Vikings "Fight" Song

How the press gets it wrong again...

Billy Sothern-a criminal defense attorney and writer in New Orleans-and the author of "Down in New Orleans: Reflections from a Drowned City."
Nola Nik: Billy's on Salon.com Today. discusses how the press is inconsistent in telling the stories in Haiti....just as they were in New Orleans after Katrina. A good read. Here is an excerpt:

While I admire some of the reporting I have seen from Haiti and feel like I am getting a picture of what is happening there (while having to hold back tears at the horror of some of the things that I am seeing), it is worth remembering that there will be things, like the "Babies Getting Raped in the Superdome" story after Hurricane Katrina, that may not hold up under the clear light of day, which will hopefully come soon for Port-au-Prince and Haiti.

Saints vs Cardinal highlights

What a game. Here are the highlights

Pants on the ground

I never watch American Idol, but heard about this video. Hilarious

Ugly American

As usual, times of disastrophies bring out the best and the worst of people.

It's no surprise that Rush Limbaugh has never disappointed us. From latimesblog dot com:


After President Obama urged Americans to contribute money to earthquake recovery efforts and directed them to the White House website to learn how they can help, Limbaugh suggested that visiting the site will just get someone on Obama’s campaign e-mail list. (We checked the website's short blog post, which has direct links to the Red Cross and the Center for International Disaster in neat bullet points -- no e-mail forms to be seen.)

"We've already donated to Haiti,'' Limbaugh told the caller on his radio show. "It's called the U.S. income tax."

Helping Haiti

This area, which shares a diverse cultural treasure trove with the devastated country of Haiti now has one more thing in common: coping with unbelievable disaster.

I'm not trying to compare the Katrina and the horrific 7.0 earthquake that hit the country two days ago, along with dozens of aftershocks. But after listening to the news this morning and crying - knowing we now share in the aftermath experience of waiting for help while our fellow citizens suffer and die.



The logisitics of disaster assitance are far more difficult for Haiti. The country has no heavy machinery and must rely upon it to be air dropped or shipped in. Keep these people in your prayers. So many are suffering.

The most important donation a person can make now is the donation of cold, hard cash.
Due to the technological advances of social networking, you can donate thru your cell phone and the donation is added to your bill.

Mark over at Toulouse Street mentions how to donate via Wyclef Jean's website here.

Architecture for Humanity is supporting rebuilding efforts at this website .

It's looking like the Red Cross is getting all the biggie donations. If you would like to donate to them , here's the website. But heads up. The CEO for the Red Cross - Gail J. McGovern - earns a salary of $565,000. (thanks to Lisa/Loki for the link to a great website called Charity Navigator , where you can check out all charities).

On the same hand, there's a Charity called Hope for Haiti, whose charter states "....works to improve the quality of life for the Haitian people, particularly children, through education, nutrition, and health care." Their CEO makes 53K/year.

People short on cash can donate their frequent flyer miles.

Here's a site that lists seven reputable charities to donate to. You can check them out at Charity Navigator dot org.

A Good Choice

Gambit's "New Orleanian of the Year"

From their January 4, 2010 cover story:

The mere mention of Letten's name sends shivers down the spines of crooked pols and evokes cheers from citizens, but he gives all the credit to his staff, fellow prosecutors, the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies. While his office has amassed an impressive record on many fronts since Katrina, 2009 was a banner year for Letten and his team of modern-day Untouchables: more than a dozen high-profile criminal indictments and trials against political crooks from every corner of southeast Louisiana — and major investigations are, says Letten in his best Eliot Ness game face, "ongoing."

He's been a busy man these past two years: Here's a link of the 2009 activity for the office of the Eastern District of Louisiana U.S. Attorney's office.

The listing of criminals is not just comprised of notable names like Greg Meffert and his crew, former Mandeville Mayor Eddie "DWI" Price , Derrick "clean cash" Shepherd , Bill "buy the little lady a car" Hubbard and that wacky family of crooks, the Jeffersons (moving on down), but your typical everyday sleaze bags, too.

Thanks Gambit for recognizing Mr. Letten and his office.

I just had to _ Drew Brees youtube

Drew Brees and the rest of the 2009 team are the best.

What is special about Drew is his passion to fire up the players in the pregame, as shown here:

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Gotta love his passion. Gotta love the 2009 NEW ORLEANS SAINTS!!!

WHO DAT!

Saints vs Panthers

Now matter what happens agains the Carolina Panther's tomorrow, I just want to be on record that the 2009 New Orleans Saints team AND fans have given us all more joy than we expected. Bless you boys!!!

devour the 'KATRINA SHORTHAND'

Let's make 2010 the year we do away with "Katrina Shorthand"

From the website, Levees dot org">Today.......many articles are covering the most memorable events of the decade. Naturally, they all include the metro New Orleans flood.

But the former chief of Gannett's Capitol Bureau stands out and gets a "seal of approval" from us for accurately describing the August 2005 flooding.

Today, John Hill, discussing the effect of hurricanes on Louisiana, is quoted as saying,

...absent the Noah-like flooding of New Orleans because of levee failures, Katrina would have taken second place to Rita.

Hill effectively resisted simply saying 'Katrina flooded New Orleans.' 

Indeed, that would be like saying traffic broke the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis. Both the traffic and Katrina exposed structural flaws. Both revealed blatant civil engineering mistakes.



John McQuaid co-author of Path of Destruction with Mark Schleifstein has observed this is more than a matter of semantics.

Says McQuaid, using Katrina as 'shorthand' and its association with a natural disaster is confusing because it implies "what the heck are those people doing living down there?"



The flooding of metro New Orleans was a civil engineering failure, the worst in the world since Chernobyl according to Dr. Ray Seed, levee expert and geotechnical specialist at the University of California Berkeley.

And responsibility for the failures belongs overwhelmingly and primarily to the federal Army Corps of Engineers.


Thanks to all of the folks from Levees dot org who have relentlessly fight to bring out the whole truth in the flooding of NOLA post Hurricane Katrina.

Super Scuzzbucket

Not from Louisiana this time. From the Huffington Post dot com comes the story of a 73 year old Colorado state employee who stupidly (my opinion) forwarded an email which shows President Obama shining the shoes of Sarah Palin. The small minded woman used her work email account to forward the email.



What in the world is wrong with people? Can they not just accept that Obama IS the president and support him? Why are they so racist?