World Class Halloween

1. One of my female coworkers came to work costumed as me (big bozo redheaded clown wig, bow tie, seersucker suit). Not sure if this is a good thing or not.

2. Trick or Treated with Spiderman-costumed Clio IV on Octavia Street. I dressed as Guy Who Just Had Surgery (e.g. no costume, just easygoing clothes). Dr. Mrs. Clio dressed as a chef. Came home with more beer than I left with, plus smelling of the cigar that Ashley gave me. Saw Oyster and Dangerblond too. A good night.

Another View

NoPickles has a hardhitting critique of the T-P's take comparing Katrina and the Levee Failures with the SoCal Wildfires. It's worth a read. When NoPickles really gets going, he can be exasporating. He might even make fun of your teeth. But he always makes you think in a slightly new way. You always end up in a better place in the end, even if you find yourself checking your pearly whites in the mirror after.

One important point he makes is that we will all benefit from what FEMA (and even the President) learned from the failure in our backyard. Hopefully, our state and local officials learned too, and continue to learn from the current troubles in Cali.

I still think perspectives like Jon Stewart's are useful. Last night he said comparing the two disasters is like comparing apples and orang . . . DRAGONs.

"We're still under water."

Well, not literally--though some of America still thinks we are--but that's what Coach Payton said correctly about Our New Orleans Saints and (by extension) our city.

We're making some progress, but we've got a long way to go. Keep on keepin' on. That's all we can do, one day at a time.

The President is a World Class A** Coverer

President Bush, to the Associated Press, explaining the difference he sees between post-levee failure New Orleans and wildfire-stricken southern California:

"It makes a significant difference when you have somebody in the statehouse willing to take the lead."

It also makes a difference when you have a President now trying to make everyone forget his colossal failure in managing the worst manmade disaster in American history. I find President Bush to be incredibly motivated these days when it comes to disasters.

Please note: I don't remember President Bush proactively calling Louisiana's governor and doing everything he could. We learn from the NY Times that the President just couldn't wait to call Governor Terminator to find out what he needed:

Mr. Stanzel said Mr. Bush and the governor, mindful that a presidential visit could drain police resources from a state already pushed to the limit, determined that Thursday would be the best day for Mr. Bush to go. But he began offering help as early as 4 p.m. Monday, calling Mr. Schwarzenegger rather than waiting for the governor to call him.

He told Mr. Schwarzenegger to call him back “if there were any additional needs,” Mr. Stanzel said, and about an hour later, the governor did, to ask for military assistance and alert Mr. Bush that a request for the president to declare a state of emergency would probably be forthcoming. Mr. Bush authorized the declaration before leaving the West Wing; it was announced later by the press office, presumably while the president slept.

I DO remember President Bush criticizing Governor Blanco because she didn't jump through the right hoops or ask EXACTLY the right question. For the federal flood, the President's public stance was essentially, "Well, she didn't call me and fill out the right forms, and she wasn't specific enough about her requests."

What a cynical, negligently homicidal jerk.

P.S. I'm no Blanco fan, but I just can't take this guy anymore. If, like an insurance company, I had to ascribe a percentage blame to Bush, Blanco, and Nagin when it came to post federal flood fault, I do it like this: Bush 40 percent, Nagin 40 percent, Blanco 20 percent. I'm no Blanco fan, but I thought she was better than our two "market-driven recovery" idiots.

Source of Bad Karma Found and Removed

The Saints' puzzling start to the season has confused us all. Were these the same guys? Had Aaron Brooks donned a #9 jersey? How could we be so unlucky as to lose Deuce for the year?

A two-game win streak has made us all feel a little better, but I was still feeling not quite comfortable with this team, and I could sense similar feelings in others.

Then, a watershed event early Tuesday made everything clear, and subsequent events have restored order and balance to the Black and Gold Force.

You see, dear reader, little did I know that my own appendix had been storing up bad Saints karma bit by bit over the years. Believe me: this was no noble gesture on my part. It was an involuntary organic process. Like a cosmic sponge, this organ in my abdomen was taking it all in--the kinds of events documented here by moosedenied--the drafting of Erxleben, Lansford's kick in 1983, and so on.

Well, thanks to Dr. Jim Brown at Tulane Lakeside Hospital, problem solved.

Starting late Monday night, my appendix couldn't take it anymore, swelled up like a ballon, and started telling me loud and clear (ouch!) that it needed to come out. At approximately 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Dr. Brown took care of business and purged our fair city of all that bad karma. Appendix removed, Clio smiling, all clear. The patient is recovering nicely and is going to work today; the appendix and all that karma are gone.

It is intriguing that the appendix is considered vestigial, but these authors believe that it does in fact serve a purpose:

"Its major importance would appear to be financial support of the surgical profession."
Alfred Sherwood Romer and Thomas S. Parsons The Vertebrate Body (1986), p. 389.

In any case, we can look forward to good things for this season and beyond.

This week, World Class New Orleans associate Angels and Saints and Bears Oh My will be in da house to see the Saints take on Beerman and the Niners. Expect good things for the Black and Gold. Also, Monster Park can expect strong beer sales in one particular section.

A Big Saints Win

Posted without comment (other than the title):

New era. Let's go!

Okay, President Bush. Now that we've got the right kind of governor according to your narrow definition, will you finally live up to that sound and light show you put on in Jackson Square?

I'm honestly giving Jindal a chance. I want him to succeed.

On a lesser note, do I really have to choose between Willard Lewis and Clarkson? Cheesh.

Models of Resilience

The U-10 soccer team I coach, which started the season 0-2, is now 3-2 after a third straight win, 5-2 today. The girls shut out the other team in the second half and scored 4 goals during that time period.

This is what the Saints are capable of in the coming weeks.

Please note. Devery Henderson has gotten NO playing time on my team in the last three weeks, and we've gone 3-0. Coincidence? I wonder. . .

Linebacker Sighting

I spotted Number 55 in Whole Foods this evening, so I walked over and spoke with him.

I was wearing my Hofstra football T-shirt, which amused him. He was a nice fellow. We discussed mutual disappointment about the Cal Bears' "blowing it" this weekend. I told him how much my friend angels and saints and bears likes him and how her family members had been at the Cal Bears game this weekend.

Mrs. Number 55 was with him. Mr. and Mrs. Number 55 are expecting a child; it appears they will be parents very soon. Perhaps Little Number 55 will join the legion of other Saints players' children who grow up to play football in New Orleans area schools.

A good day in World Class New Orleans.

The world looks so much better after a win.

Like Many Things in NOLA, Better than Ever

Guy's, my round-the-corner neighborhood poor boy shop, is reopening today after a fire shuttered it for months.

They've got balloons and flowers out getting ready for the grand reopening.

I'm headed for the roast beef.

UPDATE: I added the menu above. I had the small roast beef, dressed. Clio III had the large shrimp, dressed. I finished. Clio III couldn't. Oh, and we ordered fries too.

"They are people of hellfire and I have no concern for them."

This is a lovely quote from a young man in North Carolina.

Frightening.

What is really telling, however, is that if I tell you that he writes like this and is from North Carolina, a plausible conclusion might be that he is an evangelical Christian.

He's not. He's a Muslim (of a certain kind).

Among the scourges of our species are people who know exactly what "God" wants and are messengers for God's chosen messenger/incarnation/manifestation (Jesus, Mohammed, et al).

When you "know" what "God," wants, anything goes. Anything is possible.

I will no longer listen passively to lectures/homilies from people who know what God wants. They're lying.

A faith life is guesswork, and any "guess" that involves cruelty to others is a lie--puffed-up self-promotion.

It is amusing and sad that the Americans who beat their chests most prominently about fundamentalist Islamists are the same Americans who give aid and comfort to Christians of similar ilk.

"Tears as big as pineapple chunks . . ."

I'll never listen to Hokie Gajan in quite the same way . . .

glumbert - Soccer announcer gets a little too excited

World Class Cheesy Delicious

This isn't the same as seeing them at a Hornets halftime show, but it's still pretty good.

Question, though: who wins, Paul Potts or Quick Change, in an ultimate "Got Talent" showdown?

Whom would Sluggo endorse?

Mr. Bill is endorsing Foster Campbell for governor.

I just can't get excited about any of these guys.

Campbell's got tired solutions. Georges and Boasso? Nah.

Jindal? He's intelligent. He tries to get things done. He's probably a decent guy. He's a real Saints fan. All good.

I just can't forgive him for carrying George W. Bush's jock strap for the past six years.

Two Ways to Fix New Orleans Immediately

1. Fix the levees and restore the wetlands.

2. Cut Devery Henderson. With Lance Moore or David Patten or Robert Meachem or Joe Horn in Devery's slot, we would be 2-2. Devery lost us the Tampa game in subtle ways, and he blatantly lost us the Carolina game yesterday. Olindo Mare is bad, but he should've been irrelevant yesterday.

On a side note, I am starting to think that the clothes I wear while I watch/attend Saints games does NOT affect the team's performance on the field. I've switched up several times (yesterday, I switched from a Saints hardhat to a Panama hat), and the team still loses.

This surprises me. I had thought my sartorial choices had more effect on the game.

Question: Hey, West Coast, what do the Angels need to do to get right? Perhaps Jeff Tedford could give some seminars to Coach Payton and Manager Scioscia?

A World Class Football Coach . . .

would cut Devery Henderson and Olindo Mare this evening.

Please note that the LSU Tigers have reached #1 AFTER Devery graduated. He had been holding them back.

Sports Roundup

The U10 girls' soccer team I coach won their first game yesterday, 5-2, to bring us to 1-2 on the year.

LSU won in one of the better games I've ever seen.

USC lost, putting the Cal Bears in a very interesting position.

Finally, Tulane did the patriotic thing by taking a dive against Army.

Is a Saints win to much to ask?

LSU is #1

Tulane is not.

That's what I have to say on the relative merits of two football teams.

For criticizing a certain kind of LSU fan--certainly not all LSU fans--I was accused of elitism, weakness, spreading tuberculosis, and causing the federal deficit.

My tone was out of line. However, I intended no offense to the many decent Tiger fans.

Also, yes, LSU athletics is a revenue generator, but LSU as an institution is indeed a taxpayer-funded institution. So, no, I am not misinformed on that basic fact. There is nothing wrong with being a taxpayer-funded institution, nor do I object to my tax dollars going to LSU. Nowhere in the offending post did I complain about that.

Dialectic

I took down my Schadenfreude post, which a couple of people whom I respect and care about took as hate-speech (I guess that's what Schadenfreude results in, really). If by taking down the post, I'm violating blogrules, so be it. I'm a violator.

I'll reply to their comments as soon as I get time. I don't regret everything I said, but I regret some of it, as well as the tone. There's a legitimate basis in reality for a good bit of what I said, but I'm not pleased with where I took that.

What's the Opposite of Schadenfreude?

1. Way to go, Angels! Now, let's take it one game at a time and slowly dismantle the Boston Red Sox.

2. The Cal Bears are creeping up on that lesser school to the south. The Bears have a smart coach, a Heisman-quality receiver, a fun running back to watch, a gorgeous place to play, and a classy fan base. (How's that, JSTB?) That's gonna be a great showdown, and I think USC looks sketchy.

3. I spoke to some Californians over the weekend who have sent their son here to New Orleans for college. It's not scientific, but I keep talking to Californians who "get it" and understand what's going on here and what went on here. I also keep talking to Midwesterners who have no clue and seem full of self-righteous contempt. I guess Californians understand what it is to live with the whims of nature, and then we can help them understand living and dying because of the incompetence and corruption of government. Midwesterners? Many seem to live the myth of self-reliance. The point is, thanks to the Californians who get it and who will not give up on us.

4. I am really enjoying the Fats Domino tribute album that I downloaded from iTunes.

5. My friend just sent me this link. It's Deuce's thank-you to the city, which ran on the entire back page of yesterday's sports section in the T-P.