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!!

An Appropriate Appointment

The country's newest Surgeon General has been appointed.
The Senate has finally confirmed Dr. Regina Benjamin to be the U.S. surgeon general, making her only the third African American to hold the position as the nation's top doctor.



The Senate nod came by a voice vote Thursday night, an expression of unanimous consent of both parties.

The 53-year-old family practice doctor had spent most of her career tending to the needs of poor patients in a Gulf Coast clinic she founded two decades ago in Alabama.

She was the first African-American woman board member of the American Medical Association, and she just served a term as chairwoman of the group's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs.


Regina is a Katrina heroine and I'm so happy to hear of this appointment. She'll do us proud.

MRGO Update

When Army Corps of Engineers contractors pounded the last of the steel-reinforced, 140-foot-long concrete "soldier" pilings deep into the marsh and clay that underlies the MR-GO and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, it marked the ceremonial end of an era. The work closes a shipping corridor that destroyed critical marsh and made the region more vulnerable to hurricanes.

Each piling is 66 inches in diameter and had to be moved into place using three of the five largest cranes available in the United States, corps representatives said. Once in place, cages of steel rebar were lowered into each piling before they were filled with concrete. (taken from the TimesPic)

At the website, MRGO must go, they've listed five broad-scale initiatives needed to fix damage caused by MRGO and protect people from hurricanes. Included with each initiative are the projects necessary to reach the goal of each task, the benefits from each project, the existing committments and the next critical steps.



MRGO, as you may recall, was instrumental in the flooding of the Ninth Ward, New Orleans East and St. Bernard Parish during Katrina.



This is one small step towards saving Louisiana's coastline.

Vote for CNN Hero of the Year

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Drumsticks in hand, Derrick Tabb has found a way to transform New Orleans children from troublemakers to tuba players.


Derrick Tabb's program provides free tutoring, instruments and music instruction to more than 100 students.

Tabb, wearing a gold chain and a baseball cap, doesn't look the part of a typical band teacher. But every weekday evening in the French Quarter, he beats out the rhythm on his music stand as students play their chosen instruments. In doing so, he gives them an alternative to New Orleans' rough streets.

"I tell everyone I'm competing with the drug dealers," said Tabb, 34. His program, The Roots of Music, offers free tutoring, instruments and music education to more than 100 students. Vote now for the CNN Hero of the Year Voting continues until Thursday, November 19, 2009 (6 a.m. ET). There is no limit on the number of times you may vote for the Hero of the Year. Each of this year's honorees will receive $25,000 in recognition of their work.

So go support this local hero.

Healthcare in NOLA Post K

New Orleans Slate: A Day at LSU Clinic

Getting Fired UP!

New Orleans Saints 48 New York Giants 27

The Saints are fired up, folks!!! Five wins, no losses



Here's a video of Drew Brees firing up the team. Got to love it!

Autumn's Colors

We spent last week driving from Louisiana to Maine to witness autumn colors. We were not disappointed.

Scuzzbucket in Tangipahoa Parish

I noticed that this story made headlines all over the country

Louisiana Justice of the Peace Keith Bardwell Refuses to Marry Interracial Couples



Dear Mr. Bardwell, go back into the woods that you came out of, you redneck racist.

From Politics Daily, Ria Misra writes
As the child of an interracial marriage -- and someone who isn't suffering anymore than is usual for a girl wearing soggy boots and a damp skirt after being caught in this afternoon's rain -- I'm always annoyed when someone tries to pin their own anxieties about multiracial children onto children instead of onto themselves.

What's really appalling though is that Bardwell has done this before -- and without being removed as a justice of the peace. Bardwell told the AP that he's refused to marry four interracial couples in the last 2 1/2 years. Bardwell also claims that at least one office of Louisiana's state government had been made aware of his refusal years ago.

Mr. Obama's NOLA visit

I was driving through the Shenandoah Mountains on Thursday when the president came to New Orleans, so I missed it. But Eli was there and has nicely documented the visit here , along with his discussion on significant signs of progress specific to our region during the administration's first nine months.

It's a great read.

Nothing to Sneeze At

The Norwegian Nobel Committee says U.S. President Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

More on the impact of this announcement here

2009 VOW Festival

It's time again for the Voice of the Wetlands Festival at the beautiful Southdown Plantation in scenic Houma Louisiana!



We attended a few years ago and enjoyed the music. The food could've been better, though.



President of the VOW, Louisiana born bluesman Tab Benoit has been putting on this fest since right before Katrina, when he realized how fast the Louisiana Wetlands were disappering and decided to bring this tragedy to a national audience. VOW is just one outlet. Tab performs over 300 days a year across the country to bring this news to anyone who'll listen.



There's a great musical lineup found here and lots of hotel rooms in Houma if you want to spend the night. Unfortunately, hubby and I will be on our East Coast Roadtrip this weekend, so can someone go for us and let us know if the food got better?

On this rainy, humid Monday in October.....

Those of us in the Gulf Coast region are oblivious to the weather conditions because
THE SAINTS ARE 4 AND 0!!!!!




Bless you, Boys!

Jindal repeatedly is the anti governor

We who voted for Bobby Jindal were so happy when he won the election, thinking that FINALLY, this state was going to move forward. Then came the reality, in so many ways. The latest reason to regret our votes for the child governor came when we found out that Jindal doesn't have the balls to
go for a project that may have helped the southeastern part of the state .

Once again, Jindal is soooooooooo wrong for Louisiana.

I'll never tire of this sight

Here's a video of the
Space Shuttle Landing

Happy Birthday HG Wells

Science fiction author H.G. Wells would have celebrated his birthday today.

To commemorate this occasion, Google's home page has this image:



to celebrate Wells' novel "The War of the Worlds".

Thanks for making us think Google. Well, those of us that don't wake up knowing EVERYTHING every day, that is.

The Constant Scuzzbuckets

Sourgrapes or just plain outright racist? I am sickened by the people in this country who are so blatanly hateful against President Obama. These sheep follow people like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs who spew poisonous hate over the air waves day after day. Their tirades are licked up by smallminded human beings across the country who feed on xenophobic hate. Vicky Moos alerted me to the following article:

Found at Alternet dot org

At this summer's "tea parties," town hall meetings and the recent march on Washington organized by Fox News talker Glenn Beck, signs with Obama portrayed as an African witch doctor, complete with a bone through his nose, and signs claiming Obama is the rightful president only of Kenya and other thinly disguised racial markers have been commonplace.



Clearly, these demonstrations of inchoate rage are about more than public policy. Former President Jimmy Carter stepped into the fray this week, stating the obvious: "intensely demonstrated animosity" toward Obama, the 39th president said, is "based on the fact that he is a black man." This elicited a torrent of angry denunciations from right-wing media.

While Carter might have overstated the degree to which the anger is motivated by racial animus -- saying it was behind "an overwhelming portion" of the criticisms lobbed at Obama -- it's clear not only from the street protests, but also from the rhetoric employed by the conservative media elite that racism is indeed alive in "post-racial America," and is certainly ratcheting up the temperature of the country's discourse.

We took a tour of that discourse and present 10 recent examples of the kind of racially charged barbs that played a part in Carter's statement.

1. Oh no! Evil monkeys stole our balls!

You know who really had their act together? British colonists in India. But oppressing a country of hundreds of millions for more than a century was not without its dangers. For instance, sometimes monkeys descended on the Brits' golf courses and stole their balls.



And that it is how former House Representative Roy Blunt, R-Mo., chose to illustrate the challenges facing conservatives in the Obama era. Friday, AlterNet's Adele Stan reported Blunt's words to the conservative Values Summit:

"... Something they didn't anticipate was monkeys came running out of the jungle, and they grabbed the golf balls ... and they might throw the golf ball back at you. ... So for this golf course, and this golf course and this golf course only, they passed a rule, and the rule was, you have to play the ball where the monkey throws it."

The crowd roared with laughter.

He went on to say that he recently saw a bumper sticker he liked that read: "Don't let Obama find out what comes after a trillion."

2. Rush Limbaugh, worried about future of favorite cookie, blows off steam by making racist joke about Obama



In a July broadcast, Rush Limbaugh voiced his displeasure -- nay, outrage -- about food-safety advocates potentially "going after" Oreo cookies. Added the great wit: "Might have to put that off until Obama's out of office, but they'll eventually go after Oreos."

Get it?

3. When you weren't looking, Obama snuck reparations into the health care bill

This is why we have to be vigilant. According to Beck and Limbaugh, Obama is using health reform to force reparations for slavery from white America. Beck: "Everything getting pushed through Congress -- including this health care bill -- is transforming America. And it's all driven by President Obama's thinking on one idea: reparations. ... He believes in all the 'universal' programs because they ‘disproportionately affect' people of color" (All of whom Obama knows personally, cause … you know … ).

Not one to be outdone, Limbaugh cast a wider net, saying: "Obama's entire program is reparations!"

4. Addendum: When you weren't looking, Obama snuck affirmative action in the health care bill

Obama's plan to make African Americans the white man's evil overlords doesn't end with secret reparations: Apparently, the health care bill is also being used to smuggle in affirmative action. "The medical schools will get more federal dollars if they have proven … that they are putting minorities ahead" according to Beck.

5. Obama responsible for school bullying

Last week, a Drudge headline screamed: "White Student Beaten on School Bus; Crowd Cheers."



Drudge is presumably aware that this isn't the first time school children have engaged in fisticuffs. But in highlighting the item as breaking "news," the site was clearly trying to tap into the bizarre race paranoia sweeping Wing-Nut Nation. It did not take long for Limbaugh to make Drudge's implicit race bating explicit:

"In Obama's America, the white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering, 'Yay, right on, right on, right on, right on,' " said Limbaugh, in a very accurate approximation of how black kids talk, of course.

6. Limbaugh comes up with a solution to America's complex race issues: Separate but equal!



Then, Limbaugh used the incident to essentially propose a return to the doctrine of "separate but equal," saying, "I mean, that's the lesson we're being taught here today. Kid shouldn't have been on the bus anyway. We need segregated buses -- it was invading space and stuff. This is Obama's America."

Or, you know, the black kids could just sit in the back of the bus.

7. Our president is angry?

Obama comes across as a pretty even-keeled, pleasant person. But maybe it's all an act, meant to mask his true nature, which, according to Limbaugh, is that of a really common racist archetype: the angry black man.

"[T]hey're finally hearing me. 'He's an angry black guy.' I do believe that about the president. I do believe he's angry. I think his wife is angry."

Surprisingly, Limbaugh did not add that Michelle Obama was also good at nursing other people's kids or preparing pancakes.

8. Birther conspiracy

A while back, a bunch of people felt kinda weird publicly saying that Obama shouldn't be president because he's black. They came up with this enterprising solution: latch onto an insane conspiracy theory claiming that the president is illegitimate because he's not a natural-born citizen of the U.S.



One of those people was Lou Dobbs, who managed to destroy the last shreds of his reputation and dignity by pushing the birther conspiracy onto prime time on CNN.

9. Half-white president hates whites?

Carter's remarks that many of the attacks against the president are fueled by racism really, really hurt conservatives' feelings. Beck, for example, sniffed (but didn't break into wild sobbing, as he often does) that it was wrong to accuse someone of racism without hard evidence. This lesson in etiquette is one Beck must have learned recently, because less than two months ago, the shock-jock accused Obama of being a racist with a "deep-seated hatred for white people … and white culture."



Beck did not elaborate on what he meant by "white culture."

10. General tea-baggery

Conservatives are trying to sell town hall disruptions and the various forms of tea-bagging going on as legitimate protests against the Democrats' agenda. While that's certainly true of many people who show up at these events, it's hard not to be a little wary of the real reason some people take part, when we see signs like this, this, this and this.

Check out Google's home page 9/15/09

here's the story behind it.
Cool.

Today in History

2005 President George W. Bush, addressing the nation from storm-ravaged New Orleans, acknowledged the government failed to respond adequately to Hurricane Katrina and urged Congress to approve a massive reconstruction program.

fuck you bush