YatBazaar

Boiled Crawfish, travel through MSY, and other Friday-like subjects. Coming to you from the CC's Community Coffeehouse on Esplanade Ave.

http://yatpundit.com/music/YatPundit/podcasts

Click on the file for today's date.

The gym at St. Aloysius, on Esplanade and N. Rampart, one of the photos in my new book, which will drop on 12-April

Just a few things...

For those of you unfamiliar with how I organize my blogging, I've got a bunch of things going on:

Food: at http://food.yatpundit.com - most recent are reviews of Parkway Bakery, Crescent City Steakhouse, and a podcast about Crescent City.

Travel: at http://travel.yatpundit.com

Streetcars: at http://canalstreetcar.com, but we're also reviving the New Orleans Street Railway Association at http://nosra.org now that we're in the countdown to saying buh-bye to SeeRay. CanalStreetCar (dot com) will be for advocacy and opinion, NOSRA dot org will be for education and history (since it's a non-profit entity).

Brothers of the Sacred Heart: My latest book, out on 12-April, is another "Images of America" book entitled Brothers of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans. The site http://BOSHbook.com is for photos and commentary on the four schools documented in the book, St. Aloysius, Cor Jesu, St. Stanislaus, and Brother Martin High. Even if you (or someone in your family) didn't attend a Brothers' school, there's lots of great NOLA history here.

Enjoy!

Today's YatPundit Podcast deals with why Google Fiber will pass New Orleans by.

It can be summed up in three simple words:

Return On Investment.

http://yatpundit.com/music/YatPundit/podcasts

Click on the file for today's date.

Two interesting articles on the aftermath of the very ugly race for the District A City Council seat in New Orleans. First is Mike Bayham's "autopsy" of Jay Batt's failed campaign to regain his seat. Mr. Bayham points out that Republicans in Lakeview simply did not come out for Batt, costing him the election. Bayham blames this on Batt's campaign strategy:

Batt failed to effectively play the Republican card with GOP voters despite his solid cred in this area, having played a major role in Joseph Cao’s defeat of Democratic Congressman Bill Jefferson and being the lone councilman who actively opposed Kathleen Blanco’s bid for governor in 2003.

Two things here: First, Cao's win over Dollar Bill Jefferson wasn't representative of anything but a rejection of a now-convicted federal felon while he was under indictment. If Mr. Batt gave Mr. Cao good political advice, that's great, but it's not a big feather in his cap. Second, Cao is NOT highly regarded by local Republicans because of his yea vote for the Democratic party's healthcare reform bill in the House of Representatives. Reminding the GOP base of Cao would be counterproductive.

The other big point that Bayham misses (and I commented about on his blog) is the fact that Lakeview wants nothing to do with Jay Batt. To them, he's an Uptown guy who abandoned them in the immediate aftermath of the storm. That's why the "Anybody But Batt" movement grew legs and gained traction. It's important to remember that Lakeview Republicans are the people who put the lie to fundigelical talking points about the storm. When crazy preachers were pointing to New Orleans and saying the floods were God's way of purging the country of the Godless Homos, they failed to note that the 17th Street Canal breach had its greatest impact on the hardest of hardcore white-bread, Republican neighborhoods in Orleans Parish. These people were unhappy enough with him to elect a Democrat in 2006 because she (Shelly Midura) was from Lakeview, and had more in common with them than Batt. Four years and an expensive media/Internet campaign did little to rehabilitate Batt's image.

A final note on Bayham's article--his recounting of poll-watching activities on election day are an object lesson in the need for feet-on-the-ground for any campaign on election day.

Donze's article in Da Paper leads with Teh Dramah of two candidates who can't stand each other, but it's the hard numbers to put the race into perspective:

Not surprisingly, Guidry dominated Batt in every way, winning 71 of 89 precincts.

She received about 87 percent of the African-American vote and 56 percent of the non-black vote, according to an analysis by University of New Orleans political scientist Ed Chervenak.

The review of key precincts also shows that Guidry got 44 percent of the Republican vote and 93 percent of the ballots cast by Democrats and independents. Chervenak said Guidry crushed Batt in Mid-City precincts and more than held her own Uptown and in Lakeview. Batt won only the precincts in the Audubon Park and university areas and a handful of Lakeview precincts, his political base.

Batt actually lost support between the primary and the runoff, Basically, the more he spent, and the harder his print/TV/Internet campaign pushed, the more people left his cause.

One final thought: For all that Karl Rove did to remove Democrats from the state of Louisiana post-storm, the city still has a Democrat for mayor and no Republicans on the City Council, even from District A.

Politics Wednesday for March 10th - NOLA Mayor, Kenner Mayor (Kenna, bra), and some Florida politics for dessert.

http://yatpundit.com/music/YatPundit/podcasts - click on today's date

It's Twitter Tuesday at YatPundit Podcast. Today I explain why I say on my Twitter bio: "Not a social media expert. Have real job" while working with Greta on Yatmedia.

http://yatpundit.com/content and look for today's date.

So, on my way home from the grocery, I had NPR's All Things Considered on, and I had a "Driveway Moment," while listening to a segment on Tyler Perry.

Yes, that Tyler Perry. You know, Madea.

I'm the first one to reach for the remote if "Tyler Perry's Anything" comes on the boobtoob, but this piece captured my interest, mainly because @NPRnews interviewed people with whom I agree:

Filmmaker Spike Lee used racially loaded words to describe Perry's TV shows: "coonery and buffoonery." Melvin Peters, a professor of African-American literature at Eastern Michigan University, says Lee has a point.

"Black women slapping a man upside the head, telling jokes about the crackhead woman character ... You're on perilous ground when you present these things as humorous," Peters says. "What crack has done to the African-American community and women in particular — these are troubling things."

Then came the Driveway Moment.

Perry has most definitely moved away from Madea, He was one of the executive producers of Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire. Mo'Nique won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Precious' abusive mother. Now, Perry is tackling other serious work:

Written by playwright Ntozake Shange, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf ran on Broadway and was filmed for public television decades ago.

The play lyrically delves into different aspects of black womanhood through a chorus of seven actresses, colorfully identified as Lady in Red, the Lady in Yellow, the Lady in Blue.

Wow! The segment--and Perry--totally captivated me, finally cracking me up at the end:

Perhaps Perry can guide the play to a new generation of young women, says Peters, the professor of African-American literature. "As long as he doesn't play one of the roles, OK?"

Go have a listen.

I got popped by a speed-trap camera near Jackson and Prytania over the holidays. Mrs. YatPundit paid the ticket (something like $130 with the fine and fees) as soon as the notice arrived, in spite of my protests. She's much more level-headed and doesn't want to have to bail me out of Central Lockup for a traffic attachment. Still, I didn't think I was speeding and wanted to challenge the ticket in court. Fortunately for me, there's a lawyer out there who wants to play in class-action land on behalf of his client, another attorney named Joseph McMahon, III:

McMahon said Reese agreed with him that the city failed to produce proper affidavits, required by the red-light-camera law, attesting to the reliability of the camera system and the fact that, based on the recorded images, a violation had occurred.

McMahon and his attorney, Anthony Maska, challenged the ticket, saying the city could not prove who was driving the vehicle and objecting to the introduction of the photographic and videotape evidence the city said proved McMahon's guilt.

A hearing officer rejected McMahon's claims and found him guilty. Rather than pay a fine and fees totaling almost $150, he appealed to Civil District Court, and Reese on Wednesday issued a summary judgment in his favor.

McMahon said Reese agreed with him that the city failed to produce proper affidavits, required by the red-light-camera law, attesting to the reliability of the camera system and the fact that, based on the recorded images, a violation had occurred.

Here's the big problem with this: what if the city has to give back the $10million in camera-busted fines they collected last year? That could really back the city into a major financial corner.

LinkedIn Privateers
University of New Orleans Alumni Group

Welcome to the home of the LinkedIn Privateers, a LinkedIn group for UNO alums.

If you are a UNO alum and a member of LinkedIn, click this link to be invited to join the group:

http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/38530/76F4F4423440

You MUST list University of New Orleans in the "Education" section of your profile. If you don't, please message me on LinkedIn and explain why you wish to join the group. Otherwise, I will decline your request.

Some useful links:

LinkedIn Home
Members of LinkedIn Privateers

University of New Orleans
UNO Athletics
UNO Alumni Association