We Can Feel & Understand Their Pain

Formerly known as Burma, the country of Myanmar is reeling from a Cyclone Nargis, which wielded maximum sustained winds around 130 mph with gusts ranging from 150-160 mph. This made it a strong Category 3 or minimal Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.

Many people were killed in a 12-foot tidal wave.

The cyclone pummeled Yangon for more than 10 hours from Friday night into Saturday, with 20 inches of rain. Reminiscent of claims immediately following Katrina, there are news reports of up to 40,000 killed.

Myanmar


Louisiana


Video from the scene showed residents in some areas hacking their way through downed trees and trudging through knee-deep, swirling brown water. Thousands of tropical trees had been ripped up and thrown down, some into roadways.

Myanmar


Louisiana


Myanmar


New Orleans


Even without the destruction from the cyclone, travel and communications can be difficult in the country because of its weak infrastructure, said David Mathieson, an expert on Myanmar with Human Rights Watch, a private organization.

In Yangon, he said, people usually get only five or six hours of electricity a day, and some remote areas have no access to electricity. “So the fact that electricity is down is not really that important,” he said.

While Myanmar's ruling military junta has been accused of not warning the public about the approaching cyclone, witnesses say state media did report the storm -- it just came too late.

Officials said they would open the doors of their closed and tightly controlled nation to international relief groups. So far, most foreigners and all foreign journalists have been barred from entering the country.


Witnesses and residents said the military had been slow to respond to the devastation of the cyclone, and some suggested that the government’s performance could affect the vote in an upcoming election for a new consititution.
Residents of the country, formerly known as Burma, said that they were being pressured to vote “yes” and that riot police officers had been patrolling the streets before the cyclone in a show of force that was more visible than their relief efforts afterward.

Here's a link for organizations accepting donations to help.

• International Committee of the Red Cross
• World Food Programme
• Save the Children
• World Vision
• UNICEF
• International Rescue Committee

Finally Home

Head on over to Tim's Nameless Blog and wish him congratulations for finally moving
into a place he and his family can call home.

Jazz Fest 08

Sunday had the perfect weather for Jazz Fest. Incredible. Lots of people, but everyone was peaceful.



Keb Mo. His music soothes.




Sonny Landreth was electric

Terance Blanchard @ Jazz Fest

Read the well written experience of watching Terance Blanchard at Jazz Fest today.


Mark Folse's usual eloquence retells the experience of hearing Blanchard's A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina), accompanied by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.



You can buy the album here

Listen to samples from the album here

I don't think so!

from NOLA dot com:
The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana has asked a federal judge to award the organization more than $65,000 in attorneys fees and court costs, stemming from a ruling earlier this month that said Slidell officials broke the law by hanging a portrait of Jesus on the wall at Slidell City Court.

Who asked these ass hats to come in and cause a ruckus? Everyone is entitled to their opinion of this organization and mine is that they should just go away.

The ACLU said plaintiff "John Doe" and others "have suffered, or shall suffer, damages, including mental anguish and emotional distress" from viewing the image.


the picture is still on display, joined now by more than a dozen other images of historic lawmaking figures, and there are no plans to remove the image.

"This is the first case I know of that upholds a display of a picture of Jesus," Douglas Laycock, professor of constitutional law at the University of Michigan Law School, told Cybercast News Service. "It is significant."

Spillway imagery

Schroeder has a post including incredible satellite photos of the lost sediment that could have been used to restore Louisiana’s dying wetlands and disappearing coastline is falling off the continental shelf.

Why New Orleans rules

Check out the Lady of Perpetual Crawfish grotto.

Scuzzbucket of the Week

public high school principal who posted the names of two boys on a list of students believed to be couples, revealing their relationship to their parents as well as other students and teachers, violated the students’ constitutional right to freedom of association, the American Civil Liberties Union charged Tuesday. …


Of the couples gathered, and displayed on the educator’s desk, homo-partners Andrew and Nicholas received special attention, especially when Beasley - or Beastly - approached Nicholas’ mother and essentially outed him. The principal also told the woman that she disapproved of such behaviors. And that’s hardly the worst of it…

The honor student [Nicholas] underwent further humiliation, in addition to verbal harassment, when taken out of the running for a class trip to New Orleans related to rebuilding efforts, as a risk to the school’s image; Nicholas was told that there were fears he’d embarrass the school by engaging in “inappropriate behavior.”



This website offers the email address of said prinicpal

Here's the ACLU's report

Farmer's Market in Slidell

For those local citizens who have longed for a true farmer’s market on this side of the lake, take heart: the Camellia City Market opened in Slidell’s Griffith Park Saturday, April 26th .

“This has been a dream of mine forever,” said Mary Dubuisson of STARC Cleaners. “I’m just beside myself that it’s finally happening.”

UPDATE:

Here are pictures from the first Farmer's Market. Surprisingly, no produce was there:






There were fresh herbs,


Hot tamales....


Doggie Snacks....


Wonderful Mediterranean food


Tasty Italian fare...


Fresh Honey....


Crawfish Etouffe....


and live music...


I think it was a great turnout and look forward to seeing this Saturday morning market grow and thrive, especially since Katrina took Slidell's only outlet for fresh produce and dairy products, Cap's.

After nearly three years, I don't think Cap's will be opening up, despite the
promises of this sign.


Here's the background of the birth of this market:

Mary Dubuisson was one of a group of interested residents who first approached Slidell Mayor Ben Morris in 2002 with a plan for starting the market. The idea never quite materialized, however, and various circumstances forced it into limbo for a while.

Then that same group of people turned up in Leadership Northshore 2008. Sponsored by the East St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce, the program divides participants into several small committees, each of which is required to stage an event that has an impact on the community.

The mission of the market made it a natural fit.

“We want it to be an economic stimulus for Olde Towne, but also to generate revenue for the city at large,” said Capt. Kevin Foltz of the Slidell Police Department. “We also intend at some point to donate our profits back to charitable organizations in the community.”

The group’s main issues are mental health and prevention of childhood obesity, which is one reason the park, with its playground and gym equipment, ties in well with that theme. Eventually they hope to add senior citizens’ issues to the program, and Dubuisson is working on getting discount vouchers for seniors to use at the market.

Foltz said they don’t know how long it may take to start realizing enough profit to make regular donations, but at some point the group expects to have a grant application process in hand.

As for potential economic impact, Foltz cited research showing that more than 80 percent of those who shop at outdoor markets also spend money in the surrounding area. That’s a statistic that should be music to the ears of many established Olde Towne businesses, as well as those that are new or returning, such as the Victorian Tea Room on Carey Street.

In order to be a true farmer’s market, only homegrown or home-produced consumables may be sold.

“It can’t be something like birdhouses,” said Foltz. “But say someone has a great recipe for spaghetti sauce that they make and bottle themselves, or grows their own flowers and vegetables, those things are perfect.”

At last count, 12 vendors had signed up for the market, with at least half a dozen more in the application process. Booths are $20 per week for a 12-foot by 12-foot booth. By paying in advance for four weeks, vendors can also receive a discounted price of $15 per week. A table and two chairs will be provided, but vendors are encouraged to bring their own canopy.

Modeling the project after the Crescent City Farmer’s Market in New Orleans, the group is also looking for local chefs and entertainers to participate. Volunteers are also needed to sell cold drinks and coffee and to staff the information booth.

The project has the full backing of the Slidell City Council, which awarded a $5,000 grant last fall toward the market’s startup. Many others have stepped forward to contribute, such as Creative Trophy, which donated nametags to the group.

Other members of the group are David Achary, Cheri Webster, Julie Watson, Michelle Partridge, Ann Mannella, Dana Fatic and Dinah Dyer.

Dubuisson noted the level of support and cooperation from the community that the project has received.

“Whether they own property in Olde Towne or they just like to spend time down there, people are excited about this because they understand that now is the time to work together,” she said.

Webster agreed and cited what has become an unofficial motto for the group.

“All these things are happening because people are working together,” said Webster, executive director of the Mental Health Association of St. Tammany. “It can’t happen by one person working alone.”

The market will be open each Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., and an official grand opening and ribbon cutting is set for June 7. For more information call 640-8291.

What a Maroon

Bill Clinton - in a speech supposedly for his shrew who is running for president - recently talked about Bill Clinton in the small town of Lock Haven (pop. 9,000), hours away from Pittsburgh or Philadelphia.



. . . . I am working on rebuilding the Katrina area in New Orleans. . . .




Boy Bill, that's sure a big job!!!

This guy's got a problem

Fred Radtke, aka "the gray ghost". Who does he have in his pocket?
From New Orleans City Business Website

On April 19 a customer walked into Mojo Coffee House on Magazine Street and told employee Alicia Adams there was a strange man outside painting the side of the building.

Adams stepped outside and saw a white van parked across the street with several men standing in front of it staring at her. She looked to her left and that’s when she saw him, a tall, stocky man wearing dark sunglasses.

Adams recognized the man immediately. It was Fred Radtke, the self-appointed scourge of graffiti.

Adams said Radtke didn’t pay any attention to her. He walked across the street, grabbed another roller out of his van, walked back across the street and began to paint over markings on a telephone pole.

Adams, 24, said she asked Radtke to “please don’t paint on our private property.” His response has left her shaken and afraid for her own safety.

Adams said Radtke verbally attacked her with the most offensive of obscenities, letting her know that he could care less what she thought and was going to do whatever he wanted.

“I swear to God, I’ve been doing this for 10 years and in that time I’ve never cursed at a woman or a girl,” Radtke said. “She was the one yelling and screaming at me. ”

Radtke said he has never painted the Mojo building because the coffee house staff, who he accuses of being sympathetic to the graffiti artists, constantly harass him.

“Usually when I go to take out graffiti near that coffee shop I bring a police escort so I don’t get intimidated,” Radtke said. “If I’m taking out graffiti across the street, they walk over to us and start taking my picture. They do it all the time, which is why I need police escorts. ”
“He was yelling and screaming. He said that he never touched our building and that the 'little bitch' was lying.”

But when Estevez arrived at Mojo on April 19 just an hour after Radtke left, he said there was a large splotch of gray paint on the side of the building that had never been there before.

“I could still smell the primer paint.”



This person has a serious self image issue. He sees himself as the saviour of New Orleans' grafitti problem.

He has to have something on someone in New Orleans politics.


Mayor C. Ray Nagin, New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Warren Riley, the Louisiana State Police, the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI have praised his work.

But some property owners question what separates Radtke from the vandals he is fighting.

The NOPD, however, has no intention of charging Radtke with the defacing of public or private property and praises his efforts in reducing crime and improving the city’s quality of life.

“What he’s doing is work that the city would be doing itself provided we had the resources and manpower,” said NOPD spokesman Sgt. Joe Narcisse. “He’s covering up graffiti and if the city had a team to do that it would do so. He’s not doing anything that we aren’t asking him to do.”•

More at NOLArising.com