Is this for real?

From the TP
Mayor Ray Nagin takes his fair share of shots from New Orleanians who are less than thrilled with his leadership in restoring their beloved city. But a group of about 50 civic worthies apparently couldn't be happier with him.



The group plans to have retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, credited with restoring order after the storm, hand Nagin the newly minted "Award of Distinction for Recovery, Courage and Leadership" next week as part of a ceremony marking Hurricane Katrina's third anniversary.

I'm gonna puke.

Here's a list of the assholes sponsoring this.


Howie Luvz Us has done the work I was going to do by providing links to info for the "supporters" on that list . Thanks, Howie.
REACTIONS across the blogsphere

Schroeder has an excellent entry and suggests an "Excellence in Recovery Chutzpah Award" for Nagin and his ilk

Humid City

Gambit

Library Chronicles

Oyster

Ghosts of Katrina

Times Picayune photographer extrodinaire John McCusker has assembled a slideshow from his former neighborhood nearly three years post Katrina.

bring a kleenex

Scuzzbucket of the Week #3

It's been a busy week for scummy people.

Thursday's nomination for "shit of the day" goes to United Airlines their lowlife idea
From the Washington Times:

American Airlines is charging troops for their extra baggage, a practice that forces soldiers heading for a war zone in Iraq to try to get reimbursement from the military. One of the country's largest veterans groups is asking the aviation industry to drop the practice immediately.

American, which recently charged two soldiers from Texas $100 and $300 for their extra duffel bags, said it gives the military a break on the cost for excess luggage and that the soldiers who incur the fees are reimbursed.

"Because the soldiers don't pay a dime, our waiver of the fees amounts to a discount to the military, not a discount to soldiers," said Tim Wagner, spokesman for American Airlines. "Soldiers should not have to pay a penny of it."

I never understood charging men and women who are putting their lives on the line. I used to send boxes of goods to soldiers in Iraq but had to stop when it was costing me over $100 in postage for two boxes. It sickens me.

Scuzzbucket Twins

From the "lovely lah-dee-dah" metropolis of Mandeville, Louisiana come the mayor-with-a-drinking-problem Eddie Price and his sidekick Police Chief Tom Buell.



Not only is it unsavory enough that the mayor would not go to jail several instances of drunk driving. Last month four Causeway police officers, including Chief Felix Loicano, lost their jobs after an outside review recommended that they be fired or resign for treating Price leniently after he crashed through a tollbooth barrier on the bridge April 22.

Now Eddie and Tom are in deep shit after publication of a Legislative Audit
that claims these two theives have been stealing money from the city, from charity to benefit themselves and other cronies.
touched a responsive chord.

From 2002 to 2007, the Mandeville Police Department's Citizen's Service Fund received donations totaling $217,938. But according to a Louisiana Legislative Auditor's report, only $16,492 of that money was used to buy Christmas presents for needy children -- less than the $26,055 that was spent on materials to solicit donations.

The report states $15,775 were used to purchase Wal-Mart gift cards for residents and city employees including Price who, over the five-year period, received $1,300 in gift cards. The report also states Price was given additional gifts, including a gun cabinet and a crossbow, that totaled $1,607.

Yesterday Price called for revised procedures from his office for better documentation of monies spent. What gall.

And now the Louisiana State Attorney General is investigating these scumbags.

Stay tuned.

Scuzzbucket of the Week

Actually, this scum has been a scuzzbucket for a loooooong time.




David Duke former Ku Klux Klan leader believes that an Obama victory be a "visual aid" for his "cause". His election, he says, would trigger a backlash - whites rising up, a revolution of sorts - that he and his ilk think is long overdue.

Rot in hell, scum.

Courtesy 2 Millionth Weblog

To the French Relay Swim Team

Check out the Recovery

View Larger Map

Street view via google will let you look at different neighborhoods in NOLA to see how the recovery is progressing.

Where I'd rather be

>

Shenandoah Mountains in August.

The Worst Month

August, yuck. It's stuffy, it's more than hot, and I would skip it if I could.


Mosquito Coast talks of what August is all about on the Gulf Coast and she nails it!!

Scuzzbucket of the Week

Scuzzbucket of the Week

Miss Stacey Jackson, a money grubbing bitch who probably thinks she's a glamourous house flipper.
At the expense of New Orleans' poor and elderly citizens, Mizz Jackson has been grabbing up property that has been designated as "blighted" under the auspicies of a company she and her sister controlled.

I've been looking thru everything this group of crazy bandits have been doing for the past few years and it's astounding how intertwined everything is.

Here's the whole story from WWL TV.

Refuge Boardwalk Reopens

from the Times Pic, it took almost three years, but here's news of the reopening of a wonderful little known wildlife boardwalk on Hwy 90 in New Orleans East.



The boardwalk at Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge reopened this week, offering promise and a glimpse of what has yet to return after Hurricane Katrina. Three years after deadly winds and saltwater invasion, scores of trees and thousands of migratory birds are missing, along with hundreds of acres of marsh that made up the 23,000-acre site.



Joe Madere, a retired resident of New Orleans East gives us a little history lesson about the beginnings of this beautiful refuge:

On June 29, 1980 I retired from the New Orleans Police Department and went to work for the New Orleans East Corporation who was developing the eastern section of New Orleans. I worked for them for five years. In 1985, they went bankrupt and Merrill Lynch took over 23,457 acres, and asked me to work for them as land manager. While working for Merrill Lynch, I worked on a project to turn 19,0000 acres to the national government as a wildlife refuge. We worked on this for 5 years, and in 1990 the final papers were signed, making the 19,000 acre Bayou Sauvage Wildlife Refuge.

I got to name the refuge, Bayou Sauvage, because of the bayou, which runs right through the middle of it, that at one time was part of the Mississippi river. This bayou was formed about 600 BC and was a tributary of the Mississippi for about 1000 years, but was sealed off as the river moved further south. Today, Bayou Sauvage is a small body of water about 2 miles long, but it is in its natural state.




"I'm happy to be able to invite people back," Fortier said in spite of the stark surroundings. Few large trees remain to shade the trail, a 2/3-mile loop of raised, wooden boards just east of the Maxent Canal. But along the way strollers can catch glimpses of magnificent insects and flowers and cypress stumps poking from a pond that shimmers in the sun, catching the reflection of snowy egrets flying gracefully overhead.

The boardwalk entrance off Chef Menteur Highway is open daily from sunrise to sunset. Parking is available inside the sliding metal gate, along with new restrooms and cold-water fountains and a pavilion that weathered the storm. Fortier said he hopes to gather students there in the fall for environmental education programs, just as before Katrina.

Touted as the largest urban national wildlife refuge in the United States, Bayou Savage is roughly bounded by the Maxent Levee on the west, Lake Pontchartrain on the north, Lake Borgne on the south and Chef Pass and Lake Pontchartrain on the east.

It has taken many months to clean the area around the boardwalk and rebuild it, Fortier said. A contractor is ready to grind dead trees and brush into mulch in preparation of the massive planting of indigenous trees along the walkway come winter, he said.

Plantings will include live and water oaks, cypress, hackberry, green ash and red maple, Fortier said. The removal of invasive Chinese tallow trees will continue.

With reforestation of the refuge's forest area will come the return of neo-tropical migratory song birds and other wildlife, he said. Also anticipated is the purchase of about 1,500 acres that make up a portion of nearby land and marsh called Brazilier Island, Fortier said.

For information about the refuge and boardwalk, call (985) 882-2000.