Oyster reminds us that it is Flag Day. I’m flying ours now.
June 14, 2007
March 7, 2007
What Freakin’ Fresh Hell?
Oh sweet zombie jezus! Look at this report on Citizen’s Insurance in our state: LINK.
You know… if I’d run any multi-billion dollar businesses as the State is allowing Citizens to run, my career would have been toast in three damn months. (I did million dollar concerns, but… that was the Reagan Era.)
Do you get the impression that any of us commoners would be light-years choices of these political appointees? Mega light-years beyond the limited evolutionary tendencies of those who are our elected officials?
Am I the only one seeing this? (I don’t think so… others are losing their minds over this shit.)
Maybe it’s past time to toss the entire lot, elected and appointed, and OBTW, screw seniority…. we’ll let you know if you still have a job. You are freakin’ killing all of us you idiots!
I call for a People’s Revolution here in New Orleans. It’s time to take control of this poop.
March 5, 2007
New Orleans- 18 Months Post-Flood
Professor Bill Quigly has written up a piece for the Louisiana Weekly that is a spot-on take on what our city is doing and not doing a year and a half after the Federal Flood.
Here’s a snip from the middle of the report:
“It is impossible to begin to understand the continued impact of Katrina without viewing it through the lenses of race, gender and poverty. Katrina exposed the region’s deep-rooted inequalities of gender, race and class. Katrina did not create the inequalities; it provided a window to see them more clearly. But the aftermath of Katrina has aggravated these inequalities.
In fact if you plot race, class and gender you can likely tell who has returned to New Orleans. The Institute of Women’s Policy Research pointed out “The hurricanes uncovered America’s longstanding structural inequalities based on race, gender, and class and laid bare the consequences of ignoring these underlying inequalities.”
The pre-Katrina population of 454,000 people in the city of New Orleans dropped to 187,000. The African-American population of New Orleans shrank by 61 percent or 213,000 people, from a pre-Katrina number of 302,000 down to 89,000. New Orleans now has a much smaller, older, whiter and more affluent population.”
We, “The 200,000″, aren’t the ones dragging out the rebuilding process of the Metro area, it’s that business and politicians are the big impediments to creating a healthy city. It is their expectations of big money and their bigotries that are at play here. The rest of us just want our lives and city back.
February 20, 2007
The Chain…
There is an old saying amongst us old radicals “All of Life is a chain, and when of us is harmed, we all feel the pain”. I believe in that one.
You see, governments and “parties” are fucking bullshit. It’s the way the power-mongers try to divide us from each other. Do I have a reason to hurt you and your kids? Hell NO!!! All I look for is a way for all of us to have what we need to live a decent life… It’s a Pagan thing: no “winners” or “losers”, just plain old folks getting along and being ourselves. This is what we have been told, but we have let the “interpreters” get in the way. That was a major fuck up.
I look into the eyes of children, and all I see is innocence and trust, wonder and enjoyment. I wish I could return to that state of being, but I’ve seen way to much for that to happen. Maybe in my next life that can be the case. This life I have to fight for the ones to come and spare them the pains of what we elders have had to fight against.
It’s about becoming a Teacher and withdrawing from the Warrior role. Many of us had to become Warriors due to the state of our culture. Most of us just wanted to be Teachers and Healers… to realize what our souls cried for, but time, situations and Life has forced us into other realities. We have to act out roles that are not indicative of our souls’ mission… we do what we must do, but we can also grow into something more productive and Life enforcing.
I’m technically a Trans Sexual, and I’ve had to change my life. I’m trying to rid myself of the wrong thoughts, hatreds and bull shit that have haunted me for almost 40 years in order to become a real Human being, to become what I believe to be truly Human. It’s hard, but it can be done. It must be done. The pains must end.
I have a family now that accepts me for what I am: it’s the Bloggers, New Orleans and the Queer community. These are the folks and the reason to continue for me. I freakin’ owe them. They gave me acceptance and the will to move forward. Now I must “pay it forward”, and it ain’t just about Trans stuff, but about beingness.
Why am I dwelling on this? The last several years I’ve been focussed on Trans issues, but now I understand it’s about human issues. I cannot focus just upon my needs, but the needs of all. The injustices issued to one group affects all of us. We are all the Chain, and we need to understand that.
We all are custodians of each other, and the proving ground for this thought pattern is New Orleans. Please join me in this endeavor.
What Shall I Give Up For Lent?
It’s Fat Tuesday in our little country forgotten by our neighboring America. Tomorrow comes the time when good Catholics give up something special for the Lenten Season.
I’m not Catholic (got that one right!), but for the last three decades I have given up “tolerance” as my penance prior to Eostore. This year, it’s going to become much more freakin’ intense: I’m going to war against polyticians and the other fucks that are denying us the rights and the means to rebuild our Federally-damaged city. I want Nagin’s ass, Blanco’s ass, and that god-damned Chimp’s freakin’ ass. It might take a blood curse, but Hell… I can personally afford that.
In nine days I turn 50… I’ve outlived the doctor’s predictions for my demise by 12 years. I see my neighbors and friends suffering by neglect from the Powers-That-Be. Our sacred city is still a damn mess… the Guv’mit is trying to destroy one of the most special places in North America just because they just DON”T GET what we have here. (Actually, they don’t want America to GET our style… too fucking dangerous for their sick sense of “being” and their Racist/Mammonist bullshit.) I’m willing to spend what Life I have to make things right again down here. That’s what being a Warrior means. (I always wanted to be a Teacher/Healer, but I guess one must grow where they are planted. I’m screwed on this one.)
(Listening to Blue Oyster Cult and Creedance… gets me into a mood.)
The Gulf Coast and New Orleans should be in the forefront of Americans’ conscience. We should not be wasting lives and money in Afganistan and Iraq. Our Nation’s views must be directed to our citizens’ needs and future, not the directives of some power-hungry assholes who kneel at the feet of Mammon and greed/revenge. This IS THE SOCIAL CONTRACT we all agreed to!
On this sacred night I will walk the Quarter, visit St. Joan’s statue, throw an offering into our holy river, drink and dance my fucking ass off, show my little tits and dance with Black folks, Creole folks, White folks and all of those that make this city what it is: A FUCKING GEM OF HUMANITY!
If we go down, the rest of America goes down with us, TRUST THAT ONE. We WILL exact our pound of flesh for the dissing that has been given to our lives and our culture. (I hate to state that, but as one sworn to protect our Nation, I’m feeling a little more than angry about what this country’s power structure is doing to the folks down here.) This is for the ones to come and a place that offers/lives in a different and Holy way. I want them to have a better way than what is offered by the ruling paradigm.
We are your only hope for a real and meaningful life. Byde this tryst babies.
Tonight I will bleed and burn for you and our city… (Takes a Tranny to do that ‘eh? That’s what being a sacrificial anode means.)