Excerpts from part two of an interview with Tab Benoit about Louisiana Wetlands.
I posted about part one last week
“Right after the hurricane, they were digging new canals. I saw, I was out there in my boat. Here the world just saw us flood because of this [Katrina], and we did get introduced to the fact that the wetlands are our real protection, and here oil companies are right in here instantly digging again. It’s wide open. It’s a gold rush down here. This town [Houma] is, probably after Katrina, another 30 or 40 thousand people. This town was 80,000 before Katrina, and now it’s way beyond. All of that is oil. That’s the only real industry out here.
“But then again my family will gladly move out of here. They don’t have any ties here, not like me. I love this place. I understand the importance of Louisiana, for the United States to survive, for the globe to survive. You hear all about this global warming, and you look at all the stuff that supposedly causes it, and the stuff that could be fixing it. Everybody knows that the delta of a river, that those lush forests of swamps and trees are like natural filters, and oxygen makers. And we just killed a huge amount of it. We killed the third largest river on the planet’s delta. We killed one of our big atmosphere scrubbers. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that maybe we should pay more attention to the delta of the Mississippi river.”
“As soon as I started being a professional musician I felt this is the right place. Just keep going. It’s led me to everything that I’ve done. Like talking to you right now. Little did I know that my area would need the most help out of any area in this entire country. But there you go. There’s gotta be a reason why I’m here, why I know what I know, why I’ve seen what I’ve seen, and everything that I did before was a huge part of getting me involved in wetlands restoration. I saw it from the air, day to day, I would come in and talk about it and people would think that’s never going to happen in my lifetime. Every day I’m watching stuff wash away. Yes, this is going to happen in our lifetime. Learning it from the air, watching it from a bird’s eye view, it’s so much easier to see. All your questions are answered in a matter of minutes.”
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
The East
New Orleans East clinic closing.
Opened 18 months after the storm, a New Orleans East Clinic, operated by
Operation Blessing International .
must close in less than a month.
From the above link
Operation Blessing, the charity that launched the clinic after Katrina and raised thousands of dollars to support its operations, has exhausted the stash of private donations that came pouring in after the storm.
The closing threatened to strand thousands of uninsured patients in eastern New Orleans without health care in their neighborhood, but the city Health Department - aware for some time that the clinic would close - has made provisions to turn an obstetrics clinic on Read Boulevard into a full-service primary care office by January.
A lot of blame has been pointed at the federal government since Katrina, and rightly so. But the above statement makes it clear that
Ray "Chocolate City" Nagin has not been on the job since his re-election; a victory fueled by the diaspora of Katrina victims not living in the city.
Ray Nagin…..here's a guy who can't remember if he
voted in the last three elections. The voting records show he didn't, but he claims he did. Whom would YOU believe?
New Orleans East has long been the "bastard step child" of the Big Easy.
I work in the industrial section in The East, and the main thoroughfare - Old Gentilly Road - has been in dire need repairs since long before the storm.
The New Orleans city government has been contacted numerous times regarding the road repairs and chooses to ignore them.
Heartfelt thanks goes out to Operation Blessing and all who've donated to them. You can be assured that your money has been put to the
best use. Let's hope that the city of New Orleans steps up to the plate and opens that long closed hospital in timely fashion to help the people
in The East.
Friday, December 07, 2007
Post Katrina Mental Health
Man jumps from highrise.
A little over 27 months post Katrina. People still living in those formaldehyde ridden trailers while FEMA - in typical fashion - drags its feet.
Fifty thousand Kids are still suffering all across the Gulf Coast due to the storm.
The mayor of New Orleans is suffering a mental breakdown in public.
People are still fighting the damn insurance bastards
The holiday season brings depression for a lot of people. This, the third holiday season since the storm feels like it's not going to be any better than the last two.
Thanks, Katrina
A little over 27 months post Katrina. People still living in those formaldehyde ridden trailers while FEMA - in typical fashion - drags its feet.
Fifty thousand Kids are still suffering all across the Gulf Coast due to the storm.
The mayor of New Orleans is suffering a mental breakdown in public.
People are still fighting the damn insurance bastards
The holiday season brings depression for a lot of people. This, the third holiday season since the storm feels like it's not going to be any better than the last two.
Thanks, Katrina
Helping the Gulf Coast
Coast moving on after Katrina; help them
Chef and restraunteur Robert St. John has written an article in the Mississippi Sun Herald about supporting the Gulf Coast
businesses this holiday season. Being a "world-class eater", he ends up talking about restaurants destroyed by that bitch Katrina. Here are some excerpts from the article.
At a book signing on the Mississippi Gulf Coast last week, I was hit with a blinding jolt of reality.
I have been a victim of out-of-sight out-of-mind Katrina apathy. My hometown of Hattiesburg was hit hard. Yet we bounced back quickly.
I am a huge fan of the old-line seafood restaurants of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I have fond memories of eating
at Baricev's
The Friendship House ,
McElroy's and the like.
I have always encouraged support of the independent restaurants of the Coast.
One restaurant that I must have passed a thousand times, but never once visited, was Annie's at Henderson Point.
As with most of the independent restaurants within a few blocks of the Gulf, Annie's was a casualty of Katrina. They, too, moved to Delisle after the storm.
As I signed books we ordered a cup of gumbo from the newly-relocated Annie's (now Café Annie, located next door to the bookstore). The gumbo was rich, the roux was dark, and it had the distinct taste of a well-made crab stock in the foreground.
As I finished my gumbo, I felt an overwhelming pang of guilt for not visiting Annie's in its original location.
At Café Annie, 80 years of Gulf Coast restaurant history have been reduced to a small wall of black and white 8" x 10" photographs. There are hundreds of businesses with similar stories all along the Gulf. Let's throw apathy to the wind and keep them in sight, and in mind, during the holiday shopping season, and throughout the coming years.
To a person, everyone who bought books at the Pass Christian book signing had lost all of their cookbooks - and their homes along with them - to the storm. No one complained. No one seemed resentful. They had gotten on with their daily lives and to the business of rebuilding the Coast. "It's only stuff," one woman commented
Robert St.John is an author, chef, restaurateur, and world-class eater. He is the author of five books and the upcoming "Southern Seasons." He can be reached at www.robertstjohn.com.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Dummy of the day
From the December 6th, Times Picayune
It was one of the strangest accidents I've responded to in my 37 years on the New Orleans Police Department," said Lt. Melvin Howard, assistant commander of the Traffic Division.
The man lost control of his 650 cc BMW motorcycle and struck a curb as he headed west in the 5900 block of Almonaster Avenue about 1:15 p.m., police said. The impact threw the driver across the median and into the eastbound lanes where he came to rest, his yellow helmet left in the westbound lanes as was his motorcycle, police and a witness said.
He was taken to a local hospital in "very critical" condition, police said.
The lone witness to the accident, Matt Rutan, said the motorcyclist sped past his truck as he was driving back from the landfill.
"At first I thought it was a piece of rope dragging behind the motorcycle," Rutan said, referring to what later turned out to be a 5-foot canebrake rattlesnake secured by twine to the motorcycle.
The motorcycle got at most a half-mile ahead of Rutan, he said, when he saw the cyclist "lift up a little and twist around in his seat like he was attending to something on the back of his bike."
In doing so, the driver failed to negotiate a right-hand curve in the road and struck what Rutan judged to be an eight-inch concrete curb. The driver was ejected from the motorcycle and came to rest about 150 feet down the road, on the opposite side of a grassy median, Rutan said. He said the motorcycle flipped many times and ended up in the westbound lanes more than 200 feet down the road.
Rutan stopped his truck and called 911 as he ran to the driver and saw he was apparently unconscious, he said.
An ambulance responded within 10 minutes, he said.
Rutan discovered that what he had thought was a rope was really a snake "loosely tied by a rough kind of twine" to the back of the motorcycle.
Although Rutan said the snake definitely moved its body a number of times before police arrived, one officer said he believed the movement may have been due to post-mortem reflexes. The canebrake rattlesnake had had its rattle apparently cut off before the accident, an officer said. It appeared to have had its fangs removed as well.
It was one of the strangest accidents I've responded to in my 37 years on the New Orleans Police Department," said Lt. Melvin Howard, assistant commander of the Traffic Division.
The man lost control of his 650 cc BMW motorcycle and struck a curb as he headed west in the 5900 block of Almonaster Avenue about 1:15 p.m., police said. The impact threw the driver across the median and into the eastbound lanes where he came to rest, his yellow helmet left in the westbound lanes as was his motorcycle, police and a witness said.
He was taken to a local hospital in "very critical" condition, police said.
The lone witness to the accident, Matt Rutan, said the motorcyclist sped past his truck as he was driving back from the landfill.
"At first I thought it was a piece of rope dragging behind the motorcycle," Rutan said, referring to what later turned out to be a 5-foot canebrake rattlesnake secured by twine to the motorcycle.
The motorcycle got at most a half-mile ahead of Rutan, he said, when he saw the cyclist "lift up a little and twist around in his seat like he was attending to something on the back of his bike."
In doing so, the driver failed to negotiate a right-hand curve in the road and struck what Rutan judged to be an eight-inch concrete curb. The driver was ejected from the motorcycle and came to rest about 150 feet down the road, on the opposite side of a grassy median, Rutan said. He said the motorcycle flipped many times and ended up in the westbound lanes more than 200 feet down the road.
Rutan stopped his truck and called 911 as he ran to the driver and saw he was apparently unconscious, he said.
An ambulance responded within 10 minutes, he said.
Rutan discovered that what he had thought was a rope was really a snake "loosely tied by a rough kind of twine" to the back of the motorcycle.
Although Rutan said the snake definitely moved its body a number of times before police arrived, one officer said he believed the movement may have been due to post-mortem reflexes. The canebrake rattlesnake had had its rattle apparently cut off before the accident, an officer said. It appeared to have had its fangs removed as well.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Scuzzbucket of the Week
Brent Eric Finley, 38, of Rayville, along with his wife, Stacey Finley.
The Finleys “convinced numerous victims, who were their family, friends and neighbors, that through Stacey Finley’s contacts as an agent with the CIA, she could arrange and schedule a medical scan of the victims’ bodies by satellite imaging that would detect any hidden medical problem; and that in return for payment of money to Finley, she would arrange for secret agents to administer medicine to the victims as they slept,” Washington’s news release stated.
“All of this information that Finley conveyed to the victims was false.”
The Finleys used all of the money received for their own personal benefit, the release stated.
Besides the fact that the Finley's are scum of the earth for doing that, I question the intelligence of the people who gave these two people over half a million dollars. Geez.
Asked how so many people could be conned by such far-fetched claims, U.S. Attorney Donald Washington described Finley as “a cult-like, charismatic personality.”
Finley is sentenced
to spend 51 months in prison and also was ordered, along with his wife, Stacey Finley, to jointly pay restitution of $873,786.94, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Donald Washington.
Stacey Finley previously pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced to 63 months in prison.
Prosecutors said that money won't come from what was stolen because the victims' money was spent. They said the Finleys owned a home and five vehicles, but their house was mortgaged and the vehicles financed and there were few other assets.
The Finleys “convinced numerous victims, who were their family, friends and neighbors, that through Stacey Finley’s contacts as an agent with the CIA, she could arrange and schedule a medical scan of the victims’ bodies by satellite imaging that would detect any hidden medical problem; and that in return for payment of money to Finley, she would arrange for secret agents to administer medicine to the victims as they slept,” Washington’s news release stated.
“All of this information that Finley conveyed to the victims was false.”
The Finleys used all of the money received for their own personal benefit, the release stated.
Besides the fact that the Finley's are scum of the earth for doing that, I question the intelligence of the people who gave these two people over half a million dollars. Geez.
Asked how so many people could be conned by such far-fetched claims, U.S. Attorney Donald Washington described Finley as “a cult-like, charismatic personality.”
Finley is sentenced
to spend 51 months in prison and also was ordered, along with his wife, Stacey Finley, to jointly pay restitution of $873,786.94, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Donald Washington.
Stacey Finley previously pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced to 63 months in prison.
Prosecutors said that money won't come from what was stolen because the victims' money was spent. They said the Finleys owned a home and five vehicles, but their house was mortgaged and the vehicles financed and there were few other assets.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Strangest thing...
What makes New Orleans unique is the off the wall things that happen here.
The American Zombie blog
is compiling stories about strange things people have experienced or seen in the city.
Quite entertaining.
This isn't strange, but - being the human to five cats, I found this sight quite funny:
This cat had no issue with the crowds/music/noise of the French Quarter Fest last April.
The American Zombie blog
is compiling stories about strange things people have experienced or seen in the city.
Quite entertaining.
This isn't strange, but - being the human to five cats, I found this sight quite funny:
This cat had no issue with the crowds/music/noise of the French Quarter Fest last April.
Baghdad on the Bayou
Baghdad on the Bayou: Disaster Capitalism and the War on Equality
An Interview with Tab Benoit in Houma, LA - November 2007
Tab Benoit is an ardent champion for Louisiana's Wetlands.
Op Ed News dot com's investigative environmental writer Georgianne Nienaber recently interviewed him for his view
on saving the wetlands. Here are some excerpts from that three-hour interview
(the article stated this is part one, so stay tuned…….)
“Three miles off the coast is considered off shore. I mean just right here, right now, if I could take you up in an airplane and show you this; you’d see that the Gulf [of Mexico] used to be 25 miles from the Houma airport, now it’s three miles.”
“We [Louisiana] have got 4,000 rigs in the Gulf, compared to 100 rigs in the rest of the Gulf. We’re not getting the money from the off shore drilling. We’re getting the money from on shore. So it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why there’d be 4,000 rigs in Louisiana waters, and only 100 rigs outside of Louisiana waters that belong to the United States. The federal government gets our [Louisiana’s] share. It goes straight into the federal fund. That’s been our big issue; [and] we’ve fought for it.”
What’s behind the 9th ward? Two major refineries. Those things are running. The refineries are running. Nothing else is [running] in the ninth ward. What else do you need to know? There it is. There are the answers.”
I started Voice of the Wetlands (www.voiceofthewetlands.com) because we had no voice. Nobody was acknowledging that there would be people here. It was all about oil, and infrastructure. You know the first things were refineries and oil ports. Those are the first things on the lists of things to do. And that’s exactly what happened.
The interview covers Tab's opinions on big oil, the media's cover-ups regarding Katrina, Blackwater's activities in the days following Katrina, the attidude of the Federal Government toward the citizens of southeast Louisiana and much more.
It's worth the read.
Making it Right
Through the Make It Right project Pitt's inspiration came from the strength of the residents of the 9th Ward:
Having endured the ravages of Katrina, the people of the Lower 9th Ward are proving that, with passion, commitment and collaboration, they can beat the odds. They are ready to represent a city that not only provides a steady stream of culture and soul to the nation, but also provides renewed hope in the triumph of the human spirit.
The people of the Lower 9th Ward are survivors. They are strong. They are united. They are passionate, and the situation they find themselves in - two long years later - needs to be addressed. We need to make it right.
From today's Times Picayune article
Applicants must have owned a home or lot in the Lower 9th Ward before Hurricane Katrina.
Though the project's most significant impact surely will be felt by the families who end up in new homes, other local residents said that Make It Right's effects already are spreading through a neighborhood that but for the crash of bulldozers has remained mostly silent -- and vacant -- since the flood.
Tennessee Street resident Gertrude LeBlanc, 72, said Monday's party -- and the giant pink blocks scattered across the landscape -- already had introduced a hopeful new spirit.
This is like letting them know that we're still here, said LeBlanc, who said a church group will help her rebuild her house using Road Home money. "Yes, indeed, honey, I have been praying for this. I have been praying for somebody to give us a break. I think this might be it."
Rather than bemoan the slow pace of redevelopment in the Ninth Ward, Mr. Pitt said he decided to address the problem directly by teaming with William McDonough, the green design expert ; The Graft architecture firm ; and Cherokee, an investment firm based in Raleigh, N.C., that specializes in sustainable redevelopment. John Williams of New Orleans is the executive architect for the project.
The "Make It Right" team consists of successful New Orleans natives and innovative professionals as shown here:
Brad Pitt, with GRAFT Architects .
Stefan Beese
Executive Associate at GRAFT and the Exective Producer of the Pink Project
Mr. Beese is an Executive Associate at GRAFT and the Executive Producer of the Pink Project.
Nina Killeen
born and raised in New Orleans (and lost her home to the break in the levee at the 17th Street Canal following Hurricane Katrina). She attended Loyola University, and subsequently worked for a local television production company as a producer on numerous commercials and documentary-length films.
Senior Advisor to Jolie Pitt Foundation and a Co-Producer for the Pink Project
Stephen Rehage
Stephen Rehage is the founder of Rehage Entertainment and a Co-Producer of the Pink Project. Mr. Rehage is a New Orleans native and the originator, producer and owner of the Voodoo Music Festival, one of only a few independently owned large music festivals in the country.
Hervé Descottes
Hervé Descottes is the principal founder of L'Observatoire International and the Lighting Designer for the Pink Project. L'Observatoire is a New York City-based architectural lighting design firm founded in 1993.
Lionel Milton
Lionel Milton, creator of the Art Piece for the Pink Project, is a New Orleans-based artist. Lionel's latest venture is the re-opening of Elleone Gallery now located at 2001 Magazine St. in historic Lower Garden District, New Orleans.
Adam Ford and Rendon Slade
Ford and Slade are owners and lighting designers of Universal Visual, LLC, a Mississippi Gulf Coast and NOLA-based lighting design firm that was founded in 2007. The goal of Universal Visual is to provide a means to become completely independent of the current energy grid through the implementation of solar power and hydrogen fuel cell technology.
Bag Manufacturer
The Lighthouse for the Blind in New Orleans is a not-for-profit agency that has been in existence for almost 100 years and is the manufacturer of the Pink bags made from 100 percent recycled scrap materials from the Pink Project.
Here's the link to MIR merchandise,
including caps and Tshirts.
You can make any amount of donation to this project by going to this website .
Smaller donations -- from $5 to $45,500 -- will support the cost of the individual elements of the houses' eco-friendly designs, such as fluorescent bulbs, low-flush toilets and solar-panel installations.
Having endured the ravages of Katrina, the people of the Lower 9th Ward are proving that, with passion, commitment and collaboration, they can beat the odds. They are ready to represent a city that not only provides a steady stream of culture and soul to the nation, but also provides renewed hope in the triumph of the human spirit.
The people of the Lower 9th Ward are survivors. They are strong. They are united. They are passionate, and the situation they find themselves in - two long years later - needs to be addressed. We need to make it right.
From today's Times Picayune article
Applicants must have owned a home or lot in the Lower 9th Ward before Hurricane Katrina.
Though the project's most significant impact surely will be felt by the families who end up in new homes, other local residents said that Make It Right's effects already are spreading through a neighborhood that but for the crash of bulldozers has remained mostly silent -- and vacant -- since the flood.
Tennessee Street resident Gertrude LeBlanc, 72, said Monday's party -- and the giant pink blocks scattered across the landscape -- already had introduced a hopeful new spirit.
This is like letting them know that we're still here, said LeBlanc, who said a church group will help her rebuild her house using Road Home money. "Yes, indeed, honey, I have been praying for this. I have been praying for somebody to give us a break. I think this might be it."
Rather than bemoan the slow pace of redevelopment in the Ninth Ward, Mr. Pitt said he decided to address the problem directly by teaming with William McDonough, the green design expert ; The Graft architecture firm ; and Cherokee, an investment firm based in Raleigh, N.C., that specializes in sustainable redevelopment. John Williams of New Orleans is the executive architect for the project.
The "Make It Right" team consists of successful New Orleans natives and innovative professionals as shown here:
Brad Pitt, with GRAFT Architects .
Stefan Beese
Executive Associate at GRAFT and the Exective Producer of the Pink Project
Mr. Beese is an Executive Associate at GRAFT and the Executive Producer of the Pink Project.
Nina Killeen
born and raised in New Orleans (and lost her home to the break in the levee at the 17th Street Canal following Hurricane Katrina). She attended Loyola University, and subsequently worked for a local television production company as a producer on numerous commercials and documentary-length films.
Senior Advisor to Jolie Pitt Foundation and a Co-Producer for the Pink Project
Stephen Rehage
Stephen Rehage is the founder of Rehage Entertainment and a Co-Producer of the Pink Project. Mr. Rehage is a New Orleans native and the originator, producer and owner of the Voodoo Music Festival, one of only a few independently owned large music festivals in the country.
Hervé Descottes
Hervé Descottes is the principal founder of L'Observatoire International and the Lighting Designer for the Pink Project. L'Observatoire is a New York City-based architectural lighting design firm founded in 1993.
Lionel Milton
Lionel Milton, creator of the Art Piece for the Pink Project, is a New Orleans-based artist. Lionel's latest venture is the re-opening of Elleone Gallery now located at 2001 Magazine St. in historic Lower Garden District, New Orleans.
Adam Ford and Rendon Slade
Ford and Slade are owners and lighting designers of Universal Visual, LLC, a Mississippi Gulf Coast and NOLA-based lighting design firm that was founded in 2007. The goal of Universal Visual is to provide a means to become completely independent of the current energy grid through the implementation of solar power and hydrogen fuel cell technology.
Bag Manufacturer
The Lighthouse for the Blind in New Orleans is a not-for-profit agency that has been in existence for almost 100 years and is the manufacturer of the Pink bags made from 100 percent recycled scrap materials from the Pink Project.
Here's the link to MIR merchandise,
including caps and Tshirts.
You can make any amount of donation to this project by going to this website .
Smaller donations -- from $5 to $45,500 -- will support the cost of the individual elements of the houses' eco-friendly designs, such as fluorescent bulbs, low-flush toilets and solar-panel installations.
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