Wednesday, January 31, 2007

bad levee warning

from USA Today
— The Army Corps of Engineers has identified 146 levees nationwide that it says pose an unacceptable risk of failing in a major flood.

WHERE THEY ARE
The Army Corps of Engineers' most recent accounting of levees that pose an unacceptable risk of failing in a major flood:
Alaska 2
Arkansas 13
California 42
Colorado 2
Connecticut 5
D.C. 4
Georgia 1
Hawaii 3
Illinois 4
Indiana 1
Iowa 1
Kansas 1
Kentucky 4
Louisiana 6
Maryland 2
Massachusetts 5
Michigan 4
Nebraska 1
New Hampshire 1
New Mexico 5
North Dakota 1
Oregon 14
Pennsylvania 7
Puerto Rico 4
Rhode Island 2
Texas 1
Utah 2
Virginia 1
Washington 6
West Virginia 1

Thanks to EJ for the heads up.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Bush's SOTU

I haven't posted anything on Bush's speech last week because I wasn't surprised that he's washed his hands of us.


Tim covers it completely here

17 months Post-K

I did a little driving around Slidell yesterday, trying to take pictures showing the recovery from Katrina of lack of it in my general area (i.e. not New Orleans).

Due to time constraints, I can't post the pictures here, but they can be seen
at my Katrina Recovery website and my Bayou Liberty website

More to come.

Good Money @ NOLA City Hall

From Rebuilding New Orleans their take on the TP article about NOLA City Hall Payroll.

.....the average pay of the top New Orleans officials is 34 percent higher than those in Jefferson Parish which now has a population double that of New Orleans. According to the article, the highest paid city employee is the EMS director which rakes in $177,000 per year..... New Orleans firemen only start out at $26,000 and cops at a little more than $32,000.


for the anonymous commentor who didn't like me taking "snippets" for my posts, this link will take you to the full article.

St. Genevieve Church

I've lived in the Bayou Liberty section of Slidell for the past 25+ years and enjoy the way it feels like a small village. My daily commute takes me across the scenic and serene Bayou and past St. Genevieve Church.

Running chores on Friday, I was struck by the sight of the church in the first stages of being gutted (click on the pictures to view full sized versions)







I'd been wondering what was to become of the church, which sits on the banks of Bayou Liberty.

Katrina inundated it along with miles of homes that surround the bayou.

Sunday's Times Picayune carried an article about the history and future of the church. All the stained glass has been removed from the current building and used in the new church that the archdiocese is constructing.



Here is the church pre-K



I am happy for the parishoners of St. Genevieve. They are kind, gentle people.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

A Message to NOLA

This appeared in the January 26 '07 TP

For my poor, sweet wife, fix New Orleans
Friday, January 26, 2007
Paul Gailiunas
My wife -- my lovely wife, and the most interesting, original, beautiful, funny person I have ever known -- was murdered in New Orleans Jan. 4. A stranger invaded our home and attacked us, and in the space of a few moments, her life ended violently.

Helen Hill was a true creative genius who chose to express herself through the medium of independent filmmaking and experimental animation. She made short, intense, personal, bright, colorful films. She was the best, most loving wife anyone could imagine. And she devoted the last two years to raising our little son Francis with the greatest of love, care and creativity.

Francis is only 2 years old now, but he is coping with this inconceivable loss with a great inner strength that I know is a direct result of the deep sense of trust and self-confidence she (and I) instilled in him.

I do not know if I could ever go back to New Orleans. Even before this terrible tragedy, I lived in fear of the violence and unpredictability that has become a daily fact of life.

But Helen loved New Orleans with a great passion. She was content only when she was in New Orleans, walking among the old shotgun houses, admiring the morning glories and magnolia trees and Spanish moss, listening to WWOZ, straining to catch a Zulu coconut, marching her pot-bellied pig in the Krewe du Vieux, bringing visitors to the Mother-in-Law Lounge, and cooking vegetarian versions of famous Creole dishes.

Helen believed deeply, at the core of her being, in the equality and dignity of all people. She took part in Eracism meetings, the progressive Gillespie Community Breakfasts and political rallies to help bring back New Orleans in the most fair and inclusive way.

Together, we brought free meals to poor and homeless people with the local Food Not Bombs group. We welcomed our neighbors into our home, African-American, Honduran and white, the neighborhood kids and the elderly. Helen deeply desired to share our love and good fortune with others.

I am writing to you, all the citizens of New Orleans, to ask you two things.

First, please, if you have any knowledge of the person who killed my wife, please come forward and speak. Please be brave and tell the police or Crimestoppers what you know.

Help bring this villain to justice for filling my wife's final moments with terror and for taking her away from her baby and her family and friends.
He must not be allowed to hurt more people and destroy more lives. Please be brave and speak.

Second, please do everything you can to heal your desperately broken city.

Helen herself was an innocent victim. But her murder, like so many others, is a symptom of a sickness, a terrible sickness caused by grinding poverty, hopelessness, bad parenting, a lack of respect for human life, pre- and post-hurricane neglect and persistent racism against African-American people.

I am begging you to reach out to your neighbors, across the borders of race and class, and help them when they need you. Don't stand by while people hurt each other.

There has been an outcry against violence in New Orleans since Helen's death. Please do not stop until things improve. I am begging you to find a way to get people out of those hellish trailer parks, which are cauldrons for the kind of violence that destroyed our happiness. The people living there need decent, well-maintained, affordable housing and it needs to happen now.

No one is going to fix New Orleans for you. You need to do it yourselves. Please do these things now, for yourselves and for my poor, sweet wife. I know this is what she would want.

. . . . . . .

Paul Gailiunas is living in South Carolina.

NOFD

One Step Forward discusses the current condition of the NOFD, which is inconceivably abominable. A spokesman for Mayor Nagin blames FEMA. Fire Department Union President Nicholas Felton isn’t buying that. We’re not either, are we?

Since when is it FEMA's job to pay these firefighters the back pay promised by city hall or supply them toilet paper????

Hey Ray! You had the balls enough to set up a kickback scheme from Waste Management . Why don't you use some of that "donation" money to help your essential personnel out? Assclown.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Road Home, Blanco, etc

Kathleen Blanco seems to be whining again. I would like to know why she can't just buckle down and get to work fixing the Road Home program and get over the political posturing:

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco called on Congress Monday to create a bipartisan commission to investigate whether White House politics played a role in slowing the federal response to Hurricane Katrina.

An agitated Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Wednesday it was inexplicable that President Bush failed to mention the Gulf Coast during his State of the Union address when the region is still struggling with its hurricane recovery.

Gov. Blanco is trying to blame Congress and the Bush administration for the excruciating delays in the state's Road Home program.


Nope, she's whining about Mississippi and how they are getting more than us. Waaaa! I am exhausted with her ineptitude and whiney ways. Almost 18 months after the storm a lightbulb goes on and she decides to help small businesses recover from their losses. In trying to create the illusion that her LRA program is "on track" indefensible errors have been made, causing anguish for people who lost so much from Katrina. She wants to spend the state's "surplus" like Imelda Marcos at a shoe store.
I could go on, but you get the picture.

Here's a link to the Mississippi equivalent of the Road Home program. Their facts and figures laid out and updated on a weekly basis. Compare their stats to Louisiana's program.

If Michael and Therese Homan are any examples , Louisiana's program needs to take a "working with people" course. Their experience is inexcusable.
I have to agree with CB.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Recovery numbers for you


Celcus has an interesting post today,
about the Gulf Coast recovery. Here's the beginning of it:
There are people around the country who have been heard to ask why we can’t just let it go and get on with things. They regale us with stories of a terrible flood or tornado, a fire or other, and how they didn’t need help at all. Some even decide to play a numbers game, noting death totals from whatever disaster, as if this somehow “proves” we are simply a bunch of unmotivated whiners who insist that someone else clean up the mess.


Read his post for the breakdown of the numbers from this catastrophe.

Well, we're not unmotivated whiners and are doing A WHOLE LOT of cleanup ourselves and with the help of beautiful unselfish people from around the globe who are coming here to help.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

John Kass is an ass

Dapoblog discusses an article that a two bit sports writer from Chicago wrote about the Saints
Here's an excerpt
People of New Orleans, lend me your ears.
We are not your sponge......So no matter what happens Sunday in the NFC championship game between the Bears and the Saints, it has nothing to do with that flood of yours.
We're not sopping up your water.
This is football....... ..Oh, I get it. If the Bears lose, New Orleans will rise above the place where it now sits, below sea level, where some ridiculous Frenchman put it, ignoring the warnings of his engineers.


I think this headshot of the assclown would make a perfect center for a dart board, don't you?

Nagin & the Chef Landfill

The landfill debacle that just won't die
New Orleans officials traded a zoning waiver needed by Waste Management to operate the Chef Menteur Landfill for the promise of a portion of the landfill’s revenue, according to a federal audit that deems the deal inappropriate and concludes the city should pay the money back.
Officials in the Nagin administration had no comment on the audit.


Of course.
bastard Nagin.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Scuzzbuckets of the week



These and other Bear fans who have proven themselves to be
sick, heartless S.O.B's.

from The Dead Pelican

Bears fans taunt Katrina victims, Saints fans... Mike Baham, who was there and took the photograph, tells THE DEAD PELICAN that he "witnessed the TV guy from New Orleans getting beer thrown at him and was the target of more katrina cracks and physical threats than I could have ever expected." (Photograph By Mike Baham (C) 2007)


May your balls freeze off if you have any, boys.

Apparently, they weren't the only nasty Bears fans out there
more and more reports..this from da poblog

Ashley responds in his own, unique style.

What a season

From other bloggers, here's a compilation of what the Saints 2006-07 season did for this area:

From Ray in New Orleans
a message to the "Who Dat Nation".
There is a magic that imbues to the perpetual underdog that is unavailable to the routine winner. We, the City, will never be declared the winner...there's really no such thing…...


No pickles dot net proclaims
We are proud of our Saints We are proud to have hosted 9 home games instead of on the road for 16. We are proud that the work ethic that brought our team into the national spotlight is something our political and business leaders can choose to emulate if they want our state to rebound. We are proud to be Louisiana natives, New Orleans citizens, and Saints fans. Our heads are held high.

From Schroeder
" Just as Sean Payton groomed his team to eliminate prima donnas, New Orleanians are organizing themselves with the support of fellow Americans around the country, and we’ve begun to operate as a team.

Sure, the Saints lost the NFC championship, but by playing as a team, they helped to win back New Orleans — an achievement far more worthy of our gratitude


From Cliff's Crib I can't be more prouder of my team. It's much better to be playing in January for something meaningful than to watch your team get embarrassed during the year and never get this chance.


Ernie chimes in You played a great game, and you had a great season. You give us hope, and you have shown us what excellence and commitment can do. We're proud to have you represent us, and we can't wait to cheer for you again. You guys are the best!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Thank You Saints!



I could watch this video forever. The feeling evoked this night - Sept 25th 2006 - was electric. After everything we'd been through, the elation was spontaneous; just as it is today, four months later.

Brian Bordelon at No Pickles explains what all of this "hoopla" is about to Saints fans .
The success of the Saints is not merely a feel-good story for us. It is the realistic possibility that some part of us can overcome the odds and succeed after the storm. It is a celebration the entire state is long overdue for. Every year we lose people, industry, coastline, all sorts of tangible positives that could help us become bigger and better. Thanks for putting it into words. Brian.

Thanks for the wonderful season. Next year will be one game longer!!!

Bless you boys!

Friday, January 19, 2007

Purging Together



World Class New Orleans
penned an excellent article on things that Saints fans need to keep in mind while watching the game Sunday.

The Saints are Coming



Meet the 2006 Saints

Saints Coldplay Video



WHO DAT!

They're showin you the money, Ray

From the TP
Nagin is in New York this week, trying to get financial support from nongovernmental groups: Wall Street firms and foundations that might provide loans or grants for a new criminal justice system and the reconstruction of city buildings and other storm-damaged infrastructure, his office said.

...Nagin often complains about how slowly his city gets federal hurricane recovery money, but figures released Thursday show that nearly $600 million is available — if only Nagin would request it.


I think Ray just likes to travel around and forget "all his troubles".
Hope all you assclowns that voted for him are resting well, knowing that you're helping to delay NOLA's recovery.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Vote for Drew & Help the kids

Drew Brees is up for Fedex Air player of the year!

If he wins, Fedex will donate $25,000 to New Orleans Children's Hospital.

You can only vote once per computer, so pass this along to as many people as possible before January 31st.

Go here to vote
Thanks

Monday, January 15, 2007

NOLA from space

NOLA from the Space Station
New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain

Click on picture to view full image


New Orleans sits within a shallow depression underlain by unconsolidated (loosely settled) river sediments. This location makes the city particularly vulnerable to subsidence (sinking) and flooding. The average elevation of metropolitan New Orleans is 1.8 meters below sea level, and a complicated system of levees, pumps, and upstream control structures on the Mississippi River is necessary to maintain dry conditions in the city. Several processes are responsible for the ground subsidence: groundwater withdrawal, reduction of sediment delivery by the Mississippi River (spanning the lower part of the image) because of flood control and other engineering, and land use changes, such as draining of wetlands for development. The low areas can be flooded by river floods, storm surges, or failure of levees holding back surrounding lake waters—as demonstrated catastrophically during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

In this astronaut photograph from November 16, 2006, sunglint—light reflected directly back to the camera onboard the International Space Station (ISS) from a water surface—accentuates the wetland setting of New Orleans by highlighting the numerous lakes, ponds, and rivers (in various shades of silver-gray) surrounding the city. The image was acquired by an astronaut looking southwest from the ISS, which was located over north-central Alabama at the time this image was taken. Lake Pontchartrain borders New Orleans to the north, and the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (36 kilometers in length) appears as a dark linear feature against the lake surface. Variations in the color of the water east and west of the Causeway reflect movement of the surface waters, including surface currents and wind-induced roughening. The patterns are visible because of surfactants (natural or synthetic chemicals like detergents that reduce surface tension). Low cloud cover produces a blue-gray haze at lower left.

Astronaut photograph ISS014-E-8179 was acquired November 18, 2006, with a Kodak 760C digital camera using an 180 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and the Image Science & Analysis Group, Johnson Space Center. The image in this article has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.

Thanks, Katrina

From the NY Times

Oreck pulling out of Long Beach Mississippi plant due to problems with insurance

"Finding workers is a challenge now along the Mississippi coast. In Hancock County, to the west of here, employers have booked all of the recruitment booths at a job fair scheduled for Jan. 25, seeking workers for jobs in casinos, factories or power companies. In Biloxi, to the east, the Gulf Coast Medical Center says it is struggling to find workers, and so are insurance companies, restaurants and trucking companies.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

How 'Bout Dem Saints?





Bless You, Boys!
Bless You, Mr. Payton
From the Rapid City Journal ... It might not seem like much, those few hours to play. Happens every weekend in places across the country. For a city struggling to piece itself back together, though, the Saints are more than a little distraction.
From Bayou Buzz Still, the average New Orleans citizen will go back this week to the rubble, to the trailers, to the question marks that has marked the community’s existence since the late summer of 2005. But, for another week, there will be a smile on their faces and pride in the hearts. They know there is hope that their football team can win the next big one and that the citizens can persevere and never say die--even in a City now known for the Saints.
From Helena Montana ..the people of New Orleans pulled together behind the one thing they could all believe in...."This has really been the rebirth of New Orleans," said Tonya Dupree, a season-ticket holder for the first time this year. "If you were depressed about something, the Saints took all that away. They're saviors. And, after beating Philadelphia 27-24, they're on the verge of being in the Super Bowl. Funny how this place hosted all those Super Bowls but never had a team in it. Maybe that will change now. Lots of things have changed here.

From The London Free Press The Saints truly have brought everyone together at a time when the city needed it more than ever. And it's a lot easier to sleep in a FEMA trailer after a win than a loss.


THE SAINTS ARE COMING!

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Hwy 90 Trek

After work on Saturday, I took Hwy 90 home, rather than my usual route of Hwy 11. I wanted to check on any progress being made in the Lake Catherine/Fort Pike area, one of the hardest hit areas in Louisiana.

Click on pictures for full-size versions.


These two behemoths have been "parked" by the Textron facility since Katrina.


What must've been a beautiful sailboat, the Samarai now sits in the woods, all broken


The first four or so miles on Hwy 90 appear as desolate as this.


There are humungous "camps" being built out there



But also some modest ones being rebuilt


Fort Pike is just sitting there, in disrepair. But there are fishermen there almost daily.

The wildlife seems to enjoy fishing there, too. That dust in the moat appears to be from the construction going on of the new Chef Pass Bridge

The bridge is progressing nicely. Gonna be a high mother!

The one thing I like about winter is that one can see the shape of all of the nekkid trees.

Friday, January 12, 2007

The "ENOUGH" March

I was in Thibodaux the day of the March and didn't get to find out the details until this afternoon.

To all who marched, y'all rule. I can't describe how proud I am of you all.

Bart Everson delivered a speech at yesterday's "Stop the Crime" march in New Orleans.
Thanks to Adrastos for the link to the video at youtube.


This is Bart being interviewed by Anderson Cooper. A bit of his speech is telecast there. Many thanks to Bart for providing text of his speech on b.rox.
Thank you in so many ways, Bart.

Dambala over at American Zombie produced a great film during the march, with interviews of some NOLA bloggers.

Here is a link to coverage of the March from CBS, Time, NY Times, LA Times and more.

Speakers at the March, Part One.

Speakers at the March, Part Two


Casey Nunez' 10 minute video covering the March

Karen's has a few pix here and the text to her speech is here for the reading.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Lead or get out of the way, Ray

I'm pissed (like everyone else in this area). I'm angry because of how I felt yesterday when
my 18 year old daughter told me she was going to New Orleans today to visit a school of
cooking (she's getting a culinary degree at NSU in Thibodaux). I was scared. My stomach
started fluttering all over the place. She thought I was being over protective and perhaps I was.
But with the senseless murders going on 30 miles south of our home, I didn't want to take the
chance of losing my only child to the cold hearted thugs running around New Orleans.
I let her go despite my feelings and she's back home safely.
I'm pissed because I felt that way. It's a feeling of helplessness.

Jarvis DeBerry
wrote a piece that describes the way I feel
. New Orleans is still in a state of storm-induced desolation and darkness. Those two characteristics alone are enough to give one the heebie-jeebies. But throw in the idea of murderers running amok and a Police Department that has yet to announce a plan of action, and what would otherwise be a run-of-the-mill stop for gas is dreaded.


Readers from around the country are voicing their opinions on the run away crime rate in New Orleans.


One in particular cites what I believe is one of the biggest causes of this atrocity

Call it profiling, targeting or Fido. The name doesn't matter. Unless the police and judicial system takes extremely agressive action against the group predominantly responsible for the assaults and killings in the next thirty days, you're not going to get a chance to hold hands, sing Kumbaya and have a bake sale to teach little Johnnie to read.
Specifically, this means random frisking by the police of young black males who dress and behave like thugs for weapons. Stopping vehicles driven by young black males who dress and behave like thugs for weapons searches. Generally putting young black males who dress and behave like thugs under a security microscope.
Sorry about that, young black males who dress and behave like thugs - but if Scandinavian grannies who dressed and behaved like Conquistadores were committing these crimes, I'd suggest going after them. To papaphrase Dave Chappelle: "If I were to wear a police uniform for fun, you'd probably come to me for help in the street - but if you dress like a whore it's ok for you to get mad at me for thinking you're a whore?"


On the idea of a curfew police said the recent killings were brazen acts, often happening in broad daylight and, in one case, within a block of police officers. No witnesses have yet come forward, and police begged them to do so. Officers say they believe many of the killings were retaliatory and committed by people with violent pasts, but they refused to go into further detail

Where oh where are the black leaders when the young people so desperately need their guidance?
Al Sharpton's thinking of running for president "
Jesse Jackson's busy at the 10th Annual Wall Street Economic Summit and Conference.
Or are those two only interested when some "redneck" sheriff from St. Tammany parish profiles people based on clues from a crime????
Where is Andrew Young, who was born in NOLA?
Where's Angela Davis?
Where are the rap stars these little thugs idolize?
Making sleazy videos for MTV, building outrageous "cribs"?
Where's the president of the NAACP? I don't
believe he thinks what's happening down here is "advancement" for these youths.

Where the HELL is the freaking ACLU? Don't care what color it is, but there
are SERIOUS civil rights violations going on down here. Or is it that murder isn't considered a violation of one's civil rights?

It's time to throw away the "political correctness" bullshit that so many people subscribe to. It's time to demand that
people who were allegedly elected to office perform the duties they swore to. It's time for these little bastards that are
heartlessly killing people, tearing apart families, ruining lives to pay for their crimes. They don't need juvenile detention
centers. Send the little shits to Angola for a month.

This area has been thru hell and back and it's time for the healing to take place. The good people of New Orleans - the ones
who made the decision to stay here and rebuild their homes and their lives - deserve it.

Craig G. over at metroblogging
details the angry/hopeful/helplessness feelings running rampant in the city


People are scared. Listening to a call-in radio program I hear a lady who has trouble sleeping now. She said she cries
all the time. She's frightened for her children.

These bastards are holding the city hostage. It's time to do something, RayRay. Lead or get the fuck out of the way, you son of a bitch.

New Orleans Crime Times dot com.
bookmark it.

Murder and the City that Care Forget

ENOUGH

A "stop the violence" march is slated for January 11th in NOLA.
Unless you've been in a cave, you know what it's all about.
if you have been in a cave,
Peter explains the reason for the march here.
Good reading.

If you can't march, you can do your part by emailing the "powers that be"
who really should the "the powers that WERE".
Celcus has posted the following:
here
The march is set, and the momentum is building; it looks like it will be a big one. If you can I urge you to participate in whatever way you can. If you cannot march, plaster the appropriate officials with emails, letters, and phone calls. Here are a few contacts.

Ray.Nagin@mayorofno.com - email for Mayor Nagin

wriley@cityofno.com - email for Chief Warren Riley

ldupre@cityofno.com - Leatrice Dupre' is the Public Information Director for Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddy Jordan's Office

http://www.neworleanscitycouncil.com/contact.asp City Council Members email addresses can be found here. Remember to email the at-large members as well as the Council person for your district.

judges@criminalcourt.org is a group email address for the Criminal Court judges.


Chris Rose writes
We are a community held hostage by our teenagers. What the hurricane couldn't do, what the flood couldn't do, what political chicanery and incompetence could not do, a random and soulless group of children can do.

They are children of violence, not nearly as smart or as rich as anyone else in town but I ask you: What good is your Lexus and your Tulane MBA when your time comes to go face to face with a child of New Orleans armed with nothing more than a Glock and no fear of prison or death?

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Scuzzbucket of the Week

Hat tip to Oyster


Dollar Bill Jefferson
I cannot believe the cojones of this man!!! According to the article at the new 995FM, Last week, House Democrats were shocked to receive a letter from Congressman Bill Jefferson on his official Congressional stationery asking colleagues to donate money to help him retire his campaign debt.

Hope all you morons to re-elected this crook are proud of yourselves.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Change MUST take place

While young kids run wildly around the city, shooting up anything in their way for money or whatever it is that is special to them, New Orleans natives are questioning their choice to stay in the city.

Read what natives are saying

Loki wonders about staying in light of this crime spree. While our "Mayor" and "Police Chief" remain conspicuously absent from view, popping up only occasionally to mouth platitudes before sinking from sight, the death toll rises. It now includes people we know personally. Local filmmaker Helen Hill was murdered in her own home at 5:30am, her husband, Doctor Paul Gailiunas was wounded but survived as did their 2 year old son.

Adrastos
rethinks the hope
that many, many people had in the immediate aftermath of the storm. As long as there are people with guns who think that life, including their own, is cheap, blood will stain the streets of New Orleans.

Editor B, friend of Helen & Paul mourns his loss. But I believe that Helen would have wanted us to keep fighting for justice and a better city. If you are reading this in New Orleans, and you’re not actively involved in working for the future of this city, I challenge you to get involved, now. We are, quite literally, fighting for our lives.

Stuck_on_stupid Ray Nagin penned an editorial in yesterday's paper. Talk about Pollyana!
Even though we continue to face challenges, the city is getting its house in order, so that our citizens can come home to a safer, smarter, stronger city.

Warren Riley....what can I say? He is too busy dealing with Endymion logistics instead of crime NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley would be wise to strike a similarly cautious note when it comes to 2006 crime statistics. Superintendent Riley called the murder tally of 161 the lowest in 30 years, setting the figure against the backdrop of a rebounding population and officer shortage.

The there's Eddie Jordan. What's he been doing, hanging out with Ray?

Tragic Crime Wave

Too many good people are getting taken away in New Orleans horrific crime problem.


Blues notes '07 tells about the cause of the murder of

the founder of the "Hot 8 Brass Band", Dinerral Shavers.


b.rox discusses what he pens "a horrible tragedy" in the murder of Helen Hill in her own home on Rampart Street


NOLANik has created a site where Helen Hill's friends are collecting memories of Helen here.
She must've been a very special lady. Prayers for her loved ones' strength are going out.
Here is another moving tribute to Helen.


The Chicory calls for Warren Riley's resignation
. I'd say it's a good start.

PaulP posts at Metroblogging about seven days, twelve murders
He shares my
feelings about how bad things are in NOLA, crime-wise.
Yep, it's pretty bad when third world countries are laughing at you.

The WaPo reports on - as of yesterday - 5 shooting deaths in 14 hours
Since New Year's Day, when the police chief declared New Orleans' murder rate under control, the city has logged six homicides, including five shooting deaths in a 14-hour span.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

KBB & God

dambala discusses Kathleen Blanco's morning conversations with the Supreme Being.......

The Thieving Scum Sugar Bowl

one of my favorite bloggers discusses how Louisianians should
react to the presence of Allstate as sponsor of the Sugar Bowl...

snip...
should we be ready to treat thtem to some of the triple decibel noise we know 70,000 plus angry fans can generate, showering the field with our true feelings and perhaps the odd loose projectile?


I like that idea!

Thanks, Mark.

Postivity

Heather Buck penned a positive look back at
good things that happened in 2006 in NOLA.


Thanks Heather!

Is this nerve or pure idiocy?

PUL-EEZ
New York Times
3-Jan-07
~
By John F. Burns and James
Glanz
~
Iraq’s Shiite-led government said Tuesday that it had ordered an investigation into
the abusive behavior at the execution of Saddam Hussein, who was subjected to a battery of taunts by official Shiite witnesses and guards as he awaited his hanging.



here's a list of Mr. H's crimes

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

The Danzinger Incident

from NPR

excerpt
The Danziger Bridge incident needs to be understood in the context of a major American city that had disintegrated.

"The New Orleans Police Department was overwhelmed," says Anthony Radosti, vice president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission and a former 23-year veteran investigator with the New Orleans police.

"Radio communication was at a minimum. [The police] felt isolated, abandoned. They had no place to live or sleep. Rumors were just wild. Sniper fire, armed individuals on the street. And in some cases, that information was true," Radosti says.

An Arkansas paramedic who rode to the Danziger Bridge with police that morning told NPR that officers were involved in a five-minute gunbattle. He heard people shooting back, but he says he was hiding and he couldn't see who they were.

Radosti sympathizes with embattled officers who were trying to take back their city -- up to a point.


Varg discusses this and the CCC bridge incident

WWL program changes

I want to thank WWL for removing that pompous bag of hot air from
105.3 FM and relegating him to A.M. from 11-2 on weekdays.

They will now be broadcasting live with a call-in format in this time slot.

I know it won't make Schroeder happy, but you can't please everyone.

I'm just glad I don't have to turn my radio off here at work from 11-2 any more.

Gulfport-Biloxi


Pictures taken in November '06 in Gulfport/Biloxi
show the
progress being made.

Monday Morning Smile