January 2007 Archives

I'd taser this goof, too:

Part of me says, it's a goofy kid and should be handled as such. Still, I can see where kids would totally freak, thinking this was the precourser to a Columbine-style incident.

Beads left as an offering to Marie Laveau at the Glapion Family tomb in St. Louis Cemetery Number One. While there are several tombs in St. Louis #1 and #2 that are purported to be the resting place of the city's most famous "Voodoo Queen," the Glapion tomb is the one most widely regarded as where she is.

Carnival beads are a typical offering for a favor. They're an inexpensive token of belief and faith. And they don't mark up the tomb like the X's scratched onto the tomb with pieces of brick, which keeps the heads of the SOC folks from exploding...

The power of a federal prosecutor should truly be worrisome, but it's fascinating to watch it applied appropriately:

Morial confidant pleads guilty four days before trial

In a dramatic, 11th-hour development, one of three members of former Mayor Marc Morial’s inner circle scheduled to stand trial in federal court next week pleaded guilty to mail fraud late Friday, delivering a potentially stinging blow to the prospects of the remaining defendants in a case that alleges extensive corruption at City Hall.

Following several hours of closed-door negotiations with top officials in the U.S. Attorney’s office that commenced after lunch, New Orleans construction contractor Reginald Walker entered his guilty plea around 6 p.m. before U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier.

If Walker rolls, Barre will follow. He's 60 years old and is facing enough time that he'll die in prison. No way he'll stand up for Markey-Marc with that looming.

...from Gambit Weekly:

FEMA has once again given Louisiana the short end of the stick. The agency's Alternative Housing Pilot Program, which could give displaced homeowners "Katrina Cottages" in lieu of the dreaded FEMA trailers, is weighted heavily in favor of Mississippi — which saw far less hurricane damage to homes than did Louisiana. Gov. Kathleen Blanco last week cited official documents in alleging that the program's $388 million was distributed according to Republican loyalty, not storm damage.

Now, I'll be the first person to buy into the notion that the BushCo folks running FEMA would use the agency for political gain. I'll also buy into the notion that they'd favor Mississippi over Louisiana. Still, there's an element to this that usually takes priority over screwing people because their governor is from the opppositon party, and that's the almighty dollar.

Rather than wonder at the politics of why we're not getting "Katrina Cottages" instead of trailers, I'd be curious to see who is supplying Louisiana storm victims with the trailers we're stuck with. Perhaps the connected companies here have trailer and not cottage contracts.

When dealing with Republicans, follow the money. The politics is often a distraction so you don't realize when they're picking your pocket.

The Krewe of Tafluma, 1980

I dug this photo out last week, because Steve, me, and several guys who are now regulars at T. L. Starke's are in it. I scanned it at wicked-high resolution, printed a couple on really nice paper, and gave them to the managers at Severn, asking them to frame them. I wasn't happy with the inexpensive frame, so I went over the restaurant to see what it would cost to have the photos matted and framed by the store down the strip, Framin' Place & Gallery, www.nolaframing.com. I've been wanting to see what we could get going with our neighors at 3535 Severn. I figured that the cookie place and the framing place would be good starts.

The battery on the Jeep died on the way there. While this shouldn't be a huge issue, it decided to do it in the middle of Severn Avenue, right in front of the plastic arches on W. Esplanade.  OK, no biggie, we've got a big parking lot, so I pushed the sucker across the street to the parking lot.  The Jeep's is tough to push alone, but some guy had pity on me and gave me a hand.

I get it out of the street into the first parking spot, in front of the frame shop, Framin' Place & Gallery, www.nolaframing.com.  This woman comes out of Framin' Place & Gallery, www.nolaframing.com and, in a very snotty tone of voice, says, "you can't leave that there!" 

Now, keep in mind, I've just pushed a car out of the street, into the parking lot. I'm a 48-year old fat guy who has just had my week's worth of aerobics, and this woman is starting in on the placement of my car. It's 8:50am, and Framin' Place & Gallery, www.nolaframing.com, doesn't open until 10am. I replied, "You'll cope long enough for me to catch my breath." 

She continues to ramble on.  She starts reaching for the phone, as if she's going to take some sort of action against me. At this point, I'm really losing my patience for rude and stupid, so I just told her "shut up." 

She says, "you can't tell me to shut up, I pay rent here!"

I said, "Yeah, I do, too."

My original plan was to let the Jeep sit for a few minutes and see if I could get it started, but the level of hostility coming from Framin' Place & Gallery, www.nolaframing.com was enough for me to summon up some more energy and push it over to one of the inside rows of the parking lot.

Let this be a lesson to those of you in retail: If a middle-aged fat guy with a 22-year old Jeep pulls up in front of your place because the vehicle breaks down, don't come out of your shop and make a scene. You never know when the person to whom you're being insensitive is a potential customer, much less a neighbor in the strip mall. You also never know when that person has a blog and will tell the rest of the world that you're not a very nice person, and that person won't patronize you or recommend your business (in this case, Framin' Place & Gallery, www.nolaframing.com) to anyone.

Alterman writes:

A metaphor:

Bush is like a man who is dealt two kings in blackjack (after 9-11) when the dealer is showing a nine, doubles down instead of playing his winner hand, gets two twos, and continues to double down over and over and over until he loses his family's life savings and insurance policy. Kristol, Krauthammer, and Kaplan, et al, are like the Vegas floozies with fake boobs telling him what a big man he is the whole time, stroking his thighs while picking his pockets ... (Oh, and John "Maverick" McCain is the long-suffering wife ...)

[via Altercation, by Eric Alterman]

So true. There's really nothing we can do about the madness of Boy George at this point, but we need to document St. McCain's shameful behavior and toss it back in his face next year, no matter how much the press tries to anoint him.

Tomb of the Orleans Artillery Benevolent Society, St. Louis Cemetery Number One.

The Orleans Artillery Benevolent Society is the private organization for veterans of the Orleans Batallion of Artillery, which was later absorbed into the Washington Artillery in 1838. The Washington Artillery is now 1st Batallion, 141st Field Artillery, Louisiana National Guard. This unit's history goes all the way back to the Battle of New Orleans, which is why the tomb is featured this week, to pause for a moment and remember those who died defending New Orleans from the British on January 8, 1815.