December 2006 Archives
Funny as Chevy Chase was, Ford wasn't really the klutz he was made out to be. Still, he deserved being the target of SNL's sketches, mainly because it was a way to marginalize the man who pardoned Nixon. He was a good sport. I can think of a lot worse people in this world than Gerald Ford.
NPR's coverage today, both Pam Fessler's radio piece and the web article, are an execellent summary of Ford's life and times.
From a dairy on dKos:
Help Stand Up to Opus Dei Hotlist
by Frank Cocozzelli [Subscribe]
Thu Dec 14, 2006 at 12:31:51 PM PST
Many of you know my writings on the Catholic Right. Well, my friend Dianne DiNicola asked me to post this request.
The Opus Dei Awareness Network is doing some wonderful work against a very reactionary organization. Can you help them out?
The hand-wringing over the return of William Jefferson to the 110th Congress still continues, and I've found that all too many people analyzing this situation are basically clueless to the local dynamics that allowed Jefferson to keep his seat. It seems that folks have forgotten Tip O'Neill's axiom, "all politics is local."
For openers, consider the runoff election itself. Only 16% of registered voters actually voted on December 2nd. Low-turnout elections almost always favor the incumbent. The seat was "safe," in that both candidates were Democrats. While there was a bit of late-hour netroots movement towards Carter, no serious outside support came into LA-02. Again, this favors an incumbent with a big warchest. A bigger question would be why so few people voted, particularly in light of much better turnout numbers earlier this year in the mayoral election, and that's fodder for an entirely different discussion.
But William Jefferson isn't merely an incumbent Congresscritter. Even though he is under the threat of federal indictment, he is quite the powerful political boss in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes. Let's examine who Bill Jefferson is to three important local groups.
To black voters, Jefferson has been a steady, stable pol upon whom they could rely to help them out, first as a State Senator, then as a Congressman. While a state legislator, Jefferson took a crack at running for mayor of New Orleans, losing to Marc Morial. That campaign was as nasty and dirty as any the city had ever seen, but Jefferson came out with enough name recognition to win the house seat made vacant when Lindy Boggs retired, making him the first black Congresscritter from Louisiana since Reconstruction. To maintain his political base when he left for Washington, Jefferson began to set up members of his extended family in local political positions so that now, twelve years later, it's not just Jefferson, but his family/political machine that wields power. If Jefferson himself leaves office in disgrace, members of his extended family will still be on local school boards, in the state legislature, and on the bench. Given that Jefferson is being investigated by one of the most immoral and corrupt Justice Departments in the history of the nation, it's no surprise that his history of positives makes his constituents willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Prior to the storm, it wasn't hard to find a black voter in New Orleans who felt they were being screwed by the federal government. Post-K, just about everyone of every race and political persuasion has no respect for the feds.
To local politicians, Jefferson is Boss Hogg. He's the man to go to. While others in the city were feathering their nests, developing their own political machines, and plotting futrue career advancement, Jefferson was secure that he would have no opposition. This enabled him to focus on his extended family, to the point where now he's in a "Godfather" role.
In 1992, this role as go-to guy expanded dramatically, because was one of the men most responsible for putting Louisiana in the Clinton electoral-vote total. The Big Dog showed his appreciation by following Jefferson's recommendations for many of the presidential appointments given to folks from this area. Jefferson's law partner, Eddie Jordan, became US Attorney for the region (he's now the District Attorney for Orleans Parish, also thanks in part to Jefferson's machine), and every federal judge nominee from the metro area was vetted through Jefferson's office. When you've got the president's ear to the extent Jefferson did, obviously you develop a lot of clout, so much so that even $90K of cash in your freezer can't break the binding ties. Jefferson's connections to the Clinton White House made his political machine even stronger. If local pols were to throw Jefferson under a bus, he'll be survived by many friends and family members who have long memories.
The third group of people is white folks. Jefferson didn't get the nickname "Dollar Bill" for nothing--people used to say he didn't know from black or white, just green. When Jefferson lost to Morial for mayor of New Orleans, the result was that City Hall fell into the hands of one of the most racist men in history of the city. When Morial got to the point where he was refusing to attend even social events where white people were in attendence, those folks knew they could work with Jefferson or his extended family. The December 2nd runoff was one of those times when a politician picks up markers, and Jefferson did that in a big way. Even Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee, one of our nationally-prominent racist politicians, endorsed Jefferson. The reason is simple: Jefferson is the "devil they know" as opposed to the unknown quantity that was/is Karen Carter.
The connection with Jefferson Parish is more than just black-white, though. There is some speculation that Lee's support of Jefferson factors in the possibility of Bill being indicted and having to resign. Derrick Sheppard, a state legislator from Jefferson Parish, is positioning himself to run for what would be the open congressional seat at that point, and he'll most likely get Lee's support.
And let's not forget our local Republicans. Even though the Louisiana Republican Party can organize a circular firing squad better than most Democrats, there is still a scenario that benefits them here. Governor Kathleen Blanco must stand for re-election next year, and a well-financed Republican candidate has a good shot at unseating her. Should Jefferson resign, a Republican governor would certainly appoint another Republican to the seat. With the black population of the city eroding more and more every week that there is inaction on the part of FEMA and the federal government in general, it truly is only a matter of time before black voters are diluted sufficiently that a Republican has a shot of actually winning election. While I grant you that either of these is a long shot, we're talking about metro New Orleans Republicans, and they're really not the smartest people on the planet.
To sum this all up, the dynamics of LA-02 are much more complex than the outrage in the blogosphere over Jefferson's re-election would lead you to believe. It's not just about one crooked politician and his impact on the Democratic Party's national image. It's about a political family, their impact on a city destroyed by a combination of natural forces and government inaction. It's about distrust of the Worst President Ever by people of color. When you've been screwed as badly as the people of Southeast Louisiana have been screwed, the image of a political party is low on the local priority list.
With respect to Bill Jefferson's reelection:
He'll get indicted. He'll be forced to resign. Blanco will appoint a Democrat. Then there will be a real race, most likely between Karen Carter and Derrick Sheppard. In the meantime, locals from the entire metro area need to keep pressure on Charlie Melancon's office to keep the area in Pelosi's face.
And that post-Katrina, in New Orleans, who the fuck cares what the federal government says is good and bad, right and wrong?
,,,
And since only 16% of eligible voters bothered to cast ballots, fuckin' get over it.
The Seibert family tomb, St. Louis Number Three.
St. Louis Cemetery Number Three was opened in 1854, but most of the tombs date from the 1890s to 1920s. Its location, at Esplanade Avenue near Bayou St. John, illustrates how much the city had grown in the first half of the 19th century. That growth created a need for more cemeteries. The city's ethnicity had expanded as well, to the point where the German and Irish Catholics began to build cemeteries for their own. The original Creoles who founded the city started to outgrow their first two cemeteries (St. Louis #1 and #2), hence the need for a third.
Above-ground tombs in New Orleans are usually constructed of basic brick and mortar. What separates them is what's done on top of that basic structure. Most tombs are covered in plaster at that point and whitewashed, with a marble front tombstone set in place. Pricier tombs will be overlayed with other materials, such as marble, or even metals.
The Seibert family tomb is one of the more expensive type, its bricks having been overlayed with granite, and a granite tombstone set in front. The tomb is a "double," meaning it's got an upper and a lower crypt. This allows for a lot of burials, making the tomb a good family investment. The rules for re-use of an above-ground tomb is that interments must be spaced out by a year and a day. A "double" tomb expands this, allowing for two burials in the same year if necessary.
This particular tomb, while not particularly remarkable in relation to others in St. Louis #3, has personal significance for me, because it's my momma's family's tomb. My mother's mother was Anna Seibert. She's buried there, along with my momma and daddy, along with my mom's brother. This combination of families (Seibert, Finicle, Branley) makes it difficult for those doing geneaological research to hunt down burial locations.
The Seibert tomb is situated on a grassy "lane" in St. Louis Number Three, as opposed to a paved street. This makes access tricky for a burial, since the coffin has to be carried by hand.
I don't know where Salon found this woman, but they really should consider a replacement. At first I thought the "angry black woman" perspective would be interesting. Turns out, however, that Dickerson is not so much an "angry" woman as an annoying one. This week, she discourses on raising her son. She's worried about being a feminist and raising a boy:
Yet, from the beginning, I wondered how I would reconcile my feminism with raising a son. How could I do it without becoming either a castrating mother straight out of O'Neill or an ovo-hypocrite who talks woman power but raises her own precious boy to be no more enlightened, and no less entitled, than any Promise Keeper?
That's not a bad thing to worry about, to be sure, but when she gives us some background, I wonder why she had children in the first place:
I should explain: When I say I don't like little boys, I mean that, before I had kids, all children annoyed me, albeit boys in particular because of their penchant for a mayhem that left obedient little girls ignored. When I was growing up in the inner city, children were the A-No. 1 way to ruin your life and guarantee that you'd be broke and tied to one loser or the other for the rest of your life. Once I was grown, and single till 40, children became the whining pests who kept my friends from being able to carry on a conversation for more than five minutes or who kept insisting that I exclaim over their crayon scrawls and stuttered nonsense.
That's quite a bell to un-ring, and I'm not sure getting pregnant is the ticket to doing so. Oops, too late, she's already decided that being a mom was some sort of good thing for her to do. Raising children isn't an experimentation in self-validation. If you mess up, you create a chain of events that can impact a lot more people than yourself. Well, the kids are here, so it's good that she's managed to overcome some of the selfishness and is actually thinking about the right thing to do:
So what to do with this son of mine? How to love him? How to raise him? How to mold him into a manly man but not a bruiser? And most of all, how not to interpret his every troubling move (e.g., refusing to wait to be called on, hitting a classmate who was uninterested in being his girlfriend, torturing his little sister) as a harbinger of a male chauvinist pig in the making?
Well, for openers, how about involving a MAN in his development? I'm not saying she should marry the guy who donated her son's Y chromosome, but surely there are one or two males in Dickerson's life she could turn to for some help here. If she's so worried about being a "castrating mother," how about getting a little help? Have a male talk to the boy and reinforce the points mom is making. He'll feel less of a need to rebel against his mother's feminism if another man points out that holding feminist principles doesn't make the boy a pussy, it makes him a good human being.
This go-it-alone attitude is just nonsense. Hillary was right, you know, it does take a village. Hermits, selfish, angry ones at that, really shouldn't breed.
The Cabildo, 1930s
One of the oldest buildings in the French Quarter, the Cabildo was constructed in 1795-1799, during the Spanish ownership of New Orleans. The building gets its name from the body which used to meet there, which was called the "Illustrious Cabildo." It is located next to St. Louis Cathedral. Just in front of the Cabildo and the cathedral is the parade ground, the Place d'Arms (Plaza das Armas at the time of the Cabildo's construction), now known as Jackson Square.
The Cabildo was the seat of government for the Spanish authorities, and was the site of the transfer of the Louisiana Purchase from France to the United States in 1803. The building served as the seat of the capitol of the Louisiana Territory, then the State of Louisiana, until the capitol was moved to Baton Rouge. The Cabildo then became the New Orleans location of the Supreme Court of the State of Louisiana. The notorious "separate but equal" decision, Plessey v. Ferguson, was handed down from the Cabildo. The building became the flagship property of the Louisiana State Museum system in 1911. In 1988, the building was heavily damaged by a fire that started on the roof. The building underwent extensive repairs after the fire, and re-opened in 1994.
This photo is from the 1930s, a time when the Cabildo was in decrepit shape. A lack of funding and an almost total lack of interest caused the building to fall into extensive disrepair, as can be seen by all of the broken windows in the front. The streets around Jackson Square were open to vehicular traffic at this time.
St. Roch Cemetery, New Orleans, circa 1910 (postcard):
Here's a 1905 C. Milo Williams photo of the original gate and chapel:
Located at St. Roch and Derbigny Streets, the small gothic chapel was the first thing constructed on the site. It was built in 1868 by Fr. Peter Leonard Thevis, assistant pastor of Holy Trinity Church on St. Ferdinand St. in Faubourg Marigny. The city was threatened by an outbreak of yellow fever that year, so Fr. Thevis prayed for St. Roch, a French ascetic and healer who died in 1327, to intercede for his parishoners. Legend has it that nobody from Holy Trinity died in that outbreak. To show his thanks, Fr. Thevis built the chapel. The painted wood altar in the chapel features a statue of St. Roch and his dog. Over the years, many people have left behind crutches, artificial limbs, etc., as they've experienced miraculous healings and no longer have need for those devices.
Additional property was acquired and a cemetery built around the chapel, which was formally opened and dedicated to St. Roch in 1874. The cemetery was modeled after the "Campo Santo dei Tedeschi" in the Vatican (hence the words "Campo Santo" on the gate).
A further expansion of the cemetery opened in 1895. A chapel dedicated to St. Michael was built in the second section. Over the years, a number of modern mausoleums have been added to the property to increase capacity.
The postcard is from the Detroit Publishing Company. The photo is from the New Orleans Public Library's Williams folios.
as in Robert, not Bill the Gates. It's a sad situation when we're willing to accept an evil man because, even though he is evil, he is not a madman. Rummy is a madman. Cheney's office is an insane asylum. Bush 41 has demanded that junior start listening to sane men. The catch is that most of the men 41 knows are evil.
I haven't posted any old photos in a while, so it's time to continue...
Morning Call Coffee Stand in the French Market, circa 1925:
For decades, MC was the "other" coffee stand in the French Market. The competition was Cafe du Monde, which has been at the Jackson Square edge of the French Market since the Civil War. In 1974, Morning Call left the Quarter and moved to 17th Street in Metairie, across from Lakeside Mall, where they've been ever since. In the late 1960s/early 1970s, there was a huge push to build a "riverfront expressway" that would have ripped out all wharves along the river and ran I-10 in that area, similar to how I-55 runs along the Mississippi at St. Louis. Then-mayor of New Orleans Moon Landrieu vehemently opposed the concept of running I-10 along the river, and he is credited by many with saving the character and feel of the Quarter. Of course, "saving" the Quarter came at the expense of destroying N. Claiborne Avenue as a main boulevard, but that's another story.
This photo shows a typical evening at Morning Call. Like many evenings, the place would be jam-packed and you'd have to wait outside for a table. Once inside, you'd order your cafe au lait and beignets, get some to go.
When Morning Call moved to Metairie, they took the big neon coffee-cup sign as well as all the fixtures from the interior and moved them to the new location. It's hard to visualize an old Quarter establishment when you're across from a shopping mall, but if you sit at the counter and isolate the rest of your surroundings, it's not all that different a look than the 1920s or 1930s.
