Shake It Like a Polaroid Picture

It's the attention to detail that makes this thing rock and makes it feel like this is why the Internets were invented.

A-Muse-Ing

Best of luck to Mr. Melpomene and Gingerschnapps in their new crib.

Whatcha gonna do with all my junk?

Mayor Curly, Like a Poor Marksman, You Keep Missing the Target!

Turns out C. Ray hasn't been voting.

Nice work by the T-P.

Darn Right I'm Bitter

So the "rules" used to scorn New Orleans are "rules," whereas the "rules" ignored to pick Oxford, Mississippi, are "guidelines":

But the commission has been known to waive certain requirements, and its choice of Oxford, Miss., as a presidential debate site has produced particular bitterness in New Orleans. Oxford has about 700 hotel rooms, compared with 24,000 in New Orleans. Commission officials said that the hotel requirements were more a guideline than a rule, and that Oxford, home of the University of Mississippi has been interested in holding a debate since 2004. Mr. Fahrenkopf said politics had nothing to do with Oxford’s selection.

If you have time, read that whole article. It's a study in cowardly obfuscation by these self-serving airheads. From what I hear from sources very close to the situation, the real villains are Janet Brown (ridiculously biased toward small college towns) and the Republicans (whom we embarrass by our very existence).

How great to have debates in college towns, which are booming these days, and where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average!!

Ms. Brown presides over a bunch of goons whose job (as Tim pointed out in a great comment here at WCNO) is to exclude anybody but the Republican and Democratic candidates from the debates. Check this link for the way they treated Ralph Nader in 2000 for even daring to be present on a campus where a debate was taking place. (Yes, that's a Green Party press release. If you think it's biased or wrong somehow, I dare you to find anything there that's not factually correct.) Also, in the same article, here's a nice description of the Commission, headed as it is by lobbyists for gambling and drugs:

The Commission on Presidential Debates was formed in 1987 to replace the non-partisan League of Women Voters, which included independent candidate John Anderson in the first 1980 presidential debate and prohibited the major party candidates from selecting the debate panelists in 1984. Frank Fahrenkopf, then chairman of the Republican National Committee and now the leading lobbyist for the gambling industry, and Paul Kirk, then chairman of the Democratic National Committee and now a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry, created The Commission on Presidential Debates.

Financed by Anheuser-Busch, Philip Morris and other multinational corporations, the Commission on Presidential Debates has excluded popular third-party candidates, most of whom are critical of the Big Business agenda.

Although he received $29 million in public funds, captured 19 percent of the popular vote in the previous 1992 election, and 76 percent of eligible voters wanted him included, Ross Perot was excluded by the two parties from the 1996 presidential debates. Both Pat Buchanan, who collected over $12 million in federal matching funds, and Ralph Nader, who attracted the largest paid audiences during his campaign appearances, were excluded from the 2000 presidential debates, although in a national poll, 64 percent of eligible voters wanted them included.

Now, Ashley has a very interesting post that indicates the handicap that our city continues to carry with Mayor Nagin (you know, when he's actually in town). However, you know as well as I do that if the leadership of the Commission actually wanted a debate in NOLA, they would've found a way. That's what leaders do. They find a way. Spineless yellow bellies do things the way Dubya and the Commission on Presidential Debates do it. They find a way . . . to run and hide.

A Timely, Must-Read Post

Berto muses about the Worst Saints Play Ever.

Read and chime in.

I voted Ricky Ray.

I hope this isn't the same Ricky Ray.

There Are Limits

Now, I'm a big believer in practicality when it comes to clothing and fashion. For example, I don't hold fast to the "Memorial Day to Labor Day only" rule about seersucker. I consider Easter to be the first seersucker-wearing day in New Orleans. And I've been known to wear seersucker well into September and maybe even early October, given the 90 degree days that we see here in World Class New Orleans even in early fall.

But Mr. Brees is way out of whack in this picture from yesterday's Times-Pic. Seersucker at the Fairgrounds? On Thanksgiving? When it's like 48 degrees?

P.S. Mr. Brees, I write this as a fan. I never would've bothered to write about Jim Everett's or Wade Wilson's clothes.

P.P.S. Seersucker consistently screws up in digital photography. The tight lines are too much for pixels to handle, as you can see above.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for, among other things, the wonder computer of the 198os:

Go Read This

Ya can't say it any better than Dangerblond:

The thing that really aggravates me about Texas people rubbing Katrina in the faces of New Orleanians is that I know how we would treat them if a disaster should befall, say, Houston. We would take them in, feed them the first decent meal of their entire lives, show them how to do something with their hair, give them some “what not to wear” tips, and help them turn that frown upside down.

Ha!

Jim Henderson said in yesterday's commentary that Jason David has given up more yards than coastal erosion.

I Am Disgusted with My Country Today

New Orleans will not be one of the four cities to host a presidential debate.

Read the link to listen to the passionless, ostrich-like, pitiful excuses.

New Orleans didn't deserve a debate because we suffered a tragedy. We don't want pity.

New Orleans was the best place for a debate (or even all four of them) because all of the major issues facing our country and world have been on display here for over two years: a national infrastructure at risk, homeland security (our port and levees), race, education, economic opportunity, global climate change, wetlands degradation, agriculture and aquaculture, crime, corruption, crony capitalism.

Instead, the debates will be held at Ole Miss and Hofstra. (Hofstra?) Oh, and St. Louis and Nashville.

If I lived in the West, I'd be pissed too.

If you're not happy about this, call or email Mr. Paul Kirk Jr. See the link for what seems to be some contact info for him. I emailed him the following:

Mr. Kirk,
You and the Commission on Presidential Debates had a chance to do the right thing. You had a chance to face our nations' challenges and shortcomings squarely in the face by putting at least one of the four presidential debates for 2008 in New Orleans.

Instead, you and your comrades gave aid and comfort to the enemies of our nation and world by choosing head-in-the-sand locations like St.Louis and Oxford.

To be clear: the enemies of our nation and world are complacency, arrogance, and negligence. Today, those qualities won. Integrity and truth-seeking lost.

I am disgusted with my country today because of your poor choice. I will get over
it, but I will not forget what you have done.

In effect, you are no better than the failures at FEMA who left us abandoned when the levees failed. You are no better than the criminally negligent people at the Army Corps of Engineers who gave us the levees that failed in the first place, and who continue to lie to us today.

I hope that one day you understand the serious mistake you have made.

Sincerely,
Mr. Clio

Brand New

I have a friend at work looking for one ticket to the 11/20 HOB show of "Brand New." They've tried the more traditional means like stubhub. Can anybody help?

Woo-Hoo!!!!

HULK SMASH!!!

I have a piece of paper that says the following:

"UNREMARKABLE STUDY WITHOUT EVIDENCE OF SOMATOSTATIN RECEPTOR UPTAKE."

This means that that radioactive stuff didn't find anything interesting in my innards. I'm free and clear.

Free and clear to find something else to die of.

Because we're all mortal, after all.

Because John McCain is a decent, smart, humorous man . . .

he may not have a chance to be President.

But his position on torture and (at least as important) his way of articulating it is completely compelling. Read this:

“One of the things that kept us going when I was in prison in North Vietnam was that we knew that if the situation were reversed that we would not be doing to our captors what they were doing to us,” he said. . . .

“I want to tell you, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, and Mitt Romney all think it is O.K.,” he said. [McCain should have added Dubya to that list.]

I am proud to be an American when a candidate for a party I normally oppose can be so compelling on such an important issue.

Who are we? Al Qaeda lite, sprinkled with holy water from Jesus? (That's what Dubya has created.)

Or America?

Thought of the Day

Jason David has a $15.6 million contract to do whatever he does on the football field.

On the brighter side, my blood test came out great, and I'll know something in a couple days about the result of my radioactive romp. Things are looking up.

Cool! I get involved with the word "gamma."

This morning, I will be injected with some sort of radioactive stuff.

Then the radiology staff will use a gamma camera on me. The whole process is called an octreotide scan.

I am hoping that the result will be the ability to look like this when I get angry.

I think this will be effective at work and with my kids, as well as when I am cheering the Saints on to victory over opponents and the referees.

P. S. This is a precautionary test. Things appear to be fine.

A Brief Excursion into the Spirit

This little song by Norah Jones pretty much nails my faith life of late--particularly these lines:

What did you say?
I know what you were singing
But my ears won't stop ringing
Long enough to hear
Those sweet words
And your simple melody

I just have to hear
Those sweet words
Spoken like a melody

I just want to hear
Those sweet words.

And these:

All your love
Is a lost balloon
Rising up through the afternoon
'Til it could fit on the head of a pin.

Lots of glimpses and longing, with just enough hope to keep me going, but not enough discernment or clarity to . . . to . . .. I don't know.

In Economics, Isn't This Called an "Opportunity"?

I'm posting from Atlanta, where they only have 70 days of water left for a very large metropolitcan area.

70 days of water left.

Now, I've noticed that in New Orleans--as recently as October 22--we have no shortage of water.

Can't we work something out?

More and Better Sustenance

From the poem "The Rules of Evidence" by Lee Robinson. I love this poem.

. . . Every question is a leading question.
Ask it anyway, then expect
what you won’t get.
There is no such thing
as the original
so you’ll have to make do
with a reasonable facsimile.
The history of the world
is hearsay. Hear it.
The whole truth
is unspeakable
and nothing but the truth
is a lie . . ..

Darn. Missed again.

Gambit has posted its 40 under 40 list again.

Once again, I'm not on it.

Maybe it's because I'm:
1. not under 40.
2. not a winnah.

P.S. UPDATE: Blake's congratulatory words and proper attitude make me want to say that my attempt at humor above is not intended to take away from the many cool stories listed in Gambit's effort to honor people making a difference in our city and region. Among my faves are the Forjet's, proprietors of Randazzo's Goodchildren Bakery that was wiped out in St. Bernard. Now they're fighting the good fight for delicious Italian baked goods and king cakes on the Northshore. Check out Nonna Randazzo's sometime.

A Good Day

Dilly had a good day at the game yesterday.

Sustenance

Words from Andy Rubin, the guy in charge of developing the new Google phone:

“I want to find something that delights people so they use it, and they use it for the merits of it being it.”

World Class Vision

Hey, America.

CPW showed us two photos in comparison that I had never seen before.

On the left is my region at night, before Katrina and the levee failures.

On the right is my state at night, after Katrina and the levee failures.

Dramatic, eh?

Thing is, when I look at the one on the left, know what I feel and know?

I feel and know that my city (New Orleans) is unlikely ever to burn that brightly in the night again.

On the one hand, that's a crying tragedy, because President Bush--through ineptitude and cynical neglect--is ensuring that there aren't as many lights on at night in my city right now, today.

On the other hand, maybe it's a sign of a truly brighter future, because maybe an even bigger and better New Orleans won't need to burn as many lights (and as much fossil fuel) because we'll be greener and smarter.

We're tough enough and smart enough to make up for the impeachable pinhead who is our President these days,

UPDATE: Great. Now we learn that President Pinhead's neglect is hurting the Port of New Orleans. Impeach and convict him. NOW. He is worse for our nation than Al-Qaeda. Much worse.

Comparing Katrina & Levee Failures to Wildfires

CPW proves once again that when I was born, I left most of the brains in the gene pool for him to scoop up.

Here are just a couple of rows from a great comparison chart he has posted:

NOLA: The Superdome and Convention Center had no power, no utilities, and no security.
California: Qualcomm Stadium had beer and hot dogs for everyone.

NOLA: 350,000 homes were destroyed.
California: 1800 homes were destroyed.

Check out the rest here.