Is this fool for real?

Courtesy of Your Right Hand Thief
Quote from Northwestern Professor Steven G. Calabresi

This Administration deserves to be trusted because it has kept us safe from terrorist attack since 9/11, has fought and won two wars, has presided over eight years of economic growth, has appointed two stellar justices to the Supreme Court, and has even learned how to do Louisiana’s job of protecting that state from hurricanes. The day will come, and not before long, when Americans will wish that George Bush was still president.


where's my puke bucket?

Scuzzbuckets of the Week

Actually, scuzzbucket isn't strong enough word for this week's evil people. Gleaned from local headlines, we have two cases of horrific child abuse.

The first case took place this past week in Harvey, Louisiana where a babysitter became "frustrated" with a five month old baby and put it in the clothes dryer and TURNED IT ON. Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputies on Thursday booked 19-year-old Ariel Smith, of Harvey, with one count of first-degree murder.

Investigators say Smith was babysitting Andre Jenkins and his 18-month-old brother and said she admitted placing the infant in the dryer because she was frustrated with him.

Meanwhile, this fine young couple from Shreveport, Louisiana have been arrested for abusing not one, but TWO babies.

The children of Christopher Vailes and Conchetta Rhymes were taken to LSU Hospital in Shreveport on Wednesday for their four-month check up when the pediatrician suspected one of the infants had a broken leg, police said. X-rays later showed both children to have multiple injuries to their ribs and femurs and swelling to the soft tissues in their spines.

Just makes one want to cry, doesn't it?

Gate needs a gravestone

Just catching up on the news of the week after spending some time behind the walls of the hospital recovering from an extremely vicious attack on my digestive system and ran across this story about Hurricane Ike disturbing - actually freeing - the remains of the late, great Clarence "Gatemouth Brown

I see that Varg caught this story first, but I just had to talk about it too.

According to The Associated Press, the Grammy winner's casket was one of dozens .......that floated up from the ground as Ike's gulf and rain waters flooded Hollywood Cemetery, (note that this story incorrectly identifies the cemetery as being in Bogalusa, Louisiana when it is actually in Orange, TX)....
...two days after Ike reached land, water gurgled and bubbled ominously from submerged graves ..... the top of Brown's vault had popped off, and his bronze casket had floated away. But three jars of Bama grape jelly remained by his aluminum marker, no doubt left by a fan of his instrumental classic "Grape Jelly."

"Somebody made the comment that he's evidently still touring. He probably wouldn't care too much to be in the ground anyway" said Gate's longtime manager Jim Bateman of Bogalusa.

Gatemouth's trademark was a cowboy hat, with boots and Western wear.


He liked to smoke a pipe.


And his long, thin fingers glided flat over guitar or fiddle strings with the grace of a ballet dancer.


He called himself a "guitar slinger" and had a stick figure caricature he used, including one attached to his black Cadillac.


The 81-year-old musician was living in Slidell when Katrina destroyed the city.
Gate went home to Texas die after evacuating from Katrina in September of 2005. When he evacuated to Orange, he brought an oxygen tank, which he had been carrying everywhere. He played the New Orleans 2005 Jazz Festival in April using the oxygen tank, Colin Walters, Gatemouth's last biographer, said.

image from pbase dot com

Orange local educator and church music director Robert Finch is on a quest to put a label on Gatemouth - well, at least on his grave.

Finch has set up a non-profit group to raise money for a tombstone and hopefully a state historical marker. He ultimately would like to see a statue of Gatemouth in the cemetery.

The account for Gatemouth Brown is set up at Sabine Federal Credit Union in Orange, Texas: Gatemouth Brown Memorial Committee Acct # 1892149.

I'll be contributing and hope you will, too. Gate was a great musician. Hubby & I were lucky enough to have several opportunities to see and hear him live in Slidell before his death . What a colossal talent he was.

The Murder of New Orleans Neighborhoods

(Posted at Mosquito Coast, cross posted from Squandered Heritage) The political puppet that is Ray Nagin keeps proving that he does not give a damn about saving the soul of New Orleans through his actions that allow the demise of New Orleans' historical structures.


......In the wake of Gustav, a number of buildings around town suffered severe damage and fell down. Since the middle of last week, city Code Enforcement inspectors have been surveying properties to determine if any are in Imminent Danger of Collapse (IDC). If a property is truly IDC,..... under a city law that has been on the books for years, the city can move to knock it down immediately and clear the debris, bypassing all the normal (historic value, preservation) reviews.........


image from Matternetwork dot com

What this appears to be is a naked grab at power, using Gustav’s glancing blow to Orleans Parish as an excuse. The mayor is temporarily (I hope) stamping out a committee made up mostly of citizens, a committee formed to protect citizens’ rights to not have their property arbitrarily destroyed. His aim would appear to be to accelerate demolitions resulting from Katrina, in order to look good in the eyes of Washington.

The link provides the whole sickening story. The murder of historic neighborhoods for the nightly news to make everything looks shiny and new.

What horseshit.


What horseshit

Been Away.....

Spending the better part of a week in the ICU is not my idea of R&R. Still 'incarcerated' but a little more freer and feeling better than the last few days. Got some catching up to do......

When will they sever Nagin's vocal chords?

Ray Nagin once again opens
his mouth and gives New Orleans ANOTHER black eye with his
brand of humor.

Ike

Praying for all of you folks in Ike's path and wishing you all the best. This storm is a beast.

Evacuation Check List

EJ details the efforts needed for a successful hurricane evacuation

help for Gustav victims

From Greg Peters' blog, links that portray who badly hit LaFouche and Terrebone Parish were by Gustav.


Some of the communities hit hardest by Hurricane Gustav are being ignored by the larger media: The United Houma Nation, the Native Americans group located in Terrebonne parish, is facing the complete destruction of several small communities, no electricity and no water in many more, and are in serious need of money and supplies. Chief Brenda Robichaux was one of the heroes of Katrina and a straight shooter. I have no doubt it hurts her and the Houmas to ask, but they’re asking.

Local blogger Karen Gadbois and a group of friends visted the Houma Nation on Saturday. check out her site to see how much wetland loss has taken place down there.

Another NOLA blogger - Maitri - was on the same trip with Karen. Here she writes about the experience.

Photos from Pointe-au-Chien post Gustav

Here are some links where you can get more info on how to help:
Gustav Relief Blog

The United Houma Nation Relief Fund
20986 Hwy. 1
Golden Meadow, LA 70357.


All of Terrebonne parish was badly hurt, as was neighboring Lafourche parish. Assumption parish will be out of power longer than Baton Rouge. Vermilion parish, flooded and battered by Rita, was hit again, while Cameron was spared this time, but still hasn’t recovered; neither has Calcasieu parish.


pictures of the affected areas in Terrebone/LaFouche are below:

Houma


Lower LaFouche Parish



Baton Rouge was pretty beat up. for details of how they're doing, check out my cyberfriend Margaret Saizan here.

Gustav on Ms. Gulf Coast

Here's a link to conditions along the Mississippi gulf coast, miles away from Gustav's landfall

More Scuzzbuckets of the week

To whomever was responsible for dumping about 50 elderly people along the curb in Houma and left

From the above link:

..... I saw about 50 people along the curb and in the parking lot just sitting next to their luggage. (By luggage I mean garbage bags) I had seen this before, I had seen these types of faces before... Katrina evacuees had the same look to them. I knew something was wrong. And it was.

These people had evacuated before Gustav and were brought back to the civic center before the parish had a shelter ready for them. I sat down with a few of them and asked what was going on. Nobody had any idea.

Who would just drop a bunch of elderly people on the side of the road, and leave them there for hours.

Finally a school bus arrived to take them to a shelter. I saw a woman whose bag was torn to shreds, I ran to my car and grabbed a roll of tape and fixed it up. I told her "It might be hard to open up later, but it's safe now." As the folks started to load onto the bus, I noticed nobody was helping. The sheriff deputies, the National Guard... nobody. These elderly people were dragging their bags by themselves and trying to load them onto the bus.

I got on the bus and helped move the bags to the seats. After everybody was crammed onto the bus, they just sat there. And they sat some more. An hour passed and finally the bus moved. Less than a mile later, they arrived at the shelter. Had I known where they were going, I could have driven people over there using my car in the amount of time it took officials to bus them over there.

To make a really long story not as long... the people arrived safely at the shelter where a few Red Cross Volunteers were waiting with cots and blankets. No water or food just yet, but they were able to kick off their shoes and relax. I helped carry bags into the shelter and set up cots. When I left, most of the people were sound asleep. They deserve a good nights rest.

During these situations, I'm a human first and a photographer second. Yes, I took some pictures, but my main goal was to help these people anyway I could. As I left the shelter I heard a man say "The took us from heaven and brought us to Hell."


written by a photographer from the LaFouche Parish Daily Comet.

Links to pictures of these victims of neglect are here (at the bottom of the page)