I don't have sound at work so I have no idea about the actual music here. Let's just say it sucks because... what are the odds? Anyway. Neat trick, though.

Labels: music, surveillance

Where the best way to stick it to the man is to take away his chaw.

Labels: Louisiana, politics

Your comments will get posted.... eventually.

Other broken internets today:

• Dangerblond's comments
• The Tweeter Tube
• Bloggers list serv
• The hopes and dreams of every young soul who enters

Labels: internets

I like Dirty Coast Press. In the years following the Federal Flood, the little company has claimed a niche as the place to go in New Orleans for locally inspired original T-shirt designs. The February edition of ANTIGRAVITY Magazine (PDF) described Dirty Coast as "a symbol of New Orleans's struggle to rebuild without losing our unique soul." Maybe that's a bit of an over-the-top description of a T-shirt outlet but still... they turn out some pretty cool stuff. Recently Dirty Coast (in a collaborative effort with cartoonist Greg Peters) produced a shirt featuring Ashley Morris's famed FYYFF slogan which you should go buy right now since proceeds from the sale of these shirts go to benefit the Ashley Morris Memorial Fund.

For the past few years, a number of local blogs (this site included) have sported a little graphic in the sidebar plugging Dirty Coast. The graphic itself (not a paid advertisement... as if this space were even worth the effort) is managed from deep within the Dirty Coast bunker and is frequently manipulated to display new and popular designs. Right now it says "Soul Sister for President" which is perfectly fine with me... especially since Soul Sister is not currently a candidate. I've often wondered, however, what might happen if Dirty Coast produced a design backing an actual political candidate and chose to promote that design via the use of the mysterious blog graphic.

Now, typically on the Yellow Blog, we don't find it necessary to disguise the general political leanings of the author. However, the observant reader will notice that those leanings rarely if ever tend favorably toward any particular candidate with much enthusiasm. Quite the contrary we take it nearly as a matter of principle around here that the mere act of standing for public office demands that one be regarded at best with suspicion... although more often ridicule and/or despising. It follows then that the sudden appearance on the Yellow Blog of a Dirty Coast graphic (even a really pretty or clever graphic) proclaiming the awesomeness of a particular candidate (even a candidate we're more suspicious than despising of) would bring about a certain dissonance with the text of the posts. Would we have to take the graphic down? Luckily this is a question that has not demanded an answer... yet.

I bring this up because at this very moment the Gambit Weekly's companion Blog of New Orleans is running a paid advertisement from Dirty Coast which features the new (and fairly clever) Geauxbama design. Now if a stupid little inconsequential blog like this one finds itself a bit squeamish over the possible confusion brought about by the appearance of an apparent political promotion in a portion of the site not controlled by the editor, shouldn't a major publication like Gambit have a similar concern?

I know that the day a little smiling blue Obama pops up in my sidebar, that doesn't mean that I have personally endorsed the candidacy but I can see why most people visiting the site won't assume that. So now that smiling blue Geauxbama sits at the top of the screen when you load Blog of New Orleans, does Gambit expect its readership to assume differently? Or maybe Clancy Dubos views the content of his paid advertisements the same way he once characterized polite criticism from local bloggers on his site; "part of that free speech thing that we all have to put up with" Either way, I'd like to hear the explanation. Or more accurately, I'd like to know if Gambit even noticed.

Labels: Gambit, media, New Orleans, politics

This one is not such a big deal.

This one, on the other hand, could be trouble.

Update: Oh but it gets better!

Labels: saints, sports

Except when it isn't.

Labels: media, New Orleans

I am ashamed to say that the last time it snowed in New Orleans, Christmas 2004, I was spending the holiday in Nashville with mom. Luckily Consuela and Shehateme were here to capture for me souvenir photos of the Tercel covered in snow. A friend of the family watching my dad's apartment for him collected a snowball and left in the freezer for him when we got back.

Prior to that the most recent snow was also around Christmas 1989. We saved our copy of the next day's T-P which contained images like this one.



I think we got about a half an inch. It shut the whole city down. No one went to work. Lots of people's pipes burst. I'm not sure how the cold weather and snow impacted those few days in the world of "New Orleans Industrial Development" but the board seems to remember it fondly.

Labels: "New Orleans Industrial Development Board", New Orleans

Springtime in New Orleans is the best time to be outside. Everything is starting to take on the dark green color and sweet smell of Summer but the nasty hot heavy air hasn't quite gotten here yet. For this reason, April-June is prime season for outdoor festivals like this weekend's Greek Fest and Bayou Boogaloo. It's also still second lining season. We spent a portion of our Sunday afternoon following the Divine Ladies S & P Club along with the Hot 8 Brass Band as they made their way down St Charles and then back up through the neighborhood.



I managed to get a few more decent pics in this set but, of course, dsb's are better.

Labels: events, New Orleans, second lines

According to Kevin Allman, Jeremy Alford's cover story recently run in the Independent and then again in the Gambit which criticizes the "Stonewalling" Jindal administration is "way ahead of the game" in questioning PBJ's hypocritical "do as I say, not as I do" approach to ethics and transparency in government. Is it, though?

I would have thought "Ahead of the game" reporting on Jindal's obvious hypocrisy would have meant reporting on it before the election. Not so for Alford who authored the Gambit's notorious "Geek Appeal" cover profile of Jindal which along with Gambit's endorsement of Jindal put the "needed alternative" weekly squarely in the Dragonslaying corner.

In "Geek Appeal" Alford's "ahead of the game" reporting on Jindal's disputed ethics record reads,

Operatives from the Louisiana Democratic Party stayed in the shadows during the press conference, but roamed among the reporters at its conclusion and handed out "Bobby Jindal's Real Record on Ethics and Corruption." The one-page handout detailed five votes in which Jindal's position could be interpreted as hypocritical. There are two votes in particular where he supported killing ethics investigations related to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The Jindal campaign immediately fired off a response, arguing the votes were "ill-disguised partisan maneuvers" by the Democratic leadership that separated liberals from conservatives. Most of the bills also contained riders that changed the impact of the legislation, his campaign insists.

So in the pre-election reporting, the only questions raised about Jindal originate from "operatives" "roaming in the shadows" with a "one-paged handout" while the Jindal campaign's take is given disproportionate credence.

Prior to the election the Jindal campaign also was becoming well known for the same "Stonewalling" tactics with the press Alford criticizes in his recent piece. Unfortunately when Alford was given an "ahead of the game" opportunity to report on the paranoid tendencies of the Jindal campaign and his principal spokesperson Melissa Sellers this is about as hard-hitting as it got.

Dodging public debates also has sparked criticism of Jindal, and his various no-shows are an extension of just how scripted and guarded the campaign has become. Sellers says that Jindal is just "busy bringing his message of a fresh start to the state" and declined further comment.

In its subsequent endorsement of Jindal, the Gambit told us this election was a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to elect someone whose "integrity is beyond reproach" It seems now, however, that the shine has worn off of that Dragonslaying armor more quickly than anybody could have predicted. Take, for example, this piece from Alford in the most recent Gambit in which we learn that Jindal's connections (going back at least as far as October) to a campaign contributor looking to open a landfill and to a shady 527 advocating school vouchers combined with the administration's secretive strong-arming tactics are starting to make for some raised eyebrows in Baton Rouge.

Until last October, when he was still a GOP congressman from Kenner, Bobby Jindal had no connection to Alsen. That changed with $50,000 in campaign contributions from Colorado-based Louisiana Land Systems (LLS). The money went to Jindal as the company was trying to open a landfill near Alsen. The state Department of Environmental Quality had previously rejected the company's application in 2000, but a new push was clearly afoot. Jindal's press secretary said at the time that that there was no talk of the landfill when candidate Jindal met with LLS officials.

New friends are easy to make when you're the front-runner in a governor's race. During last year's campaign, Jindal also befriended All Children Matter (ACM), a Virginia-based 527 group with a chapter in Louisiana. A 527 group is an unregulated political advocacy group not subject to state or federal campaign finance laws. As a 527 group, ACM typically promotes politicians, like Jindal, who support school vouchers. The group bankrolled part of Jindal's radio efforts in 2007 and got involved in several other races. ACM's contributors are a who's who of corporate big shots — its Louisiana arm got $100,000 from Wal-Mart tycoon Jim Walton and another $100,000 from neoconservative icon Bruce Kovnier, founder of Caxton Associates.

Although last year's campaign is over, both relationships continue to matter on the state level as all roads — at least on paper — lead to Jindal. For example, the debate over LLS's pending permit (and DEQ's anticipated decision on it) could soon rekindle interest in Jindal's connection to the company. And just last week, ACM became Jindal's attack dog when it lashed out at a New Orleans lawmaker, Rep. Karen Carter Peterson, who claims Team Jindal pulled the trigger on radio spots attacking her opposition to vouchers.

The landfill issue could be a sleeping giant. A recent public records request reveals that LLS is finishing up a new application that could soon come up for community review. According to DEQ spokesperson Jean Lockwood Kelly, there's "no set schedule," but information is currently being collected and assessed. On the surface, it's the same application that DEQ denied in 2000, citing the company's failure to show a "genuine demand" for putting back into use an underground catacomb designed to house waste from Superfund sites.

What explains the sudden turnaround in the handling of Jindal? Perhaps more than a few formerly enthusiastic reporters and editors are now feeling a bit burned at this point by the increasingly arrogant and paranoid stance the administration takes toward the political press. Alford's cover story, in fact, can be read as a collective exercise in access-starved reporters ganging up to feel sorry for themselves. Maybe such reporters and editors could have saved themselves this trouble if they had only been a little further "ahead of the game".

Labels: Bobby Jindal, Gambit, Louisiana, media, politics

It doesn't look good for the Hornets tonight.

Labels: Hornets, sports

Well after Big Brown dominated the field at Pimlico Saturday there shouldn't be too much mystery about who the favorite is to win the Belmont. On the other hand the stakes in the upcoming race for Bill Jefferson's seat are becoming all the more intriguing. Two years ago, the embattled Congressman was reelected in one of the more dismally fascinating elections in local history. In this week's Gambit Scuttlebutt Allen Johnson provides us with some early handicapping. I've taken the liberty of highlighting the most telling indicator in red.

No Shortage of Opponents

By: Allen Johnson

Indicted Congressman Bill Jefferson is not expected to go on trial for bribery until after qualifying opens July 9 for the federal party primaries on Sept. 6 — but friends and foes alike are eyeing his seat. The friends include state Reps. Cedric Richmond and Juan Lafonta. Richmond has served in the state House since 1999; Lafonta, since 2005. State Rep. Karen Carter-Peterson, who lost a runoff to Jefferson in 2006, will host a $1,200-per-person “congressional fundraiser” at 6 p.m. next Thursday (May 29) at Morton’s Steakhouse in New Orleans, says Carter publicist Cheron Brylski. Other Jefferson opponents include Jefferson Parish Councilman Byron L. Lee and former WDSU-TV morning anchor Helena Moreno. Lee has hired the PR firm of Katz & Columbus, while veteran media consultant Jim Carvin and his daughter, Karen Carvin, will manage Lee’s campaign. Moreno also has assembled a campaign team, says media consultant Greg Buisson. That team includes pollster Ed Renwick as well as campaign coordinators Craig Mitchell and Bill Allerton. As a journalist, Moreno registered as an Independent, but she will run as a Democrat in the party primary, Buisson says. She will make an official announcement in July, while Lee has not yet pegged an announcement date. Meanwhile, a publicist for indicted state Sen. Derrick Shepherd of Marrero dismissed rumors that Shepherd will run for the seat again; Shepherd finished third in the 2006 race.

For more on this crucial indicator, see Oyster's accumulated observations. The betting window is open.

Update: Oyster follows up with much more on Derrick Shepherd's cousin Byron Lee here.

Labels: Byron Lee, Derrick Shepherd, Dollar Bill, Jim Carvin, politics

This morning we were treated to cool Rocky Mountain refreshment with our book return.



Below is the obligatory accompanying photo of the sign begging people not to bestow such gifts upon us.



This has been yet another exciting episode of Beer in the Bookdrop.

Labels: beer, library

He won't be able to play much come Monday. It's been three weeks since I strained a calf muscle and I still can't run much more than a mile before pulling up lame.

Anyway enough of this. It's a nice day and I'm out for the afternoon.

The shit floats but it won't float away
Let's just stay

The photo archive/Flickr upload project continues to unearth some fun old stuff. This is from the All Star Second Line parade through Treme and downtown in January 2006.



The whole set is here. And the post I put up using some of the same pictures that day is here.

Labels: New Orleans, photos

Just in case you absolutely positively can't just wait another week for Greek Fest and Bayou Boogaloo, Broadmoor Fest is back this weekend.... featuring City Councilpersons in a dunking booth no less.

Labels: events, New Orleans

In a below comments discussion about whether or not we should go out and locate the outrage over city entertaining expenses, Carmen asks:

Jeffrey, when you play chess, do you only look at the opponent's queen? Structures most often topple from the cracks which seem insignificant to all but the engineer.

Suffice to say I'm not playing an adversarial "chess" game with anyone here. And I'm not looking to "topple any structures" either. Like most folks, I'm just reading the news and deciding which stories are worth taking seriously and which ones are just good for a laugh.

Douchey pols kissing one another's asses at Morton's is pretty funny but hardly surprising... and not very interesting after a fashion.

On the other hand, creating whole new venues of public policy which are themselves of questionable (in the case of the 311 system) or even nefarious (in the case of the crime cameras) utility for the benefit of a select coterie of political cronies is much more disturbing because it is indicative of a more thoroughly broken and corrupted government.

Pols being buffoons at lobbying events is just standard stuff and an immutable pattern of human behavior. Declaiming demagoguing and sensationalizing such behavior in order to get elected or sell newspapers is the very definition of what I've come call "Dragonslaying" It's a waste of time and energy that primarily benefits those in the audience looking for evidence of their own moral superiority.

But systemic, institutional co-opting of governmental functions for the primary purpose of enriching one's political benefactors is actual news. It's that magic moment where (to lean once again on Robert Cerasoli's phrasing) the corruption becomes sophisticated enough to be termed relevant.

Varg disagrees saying essentially that my attempt to draw a distinction between these two types of stories is playing a "zero sum game" with space in the news cycle. Well... space there is limited. And editors are paid to make decisions about which bits are apportioned resources and emphasis. Subsequent talk radio hosts and editorialists will also make decisions about which story to give space to. So determining which story has legs is, if not a perfectly zero sum game, then something very close.

Labels: corruption, media

Remember back when the local press used to habitually refer to Greg Meffert as a "whiz kid" because he... you know... worked with computers and stuff?

Really keen stuff from those guys. It's like saying someone has "Geek Appeal" because he's... under forty and of Indian descent.

Labels: media, New Orleans

Will the next edition of the "Family Friendly" approximation of a meth bender known as a Hornets home game feature the San Antonio Spurs again? Or will we be on to the next circle of hell? Light up and tune in tonight to find out.

Labels: Hornets, sports

Meaning, in fact, that they are remaining too damn high for the forseeable future.

The reason that the problem of affordable rentals in New Orleans is little more than a secondary or invisible issue in the local media is that the people driving the discussion there tend to view renters as secondary or invisible people. Sure the cost of living is up. But if you want your complaints to count for something, you'd better make sure you've made the "lifestyle choice" to become a property owner... otherwise the Stacy Heads of the world aren't listening.

Labels: housing, New Orleans

While everyone would prefer to see the local paper take a more critical approach to City finances and operations, shrill sensationalism of explainable petty bullshit only makes future criticism of valid issues less effective. If anyone wants to cold cock you now, I won't stand in their way.

Labels: media, New Orleans

Yes yes yes. Go. Buy. Now.

Labels: Ashley Morris

Continuing to dig through the photo archives I run across these beauties from the May 2006 Mayoral runoff. They are homemade Nagin signs in a variety of fun colors and styles. The Saints black and gold Nagin sign says, "Support Our Ray of Hope".



Two years later, the T-P seems to be holding out hope that two years later is too early to tell just how well the second Nagin term is going.

I've already pointed these out but alternative assessments can be found here here and here.

Labels: media, Nagin, New Orleans, politics, Times-Picayune

Garland's guest this hour is an LSU professor who just told me John McCain "has always been a maverick" He also says that McCain should be careful of running "too far to the middle" but that both Hillary and Obama may have trouble appealing to the all-important "moderate voter".

Now I'm an LSU grad. And I tend to think that within certain parameters a quality education is more a function of what the student puts into it than the presumed "quality" of one or another institution. But this embarrasses me.

Labels: 2008, media, politics

I'm still uploading old photos to Flickr. Here are two points of comparison for the recent rise in the Mississippi River which precipitated the first opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway in ten years. These are two pics I took from about the same spot along the Moonwalk this year. The first shot on the left is from Easter Sunday. The second on the right is from only a few weeks later during French Quarter Fest. The angle is a bit deceptive but by the time the second photo was taken the river had completely swallowed the lowest post visible in the first photo.

Labels: flood, MIssissippi River, New Orleans

I'm staying in this morning with one of those Springtime colds. The good news is I get to listen to the Garland Robinette show where the topic of the day is an (as far as I can tell unreported-in-other-media) incident of cross burning on a black family's lawn in Metairie.

Unsurprisingly it only took about three callers before we got to the "This is unfair to the white people of Metairie" comment. I predict that by the end of the day someone will tell us that this is all really the fault of New Orleanians' "snobbish" attitude towards their racist suburbs.

Update: Okay here is the WWLTV report. Apparently he letters "KKK" were burned into the family's lawn. This must have aired a few days ago.

Labels: racism, suburbia

The circus is back in town tonight as the Hornets try to hold serve in Game 5 against San Antonio. As I've been saying since the playoffs began, the Hornets, while talented and fun to watch, don't have the kind of muscle it takes to win an NBA title. Add one elbow-throwing Charles Oakley type to this squad and maybe they've got something. But as it is, they just can't keep the veteran teams off the boards consistently. Still... as long as they've got home court, and as long as Chris Rose keeps his brat out of the way, they've got a fighting chance.

If you're going to the Arena for tonight's game (which I strongly recommend you DO NOT for reasons detailed here) ALTL has an amusing wardrobe suggestion for you here. Also this bit from Oyster contains too much cheerleading for my taste but is funny anyway because of its additional content.

Meanwhile, D-BB is psyched up.... but he thought the $50.00 Jazzfest tickets were a bargain so do what you will with that recommendation.

Also no matter what happens tonight, James Gill offers a guess at tomorrow's headline.

Whenever the Hornets play, readers all over town awake with foreboding. Another excruciating headline awaits. Will it be "sting" or "buzz" this time?

Labels: Hornets, sports

I finally sprang for the Flickr pro account. So I've been fooling around with uploading and organizing a bunch of old pictures. Like this one from late 2005.



Like any time I get a new toy it cuts into blogging time. You all feel relieved, I know.

Labels: internets, photos

Remember. Every candidate Nagin endorses loses.

Labels: 2008, Barack Obama, Nagin, politics

I'll just reprint here and thoroughly endorse what Other Jeff said in an earlier comment thread on the proposed income tax repeal and its relationship to this topic.

This is retarded. The idea that giving individuals a couple thousand dollars more to piss away on their own perverted interests rather than investing in healthcare, education, coastal restoration, or any of the other mammothly pressing needs of this state just does not deserve to be dignified with a response.

Can we talk about the airport brilliance? Can I ask why the state needs an airport that makes $500K a year in order to invest in projects in NO that the state should already be investing in anyway? I think it's safe to say that the BR and Jefferson Parish interests dominating the conversation are foaming at the mouth for the LA Airport Authority to be revived. And all we have standing between us and that prospect is a Mayor who would like nothing more than to have one of his idiotic ideas borne out for once, and Ron Forman, who knows what to do with 4 mills (animals!), but who I wouldn't trust to run a pet store.

Labels: airport, income tax, Louisiana, New Orleans

..to phone in this "Jury-is-still-out-on-the-Nagin-legacy"target="_blank" front pager on Sunday.

It takes just two amateur blog people to fill in the missing points. (See below)

YRHT

Moldy City

Labels: media, Nagin, Times-Picayune

WWL TV's "BREAKING NEWS" ticker currently reads

Jim Bernazzani has announced his retirement from the FBI.

Does this mean he'll be taking his "six month" dragonslaying plan into his own hands?

Labels: Jim Bernazzani, New Orleans, politics

It's a word game. You have to visit Oyster's to play.

Note: TKGOTW is a registered trademark of Timshel sometimes co-opted here under Fair Use privilege.

Labels: Bobby Jindal, game, politics

Jim Webb pro and con

Pro: Unlike Hillary, he might actually attract some of those "hard working white people" she seems to wish would hate Obama.

Con: As seen here:

Webb may have some deficiencies as a candidate, related to sexist writings done thirty years ago and his occasional indelicate language.

The "sexist writings done thirty years ago" are referenced here but not something that hasn't been dealt with already.

On the other hand, that "occasional indelicate language" should give all of us pause as no one can predict the potential debasement brought upon the Office of Vice President by such unstatesmanlike vulgarity.

Labels: 2008, Jim Webb, politics

Unfortunately this is hardly news to anyone. I saw this yesterday and decided not to touch it. My (loosely applied) editorial policy is that something has to be at least half as funny as it is sad for me to write much about it. And since a high-profile reporter's statement that he basically doesn't feel like doing his job anymore because it involves "negative energy" is too immensely and unsurprisingly sad that I can't bring myself to laugh... I didn't think it qualified.

I think today, though.... David proves me wrong.

Update: Maybe Norman would prefer if we only spoke about the things that are going "swimmingly".

Okay maybe that's not the best word choice for this particular media market... or maybe I'm just being negative again.

Labels: media, New Orleans

When you're in danger.... call Dangerblond

Labels: bloggers, New Orleans, prison

Root of the Juvenilia:

AMY GOODMAN: What did you think of the ABC debate in Pennsylvania with the news anchors going for the first forty-five minutes—really going at Obama around issues, everything from pastors to pins, lapel pins?

BILL MOYERS: I thought it was a great exercise in irrelevance. Going back to one of your earlier questions, we never really—we rarely probe these candidates on what they would do about the fundamental systemic issues facing America. It has become a horse race in the media and on the campaign. That’s inevitable in some respects. But I was really sad to see our craft reduced to that kind of petty and parochial concerns. These debates, moderated and mediated by the press, have really become about the press. The Sunday morning talk shows are all about themselves. They’re not really about what’s happening—they’re not trying to help the people in Dubuque or Dallas or Des Moines get an understanding of the candidates.

...

AMY GOODMAN: Why do you think these candidates, the leading candidates of the Democratic supposedly opposition party, do not call for an immediate end to the war, do not call for single-payer healthcare?

BILL MOYERS: Because the media doesn’t allow complicated thought to be articulated in ways that enlighten instead of misinform people. Partisans seize upon these sound bites and turn them into—seize upon these speeches, take the sound bites and turn them against the candidates. It’s fear. It’s fear of being misquoted. It’s fear of having your ideas misappropriated.

via ProLA

Labels: media, politics

Daisy emails us this very important news item!

LAMA members vote to adopt name with leadership focus

The membership of the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA) has voted overwhelmingly to change the name of the association to the Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA). Election results were released today by the American Library Association. The new name will become official Sept. 1.

When told of the news, LAMA President W. Bede Mitchell said, "The proposed name change was intended to help ALA members, the profession at large and the general public to understand the important role we play in developing library leaders of the present and the future. We have assumed this role for years, but our division name has not reflected our work. We are gratified at the overwhelming response of our division members to the proposed name change."

Mitchell went on to stress that this name change should in NO WAY be taken as an attempt by the Association to further the public confusion of their organization with ill-tempered South American dromedaries. According to Mitchell, "LLAMA would never spit in the face of public perception... metaphorically speaking."

It was also rumored that LLAMA will be celebrating Mothers' Day with specially tailored gifts for members who happen to be parents of young children. But no LLAMAs were available for comment on this issue.

Labels: books, library, news

Like G-Bitch, I'm all for a politics of cutting through the bullshit and calling out people for what they really are... or as she puts it, "Calling a Cracker Vote a Cracker Vote"

But it occurs to me that this particular term can potentially turn the conversation in undesirable directions. For example:



Athenae explains this problem further.

Of course, the real dysfunction lies in the timidity of both campaigns and in the press that follows them steering the discourse away from substance and towards this... as Taibbi put it... juvenilia.

Has it come to this? The political equivalent of "I know you are, but what am I?" On both sides, this Obama-Clinton race has turned into something very like the vicious rivalry of a pair of blood-lusting high school student bodies — Odessa Permian versus Midland Lee, only with the fate of the free world hanging in the balance.

Sadder still is the fact that we could all pretty much write a post like this in our sleep by now. And yet... here we still are.

Labels: 2008, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, media, politics, racism

If everything they say about him is true, Gov. PBJ will likely have climbed the next rung by the time anyone actually has to deal with the repercussions of the income tax repeal ($4 billion dollar hole in the state budget). So if it passes the House, is there any reason for the Governor not to sign it?

Labels: Bobby Jindal, income tax, Louisiana

Chevron completes move to the North Shore
by Kate Moran, The Times-Picayune
Wednesday May 07, 2008, 9:15 PM

Following the well-trod path of energy companies that have left the city, Chevron will vacate its downtown New Orleans office building today and celebrate the opening of a gleaming regional headquarters in an office park just south of Covington.

The company's announcement in 2006 that it would relocate across the lake ruffled Mayor Ray Nagin and other urbanites who were already heartsick about the pull Hurricane Katrina has exerted on the city's population and on the few large corporations that provide high-paying jobs.

Today's move seems all but certain to accelerate the movement of professionals across the lake. About half of Chevron's employees lived on the north shore before Katrina, and the company has offered a relocation package to south shore residents who dread the long commute across the Causeway.

Adding:

Lame joking aside, this is another sad symptom of the continued hollowing of post-flood New Orleans. Despite the promises of "blank slate" opportunities for renewal, the same trends that were in effect before the storm remain so only at an accelerated pace.

Whatever semblance of professional business activity exists in the City's urban core is retreating to the suburbs, to Houston, to... wherever leaving in its wake a ghost town of now unusable empty office buildings like the Plaza Tower and now the Chevron building. Meanwhile the only "development" happening is the conversion of acceptable commercial and residential real estate into condos and vacation homes. Exactly what kind of a city does this leave us with?

When we hear the word "city" we are inclined to think of a diverse, active, center of trade. A city, in this sense, is a place that draws people in not only to do itinerant business or to stay the night and entertain themselves but to live their lives. Will the "new" New Orleans being built now even really qualify as a "city" at all?

Labels: economy, New Orleans, suburbia

Up and coming G.O.P. rock star (and potential Vice Presidential candidate) Gov. Bobby Jindal will apparently have to make two very interesting political decisions at the end of the current legislative session.

While he's being coy about his intentions, it will be very difficult for the Governor not to veto the proposed repeal of the State income tax. At the same time, PBJ may soon be signing into law a steep increase in many Louisianians' auto insurance bills.

This should make some interesting political theater for the rising star in the coming months. We would have asked him to comment but he doesn't seem to be available lately.

Labels: Bobby Jindal, income tax, insurance, Louisiana

Since when did we determine a need for National Charter Schools Week?

Also... when do you reckon Home School-Arranged Marriage-"Authority Structure" Week is?

Labels: education, Louisiana

At least the incompetent cronies don't put erect public surveillance systems that actually work.

Labels: crime, Nagin, New Orleans, surveillance