Gentilly Girl- a part of the 99%

June 19, 2010

“Hold Your Positions”

‘Tis a command given by thousands of battlefield commanders for centuries. It’s also appropriate with many things Civil in the 21st Century.

I was taught what the American Culture’s Promise: equality ad the helping each one of us to have a decent life. Nothing in those teachings mention Oligarchs. I don’t remember edicts that all of us had to fit the same Religious profile.Color of your skin? Screw that.

It was about a Philosophy of being Equals and living together in this land, not “Survival of the Most Rapacious”.

This little soul believed. Still do.

I gave service to the Country. I have worked hard for many factions of this Nation that have been not been able to to become part of the Equality promised: Race issues, Women’s, LGB, Trans, Environment… Let’s just say any one or group that has been harmed by the excesses of the Money/Power crowd. I will always fight in the ways I can.

I stand and hold my position. And there is any show of weakness on the opponent’s side that will allow advantage, fucking steamroller them… ADVANCE the position.

We would accept the “choices” that the ruling Paradigm presents us? If enough of us would when voting just wrote in the Other space, “Fuck all the above”, we could become a majority vote and then the process of elections would start again until those who are truly the kind of folk we know that will be OUR Representatives appear on those ballots. Vote THEM in.

Big Bid’ness would shit the proverbial brick. (“You don’t want my campaign contribution?”. “No, we don’t take bribes”.)

Even if those things happened, all of us would still have to exercise due diligence against any inroads from the enemy. And Power and Money are the Enemy of the People. Never forget that.

Hold your position, and know that down here in the Swamps will be doing the Swamps will be doing the same. (Yes Francis Marion and Jean Lafitte are heroes of mine)

November 8, 2009

House Health Care Bill Passes… Joe Cao (R-New Orleans) Only GOPer to vote for It!

Filed under: Healthcare,New Orleans,Politicians — Morwen Madrigal @ 4:14 am

The House’s version passed (not perfect, but it’s a start) and the GOP Rep for Orleans and much of Jefferson was the only one of his party to vote for it. I applaud his courage and desire to find ways to help his constituents to obtain health care.

Now if I can just convince him to become an Independent… I don’t trust Dems very much, and from what I see of the playing feild down here for Demos for the seat, he might very well be my choice next year. (That’s right… I am now no longer a Demo. I will vote independently of both parties for the most Progressive person possible)

September 3, 2009

My gift for many of the Democrats in Congress. Use the damn thing please-

Filed under: Politicians,Progressive News — Morwen Madrigal @ 5:24 pm

And what is it?  It’s a SPINE!

August 28, 2009

A Katrina/Flood Timeline-

Filed under: Federal Flood,FEMA,Fools,George Bush,Katrina,Levees,Louisiana,New Orleans,Politicians — Morwen Madrigal @ 2:08 pm

Go here.

August 26, 2009

“The Dream will never die…”

Filed under: American Culture,Politicians,Sen. Edward Kennedy — Morwen Madrigal @ 11:22 pm

I am a Kennedy child. My parents were adamant supporters of the family and the Civil Rights movement. My early life was steeped in the words and sentiments that the various members of the Kennedy clan espoused.  The mold was made and my soul was poured into it.  The rest of my life would be lived in accordance to their teachings.

I remember the day JFK was killed. We were sent home from school without any word of what had happened. I found my mother crying next to the radio and she grabbed me in a desperate hold. She said that I must never forget what could be for our country. A few years later she and I repeated the same moment when Sirhan Sirhan killed Bobby. Three years later she would be dead at the age of thirty-four, but her words and inspiration never left me. I was a fucking Progressive pup, and I had to follow through to see the day that the Dream would become Reality.

And then there was Teddy. The scandal over Mary Jo bothered me, but during those years I learned that when one is drunk they don’t always notice details. People do make mistakes. Through the remaining years I came to respect the man who held the name Kennedy in our Congress. The Americans With Disabilities Act, the efforts to help people with HIV. The caring for Seniors and the little ones always grabbed me. These last few months when it finally seemed that he would achieve his desire for healthcare for all Americans felt to me like the crowning act of a person, who despite their position and wealth, lineage, always worked for little folks like me. Teddy was the real deal.

Three-something this morning, as I scanned my news feeds, I saw the notice of his death. I went through the same kind of feelings I had for Jack and Bobby, but this time I felt this event to be both a challenge and a promise, a further example of what this Nation was meant to be… a Nation of Equals.

Thank you Senator Edward Kennedy, Teddy in my mind. You continued the concepts of your brothers and broadened them into a philosophy for all people in this country. You are a great Spirit, and you will not be forgotten by those of us steeped in the ideas you promulgated. We are your kids, the Kennedy kids.

Teddy, here is my promise to your life and works; I will continue to fight the good fight for all people, even to my last breath. And as my Spirit leaves my corporal form, I will pass knowing that the Dream shall never die.

July 4, 2009

Dear America, Have a Happy Birthday!

Well Darlin’s this day makes Year 233 A.R. (After Revolution).  We all should be proud of the fact that somehow the strange collection of folks that have lived through those years managed to keep it all together (The War Between the States was a major blip on the screen…), and so much has been done by the people of this Nation. I can’t say by the Nation because the people are the Nation. It has always been up to citizens to create, build and advance our lives here and to provide for the ones to come.

I am proud to be an American.  I’m proud of the service I rendered in the Navy to help protect this country. But…  I am upset with the Government for the slow, and possibly non-existent rebuilding along the Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike.  Many private people stepped up to the plate to help all os along the Coast out from the devastation, but the Government has been sorely lacking, especially for those of us in New Orleans who lost almost everything from the failure of the Federally  designed and built floodwalls and levees.  Betty and I lost 95% of our pasts and four years of our lives fighting to rebuild our little world. Many others have lost and they have yet to be able to get to the restoration point that we have reached. Along the Coast many of us feel as if America, the Government, has forgotten us.  We know that America the People didn’t.

The Church of Our Lady of Gentilly wishes many Blessings to the American People. Party hearty!

Sinn Fein

Check out- Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans for his take.

May 17, 2009

More Rumsfeld Inaction

Filed under: Federal Flood,Katrina,New Orleans,Politicians — Morwen Madrigal @ 8:10 am

From our dear friend Matt McBride (Fix the Pumps) concerning Donald Rumsfeld’s decisions in the nightmare we call poast-Katrina/Federal Flood here in New Orleans-

Two days after Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans—and the
same day that Bush viewed the damage on a flyover from his Crawford,
Texas, retreat back to Washington—a White House advance team toured
the devastation in an Air Force helicopter. Noticing that their
chopper was outfitted with a search-and-rescue lift, one of the
advance men said to the pilot, “We’re not taking you away from
grabbing people off of rooftops, are we?”
“No, sir,” said the pilot. He explained that he was from Florida’s
Hurlburt Field Air Force base—roughly 200 miles from New Orleans—which
contained an entire fleet of search-and-rescue helicopters. “I’m just
here because you’re here,” the pilot added. “My whole unit’s sitting
back at Hurlburt, wondering why we’re not being used.”

The search-and-rescue helicopters were not being used because Donald
Rumsfeld had not yet approved their deployment—even though, as
Lieutenant General Russ Honoré, the cigar-chomping commander of Joint
Task Force Katrina, would later tell me, “that Wednesday, we needed to
evacuate people. The few helicopters we had in there were busy, and we
were trying to deploy more.”

[...]

The next day, three days after landfall, word of disorder in New
Orleans had reached a fever pitch. According to sources familiar with
the conversation, DHS secretary Michael Chertoff called Rumsfeld that
morning and said, “You’re going to need several thousand troops.”

“Well, I disagree,” said the SecDef. “And I’m going to tell the
president we don’t need any more than the National Guard.”

The problem was that the Guard deployment (which would eventually
reach 15,000 troops) had not arrived—at least not in sufficient
numbers, and not where it needed to be. And though much of the chaos
was being overstated by the media, the very suggestion of a state of
anarchy was enough to dissuade other relief workers from entering the
city. Having only recently come to grips with the roiling disaster,
Bush convened a meeting in the Situation Room on Friday morning.
According to several who were present, the president was agitated.
Turning to the man seated at his immediate left, Bush barked,
“Rumsfeld, what the hell is going on there? Are you watching what’s on
television? Is that the United States of America or some Third World
nation I’m watching? What the hell are you doing?”

Rumsfeld replied by trotting out the ongoing National Guard
deployments and suggesting that sending active-duty troops would
create “unity of command” issues. Visibly impatient, Bush turned away
from Rumsfeld and began to direct his inquiries at Lieutenant General
Honoré on the video screen. “From then on, it was a Bush-Honoré
dialogue,” remembers another participant. “The president cut Rumsfeld
to pieces. I just wish it had happened earlier in the week.”

But still the troops hadn’t arrived. And by Saturday morning, says
Honoré, “we had dispersed all of these people across Louisiana. So we
needed more troops to go to distribution centers, feed people, and
maintain traffic.” That morning Bush convened yet another meeting in
the Situation Room. Chertoff was emphatic. “Mr. President,” he said,
“if we’re not going to begin to get these troops, we’re not going to
be able to get the job done.”

Rumsfeld could see the writing on the wall and had come prepared with
a deployment plan in hand. Still, he did not volunteer it. Only when
Bush ordered, “Don, do it,” did he acquiesce and send in the troops—a
full five days after landfall.

May 4, 2009

The CDC on the Outbreak of Elephant Flu

Filed under: Economy,Neo-Fascism,Politicians,Progressive News,Taxes — Morwen Madrigal @ 2:13 pm

Democratic Underground ran across this report.

This answers many questions most of us have had concerning mental health probs in our country.

April 24, 2009

Ban Smoking in Bars? Betty’s Response.

Filed under: Food and Drink,Fools,Louisiana,Politicians — Morwen Madrigal @ 3:37 pm

My Betty is one who loves to write letters to lawmakers who step on our liberties. The other day State Rep Gary Smith introduced House Bill 844 to ban smoking in bars. This is her response to a wingnut Rep. who represents a very polluted place. I like it.

Enjoy.

Dear Representative Smith,

Regarding House Bill 844 you state:

“I am just trying to take the next step and bring the ban to bars” as a way to combat second-hand smoke and the illness it causes, Smith said. “Twenty-five other states have done this, some of the more progressive states, and some of the more progressive cities have done this. . . . This takes another step in trying to create a clean-air environment.”

On the surface this “sounds” like a noble pursuit. It is not. The next paragraph of the article states:

“Smith said he is not including casinos or gambling riverboats in the ban because it would put the gambling outlets in the state at “a competitive disadvantage with Mississippi’s” gambling industry.”

So on one hand you are a noble crusader for clean air but on the other you are saying that profits (but only your friends in the gambling industry’s profits) are more important than clean air. What exactly does it take to get on your list of whose profits are more important than clean air? I’m sure that the bar owners of Louisiana , whose rights you want to trample on, would like to know.

I’m sure you have handed out numerous brochures about the dangers of second hand smoke, blah blah. The truth is we live in non-sterile world and to attempt to legislate sterility in our environment is both draconian and unrealistic especially when it is designed to target only Louisiana’s bar owners. This is a large group of small business owners trying to survive in a down economy. Thank goodness we won’t be threatening the profits of your gambling friends.

The truth is that if I and a group of friends would like to meet at a bar and lets say watch a New Orleans Saints game and some of them smoke they have to sit for 3 hours without being able to. But wait a minute, there is a solution , we can go to your gambling friends‘ bars to watch the game and smoke all we want because their profits are more important than the air you say you want to clean up.

You mentioned and I repeat:

“Twenty-five other states have done this, some of the more progressive states, and some of the more progressive cities have done this. . . . This takes another step in trying to create a clean-air environment.”

Here is the reality of that situation.

When we evacuated for Katrina we stayed in California which would qualify as one of your “progressive states” which has passed a no-smoking in bars law. When we went to any of of these bars you could see large groups of people standing outside smoking. I spoke to one bar owner about the law at which time he told told us that since this law was passed he has lost somewhere in the neighborhood of $ 7,000.00 to $ 10,000.00 per week and this was just one bar. Now lets take a guess at lost state revenues from all of the California bars who, in all likelihood, are having the same experience.

This law didn’t clean up anything, didn’t stop people from smoking and sabotaged revenues for both the bar owners and the state of California.

It is bar owner’s right to decide whether he or she has a non-smoking or smoking bar it is not nor should it ever be yours.

But since you mentioned a competitive edge with another state’s businesses, what about all the people who live in areas bordering other states that still allow smoking in bars. What would stop people from just going down the road to the other state where their rights have not been infringed upon and spending their money out of state? Nothing I dare say and how much lost revenue over time will Louisiana suffer. This, of course is anyone’s guess but I’m willing to bet it will be substantial over time.

Representative Smith, your House Bill 844 is shortsighted, ill timed, accomplishes non of your stated goals, will have a detrimental effect on small business owners statewide and cost the state of Louisiana much needed tax revenue.

The only group of businesses  this bill has any benefit for is your friends in the gambling industry.

Here are some other peoples comments from nola.com regarding this abomination of a bill:
_______________________________________________________________________________

To every smoker out there, pay attention. If you believe that this will end with the bars you are mistaken. Check out the progression of this legislation in CA and the other 24 states.

In CA specifically there are groups fighting to ban smoking in apartments, condos, multi-family dwellings and any residence that is close enough for a neighbor to smell the smoke. They are also trying to ban smoking in private vehicles.

Those that rant about socialism and marxism should be screaming about this whether they smoke or not.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Next thing you know they are going to tell us adults that we can’t drink alcohol in bars either.

Adults go to bars under their own free will and know that there may or may not be smoke there.

Is this going to be like “Demolition Man” and we will be stuck with Taco Bell?

________________________________________________________________________________________

Please, does Louisiana really have to join the growing ranks of nanny states? Grown adults can decide for themselves whether to smoke or not, and those who don’t want to patronize bars that allow smoking don’t have to. There are already several bars around NOLA that don’t allow smoking, and that’s fine. The state meddles in people’s lives enough… let bar patrons and owners decide for themselves.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Why NOT the casinos? It can’t be about money, can it?!

IF this ban passes, smokers and non-smokers alike should insist that casinos are included. If our government REALLY cares about the health of the people (and not the money) then ALL public places should be included. Let’s see how far this would get..

BTW, this message is from a smoker.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Rep. Gary Smith,

Make Norco smoke free first! And lets see how that works out for you!

Rep Gary Smith, SHOW ME YOU’RE BACKBONE!

_________________________________________________________________________________________

There are many more just like these and you can read them for yourself at nola.com.

Representative Smith we don’t need you as our Big Brother and we don’t want you as our Big Brother.

Do the right thing and rescind this fraudulent, ineffective and disgraceful piece of legislation before it does far more harm than good.

The erosion of our civil rights and rights of business owners has to stop somewhere. Stop it here. Stop it now.


Representative Smith, if you truly want to crusade for a cleaner environment I have some suggestions that will help you accomplish this without trampling on the rights of individuals and business owners state wide.

Lets take a look at your own district of Norco.

Using this legend I count:

3    discharges into the water system
14  Hazardous waste sites
1   Toxic release site
7    Air Release sites (and I know how important clean air is to you)
13  Sites which produce multiple types of discharges

Representative Smith, you have your work cut out for you. Since, as a representative your first duty is to serve the people in YOUR district Id say you should start cleaning up your own back yard before trying to mess up everyone else’s.

Best Regards,

Betty Anne Davis

Some NOLA Power Types Are Tax Deadbeats

Filed under: Nagin's Minions,New Orleans,Politicians,Taxes — Morwen Madrigal @ 12:43 pm

Leave it to Lee Zurik over at WWL to dig dirt on those folks in the city that don’t mind not paying property taxes on time.

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