Veterans' Day

Heartfelt thanks to all those who are serving and all those who've served.

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.
~Elmer Davis

Late Season Hurricane Ida

Go east, Ida......and don't do any damage.

WHO DAT

Saints 30, Carolina 20

Take that, Jake Delhomme and the very one sided announcer Thom Brennaman.



WHO DAT

Wait, it's midNovember!

Clicks for Cans

I borrowed this post from Mike Styborski's over at Humid City

Campbell’s is donating soup to NFL teams which they will distribute to local food banks. In our case this will be Second Harvest. 1,000 cans of soup will be donated to each team regardless of the voting outcome. The team receiving the most votes for the AFC and NFC get an additional 12,000 cans and the overall winner gets another 5,000 cans. This means if you lazy kids out there can click a button enough times for the Saints, you could help bring in 18,000 cans of soup to help feed people. And not watered down MRE soup, but so-chunky-you-could-eat-it-with-a-fork-but-use-a-spoon Chunky Soup!

The contest goes on through the end of the season when the four AFC and NFC teams with the most votes enter single elimination “playoffs” for three weeks to crown the overall winner. This means each of you reading this can add over seventy votes for the Saints from here on in! Just go to Chunky’s website and click the Vote Now button, then pick the Saints matchup and choose our home team. And hurry! As of this posting the Saints 5,042 votes are second to the Packers 8,971 this week. In the time it took me to type that and double check the numbers the Pack gained four votes and the Saints gained none, so get your fingers moving and help feed some people in New Orleans!

And don’t forget to blast this to everyone you know!

So go vote, y'all. It helps our local Second Harvesters Food Bank. Tis the season!

What makes Drew Brees Great

Scuzzbucket Ed Blakely

He's such a wacko (albeit "educated") himself, isn't he? Note to NOLA dot com: the word is lambast, not lambaste.



An editorial in the Times Pic details the small list of Blakely's accomplishments and takes him to task for his cowardly words in the interview

Here are reactions from the NOLA blogosphere:

Cliff says that NOLA shouldn't be mad at Ed because he's telling the truth

Pistolette thinks NOLA brings out the worst in outsiders

Richard over at metroblogs talks about Blakely's lack of understanding about the real recovery going on in the city because he was hanging around with a bunch of buffoons on Perdido Street

Library Chronicles' take on the matter

Michael Homan uses humor to answer to Blakely's claim about the "white man put their foot back on black people's throats".

Adrastos dicusses the "reign" of the "recovery kaiser".

Oyster's take

American Zombie takes on Blakely's mis-statement about NOLA not taking responsibility for recovery

NOLA-dishu has the videos of the Blakely interview.

Happy Bday, Saints

from WetBankGuy rt marienola On this day 1966, All Saints Day, NFL awarded franchise to New Orleans. calling team The Saints.

Happy 43rd Birthday Saints!

Honoring those who have passed

November 1 is traditionally a day in this part of the country for people to honor their dead by cleaning up the graves of their departed relatives and lighting the graves at dusk .

from an article found at suite101 dot com:

In south Louisiana, above-ground tombs are almost a necessity due to the low elevantions of the land. Prior to the days of affordable granite monuments, most Cajun tombs were constructed of brick or concrete and quickly became blemished by the elements of nature. It became a common custom to "whitewash" the tombs with a thick mixture of lime (calcium hydroxide) and water. Those Cajun families who had a little more money to spend would apply white paint to beautify their tombs. At least once a year, the gravesites were cleaned with bleach and another coat of white was added to the mortar surfaces. New floral arrangements were put into place, and the tombs took on a freshened appearance prior to the annual cemetery blessing by the local priest.



It's a beautiful tradition that ushers in the winter season for me....the beginning of the "falling back" of daylight savings time and the accompanying shorter days. There's something ethereal to witness this custom in person.

While at time dot com tonight I ran across this picture that depicts how people in Hong Kong honor their dead:



Wall of Memories
People sweep their ancestors' graves during the Chung Yeung Festival at a vertical cemetery in Hong Kong.

America generally honors her dead on Memorial Day



Latinos recognize their loved ones who have passed during Dia des la Muertos (Day of the Dead). As in many Latin American countries, Mexico commemorates the Day of the Dead or All Souls’ Day on November 2nd.



The ancient Egyptians mummified their dead, and used stele .



From the quick reading I've done, the stele looks as if it was used to tell the story of the deceased. Seems like the stele was the inspiration for the gravestones we use today.



So if you're out and about in the Slidell/Lacombe area tomorrow at dusk, stop to witness the people here honoring their dead, while La Toussaint takes place in France.

Moronic Scuzzbuckets

You would think that a school that has the reputation of producing intelligent people would have common sense. Not so at Brother Martin High.

Today's Times Pic carried a story about clueless school administrators that allowed Brother Martin students to wear black masks during a pep rally before last Friday's football game against St. Augustine High School, an historically black school. Brother Martin President John Devlin avers that Brother Martin had no intention of igniting a racial controversy and that the students were spoofing the Batman movie "The Dark Knight," (St. Augustine teams are known as the Purple Knights). Mr. Devlin, did you THINK about this scenario? Is there anything in place at your school where adults oversee "skits" done at pep rallies. This is the 21st century, for gawd sakes!!