New Preamble

This is probably the best e-mail I've seen in a long, long time.  The following has been attributed to State Representative Mitchell Aye Lewis Napper from GA. This guy should run for President one day...

"We the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt ridden, delusional, and other liberal bed-wetters.  We hold these truths to be self evident: that a whole lot of people are confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim they require a Bill of NON-Rights."

ARTICLE I: You do not have the right to a new car, big screen TV, or any other form of wealth.   More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything.

ARTICLE II:  You do not have the right to never be offended.  This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone -- not just you!  You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc.; but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be.

ARTICLE III: You do not have the right to be free from harm.  If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful, do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy.

ARTICLE IV: You do not have the right to free food and housing.  Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes.  (This one is my pet peeve...get an education and go to work....don't expect everyone else to take care of you!)

ARTICLE V: You do not have the right to free health care.  That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in public health care.

ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to physically harm other people.  If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim, or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair.


ARTICLE VII: You do not have the right to the possessions of others.   If you rob, cheat, or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don t be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a big screen color TV or a life of leisure.

ARTICLE VIII: You do not have the right to a job.   All of us sure want you to have a job, and will gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful.

ARTICLE IX: You do not have the right to happiness.   Being an American means that you have the right to PURSUE happiness, which by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an over abundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.

ARTICLE X: This is an English speaking country.   We don't care where you are from, English is our language.   Learn it or go back to wherever you
came from! ( lastly....)

ARTICLE XI: You do not have the right to change our country's history or heritage. This country was founded on the belief in one true God.   And yet, you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution.   The phrase 'IN GOD WE TRUST' is part of our heritage and history, and if you are uncomfortable with it, TOUGH!

Fort Pike & Lake Catherine

Got up early and drove down Hwy 434 to Hwy 90.
click on small photos to view full size photos

Crossed the old Rigolets bridge into New Orleans. On the Orleans side of the bridge is a very
old, very damaged Fort Pike.



Built in the late 1820's, Fort Pike was used to defend Rigolets Pass, approach through Lake Pontchartrain to New Orleans and named after Brigadier General Zebulon Montgomery Pike. Up until Katrina,
Fort Pike
was a great, live piece of history.

After the mosquito's got to be too much, I decided to drive thru the small community of Lake Catherine, Louisiana.

I was curious to see any new developments since my last journey to Lake Catherine about a month ago A lot of debris has been cleared and the road looked pretty clean.


The Marina was open. Any and all entrances to Lakes Pontchartrain and Borgne were packed with pickup trucks pulling trailers. Must be some good fishing out there.


Doesn't look like much is going on at the Community Center

On the way home, I noticed 5 pelicans flying toward Lake Borgne

but I only managed to snap a picture of the straggler.

One positive note: work on the new Rigolets bridge is progressing nicely.


More photos can be seen at this website.

Charity's Story

What happened at Charity Hospital during and after Katrina?



Go here.

Sept 30 Elections

We will be asked to vote on thirteen (13) constitutional amendments in two weeks on September 30th. And additional eight amendments will be on the November 7th election.

You can read these amendments at this website.

WWL had political pollster Bernie Pinsonat on to discuss three of the 13:

Here are Mr. Pinsonet's opinions:

Amendment Four
Limits the amount that juries can award to a property owner should private property be siezed by the government for damage mitigation. This amendment is considered pro government.


Amendment Five
Property cannot be taken by the state except for public purposes (a general public right to definite use of the property). It also provides provide exceptions use of the property and that just compensation to be paid to the owner of the expropriated property.(pro landowner)


Amendment Six
Prohibits the transfer of property expropriated by the state to any person without first offering the property to the original owner; to provide that unused expropriated property be declared surplus property to be first offered to the original owner prior to sale to the general public by competitive bid.


the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana (PAR) details all amendments in great detail.
Go to PAR website to review and make your intelligent decision at this website.



VOTE, DAMMIT!!!

Scuzzbucket of the week

Actually, this guy is sadder than a scuzzbucket. Maybe he was just hungry.
I needed the laugh.



A one-legged shoplifter was arrested days after allegedly taking a rack of beef ribs, police said Wednesday.




story here WWL.com


According to Lt. Todd Duplantis, a Houma Police spokesman, officers were called to the Rouses Grocery Store on St. Charles Street in reference to a shoplifter on Saturday, September 9. The store manager told them a one-legged man on a scooter picked up a 14-pound pack of ribs and left the store without paying for them.

The manager said he chased the man down and got the ribs back outside the store, Duplantis said. Police patrolled the area but could not find the suspect.

On Wednesday, police, acting on several tips, apprehended 48-year-old Darryl Chauvin and charged him with theft of goods, Duplantis said. Investigators also discovered that Chauvin had seven outstanding warrants against him for writing bad checks. He was also charged for those warrants.

PTSD and it's children

Suicide rate higher, but nowhere near double than pre-Katrina,

story here

Whew! that's a relief

The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans' suicide rate appears to have gone up in the first six months after Hurricane Katrina evacuees were allowed back home, but the increase could be due to chance instead of post-storm depression, a new study by Louisiana's state epidemiologist found.

So what does THAT mean? chance?

Dr. Raoult Ratard took a unique approach to studying the death and suicide rate because there have been no firm estimates of how many people have returned after the storm. Various sources have put the number at anywhere from less than 200,000 to around 250,000 out of the pre-Katrina Census figure of just under 455,000.

So, Ratard compared the number of deaths from October 2005 (when the city was re-opened after the storm) through March 2006 to the number of deaths for the same period the year before. The pre-storm death total was 2,507; post storm, 1,024. The ratio was 0.41.

The number of pre-storm suicides was 16; post storm, 11. The ratio was 0.69.

So, the suicide ratio was higher than the death ratio. But the totals are too small to conclude that Katrina caused the increase. "They are not big enough so that you can say with certainty that it would not be due to chance," he said.



some people will do ANYTHING for study money.


...a recent study which found that seriously depressed survivors of the storm thought about suicide far less often than people in that shape before Katrina.

But, since the number of seriously depressed people is much higher, the total percentage of people considering suicide could still be higher or about the same....


STOP!!! stop the number manipulation! my head hurts!


It's hard to say whether figures will show that suicides increased after March or around the recent Aug. 29 anniversary, Kessler said. Anniversaries of traumatic events such as divorce or a child's death do increase the chance of suicide, but concern by public figures and a feeling of pulling together may counterbalance that.

"It's hard to know. It could go either way," he said. "I'm much more concerned about the long-term grinding effect on people ...


The mayor just gave another speech saying people have got to realize it's going to be a while, and people say, `A while! It's been a while. How long is a while?'"

No, they're not quite saying THAT. Here's what they're saying...


Ratard's study also found a significant drop in the rate of homicides. However the study period ended just as the city's homicide lull did.

There had been 19 homicides in the October through March after the storm, compared to 129 in the same period a year earlier. But there were 13 in June, followed by 21 — just under the monthly average before Katrina — in July, and 98 so far this year.



Welcome to Hard Times...

Alligator Bend

A $19.6 million proposal may be the first among four projects recommended for approval by the Breaux Act Task Force at its Oct. 18 meeting.

If the task force agrees, as expected, the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service and the state Department of Natural Resources would choose a contractor and oversee the work
to rebuild a land bridge, sandwiched between Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne in an area known as Alligator Bend, (shown below, with the red star) the contractor would mine about 3 million cubic yards of sediment from Lake Borgne to fill in 410 acres of open water, in part created by Hurricane Katrina.

The project also includes planting vegetation along 7 1/4 miles of the Lake Borgne shoreline, which retreated 5 feet during the storm.

For more info, go here.

Just what everyone needs....

from Cajun Creations dot com:

Da Mayor in Your Pocket
Price: $10.00

Things got bad, and then he got mad. New Orleanians' have an interesting sense of humor, and Da Mayor in Your Pocket is a must have all New Orleanians.We suggest you buy two, because someone you know is going to fall in love with it and you'll have to buy another one anyway. Batteries included. Good clean fun.

Includes six of our Mayor's famous sayings (you know the ones he made on national radio or TV)...

You gotta be kidding me
This is a national disaster
Get their asses movin' to New Orleans
And let's fix the biggest Goddamn crisis in the history of this country
Excuse my French everybody in America
But, I am pissed.

So are we, Ray, Ray

We will never forget

September 11, 2001.
We will never forget

What's happening

just another crazy week in New Orleans

Thanks to Ernie.