A letter to Newhouse

From jimromenesko.com,
an email sent late Sunday from outgoing Times Picayune report Kari Dequine Harden.

“Gonna try to move forward and find something to believe in again. Not that he gives a rat’s ass, but I decided I would let Steve Newhouse know my reasons for an early departure.”

Dear Mr. Newhouse,

Today is the day I jump off of your sinking ship once known proudly as The Times-Picayune.

I thought I’d be able to go down with it, but I don’t even recognize the ship anymore. Without being held hostage by severance, benefits, or much of a paycheck, I’m drowning for no good reason.

I have no desire to work for bosses who treat their hardworking, dedicated, and irreplaceable employees in the unforgivable manner I have witnessed firsthand over the past three months.

You have betrayed my most esteemed colleagues, my city, my belief in journalism, and my belief in people.

No numbers, statistical trends, academic theories, or self-serving editorials and articles will make me buy the argument that this is the inevitable way of the future. Not here. Not now. Not in this way.

Need I remind you we were profitable? This paper had good years left in it. Great years. Adjustments may have been necessary, I realize, but I will never believe this is all happening because The Times-Picayune could not have survived if you left us alone just as you had done for decades prior.

We would have found a way. And made you a profit the entire time.

Or, there were serious buyers with serious cash who would have taken over. You could have just sold us. But again and again, you refuse. Why? Are you planning on writing us off as a loss? Would that serve your unbridled greed in some sort of inheritance tax scheme? Is our website intentionally horrid?

To have a once respectable, reliable news source taken away so that billionaires can try to squeeze out a few more millions at the expense of a city’s well-being is criminal.

If you do not know what you are taking away, allow me to remind you.

From New Orleans, a city already with odds against, you are taking our historical record. You are taking away a source of news that has been relied upon to document it all–magnificent and mundane–and to hold police and publicly elected officials accountable. This city is worse off for the loss. We will struggle, new sources will emerge and serve the city in positive ways–but do not for a second think that this isn’t a devastating blow to everyone. Competition included.

Some of things we covered were tedious, painful, and marginalized–but important. The present, history, and future of our city are at stake. And in a city facing significant challenges–from ingrained corruption and the highest per-capita murder rate in the country, to environmental armageddon and crumbling infrastructure–we need to read every detail. Every dollar of taxpayer money spent. Every issue. Every day. And to hear it from people who are experienced and have the best interests of the city at heart.

From us, you are not just taking away jobs, you are taking away identities. Purpose. Role in community.

This is not a job that you can leave at the office. We gave up our name, our neck. And we loved our jobs because we believed we genuinely contributed to a more informed, educated, and enlightened society.

From journalism as an industry, you are taking a gem of a newspaper that was respected, read–in print!–and, yes, profitable. Changes may have been in our future, but nothing like this. This paper had soul and heart and traditions and devotion. We were not perfect, and I believe fully in healthy competition, but we were usually decent, often good, and sometimes great. It was a newsroom of an era past, full of characters and quirks and curiosity and gray-haired grouches. There was passion. And humor. Ego, for the most part, was checked at the door.

You have made it abundantly clear that you do not care about quality in journalism. You have made it abundantly clear that you do not care about New Orleans.

But remember that respect from the community–especially ours–is not something you can buy back. (Not that being respected concerns you, as made clear with the single verbal valuation of “noise.”)

You have made it most definitely clear that you do not care about quality journalism in New Orleans. I predict that within two to three years, three days of print will turn into zero days of print and there will be another massive round of back-stabbing layoffs.

I, for one, will not be buying any more newspapers from you. I will not be visiting your atrocious website.

I am eternally grateful for the experience I have gained in my time with your company, but the company I worked for no longer exists.

Signing out,
Kari Dequine
The Times-Picayune

Idiots on Parade 1

I don't like to get political, because I believe everyone is entitled to their ideas and choices.

However, when politicians get downright stupid - as a lot of GOP-ers have been doing - I have to let off steam.

So my first edition of "Idiots on Parade" stars none other than that oh-so ultra sensitive John Boehner, who has said that our President has caused the drought and should claim responsibility.

I know that I am not schooled in the inner workings of the Beltway, so I'm hoping that someone out there can help me understand how our President caused this drought. Anyone?

Help for Homeless Pets

A tornado that rolled through Mississippi last night destroyed several buildings at the St. Francis Animal Sanctuary in Tylertown, Mississippi.

Two buildings were destroyed and one dog was killed. Dogs were set loose on the property by the storm, but may have been secured by now.

They are asking for volunteers, blankets and food. Volunteers with heavy construction equipment and chainsaws are especially wanted. Call 601-222-1927 to volunteer. Cash donations are also needed. The address is SFAS, 97 Obed Magee Road, Tylertown, MS 39667.

Update August 15th: The Humane Society of the United States has given a $4,000 grant to the Sanctuary and is building 12 kennels .

From a volunteer of the Sanctuary via Facebook:

I will be going to for noon tomorrow (August 11) to make a pick-up of any donations and then on to Good Dog Naturally and The Scrubby Puppy before heading up to SFAS. If you are in western St. Tammany and are able to donate items, please take them to those drop off points.

St. Francis Animal Sanctuary (SFAS) is the largest no-kill companion pet sanctuary in the Southeast United States. SFAS is a forever home to more than 400 companion pets annually.

SFAS not only rescues pets, we give compassion and hope to struggling families. In 2009, SFAS has given shelter to more than 150 beloved pets whose families lost their jobs or homes and are no longer able to provide for their pets.

If you have any money donations, please make the checks out to: St. Francis Animal Sanctuary and I will pick those up at the drop off points. As soon as I get to the sanctuary, I will be doing blessings of the animals, people and grounds. I'm a minister and that's my first priority - God's blessings to all.

Scuzzbuckets of the Week

Dr. Melvin Morse of Delaware, who specializes in near-death experiences in children was arrested this week after his 11 year old daughter told authorities that she was punished by "waterboarding," police said. Morse wrote a book about the near-death experiences in children entitled "Closer to the Light" in 1991.

Authorities were first alerted to allegations of abuse in July when they went to Morse's home in the city of Georgetown. Morse was accused of grabbing his 11-year-old daughter by the ankle, dragging her across a gravel driveway into the home and spanking her, police said. Morse was arrested at that time and posted a bond. The 11-year-old was interviewed by detectives.

During the interview, the girl spoke about other alleged abuse and talked about a punishment she said her father called "waterboarding," the Delaware State Police said.

The girl told police that her father would hold her face under a running faucet, which caused the water to shoot up her nose. The punishments happened at least four times over a two-year period. The girl's mother, Pauline Morse, witnessed some of them and did nothing, police said.


Pauline Morse faces charges of reckless endangerment, conspiracy and endangering the welfare of a child.

Here is an interview where this monster was interviewed by Larry King in December of 2010

Bad Driving’s Greatest Hits

Over an hour of car crashes from Russia.

Lesson of the Day

Window Wednesday

Harrah's New Orleans Hotel

I can identify all but one of the flags flying, which depict the city of New Orleans and Louisiana's history. I JUST CAN'T figure out the 2nd from the left flag, which resembles an Australian flag. Can anyone help?

Here's what I came up with:

Top Row: United States Flag, Louisiana State Flag, Municipal Flag of the City of New Orleans, Flag of the French Republic

Bottom Row: Spanish Royal Flag, _________, Canadian Flag, British Union Jack

Time Wasters

As if the Olympics weren't enough of a time waster for those of us who work while the games are being played live, those devils at Google have come up with interactive doodles at their home page.

I just played basketball here



You can run the hurdles here


Here's an insider story on the Olympic doodles.

Their other interactive doodles can be found here!

Check out google.com tomorrow and hopefully they'll have more time wasters for us.

post script: you can buy merchandise with your favorite Google doodle here.

Scuzzbucket of the Week...not

Since originally posting this, I have had a change of heart. The guy is pretty rough on the puppy but he DID drop it off at a shelter. I can't really call him a scuzzbucket when there are plenty of REAL scuzzbuckets running around out there.

Don't know this bastard's name, but maybe someone will come forward to I.D. him.

From WWL via Facebook:


WWL Radio shared Capital Area Animal Welfare Society (CAAWS)'s photo.
Please share this around - Not a hoax. This man threw a puppy over a fence at an animal shelter in Baton Rouge. They have not caught him yet.

Here is the original post shared by WWL:
Capital Area Animal Welfare Society (CAAWS)


Can anyone identify this man who viciously threw a young puppy over our fence while there was a gate right next to him! We will post the video as soon as it is available and will be contacting the news stations. We will also post the photos of his truck too. This occured on Saturday at our shelter here in Baton Rouge, LA. We are a no kill shelter and are limited on space dependant on room at our shelter, we only house 13 dogs and 12 cats there, and the amount of foster homes we have. We usually have 30 dogs and 60 cats in our programs at any given time. Only one puppy was dumped. The leash is in his other hand

RIP Marvin Hamlisch

His name isn't familiar to anyone under 50, but whenever I hear Marvin Hamlisch, I hear songs from the movie "The Sting", starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford.



Hamlish was a prolific composer and won virtually every major award that exists: three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, a Tony and three Golden Globe awards.

He was 68 years old. If you're curious about other movies Mr. Hamlisch contributed to, here are a few in no particular order:

A Chorus Line

The Goodbye Girl

The Sweet Smell of Success

The Way We Were

Sophie's Choice

Ordinary People

For more credits, here is his "official" website.

Thanks for the memories, Mr. Hamlisch.

Deliberate Mistakes or Ineptitude?

I am continually amazed at the lack of compassion - or is it outright stupidity - of the "news networks" on television lately. I don't watch TV that much, except for the Saints games and the Olympics. But I get emails that cover things that I missed from eschewing television. (is that good grammar?). Here's what went down lately:

CNN mistakenly aired a map of India's Punjab province today after mentioning that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley had been confirmed to speak at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.

Governor Haley's parents are both from Punjab and raised Haley as a Sikh.

"It was a mistake," a CNN spokesperson told POLITICO.


CNN played an excerpt from Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young" after a segment Monday on the shooting at the Sikh temple in Wisconson, prompting a familiar apology from the network.

Last week CNN played Pink's "Stupid Girls" ahead of a segment about Sarah Palin.

"We aired a song from a guest’s playlist on the morning show following a three-minute commercial break and before a segment on presidential politics, unrelated to the Wisconsin shooting," the network said in a statement today. "Given the news of the day, this was regrettable and we apologize to our viewers.”

And here is what the FAUX News Network - Lord please get rid of these assclowns - Fox News host Gregg Jarrett asked a nephew of one of the victims, "Have there been any prior acts of violence against members of the temple? Any anti-Semitic acts?"

Anti-Semitism is discrimination directed toward Jewish people, not Sikhs. Representatives of Fox News did not respond to a request for comment regarding the error.