Ron Paul

All i can note are my own personal observations. I have no expertise obviously.

When we were in Austin, i saw a lot of Ron Paul signs in yards and along roads. They were the only political group to stake out a patch of ground in front of the Austin City Limits Festival and proselytize (although i did see a few Obama stickers on backpacks.) I just chalked the signs up to the libertarian technology community in Austin.

It's November and i live in Hammond, Louisiana. The only presidential campaign signs that i've seen up in town are Ron Paul signs. We walk through neighborhoods downtown, and there in front of a lot of well-upkept homes, although i've noticed that they are more prominent in mixed race neighborhoods, which is a little disturbing.

Ron Paul scares the shit out of me. I'm seeing the Clinton and Giuliani match-up as inevitable, but the Ron Paul factor is spooky. He doesn't seem to be part of the predetermined equation between two self-entitled political machines, but he doesn't seem to be a force for good either. Few of the people who are disgusted with the establishment seem to be grasping the danger of Ron Paul though.

Two local blogs, Your Right Hand Thief and Library Chronicles have tackled the Ron Paul phenomenon. Library Chronicles has covered how Paul is making an impact in New Orleans. Paul's Louisiana profile is important to me, as we are a relatively political backwater, so nationally something more powerful must be on the move, but he also nails something that has been coalescing in my head:

My model stars Rudy! Giuliani as the ghoulish authoritarian Nixon, Hillary Clinton as the bumbling centrist Hubert Humphrey, and Paul as the insurgent x-factor George Wallace. In '68 Wallace's run exposed a dangerous fault in the old Democratic "New Deal" coalition splintering the working class populist vote along racial and social lines and ushering in a major political realignment which appears to have peaked with the rise and... perhaps... fall of the Rovian neo-cons currently ruining our Constitution and pretty much blowing up the world.

Again, very fucking scary.

Both blogs point to this Orcinus post.

I don't have much hope for 2008.

Louisiana gets what it deserves

The only upside to Bobby Jindal being elected to being governor of Louisiana is that perhaps i can finally stop hearing about what a big brain he has in a year or two. Has anyone looked at his voting record as a representative? There is no evidence of a keen intellect there, just a yes-man in over his head.

Then again, every time i look at him, i think of the Smiler from Transmetropolitan. His supporters make the same vapid points about him as well.

Louisiana would probably re-elect Bush if given the opportunity.

I miss Huey Long. Really and truly. Me and my loved ones need to get the hell out of this self-loathing sewer drain, the septic tank of America, post haste.

double standards for Republican senators

I just noticed that Senators Coleman and McCain are demanding that Senator Craig resign. Eh.

David Vitter has admitted to the same crime essentially, except he still seems to be hetero and the governor of Idaho is Republican. Butch Otter will appoint another Republican to replace Craig, but if Vitter resigned, Blanco would likely have picked a Democrat. It's a safe bet to throw Craig under the bus.

McCain says:

But my opinion is that when you plead guilty to a crime, then you shouldn’t serve. And that’s not a moral stand. That’s not a holier than thou. It’s just a factual situation. I don’t try to judge people. but in this case, it’s clear that it was disgraceful.

Again, Vitter admitted soliciting a prostitute. He confessed to a crime. That's guilt.

Yeah, they are so principled.

Squandered Heritage: factchecking New Orleans' Imminent Danger Demolition List

I should have thrown a link up to the Squandered Heritage blog a few weeks ago. They have been putting up photos of houses slated for demolition by the city of New Orleans, as there are some peculiar shenanigans going on. The city claims that it's only going after houses that are a blight on the neighborhood, mostly ones damaged in Katrina and left abandoned.

If one spends any time going through the photos of the properties that the city has listed on their Imminent Danger List, one can see that this is unadulterated bullshit. Some of the houses have been repaired and are in good condition. A few were never damaged at all, and are inhabited. There are some absolutely necessary demolitions slated, but there is a land grab being cloaked under this work. New Orleans is selling out its citizens for some greedy developers it seems.

The most recent post on Squandered Heritage links to the Flickr photosets of the houses, and links how to appeal one getting one's house off of that Imminent Danger List.

local politician Ackel is a crass opportunist

Over in Slidell, someone many years ago snuck a picture of Jesus (of the Eastern Orthodox varity) into a courthouse. At first, i misunderstood what the painting was, as i thought it was part of a larger display, barely noticeable. I wished that the ACLU would focus on something more relevant and forgot about it. I don't want religion preached in my courthouses, but we have bigger fish to fry these days.

Yesterday, i received a mailout from a jackass by the name of Adam Ackel, titled In God We Trust:

Dear Friends,

Most of us in Louisiana were blessed with strong traditional values. Recently, the liberal ACLU filed a lawsuit to remove the image of Jesus Christ from the Slidell Courthouse. Now, we are finding more and more liberal groups are trying to remove symbols of our faith that we grew up with and are trying to pass down to our children.

It is important government officials work to guarantee our rights as citizens to support our faith. I don't believe that we should be forced to separate our faith from our daily lives because of government interference.

Blah, blah, blah. It goes on with crap about his family. Then this ignorant thug has to audacity to ask for money for his campaign to run for state representative! He doesn't even ask for money for the suit against the ACLU. It's all about Adam Ackel pumping gullible bastards for cash!

I've now seen a photo of the painting of Jesus in question, and it's nothing like it was described to me. It has no business whatsoever in a government building. The ACLU has better things to do than to worry about that damned painting, but it galls me that this little twerp is trying to cash in on this controversy.

I don't intend to get into any arguments with Christian zealots over this, but it should be pointed out that some branches of Christianity itself find representations of Jesus to be a form of idolatry. This is why the maliciously stupid Ackel needs to shut up, as he needs to keep whatever corrupted values he has to himself, teaching them his unfortunate family in his home and church of his choice. My values are not his, and i don't want the image of Jesus hanging in the courtrooms that we are obliged to share as citizens. We might obey the same laws, but we don't have the same religious beliefs. Don't make assumptions, Ackel, and don't presume that your traditions are somehow older. Again, i assert that my family has been in the Florida Parishes over 200 hundred years. I don't give a good goddamn about what you think is traditional around here. I know better.

Oh yeah. He's a Republican. Typical.

Thanks, ACLU, for giving this scheming baboon a drum to bang on.

one of Vitter's prostitutes seems to be a Congressional staffer

Your Right Hand Thief has a couple of links that say that one of the prostitutes that Palfrey secured for David Vitter was also a congressional staffer... for a committee that Vitter belongs to no less.

That's an odd wrinkle. So which committee was it?

(Originally i screwed up, putting his current committee assignments as a senator. I don't feel like looking for his old assignments in the House, as i have better things to do.)

It would tickle me to death if she turned out to be a staffer for Small Business though.

political gain & Vitter

So Jindal says regarding the Vitter nonsense:

“This is a matter for the senator to address, and it is our hope that this is not used by others for their own political gain.”

Really? You hope that, eh?

Jindal, you sanctimonious, deceitful little shit...

The Republican party used Katrina and the destruction of New Orleans for their own political gain. Jindal stood by twiddling his thumbs while Bush and Cheney let the city drown. People died for their inaction in their attempt to punish non-Republican voters., and shame the elected Democratic officials of Louisiana (who admittedly didn't do themselves any favors either.)

If the Democratic party does not take advantage of of the fact that Vitter cannot keep from cramming his penis into every hooker in between New Orleans and DC, then they have completely failed.

It's been bugging me a lot that some Democrats are saying that we have bigger issues to worry about, as if i don't know that. Their highminded arrogance has them unable to grasp that the reason why the White House is now in the position to ignore Congressional subpoenas is because, right or wrong, they fought every single battle that they could, because no matter how incompetent they are regarding foreign policy and other matters, they understood that every scrap of power they accumulated was going to pay off in shielding them later.

more revelations on Vitter

Your Right Hand Thief is all over them, and the best one might be the rumors of Vitter having a diaper fetish. I find it hard to believe, but it's hilarious. After nothing comes of Scooter Libby being convicted of a federal crime, it gives me a nice chuckle to see a morally self-righteous local boy go down in flames.

It might seem like a minor scandal... and it is. However, if Vitter has to resign in shame, Blanco can name his replacement, and it probably will be a Democrat. If this highly unlikely scenario occurs, we could finally tell Joe Lieberman to go Cheney himself.

Jindal sucks

The Right Hand Thief explains why. I never can properly articulate why i find him to be slimy. I need to memorize this, to point to specific actions, so i'm not left with this lame, vague, "He's creepy," explanation. Very few people seem to be aware of his claims that he has been in combat with a literal demon, which is always the first thing i can remember, but perhaps the weakest argument.

I'd comment more, but i gotta go to jury duty over in Amite... which i'm a little excited about... civic duty and all...

Vitter has a long history with prostitutes

Lemme get it out of the way... i would support the legalization of prostitution if done properly. Although i've known a handful of people that did it for a quick dollar and the thrill of doing something taboo/illegal, most of the prostitutes that i've been aware of live very marginal lives, and don't need any more persecution than what life has already thrown their way.

But Vitter? Ha ha ha... That sanctimonious sack of shit has been caught with his pants down again.

Yeah, it's common knowledge that he solicits the services of hookers. Every time the rumor creeps up, he denies it as the work of his political enemies. He refuse to accept responsibility for his own actions, and continues to beat the drum on "morality" issues.

I just started reading this blog last week, and it has a good overview on his past. This Daily Kos thread has some links too, including one to a Salon story that also links him to a "secret alliance" with David Duke.

Bob Livingston went down during the Clinton era. Now Vitter gets caught (although now he's a senator... people have noted that certain media sources say this DC Madam incident happened before he was a senator, but neglect to mention that Vitter was in Congress.) I am eager for Jindal to get his comeuppance for his smarmy "morality."

the forgotten jazz landmarks of New Orleans

New Orleans never can do enough to secure its own heritage. Some great citizens are making heroic efforts to document sites relevant to the history of jazz. I hadn't even stopped to think that Jelly Roll Morton's house might still be standing. It is, and someone is hellbent on preserving it. For a city that makes tourism its primary industry, the amount of heritage that gets overlooked and neglected is insane.

public school memories

I don't know where this originally came from, but I went to public school in Tangipahoa Parish in Louisiana.

In 5th grade, i was sent to the office, and given detention, because i argued with the teacher that Washington state and Washington DC are two different places. She never admitted being wrong, nor would anyone support my insistence that they just happened to have the same name. When i explained what happened to the principal, he said that i must never argue with the teacher, and didn't want to hear about geography. Children were in school to learn obedience.

In 9th grade, i was given lines to write in punishment (because of something that i might have actually done wrong, like refusing to do my homework for no good reason,) that were, "I will obey those in authority because God put there there."

That's just off the top of my head.

One of the weirdest things though, was in my extremely conservative school, was in 4th grade, when Reagan was shot. I didn't like Reagan because my parents didn't, but i was upset when he was shot. My classmates cheered. The whole school was overjoyed. I'm still baffled and a little scared by that. Of course, the Ku Klux Klan was big in the area at the time.