Scuzzbucket of the Week

From The Baltimore Sun dot com:


The Rev. John Hagee, the one who told National Public Radio some time back that Hurricane Katrina was God's way of punishing the city of New Orleans for celebrating homosexuality, was asked again this week if he stands by that judgment.

On the radio, conservative talk show host Dennis Prager asked Hagee about it, and the Center for American Progress is only too happy today to report what Hagee, one of Sen. John McCain's supporters, had to say in response. (McCain has said that he does not agree with everything Hagee stands for, but hasn't renounced his endorsement.)

"What happened in New Orleans looked like the curse of God,'' Hagee told Prager. "In time, if New Orleans recovers and becomes the pristine city it can become, it may in time be called a blessing. But at this time it's called a curse.''

A gay pride parade had been planned in the city, Hagee explained. "In the case of New Orleans, their plan to have that homosexual rally was sin. But it never happened. The rally never happened.''

But, Prager asked, "In the case of New Orleans, you do feel that God's hand was in it because of a sinful city?

"That it was a city that was planning a sinful conduct,'' said Hagee. "Yes.''

Prager apparently never asked why the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi got blasted in the bargain. And Hagee didn't explain. Hear the tape at ThinkProgress.com.



thanks to adrastos for the heads up.

Nope, still not okay

Nearly 1,000 days since hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans, the city is far from being "okay".

George Bush - during his visit here for the North American Summit - proved once again how uninformed he really is.

Prytania Waterline spells it all out for the vacant minded "leader".

justice?

this just in
The man accused of killing NOPD Officer Nicola Cotton can't competently assist in his own defense and must be sent to a state mental hospital for treatment, a Criminal District Court judge ordered Tuesday.

Bernel Johnson, 44, will be sent to the state forensic mental hospital in East Feliciana Parish, where doctors will evaluate him and attempt to improve his psychiatric condition enough for him to stand trial in the first-degree murder of Cotton.

Judge Julian Parker ordered that Johnson be "immediately" transferred to the hospital after the testimony of three specialists, who all concluded that Johnson suffers from a psychiatric disorder that currently impairs his ability to stand trial.

Charles Vosburg, a forensic psychologist, and Dr. Michelle Garriga, a forensic psychiatrist, said they tried to interview Johnson on Tuesday morning, but found him largely unwilling to answer questions. But, based on the answers he did give, and his extensive history of mental illness, both experts testified that he needed treatment before he could assist in his own defense.

"His concentration is poor; his impulse control is poor," Vosburg said.

Johnson previously has been diagnosed as having either schizoaffective disorder or paranoid schizophrenia, Garriga said.

Prosecutor Mary Glass repeatedly questioned both experts about whether Johnson is possibly "malingering," or faking the extent of his illness in order to avoid trial.

Vosburg acknowledged that some of Johnson's refusal to answer questions is a conscious choice, but added that part of his stubbornness also seemed tied to his mental illness.

I don't think so, this man is playing the system, here's some background gathered by Frank Donze and Gwen Filosa of the Times Picayune:
Three weeks before he.....killed a New Orleans police officer, Bernel Johnson, whose family described him as a paranoid schizophrenic, was forcibly committed to a mental institution by the New Orleans coroner's office after he created a disturbance at a local bank.

"It was clear to me at that time that he was suffering from a psychotic illness," said Dr. Jeffrey Rouse, the deputy psychiatric coroner who saw Johnson that day and ordered the commitment, which allows a medical institution to hold a person against his or her will for up to 15 days.

Yet the institution, which the coroner could not name because of medical privacy laws, released Johnson days later, an episode experts said underscores severe shortages in acute mental health care in Louisiana, even for potentially violent patients.

Johnson's family said the release fits a disturbing pattern they have battled for years, in failed attempts to get the legal and medical systems to commit their relative to long-term, even permanent care.

His family wanted to help Johnson -- but they also feared him, after several outbursts in which he threatened violence against family members and others, and once shot himself in the chest.

The family's repeated attempts to get Johnson into long-term mental health treatment only set off his short fuse, said his sister, Michelle Johnson. Once in 2007, while living in a psychiatric care facility in eastern New Orleans, Johnson vowed violence against his sister.

On Jan. 4, before Cotton had her fatal run-in with Johnson, other officers had responded to the bank where Johnson had the outburst that led to his brief stay in a mental health facility.

"The responding units saw he was a gentleman who needed acute mental health care," Rouse said.
Johnson's family had never heard of the January incident until told by a reporter.

"The state protects his rights," Michelle Johnson said. "That's the problem. He is an independent adult. We can't access any of his records."

At some point after Rouse ordered his commitment, Johnson was transferred to an inpatient mental health facility, Rouse said. He would soon return to familiar haunts in Central City, a fact that hardly surprised his family, though they had not even been aware of his latest commitment.

As he bounced among mental health facilities, jail and the life of a tortured vagrant, Johnson became skilled at working within the social service bureaucracy to keep himself from getting the care he needed.

"Eventually, he learned that he could briefly comply with therapy and take his medications," his sister said. "Then he would get out and enter a group home. He would soon be out on the street abusing drugs and alcohol."

Johnson's longest stay in a mental care facility lasted nine months, his family said. He was released from Southeast Hospital in February 2007, Michelle Johnson said.

In July of that year, Johnson threatened to kill his sister, and she reported the threat to local authorities in LaPlace. A doctor and social worker persuaded her not to press charges, she said. But Johnson then also threatened the doctor and social worker, when they visited him in an effort to get him medical care.

Johnson ended up in Meadowcrest rather than jail, his sister said, although she can't say how long the hospital kept him there.

At this point, his family pushed for a judge to commit him permanently. The family went to civil court in New Orleans, she said, and paid attorney fees.

"I wrote the judge a two-page letter asking that he help," Michelle Johnson said. "The judge said he would take it into consideration and advisement. A few weeks later, my brother was out." Records of those proceedings are not public record, Civil District Court officials said Tuesday.

Family members most recently saw Johnson the day after Christmas. His sister said she dropped him off in Central City, near the train station and not far from the scene of Monday's fatal shooting. When Cotton ran into him a month later, she apparently had no inkling of his explosive temperament. She radioed dispatch with a "code 4," indicating she had the situation under control, and didn't need backup.

Normally, the NOPD requires a pair of two-officer cars plus a ranking officer to be dispatched to any report of a mentally unstable person. "The big challenge with policing is the big unknown," Livaccari said. "This guy just went sideways on her."



The only way to determine the extent of Johnson's illness and restore his ability to assist with his defense is to put him in a hospital setting where he will be evaluated by both security staff and medical professionals at all times, Vosburg said. The staff will also treat Johnson, with the hopes of making him competent for trial, he said.

Happy Earth Day

monday evening rant

I'm pissed off about a bunch of things tonite. In memory of Ashley Morris, I will try to let off steam

Photo from Humid Haney's Dirty Coast, where you can buy the sticker


Big Oil:



thanks for taking away my vacation this year. I'll be "a tourist in my own backyard", which may turn out for the better. Virginia IS too far to drive, isn't it?

George Bush:




You fucktard. There's too much I want to rant about you. You suck.

Upper Mississippi Valley:



thanks for the shit you've sent downriver to us.

My immediate future





To those 20 protesters on Poydras this morning

Get a job, you spoiled little shits!

to the pimple faced piece of crap kid in N.C. planning to blow up your classmates


to American Idol bimbo


to the folks who agreed to those stupid balloon mortgages


NOLA dot COM

Your website is so bad, so slow, so much behind high school websites. Hire some
real techies to help you become the news website this area needs.


Hillary

you are a shrew who can't even control your own husband. Why should I ask you to run my country, bi-atch?

there's more, but I need to go eat dinner.

bedtime is 9pm for those of us up at 4.

Scuzzbucket of the Week

Wayne Andrews from street-people dot com.
In Andrews' postings on his Web site he refers to "street people" as "cockroaches, human sucker fish and parasites."

He describes a homeless man huddled and freezing on a snowy street as a human "ice sculpture.

By exposing the faces and stories of the street dwellers, Andrews said he hoped to shame both politicians and citizens alike into taking action to ensure that the street never has to serve as someone's home again.

And so he is in New Orleans hoping to help the city's homeless the same way he claims to have helped the homeless of Memphis.

Reaction from blogger Alan Gutierrez is here



here's the rest of the story

Thanks, Katrina

Another sad story of how Katrina
changed the lives of so many


This link features an interview with volunteers who knew Alvin Thomas

"Back from Katrina exile, man lived alone and died alone...."

weekend photos

click on photos for larger versions

Crawfish Saturday

Saturday (April 19th) was the 5th annual Crawfish Cookoff in Slidell, benefitting the Hospice Foundation of the South .



The weather was perfect and the crawfish was plentiful and mostly delicious. There were fifty teams competing for the title of best crawfish. Here are a few shots my hubby took:
(click on pix for full-sized version)











One of the bands that played was Four Unplugged , who have played all of the Crawfish Fests and have come a long way since 2003.




they've added a sax player and an excellent female vocalist.





















the large-ish crowd enjoyed themselves and the music

Maybe more lemonade from lemons....

Almost three years ago the impact of Hurricane Katrina dealt a huge blow to many bridges in the Gulf Coast states. The I-10 Twin Spans, which connect the eastern side of north and south shores of Lake Pontchartrain were rendered unusable to commuters and emergency workers for over a month.



With the construction of the new Twin Spans coming along ahead of schedule, ideas about what to do with the old spans are surfacing.

One such idea is to use the rubble from the existing Twin Spans to create two artificial reefs that, in turn, would attract more fish to the area.

The Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana has presented its reef proposal to the state Department of Transportation and Development, which in recent weeks sought public input on how to use the old bridge once the new one opens.



Artificial reefs made from concrete would be a first in Louisiana, as the state now requires the reefs be created from a particular kind of limestone that must be imported from Kentucky and Missouri, Walther said. The pingpong-ball-sized limestone is expensive and hard to transport, so using the rubble from the spans, as has been done elsewhere in the country, would be a great benefit for the program, he said.

In a somewhat similar vein of recycling for the good of maritime life, hundreds of retired New York City subway cars are being dumped into Red Bird Reef in Delaware, continuing the transformation of a barren stretch of ocean floor into a bountiful oasis, carpeted in sea grasses, walled thick with blue mussels and sponges, and teeming with black sea bass and tautog.

Let's hope the impacts of the opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway are short lived and - if this project is allowed to go forward - that Lake Pontchartrain will once again be a thriving ecosystem.

Jazz Fest Cubes

Jazz Fest starts next week.





Here's a link to a site that will allow you to print out the schedules by
stage/day.