It’s time to roast a Virginia pig.
September 27, 2007
September 26, 2007
More On the “Shock Doctrine”
A few weeks ago I wrote a post on an excerpt from Guardian concerning Naomi Klein’s “The Shock Doctrine”. Didn’t seem like much was happening very much on this topic, but now it’s picking up steam as Klein is doing her promotion gigs for her book.
Try this out: John Cusack’s interview with Klein.
Curtsey to Suspect Device. and the Zombie.
I’m happy that this book is getting notice down here in Da Swamp.
September 25, 2007
Dem Looziana Boyz Are Helping the Nawlin’s Brand!
The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has just recently released (Yeppers, something about a storm coming clouded my mind and I didn’t post on it then.) their Third Annual report on the Corrupt Members of Congress.
Good old brothers Dollar Bill and Sinnator Davy have stepped up to the plate and proudly represent that Nawlin’s Brand.
Brother Bill, Brother Dave… I would so very much like, from the depths of my Bohemian soul, standing here at the Pulpit, the Holy Pulpit of the Church of the Light That Is New Orleans, to say that the two of you have done so much for the Gret Stet by your actions ably representing us up in the District to embark upon a great mission for all of us parishoners here.
We humbly ask in the name of the Church for you two Wise Men to attempt a journey of thousands of miles and many, many years, in search of the Holy Elixir of Crustal Rebound that shall save the Gret Stet from a watery grave. We also please beg your Holy selves to take our Wise Man C. Ray with you.
We will also daily pray for you whilst you are on this perilous Journey, even though it might lead to the Depths of Hell.
Have a good trip jerks.
September 24, 2007
Hurricane Rita Escape Anniversary
Just remembered that Rita smacked into SW LA and TX two years ago today.
Where were we then? San Antonio in a nice little suite with a tiny kitchenette. The A/C died in the car and it was in the shop. We had a stowaway in that Opal the Cat wasn’t supposed to be in the room, but I wasn’t leaving her in the car with all of that heat.
We stayed there for a few days before making the trek to our friend’s home in San Dimas, SoCal land. It was going to be a long ride, so we rested up. And ate some really good BBQ! A LOT OF IT!
What didn’t help was the news coming in about the destruction Rita brought to our friends on the Coast and in Houston. We were actually supposed to sign a lease on a place in Houston that day. I was looking forward to living in the Montrose for our exile from New Orleans. We just couldn’t take the thought of another big storm while our house was sitting in the Federal Flood disaster.
BTW- It really, really bugs me that we still, at almost 25 months, are still not in our house. Poop
House Raising Mitigation Grants Coming?
News from the T-P. It looks as if the Hazard Mitigation Grants will be here later this Fall.
Sounds like good news for folks desiring to raise their homes, but there seems to be a catch:
“Deckert said he applied to the state-run Road Home program for federal aid to rebuild and raise his home in New Orleans’ Lakeview neighborhood. But since the mitigation grant he expected to get got tied up in the squabble between the state and feds, he used his rebuilding money to raise his house. He doesn’t think he should be penalized for trying to get on with his life.
“It’s frustrating,” said Deckert, who lives in a government trailer in front of an unfinished house now raised 9 feet off the ground. “If you took care of it because you couldn’t wait any longer, because you can’t fix your house until the foundation is fixed, you’re screwed.”
It looks like Betts and I are screwed too. We were awarded the $30K grant, but then the squabble between the State and FEMA held off the delivery of the money until the Fall. We couldn’t wait that long to get back into the house… it took 10 months to get the thing raised anyway from the day we made the down payment.
My fucking depression is not getting better over this news.
September 19, 2007
Shock Doctrine Redux
Here’s another review of Naomi Klein’s “The Shock Doctrine”.
‘Nuff fucking said.
September 18, 2007
The T-P (Toilet Paper) is Crap…
How the Hell is it that we NOLA Bloggers can have more info on a possible storm or Hurricane than those paid assholes at the T-P?
I mean, sweet zombie jebus! A few keystrokes on the old keyboard and I have given folks more info and the links than the T-P and it’s journalistic staff can?
God-dammit… locals count on their newspaper to keep them abreast of things that mean something to our lives here. IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE A NEWSPAPER! (Maybe they didn’t get the memo…)
Freakin’ damned mooks.
Stay tuned to my channel here… you’ll get the straight skinny on the weather.
More on Foster Campbell…
Today’s T-P covers another candidate for Governor: Foster Campbell.
This guy reminds me of several of my older relatives. Down to Earth and freakin’ real. Here’s the part concerning Campbell’s proposed Tax on the oil and gas industries:
“There’s nothing hidden about Campbell’s belief in his oil processing fee, and that’s disturbing to the refinery industry.
Larry Wall, spokesman for the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, said no industry could survive a $5.5 billion tax. And a tax on energy would place a burden on all businesses, he said.
The tax would impede interstate commerce and probably violate the U.S. Constitution, Wall said. The industry, which employs 20,000 workers in Louisiana, would over time move assets out of state, eroding Campbell’s proposed tax base.
Campbell said other states do not want refineries, so the plants in Louisiana will have to stay. To those that pare down, good riddance, he said.
“It’s not like they’re the best thing that’s ever been invented,” Campbell said. “It’s a polluting deal. They use our air, they use our water, they’ve torn our coast up. And what are we supposed to say? ‘Well, thank you for the refineries?’ “
So Mr. Wall, a “spokesperson” for the oil and gasbags says his industry will be hurt? That they will pick up their toys and run to another state? My dying tush they will. They have destroyed so much of our wetlands in order to make huge profits that they can’t leave, and it’s time for the people of the Gret Stet to get back something for almost 40,000 miles of pipelines, over 20,000 miles of canals carved into our wetlands (thus destroying them), the damned air pollution and the general poisoning of the area in which all of us must live.
These industrialists environmental rapists should count themselves lucky that Mr. Campbell only wants $5.5 Billion a year… I would demand their firstborns, especially the ones of their major shareholders and $20 billion per year. They will probably move away? Fat freakin’ chance: they aren’t going to pay for new facilities AND ship “our” oil and gas to a new location. Besides, we are the only ones crazy enough to not force them from our back yards. (They’ve already screwed the neighborhood up.)
(Yes, that was a redundant paragraph, but it’s 10 in the morning and I should be asleep.)
Read about Foster Campbell, ponder his plans for the Gret Stet, and VOTE for him come late October.