Tuesday, October 31, 2006

All Saints Day

I'm not a big Halloween freak, guess I don't have the imagination for it. Besides that, horror movies/costumes give me the heebee jeebees.

I do love the history that comes with All Saints Day, though. Living in the Bayou Liberty/Lacombe section of southeast Louisiana with its large population of creoles, All Saints Day is celebrated in quiet beauty.

DuBuisson Cemetery is a very old graveyard that dates back to the 1800's.


(photo courtesty of bonfouca.org)

Every All Saints Day, the graves are cleaned and small candles are lit right around dusk. Seeing this creates a most ethereal feeling. I haven't been there for several years and the last time I went I had to keep an eye on two young children who wanted to climb all over the graves. My daughter is now away at college and I'm thinking that perhaps hubby & I will visit Dubuisson Cemetery tomorrow evening and light a few candles.

an audio slide show on the lighting of the graves in Bayou LIberty



In the meantime, here's a couple of other links to the Bonfouca area

The Lee Galatas house and store on Bayou Liberty Road

Katrina's affect in this area

Bounfouca dot org website.


Bonfouca has many different pronounciations: "BON FOO KA" "BON FUCK A" "BONNA FOOKA". Take your choice. :)

Child Abuse

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Shoulda Been

August 29th and the week following it should have looked like this.

Fuck you Bush, Brown, Chertoff. Thanks to all who cared then and
those who still care.

It still hurts a lot to watch this.




Thanks to Ashley & Oyster

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Katrina's Lives Lost

When I started receiving the Times Picayune a few weeks after Katrina, I noticed a recurring article on the bottom of the front page. They named it "Katrina's Lives Lost" and each story was a short bio of people who died in the storm. I found these stories sad, yet I was fascinated at an inside look as to why these people stayed. The TP stopped carrying these stories a while ago and I was a little saddened that these stories would be available in the years to come. But I've found the the paper has created an archive of Katrina's Lives Lost at this site.

Thanks, TP and Legacy dot com.

Friday, October 27, 2006

The Corps don't get it

Though it is well over a year since Katrina made landfall in Mississippi, the Army Corps of Engineers still has not learned how important wetlands are for flood protection. The Corps is currently proposing to gut the rules that protect wetlands in coastal Mississippi. Under a new proposal, any development that destroys up to five acres of wetlands (almost 5 football fields!) would be exempt from the regulations that apply everywhere else in the country.

Destroying wetlands will only put coastal communities at greater risk for future flooding. Ironically, this proposal is being made in the name of hurricane rebuilding. Irresponsible developers, with help from the Corps, are hoping that nobody will notice as they rush to pave sensitive wetlands in the aftermath of Katrina. Luckily, we have citizens like you who are paying attention.

Help stop this disastrous proposal by taking action now. Communities working to recover from Katrina should not have to fight for their safety.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Help is still needed

Even though Katrina happened 14 months ago, there are thousands of people who still need the basic necessities.

From a blog in
Pearlington, Mississippi


WHERE IS PEARLINGTON, MISSISSIPPI ???????????????????
We Are The ForGotten Town !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DO NOT FORSAKE US!!!!!! WE ARE HERE, WE ARE NO FOOTNOTE!!!!!!!!! WE ARE AMERICAN CITIZENS, NOT A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY !!! OR WORSE !! WE LIVE !!!!!!!


Frustration is a daily chore. These people were overlooked from before the storm hit. The eye of the storm passed right over them.

Pearlington is a very small, old logging town
on the Louisiana - Mississippi border. It is an example of the lingering affects of Hurricane Katrina. The citizens of Pearlington, as well as hundreds of other small towns in Katrina's path, are having an extremely difficult time surviving. But as is said in the above blog, they are survivors.

If anyone out there can help in any way, please go to the following websites to see how to best use your time/money.


Presbytarian Disaster Assistance



Pearlington Relief

Relief information regarding Pearlington, MS - Located in Hancock County. This includes organizations assisting in the recovery effort and municipal needs.


The home of C.O.D.R.A - the Coalition of Disaster Relief Agencies - and the online journal chronicling the recovery of Pearlington, Mississippi from Hurricane Katrina.

C.O.D.R.A. is an association of INDEPENDENT relief organizations - each with its own agenda and direction - which exists to encourage Resource to meet Need, as its Member Agencies assist the once-forgotten town of Pearlington in getting back on its feet....


Volunteer Resources in Hancock County


Thank you from the bottom of all of our hearts for what you've done and what you've yet to do.

Nothing on the scale of Katrina has ever happened. People think that because they're not hearing about it on a daily basis that all is "normal". There is a new normal now and it ain't easy.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Katrina Victim Database

John Mutter of the Earth Institute has compiled a Katrina victims database. According to
his website

The purpose of this web site is to assemble a comprehensive list of all those who died directly and indirectly from the effects of Katrina and its long, tragic aftermath. We would like to compile as comprehensive a list as possible of the names, age, race, sex, cause of death, circumstances of death and way of life of all those whose deaths could plausibly be attributed to the hurricane or its consequences.

The list of all the victims is an act of remembrance. In addition, if we can obtain all the information we can about the way they lived and how they died, we will be able to better understand how natural disasters such as Katrina affect all levels of society and devise measures to save more lives in the future.


Thank you Mr. Mutter.

And thanks to Greg at Suspect Device
for the heads up.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Chris Rose

The Chicago Reader recently did an article
on Chris Rose
Here's an excerpt

The city has slowly started to recover, but Rose doesn’t see himself returning to celebrity gossip. He says one of the biggest battles New Orleans has to face now is restoring and defending its image. “I think there’s a great cross section of America that thinks we deserved it because we don’t castigate our gay citizens and because we embrace music and eccentricity and beer. We’ll always have that to deal with. It’s ludicrous to suggest that having Mardi Gras or going to a football game constitutes a moral affront. Survivor’s guilt gets you nowhere.”

Monday, October 23, 2006

Need Translation

Driving home from the airport last week, we had to detour from I-10 to Elysian Fields due to a wreck on the highrise.

While driving thru the 9th Ward, we saw numerous ruined houses with the same three letters on them.

Can someone tell me what the letters TFW
mean?

Thanks.

Update 12/15/06


mystery solved

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Depression

Chris Rose penned an excellent article on dealing with depression in today's paper.


Early this summer, with the darkness clinging to me like my own personal humidity, my stories in the newspaper moved from gray to brown to black. Readers wanted stories of hope, inspiration and triumph, something to cling to; I gave them anger and sadness and gloom. They started e-mailing me, telling me I was bringing them down when they were already down enough.


Here's the link to the whole story if you haven't seen it

A chronicler of the storm is crushed by its sorrows. A skeptic on depression is consumed by a disease he doesn't believe in. A man teetering on the cliff finds his salvation in an unexpected place: modern medicine.


Hell and Back

Help Pearlington

Pearlington Mississippi needs your help.

Click here to see how you can help by donating money, time or materials to help house people STILL without homes since Katrina.

One House At A Time is building cottages for those people.

Thanks to Clayton Cubitt

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Scuzzbucket of the week

I have been out of town for four days on business and come back to a "just-in-time-for-halloween" story. Wow.

I haven't read much on this story, but what I have gives me the impression that this Zachary Bowen guy was wacko long before what he did to Addie. What a selfish sick little boy in a man's body he was. Why couldn't he have just killed himself and rid the world of one more 'tormented' soul.

Just my opinion.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

VOW FEST

VOICE OF THE WETLANDS FESTIVAL

Southdown Plantation
October 13-15th...FREE ADMISSION

It’s important to keep the festival free to the public, so the information about the wetlands crisis is available to everyone,” Rueben Williams, festival promoter and VOW member explains. Donations throughout the year’s benefit events, along with sponsorship, have kept the festival running the two previous years.


Friday, October 13 - Festival Kicks Off at 5:30pm (festival hours 5:30pm to 10pm) – Community involvement and national initiatives are being addressed throughout the weekend with political stump speeches kicking off the festival Friday evening. Local politicians and wetland experts are invited to take the stage and share what actions are taking place and the involvements necessary for results. Exhibitors are being sought to provide information for the festival-goers to learn about the wetlands.

Festivities follow with the X-Treme Guitar Showdown featuring Tab Benoit. He’s inviting special guests to join him on stage for an unyielding dose of blues, rock and roots music.

Saturday & Sunday All Day Events (festival hours 12:00pm to 10pm both days) – The festival swings into full gear with local, regional and national music acts based in Louisiana’s diverse musical roots and culture. Performances include Louisiana LeRoux, Cyril Neville and Tribe 13, The Chubby Carrier Band, The Treater Band, The Waylon Thibodeaux Band, Southern Cross, The Pershing Wells Louisiana Songwriting Revue, The Dream Junkies and The Hurricane Levee Band.

VOW Allstars, which include
Tab Benoit
Anders Osborne
Johnny Sansone
Cyril Neville
George Porter Jr.
Waylon Thibodeaux
Big Chief Monk Boudreaux

Festival promoters are also excited to announce Dr. John (Mac Rebennack) will take the stage with Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars as part of Sunday evening’s finale. Prior to the hurricanes, the VOW All-Stars were already working together to raise awareness of coastal erosion. Their message has become even more critical now than before with the threat of losing this area’s unique culture, heritage, wildlife, people and way of life. Each one of the musicians involved in the project appreciates the influence that Louisiana has had on them musically.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Scuzz-buckette of the week

from CNN
LAWRENCEVILLE, Georgia (AP) -- The "runaway bride," who took off days before her lavish wedding in 2005, is suing her former fiance for $500,000, claiming he defrauded her out of her share of their assets, including a ladder, a gold sofa and gifts.
ugh...a gold sofa?


Google eyed Jennifer Wilbanks is seeking $250,000 as her share of a home she says John C. Mason purchased through the partnership with proceeds from $500,000 received for selling their story to Regan Media in New York.

gold digging bitch

She also wants $250,000 in punitive damages for alleged abuse of the power of attorney she granted for Mason to handle their financial affairs.
She is seeking the return of personal property she claims he has kept, including the ladder that belonged to her father, a gold sofa and wedding shower gifts. Mason's attorney in July wrote to Wilbanks attorney that his client had agreed to deliver those items.

Wilbanks and Mason broke up for good in May, about a year after her excursion to Las Vegas and New Mexico made international headlines while hundreds of friends and family members searched for her back home in suburban Atlanta.


This little money hungry bitch. I hope she enjoys sitting on her tacky gold sofa alone for the rest of her google-eyed life.

Again, my blog, my opinion.

Go Guard!


Guard soldier shoots driver in torso

He thought cell phone was gun, officer says



The guardsman, Sgt. Robert Lawrence, was patrolling in the 1400 block of Arts Street, near N. Robinson Street on Monday about 4:30 p.m. when he was flagged down by a man who said a driver had just run over his friend, said Maj. Ed Bush, a Guard spokesman. Lawrence then spotted the vehicle, "driving crazy," and pulled the driver over, Bush said. When the driver got out, he began waving an object the soldier believed was a gun, Bush said. Lawrence told the man three times to drop his weapon and get down on the ground. Bush said. The man refused, and Lawrence shot him, Bush said.

So the perpertator was trying to tell the National Guard officer there was a call for him?

Bush said investigating officers found evidence to indicate that someone may have been run over, but he could not specify what that evidence was.

no screaming, squished person?


It is the first time a patrolling soldier has discharged his weapon while on temporary assignment in New Orleans, National Guard spokesman, Lt. Col. Pete Schneider said.


And it's about time! Not that I'm for shootin up the populus, but these sons of bitches driving like crazy, running over people, not listening to an officer of the law deserve this kind of treatment. I'm tired of listening to the ACLU, the NAACP, PETA and all those wimpy-snot-nosed-civil-libertarians-who-need-to-get-a-life stick up for this kind of trash.

"It turned out to be a cell phone, but it looked like a gun," Bush said. "Everything looks good on the question of whether the soldier did the right thing. But he'll go through all the procedures that any cop would. He'll see a psychologist and a chaplain, and the case will be investigated and forwarded to the DA"

He should get a promotion.

Here's a story of another hero of mine!


All opinions expressed are my own. If you don't like them, go away and don't come back.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

An escape

My honey and I had a mutual day off on Friday and decided to check out Fountainbleu State Park to see how it made out from Katrina. It's not open to the public yet. Well, you can camp out there, but you can't visit the park. Apparently several hundred trees were taken down by the storm.

Less than a mile down the road toward Mandeville is the Northlake Nature Center , a four-hundred acre park that is absolutely beautiful. (click on the pictures below to see the full sized version)




This park offers the opportunity to witness four different ecosystems AND a first hand look at an historic example of crooked Louisiana politicians.

At the end of the initial boardwalk, you will come to an unfinished "hideaway" club house



As stated in the photo below, this exclusive hideaway golf course initially was the idea of Louisiana Governor Leche in the late 1930's for his political cronies.




Leche and several of his cronies were indicted in what were termed the "Louisiana Scandals"

The hideaway fell to disrepair and is now unaccessible to tourists.




Beyond this piece of history is lush, serene swampland and forest.



The boardwalk crosses what is purported to be an active beaver pond



But on this day we only spotted friendly turtles



There are several benches along the boardwalks and paths through the woods.


This area seems to be where they hold nature seminars or perhaps is used for the yearly Great Louisiana Birdfest that happens here.

We spotted this cypress at the edge of the pond.


Notice how the lower branches are bent down as a result of Katrina's winds.

We journeyed into Madisonville and visited Fairview Riverside State Park, aptly named.

Located on the banks of the very pretty Tchefuncte (shi-funk-ta) River,
It offers camping, picnicing, fishing and beautiful landscapes.






At the entrance to the park is an old mansion - Otis House.



Originally built in the 1880s as the family home for sawmill owner William Theodore Jay, it was later purchased and renovated in the 1930s by Frank Otis, serving as his summer home until his death in 1962. Mr. Otis left the property to the State of Louisiana to be developed into a recreational site for visitors. The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

We managed to leave Katrina behind for one beautiful afternoon. Well worth the trip.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Nagin-ites

All you wacko's who reelected Ray Nagin, you're getting your just desserts.

Not only is he unethical , it comes to light today that he wants his constituents to vote for another unethical politician

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who rarely misses an opportunity to tout his efforts to rid City Hall of corruption, said Thursday that he will enthusiastically urge voters to re-elect U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, the target of a sprawling federal bribery probe that has cost the veteran congressman his seat on an influential House committee

I'm going to keep an eye on the comings and goings of the two companies who were just awarded a $25M contract for garbage pickup. I'm wondering if this has any connection to the riff between Ray Ray and the Waste Management company regarding the Chef Menteur landfill. Just casual speculation here. But it looks like I'm not the only curious one.

And let us not forget the constant black eyes we get every time he opens his mouth

For more evidence of this man's incompetence, see this link

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Read Ghosts of the Flood

Mark Folse has written a beautiful post.

The ghost of the Flood is now a part of who we are. Ultimately it doesn’t matter if it is ectoplasm or the synchronized firing of a million neurons in ways science does not yet understand. In the end we have to come to term with it. This is something that we as Orleanians, the people who live next to our dead in their exclusive farbourgs of marble and white-washed stone, should be able to do.


Here is the link
Wet Bank Guide: Ghosts of the Flood

Help for NOFD

For some reason the City of NOLA does not want to pay their firefighters any more than what pimple-faced kids make at Burger King.

Well, SOMEONE cares....

from the Times Picayune


With nearly half its firehouses still in a state of disrepair, the New Orleans Fire Department on Wednesday received a $100,000 grant from the Leary Firefighters Foundation to repair three of its facilities.

The foundation also supplied the department with 15 flat-bottom rescue boats valued at about $100,000.

Created in 1999 by actor-comedian Denis Leary after a firefighter cousin was killed in a Massachusetts warehouse blaze, the foundation has dedicated itself to providing for firefighters across the country. Leary said Wednesday that the storm-battered NOFD and its firefighters, like many other departments, are "underfunded," "underappreciated" and "always the last guys that get help."


Thanks, Mr. Leary!

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Chris Rose


Chris Rose
Eternal Dome nation

The symbolic and economic significance of the Superdome's reopening has been lost on many in America. So we'll say this one more time for anyone who still doesn't get it: It's the recovery, stupid.


Chris tries to answer the question

Why are people from other places spending so much effort to tell us that, as a community, we are wrong, misguided, amoral and racist? Why are they making things up?

Scuzzbucket of the week

From the American Heritage Dictionary:
scuzz·buck·et (skzbkt)
n. Slan.
A repulsive or disgusting person or thing.


From today's Times Picayune

Class act

The mother of a John Ehret High School student who came to the school seeking to transfer her daughter after a cafeteria brawl last week was arrested Monday after getting into a fight of her own.

The unidentified woman came to Ehret about 11 a.m. after an incident last week in which her daughter was one of two 12th-grade girls attacked by four younger students in the cafeteria as part of a "neighborhood dispute," said Jeff Nowakowski, a spokesman for the school system.

While waiting to talk to an administrator in the building's main office, the woman initiated an altercation with two students also in the room, Nowakowski said. The woman told authorities the girls gave her "a dirty look," he said.

We are still investigating all of this because we don't know exactly what transpired, he said.

A man who accompanied the woman to the Marrero school also was arrested after the fracas, Nowakowski said, adding that the woman's husband was with her too but was not arrested.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office could be reached for comment.

Nowakowski said the woman had come to Ehret to transfer her daughter to another high school after the prior week's confrontation in which the two people suffered minor injuries.

The fights bring to four the number of violent incidents in Jefferson schools in recent weeks involving special education students.

Monday Morning Smile