Rummy gone?

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is stepping down, sources tell CNN.

Scuzzbucket of the Week

This so-called food critic,a man who enjoys kicking people when they're down (all in the name of "fun")


Quotes from a GQ article (which has since been pulled.) thanks to Ashley who saved it.

New Orleans was always a three-day stubble of a city, and now, courtesy of Katrina, it’s more like five. The situation is worse, of course, in the devastated areas, where the floodwaters and the winds did their work. I know we are supposed to salvage what’s left of the city, but what exactly is it that we’re trying to cherish and preserve? I hope it’s not the French Quarter, which has evolved into a illogical mix of characterless housing, elegant antiques stores, and scuzzy bars, a destination for tourists seeking the worst possible experience. The entertainment values are only marginally superior to those of Tijuana, Mexico.
Of course, there’s the food. I’m not certain the cuisine was ever as good as its reputation, in part because the people who have consumed, evaluated, and admired it likely weren’t sober enough at the time of ingestion to know what they were eating. The food can be praised for distinctiveness and historical significance, both noteworthy, but the restaurants were going in the wrong direction before the hurricane—think, if you are old enough, of French-hotel food of the ’50s. Too many luxurious restaurants were desperately trying to attract business by serving meals that fulfilled some illusory idea of what traditional cuisine should be. A local joke says it well: New Orleans has a thousand restaurants but only one menu.

New Orleans has always been about food and music, with parades added to the mix. (In the North, where I come from, we like to think we’re about jobs and education, with sports thrown in.) Vulnerability goes along with loving the dinner table too much—think again of our old friends the French. It might sound harmless for a civilization to focus on food, but it’s enormously indulgent. Name a society that cherishes tasting menus and I’ll show you a people too portly to mount up and repel invaders.


To read the rest, go to Ashley's blog

For the reaction of other locals, check out
Gumbo pages
Lolis Eric Elie
appetites webpage
2millionth blog

Elections

Yay for Bobby Jindal...88% of the vote.

What the hell is it with Jefferson, though? 34% of the people voted
for him? People that only voted for him because he's black? Don't they
see what a crooked shit he is? I just don't get it.

All amendments passed. Hmm. Makes me wonder if people just went in and
hit "yes" without thinking about it. Democracy in action.

cartoon

found at
Margaret Saizan's website


click to enlarge
credit to cartoonist J.D. Crowe of the Mobile Register.

VOTE!!

There are 8 amendments on the November 7th election ballot.
November 7th is a week from Tuesday. This isn't our usual Saturday election day.


The Bureau of Governmental Research is a private, nonprofit, independent research organization dedicated to informed public policy making and the effective use
of public resources for the improvement of government in the New Orleans metropolitan area. This report is available on BGR’s website

CABL
Council for a Better Louisiana's positions are here CABL's take

The Public Affairs Reasearch Council of Louisiana has done an excellent job of putting each amendment into everyday language and explains what your vote means for each. Click here to read their opinions.

Take some time and write down your positions before you go and vote. You only get three minutes. Hell, I was in and out in September when we had 13 amendments to vote on only because I wrote down my decisions before hand. Other wise, with my diminished near term memory, I'd be wondering why I was in the voting booth at all!!!

Weekend

Spent a pleasant weekend here on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. The weather was perfect: low humidity and temps hovering below eighty degrees. We couldn't ask for better.

Saturday was spent at a company picnic at Fontainbleu State Park outside of Mandeville, Louisiana. Hubby and I sold photography of southeast Louisiana (Pre-k). Made some money, but the weather was the real payoff.

On Sunday we checked out the Picayune Street Fair in Picayune, Mississippi. Before the storm, Picayune was a sleepy little Mississippi town. With the influx of people looking for new homes after Katrina took theirs, Picayune is going through a growth spurt.

The fair was fun - all sorts of things for sale and a wide array of people. We had a little bowl of gumbo (maybe the Louisiana folks who moved up there will teach Picayune-ites how to season their gumbo) and found an excellent little restaurant at one edge of the Street Fair called Cafe Amore. I highly recommend this cozy little place. They offer wonderful coffees and desserts as well as a sandwich I'm going back for: the Italian Panninni

So if you're in the mood to get away from it all and have a free weekday or Saturday/Sunday, check them out. Only three blocks off of Hwy 11 in the heart of Picayune, Mississippi! You'll go home refreshed.

One more kick in our ass

Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff is the proud recipient of this year’s “prestigious Henry Peterson award.”

The award is given annually in memory of a distinguished former criminal division career attorney, Henry E. Peterson, who later became the Assistant Attorney General for that Division. Chertoff’s honor hasn’t garnered a lot of attention,
but one guy who did notice was Miles W. Swanson, grandson of Henry Petersen himself.

Read his response letters. It might take away some of the disgust of Chertoff receiving the award.

Thanks to Ashley for the heads up .

AMERICAN marshlands

... just after the Iraq war started Bush requested $100 million for restoring Iraq's wetlands, while later actively opposing the restoration of Louisiana's coastal wetlands (until some recent lip service).....Despite some American casualties, Iraq's wetlands were largely restored and the unique Marsh Arab culture was saved.
Oyster has the whole story here

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Louisiana Politicians Want to Use Coastal Restoration Funding for Golf Course


I'm just so angry in so many ways that I can't say anything more right now.

All Saints Day

I'm not a big Halloween freak, guess I don't have the imagination for it. Besides that, horror movies/costumes give me the heebee jeebees.

I do love the history that comes with All Saints Day, though. Living in the Bayou Liberty/Lacombe section of southeast Louisiana with its large population of creoles, All Saints Day is celebrated in quiet beauty.

DuBuisson Cemetery is a very old graveyard that dates back to the 1800's.


(photo courtesty of bonfouca.org)

Every All Saints Day, the graves are cleaned and small candles are lit right around dusk. Seeing this creates a most ethereal feeling. I haven't been there for several years and the last time I went I had to keep an eye on two young children who wanted to climb all over the graves. My daughter is now away at college and I'm thinking that perhaps hubby & I will visit Dubuisson Cemetery tomorrow evening and light a few candles.

an audio slide show on the lighting of the graves in Bayou LIberty



In the meantime, here's a couple of other links to the Bonfouca area

The Lee Galatas house and store on Bayou Liberty Road

Katrina's affect in this area

Bounfouca dot org website.


Bonfouca has many different pronounciations: "BON FOO KA" "BON FUCK A" "BONNA FOOKA". Take your choice. :)

Child Abuse