HumidCity

Yessireebob! That is exactly what Bill O’ Reilly is! The man who has such respect for the “homies,” down in New Orleans is a true, blue pro. This little piece from Media Matters should bring back fond memories. (Emphasis mine)

CALLER: George Bush doesn’t care about American people. After Katrina, he passed a law making it so his contracting buddies could bring in a bunch of illegal immigrants, instead of putting Americans to work, plus it took them five days to get down there. In response, O’Reilly said: “On the rebuilding of New Orleans, you’ve got to use contractors that can do the job. So, you can’t — you know, if you’ve got contractors who specialize in infrastructure rebuilding, you’ve got to bring them in.” He then added, “And the homies, you know, who you don’t know — I mean, they’re just not going to get the job.”

If WordPress played well with flash media I could just embed this video, but instead I will steer you over to visit Bec and take a look at what passes for grace under (minute) pressure on O’Reilly’s part. I would do so quickly though, YouTube has already pulled it and I don’t know how long it will last on break.com.

This is one of the big voices of modern day conservatives, a group who is no longer conservative by any measure I can discern. The group whose reckless approach to their duty as public servants has caused such hardship for my fellow New Orleanians in the aftermath of the Levee Failure. No matter what your political leanings you should be appalled at this behaviour worthy only of a spoiled child (with a foul mouth).

Fine example, eh?

-Loki, HumidCity Founder

My daughter goes to a charter school. I got an email the other day about tomorrow’s rally in Baton Rouge in celebration of Charter Schools Week (I’ve never heard of this one and wonder why it is the same damn week as Teacher Appreciation Week):

Louisiana Celebrates National Charter Schools Week Wednesday, May 7, 11:30 a.m.
Steps of State Capitol, Baton Rouge

With: State Senator Cheryl Gray
House Speaker Pro Tem Karen Carter
Algiers Charter School Association
Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans
Eastbank Collaborative of Charter Schools
Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools
Louisiana Charter School Association
New Schools New Orleans
and others!

Open to the public

And then at the end, the email says:

We intend to:

• Increase awareness that charter schools are public schools;
• Advocate for more favorable policy environment for charter schools in Louisiana; and
• Show how the quality and accountability of charter schools is transforming public education in Louisiana.

Even if I could be there, I wouldn’t. Why? Because charter schools here are NOT public schools. More than a handful of charters, regardless of the supervising agency, have selective admissions and even those that don’t get to cap their enrollment where they choose. They are not obligated to provide for special needs students (at either end of the spectrum) and a fractured “system” makes providing that extra care harder or impractical–how can one single school afford a full-time special education teacher paid out of its current budget for 3 or even 10 students? How can that expense be justified to the 99+% of parents whose children do not need these services? Also, where’s the accountability if no research has been done and is only going to be started at some point in the future AND when schools can provide whatever data they want however they want? There is no standard system for comparing current charter schools or comparing schools now to schools before (and I get this from the Cowen Institute report, not my ass)? A public school takes every child who walks in and educates every child that stays, regardless of need. That’s what public schools are supposed to be about and for. And do we need a “more favorable policy environment” for charters in LA? There are bills in the state legislature now which aim to make our charter school “system” permanent regardless of results, flaws or failures. And no transformation of public education has occurred yet. From my vantage point, we have a few innovators but mostly we have new themes for schools–social justice, college prep (whatever that means), math and science, math and business, art and technology. A theme is not a reform.

There is a place for charters in a public school system. But that doesn’t mean that charters should become a school system. How can we be sure all our children are educated if they are divided into fiefdoms or placed on their own islands? And it will take years, at least one generation, for charter schools to change NO public schools from being schools of last resort (a Cowen Institute phrase) to just plain schools.

You will not see this black mother at that rally.

pic cropped from SanFranAnnie

Lets start with a recap:

A former janitor for the city of New Orleans was first arrested Oct. 9, 2006, just three days after a small fortune in cocaine, cash and ammunition — all evidence collected for criminal cases pending trial — was found missing from Orleans Parish Civil District Court.

The burglary victim was the Orleans Parish district attorney’s office, which houses its juvenile division at the Loyola Avenue courthouse.

Craig Alton “Poncho” Thompson, 43, confessed to everything: the burglary, the rifling through evidence packets and the theft of cash, weapons, drugs and critical documents related to pending cases.

Of course this was during the reign of that racist incompetent Eddie Jordan. That never bodes well in a story about crime. So here we are, 18 months later, and Jordan’s successor is finally doing something. A handoff.

Eighteen months after Thompson owned up to the burglary and led police to his FEMA trailer Uptown — where evidence, including drugs, was recovered — the DA’s office moved on the case by punting it to the attorney general on April 8. Within 16 days, assistant attorney general’s office secured an indictment from a grand jury and ensured that an arrest warrant was issued, once again, for Thompson, who had been at large since October 2006.

Oh goody! So he has been out wandering the streets along with all the 701 releases. At least he’s not a killer (I hope).

There are two major concerns that are tearing away at the fabric of our society right now: lack of enforcement and lack of justice. When the police are doing their jobs (instead of breaking up Second Lines) the DA’s office drops the ball. Who the hell are these people, The Saints? All too often the arrests and “enforcement” seem to be limited. Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs, Second Line Funerals, and Mardi Gras Indians on Super Sunday getting harassed while the janitor helps himself to some complimentary cocaine?

-Loki, Founder HumidCity

Reading First, included in the No Child Left Behind legislation, does not increase reading comprehension. When I first saw the story this morning, Margaret Spellings, Secretary of Education, still had made no public statement about the study:

“Reading First did not improve students’ reading comprehension,” concluded the report, which was mandated by Congress and carried out by the Department of Education’s research arm, the Institute of Education Sciences. “The program did not increase the percentages of students in grades one, two or three whose reading comprehension scores were at or above grade level.”

The study, “Reading First Impact Study: Interim Report,” analyzes the performance of students in 12 states who were in grades one to three during the 2004-5 and 2005-6 school years. It is to be followed early in 2009 with a final report that will analyze additional follow-up data, the institute’s director, Grover J. Whitehurst said.

Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and President Bush have consistently extolled Reading First as a highly effective program. But last year, Congressional Democrats reduced financing for the program for this year by about 60 percent, to about $400 million from the $1 billion it had received in several previous years.

On Thursday, Ms. Spellings had no comment on the study. Amanda Farris, a deputy assistant secretary of education, said in a statement that Ms. Spellings planned to look at the study “to inform our efforts,” and would “look forward to reviewing the final report.”

Ms. Farris said that one of the consistent messages Ms. Spellings has heard from educators, principals and state administrators “is about the effectiveness of the Reading First program in their schools and their disappointment with Congress” for cutting its financing.

There can be all kinds of anecdotal “evidence” that Q or F-3 works but we owe all children, not just suburban ones and not only low-performing ones, best practices that are based on actual results and research rather than political loyalties:

In 2006, John Higgins, the department’s inspector general, reported that federal officials and private contractors with ties to publishers had advised educators in several states to buy reading materials for the Reading First program from those publishers. The Reading First director, Chris Doherty, resigned in 2006, days before the release of Mr. Higgins’s report, which disclosed a number of e-mail messages in which Mr. Doherty referred to contractors or educators who favored alternative curriculums seen as competitors to the Reading First approach as “dirtbags” who he said were “trying to crash our party.”

On NPR, I heard a new teacher say that a parent at her school, a school that had been mostly minority and failing for many years, appreciated the state tests that her daughter was still flunking because she felt it showed that, finally, those in power cared about her child’s education. And one point the teacher made in her segment was that all children deserve well-rounded educations that promote critical thinking, creativity, problems-solving skills and more than test-taking tricks and methods and rote drill. And I have to disagree with the parent–the powers that be still don’t care about your child’s education because your child is being taught to and held accountable for a test that doesn’t necessarily benefit her as much as it gives those powers that be, those adults, cover for not caring about her or most other children’s education. The idea is to raise the test scores of failing schools enough to make it look like something is being done, not to really reform them, not to bring the best practices of the suburbs and magnet schools to every school, and certainly not to fulfill the promise of Brown and desegregate public schools.

With Bush set to leave office, NCLB is being looked at. We’ll see what comes out of it all.

G Bitch (yeah, still)

NOLA

Why do all you lefty radical types hate President Bush so much? Follow the links for documentation.

Well, first of all because he spent the day talking immigration with Chertohoff (White House) and eating birthday cake with McCain (White House again)after the National Hurricane Center’s Director told him of the magnitude of the disaster in New Orleans (AP).

Who needs to even bring up the obscenity that is the Iraq situation when we have the devastated remnants of our homes as illustration. Governor Blanco requested aid, Bush didn’t bother (Newsweek). He was too busy talking Medicaire (White House).

It goes on and on. I guess to many people it does not matter becase it did not happen to anyone but those “deadbeats from New Orleans.” To others it has just faded from memory along with all the other soundbites. Well let me tell you, it does not fade out for us. We live with it every day, trying to put lives together in the face of the three worst impediments known to modern man: the local, state, and federal governments. The unholy trinity of Bush, Blanco and Nagin have done their best to finish us off with their dual pronged plan of incompetence and corruption, but we are still here.

Why do I say that he should never be allowed within our city limits again? Go read a nice, well documented timeline of the times around the Federal Flood, some excellent work by ThinkProgress. This isn’t imagination, its Politicians Gone Wild. How dare anyone tell me not be angry at the total abandonment of the social contract by those in power.

Lets just put it simply: the man is a criminal and I do NOT welcome him in my city. I am far from alone in this. Take your stink of corruption (Enron anyone?) and dereliction of duty (Gitmo, perhaps?) and leave us alone. You have done enough. FYYFF!

To follow up on Loki’s post about our not so favored visitors these next couple of days, I’d like to delve in a bit further, into that uncomfortable territory of what’s really going on behind the scenes - you know, the things that make the sheeple and even many thinking Americans start shouting “conspiracy theory.” Unfortunately, we’ve been getting duped for a long long time, long enough that there’s finally tangible proof of what’s been worked on for the last 60 years or so. Sadly, I fear the proof will do little good, that the wool has been so firmly pulled over our eyes that it’s simply too late to undo what’s been done. Words I hate to hear myself say, as I’ve always considered myself an activist and done what I’ve could to fight the fights I’ve thought needed fighting, always optimistic that we still stood some kind of chance of fighting the power’s that be. Only, it turns out that the power’s that be are little more than figureheads doing the bidding of some much more secrete entities on whose radar our activist antics don’t even register as even the tiniest of blips.

So what the hell am I talking about?

Check out this video for an overview of the real forces that have been working behind the scenes for so long and lovely new tracking devices coming soon to, well, you:

OK, I can’t figure out how to get a youtube video embedded in this here WordPress blog (despite much google research) so if anyone can clue me in, please do. In the meantime, here’s a straight up link to the video.
Fun stuff, eh?

(more…)

I am firm in my opinion that George W. Bush is the worst President we have ever had. As a New Orleanian I remember too many events like his big speech on Jackson Square, lit by the only lights in the city, brought in just to illuminate his words. Lights that were taken down and shipped off immediately leaving only crocodile tears and empty promises, like Mardi Gras garbage in their wake.

I do not welcome him, I do not condone any of his actions, and his visits are always such a pain in the ass. Just ask our boys in Iraq.

Anyway, since he has decided to grace us with his prescence getting around town is going to suck. In order to help alleviate that here is a list of the downtown traffic headaches so you can try to avoid them, enjoy!

Loki, HumidCity Founder

Q:What does George W. Bush think of Rowe v. Wade?

A: He doesn’t care how people get out of New Orleans.

On Sunday, April 20, 2008, from 2:00 pm, until Tuesday, April 22, 2008, at 3:00pm, the following streets will be closed to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Additionally, no parking will be allowed during this time frame.

(more…)

Once again Ernie The Attorney has brought us a real gem, especially if you follow the never ending sexual hijinx of the political class.

[…] a letter of support that David Vitter wrote along with 13 other Republican senators. The letter stressed the importance of a $50 million dollar grant for ‘abstinence education’ for adolescents. Vitter was the first person to sign the letter. Nineteen days later he admitted that he had hired hookers while he was a senator. What a guy!

Go take a look at the pompous, sanctimonious hypocrisy on display! One click away from a scan of the letter, go grab one and share it with your friends! At least Spitzer had the sense to resign. I will always be sorry his wife did not follow through on her Lorena Bobbit threat of a few months back, I think more politicians in this town should get up close and personal with New Orleans health care.

I keep reading bulletins and news reports about Barack Obama’s pastor, and the remarks this pastor has made. Who cares?

Barack Obama didn’t make these statements.
His retiring old pastor did.

Barack decided to distance himself, without trying to destroy an old man who was about to retire.
I think that shows character and integrity, yet he is being condemned for remarks that this pastor made.
Because he ‘associated’ with this pastor.

Bill and Hillary Clinton ‘associated’ with the McDougals, who later went to prison for fraud in the Whitewater Land Investment Scandal.
In fact, the Clintons claimed to have lost documents that showed the level of their own involvement.

Hillary Clinton went as far as to claim some of the documents never existed.

The ‘non-existent’ documents magically appeared, with Hillary’s finger prints on them, just weeks after the statute of limitations on prosecution went by. (more…)

I was going to write about Ray again, but then I found this picture in my Flickr account which is far more eloquent than I am at the moment:

Once again our local buffoon is “keeping the New Orleans brand out there,” for all of the residents of “Chocolate City.” Just what we needed. It really is quite pathetic to watch him continue to screw up in front of the media. That car crash fascination were you cannot look away even though it makes you sick to your stomach.

For those of you who have been enjoying an existence underneath a very large stone somewhere I am referring to Clarence R. Nagin’s latest flash of paranoia and incompetence as evinced in a TV interview with Eric Paulson and Sallie Anne Roberts. Go ahead, watch the video, it is only a few minutes long, I’ll wait. (Transcript and video here)

Aryan websites and hate blogs, eh Sugar Ray? I’m a pretty solid data miner when I need to be and my good buddy Google and I are having some trouble unearthing them. Even after over an hour. Seems I’m not alone there, I have the undead for company:

Nagin claims that the picture the TP published of him pointing a gun at Cheif Riley has been picked up by racist blogs and websites. Where are they? Which sites is he talking about? I’ve been looking for about 2 hours on Google and I haven’t found a single one. Can anybody point one out?

A message to Nagin:

Here’s an idea…shut the fuck up and answer the multitude of FOIA requests which have been submitted to your office over the past 3 years from activists like Matt McBride and Karen Gadbois. Or better yet, from reporters like Gordon Russell and Lee Zurik. Or even better yet, how about providing the PUBLIC INFORMATION Inspector General Cerasoli has requested and not received from your office. He’s been forced to file subpoenas to obtain the information and you are legally challenging his right to do that….what are you hiding? -American Zombie 2/21/08

Hardly surprising that the Raylien has little taste for bloggers. In a city where the main newspaper seems obsessed with a kneel and pucker stance where he is concerned we have been actively scrutinizing his actions as well as his words. Unfortunately many of our number are weary of it due to the fish-in-a-barrel easiness of the endeavour.

Mayor C Ray Nagin aka the walking id lost it on WWL-TV’s morning news today. LINK. The Mayor whined about the Picayune picture story and painted a dark picture of powerful people conspiring against him. Of course, the TP has essentially fellated him for 6 years and is now very reluctantly taking a slightly closer look at his record. How dare they? Nagin ranted about the video of the gun picture as showing how careful he was being when it’s ambiguous at best. The video can be seen at WDSU.com and I’ve watched it several times and it’s subject to multiple interpretations. Nagin claims that “aryan hate groups” are targeting him without, of course, providing any support for his fulminations. His weirdest claim is that an upcoming story on WWL about his SCHEDULE is a violation of his privacy and his family’s safety. This is, of course, nutty: he’s a PUBLIC OFFICIAL and the people have a right to know what tomfoolery their Mayor is up to. If Nagin is truly “busting his butt,” he should be thrilled to have people know how busy he is. This reeks of a desperate pre-emptive strike to make it look like THE MAN is out to get poor Clarence Ray. -Adrastos 02/21/08

What part of the phrase “public servant” is it that these clowns never seem to grok? Frank Zappa called the political class “jumed up used car salesmen in bad suits,” and abjured people to remind these idiots who they work for. Ray’s behavour makes him come off more like the homeless wino who used to be a jumped up used car salesman in a bad suit. Lucky for us, huh? Helps keep the brand out there, cher.

You’’ve got to see this interview with Ray Nagin on WWL. He is so full of shit. He believes that when the media publishes stories and photos of his idiotic behavior, it puts him and his family in danger. Ray, as far as I know, no one wants to harm you. You are the one who is talking about “cold cocking” people. We are all just impatiently waiting until you leave office. We know that we are stuck with you for the duration, and you don’t give a damn what we think. -Dangerblond 02/21/08

Threats of violence, “cold cocking” people, and old fashioned one on ones? The whole city would be way better off if you’d try that on some of the punk kids with guns who make life so cheap in our city?

The mayor has stated on television his intent of taking it outside with a member of the press and hitting someone if approached. Who should feel threatened now? -Maitri 02/21/08

Ray, I cannot wait to be rid of you. May you become lost in the bowels of the bureaucracy, doomed to an eternity of red tape and fruitless insurance paperwork, just as you have helped doom your fellow New Orleanians during your idiotic tenure.

Loki

Founder, HumidCity

According to WDSU:

Newspaper reports from Baton Rouge claim newly elected Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal–who ran on a platform touting ethics reform and tougher ethics laws in state government–is being investigated for a possible ethical breach.

State investigators are trying to determine if Jindal failed to disclose more than $100,000 in campaign contributions, according to The Advocate in Baton Rouge.

According to the report, The State Board of Ethics ordered a public hearing to explore the charges.

In an update from the Baton Rouge Advocate:

Gov. Bobby Jindal faces state ethics charges for failing to timely disclose more than $100,000 in campaign aid he received from the state Republican Party.

The Louisiana Board of Ethics ordered a public hearing to explore charges that Jindal and his governor’s campaign committee violated the state’s Campaign Finance Disclosure Act.

Timmy Teepell, Jindal’s chief of staff, said Thursday night that Jindal would pay the fine.

Jindal failed to “accurately disclose in-kind contributions” from the state GOP, according to a Tuesday letter notifying Jindal of the reporting problem.

The Advocate on Thursday obtained a copy of the letter.

Jindal was flying to Washington, D.C., according to his press secretary, Melissa Sellers, who said he could not immediately be reached for comment.

Jindal campaign accountant William Potter of Baton Rouge said a mistake was made.

“We are not trying to deny anything,” said Potter. “It’s an error.”

The ethics board set a July 10 public hearing.

If a violation is found, the board may impose civil penalties of $100 per day, up to a maximum of $2,500, for each day the report was not timely filed.

Jindal would be exposed to the full $2,500 fine because of the lapse in time of reporting.

Potter said he is recommending that Jindal settle the issue prior to hearing.

Potter said Teepell, who was Jindal’s campaign chief, failed to notify those preparing the campaign finance report of the party expenditures for Jindal.

The state GOP spent $118,264 between June 4 and June 28 in mail expenses on behalf of the Jindal campaign.

Teepell said the Republican Party did not submit invoices to the campaign showing the expenditures on Jindal’s behalf. So, he said, there was no way of knowing for reporting purposes.

“After the omission came to light, the money was promptly reported and the party started filing in-kind expenditure reports with the campaign,” Teepell said.

“We are all about transparency,” said Teepell.

Transparency … ?

When caught - maybe.

- Bigezbear

That’s the number of vacancies in the LSU Hospital System, the entity in charge of Louisiana’s charity hospitals.

Unfortunately, those vacancies cannot be filled at this time because Piyush Jindal has imposed a hiring freeze on all state agencies, regardless of need. I suppose it’s a matter of ethics, don’t you know.

I imagine since he couldn’t finish dismantling our healthcare system during the time he was Secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals under Mike Foster, he’s going to do what he can to lower the census now. The man has the empathy and soul of a rock.

No, that’s unfair to the rock.

- Bigezbear

Dear New Orleanians,

The city’s notification process for demolitions has been notoriously ineffective. Lists of Imminent Health Threat and Imminent Danger of Collapse properties are posted to the city’s website, and then disappear within days. The city has been hauled into federal court in two separate cases since Katrina because of its poor notification procedures for demolitions.

However, one should realize that the city’s failure to notify homeowners about pending demolitions is not due to a lack of information. In fact, the city has a bunch of information about demolitions, but they are - for whatever reason - wildly reluctant to release it.

I have obtained two lists of properties cleared by FEMA in December 2007 for demolition. I believe they have been compiled by a company called Beck Disaster Recovery (BDR), which has a contract with the city for property management of demolition properties. BDR has offices in 1515 Poydras, across from City Hall.

These lists are different than any other lists previously published, because it is a near certainty that these houses are targeted for demolition. They have already been cleared by FEMA as “eligible” for federal funding. Also, the raw numbers of properties (about 1400) matches closely with what has previously been announced as a total still to be taken down (about 1800, according to a FEMA press release from November).

We have seen these lists validated over the past few weeks, as Safety & Permits has assembled HCDRC agendas from them, and permits have been granted based on them.

Here’s what I have done - I have taken the simple raw lists of addresses and have bulked them up with all the information I could glean about a given property. I have added whether the property is HCDRC- or HDLC-eligible, and if it is HCDRC-eligible, whether or not it has yet come before the Committee. I’ve added previous demolition permit dates, a comparison of IHT status between the information on the original list (shown in column B) and what has been released publicly by the city over the last year. I’ve added damage estimates. Basically, if there’s any public information I could get about a property, I’ve added it to these lists (which I combined into one spreadsheet) [I have converted the spreadsheet into a Google document you may view here. -Loki].

So here’s a key of the information on the spreadsheet:
Date of release: date of the list on which the property appears. The lists were released on 12-13-07 and 12-19-07

File/WO#: I’m not sure what this is - I assume there are work orders for each property. This was on the original lists as received.

Type of demo: this is information that came with the lists. The types are IHT (Imminent Health Threat), IMA (Imminent Danger of Collapse), VOL (voluntary, i.e. homeowner-initiated), and there are a few noted as COMM (commercial, though this is not really a type of demo so much as a type of building). Imminent Health Threat demos are quite controversial, since there is no objective standard for what constitutes an Imminent Health Threat, and the notification process is poor.

Street number, street direction, street name, street suffix, ZIP code: these make up the address for the property

Demo permit? Demo permit date?: Whether or not there is a demo permit on the property, and the date it appeared in Safety & Permits’ system

12-31-06 damage assessment, 11-1-07 damage assessment, Dam assess incr above 70%?: City damage assessments, obtained from the city’s website. Also, whether the damage assessments were increased above 70% (presumably to avoid review by the Housing Conservation District Review Committee).

Review type: The demolition can be reviewed for its impact on the historic fabric of the city. The review can be either HCDRC (just the Housing Conservation District Review Committee), HCDRC & NatReg (property is within a National Register District, which could entitle it to review by the Historic District Landmarks Commission if its damage assessment is greater than 70%, under Section 26-10 of the City Code), HDLC (review by Historic District Landmarks Commission), or “No review” (outside all historic areas). I’ve done my best to determine this based on city-produced maps.

HCDRC review date: if the property has come before the HCDRC, this is the date it happened.

Extra review under City Code Section 26-10: if the property has a damage estimate over 70% and is within a National Register Historic District, it is entitled to extra review by the HDLC before demolition.

Imminent Health Threat (according to publicly released lists): The city has released various IHT lists since the beginning of the year. There was a partial list in March, a list with IHT and voluntary demos mixed together in July, and at least four different IHT lists since late September (only two of which are available on the city’s website). I checked the addresses on this latest list against those IHT lists.

Match col B & col Q: I then checked the IHT status from those publicly released lists against the status that was on this list when it arrived. They don’t always match, as indicated by “NO MATCH.“

GPS coordinates: these came with the original list

Owner: these were on the original lists.

Due to some of the methods I’ve used to compile information, occasionally I’ve had to split addresses into two rows. So sometimes a property which is a fourplex with an address like “932-34-36-38 Smith Street” will appear across two rows. I didn’t have to do that very much, but it did happen a few times. I apologize for any confusion.

I am not going to claim that this list is 100% correct. I’ve had to correct typos and clean up information as best as I can, but there are almost undoubtedly errors. Plus, I can’t necessarily vouch for some of the raw information, like ZIP codes and GPS coordinates. However, I feel it’s best to get the information out so that people can have something in hand, as well as understand the scope and breadth of the entire demolition effort.

I hope you find this useful.

Best regards,

Matt McBride

[Syndicated from the email -Loki] 

I spent a significant chunk of my day today sitting it work down in the Bywater listening to the pounding of torrential rain on the window behind me. It was about 11:30am that a text message alerted me to the fact that strange things were afoot at City Hall. Moments later I was making the prior post.

Now I have had some time to dig through a variety of footage and punditry, windbags of the internet and the cathode tube alike. As usual I found jackal like barking on both sides of the argument. Sound and fury and extremism with little evidence of reason. In short a true bipartisan effort.

I would be a liar if I claimed to understand all of the intricacies of the situation, and a fool if I honestly thought I had the solution. What I do know is that I am weary with the vitriol that New Orleans has produced so copiously since that fateful August of ‘05.

As usual the few voices I found making sense were in the local blogosphere. If you want intelligent analysis I highly advise going to the source posts these excerpts are taken from and read them in their entirety. Lets start with Schroeder over at People Get Ready:

I hope to have time to say more about what is shaping up to be one of the worst defeats in the history of New Orleans for racial harmony — the public housing controversy. For now, I’ll just say that I think that the most egregious offenders against the interests of public housing residents have been the uninformed lefty white poseur anarchist intellectuals who swooped into the city to save it from the uninformed right-wing white reactionary bourgeoisie.

True — there are a number of locals in the mix as well — white and black — who have called for action, and action is necessary to force people to the table in search of compromise, instead of yelling at each other. I guess I’ve just decided that I won’t make a fool of myself by standing again with braggard activists who wouldn’t themselves choose to live in the public housing projects, and who aren’t so much struggling for better lives for public housing residents as they’re trying to champion their own egoistic hero complexes, and to confirm their distorted world views inspired by some manifesto they read somewhere.

On the other hand, I’m equally repulsed by the rhetoric issuing forth from conservative ideologues, mainly heard sqawking their boot-strap doctrine on Clear Channel Fox-affiliate 99.5 FM and the redundant Entercom stations 870 AM/105.3 FM/1350 AM.

He goes on to make a statement that I believe everyone reading should take to heart and work towards:

Once again, the presidential candidates who emerge to represent their respective parties need to commit to an additional debate in New Orleans, to debate the future of New Orleans as the most important venue where the future crises of the rest of the nation are being staged today.

So that is a small fragment of a passionately brilliant post from our favorite Peanuts Character. Now on to my favorite bivalve, Oyster from Your Right Hand Thief (a former HumidCity contributor), as he waxes eloquent on the photo from todays Times-Pic which shows Sharon Jasper, who wishes to return to her public housing. “I might be poor but I don’t like to live poor. I thank God for a place to live but it’s pitiful what people give you.” This is the quote that appears under a picture of her sitting next to a HUGE widescreen TV that most of the people I know could not afford. Instead of quoting him I’ll just send you over to read the post (its short) and see the picture. Draw your own conclusions. I’ll wait here for you.

Back now? Good.

Let’s check in on Varg over at The Chicory, shall we? The pertinent post (go read it all, you know you want to) starts off kicking:

But one theme is emerging above all others: Don’t depend on the government for housing. As we learned in August of 2005, don’t depend on the government for ANYthing. It’s a losing proposition. Nagin said there was no win-win situation. The Chicory says for the residents, it’s a lose-lose situation.

We have all seen it. We have all done the paperwork, endless reams of paperwork. The powers that be have been worse than useless, they have been self serving at the expense of the people they are supposed to lead. They are, as Frank Zappa so eloquently put it, jumped up used care salesmen in bad suits whose paychecks are drawn from our taxes. They work FOR us and need to be reminded of it. He goes on to sum things up beautifully:

I saw another photo that claimed housing as being a basic human right. This further drove me away from the protesters. It’s a responsibility isn’t it? I understand the situation many people find themselves in. I understand the various circumstances that can lead to someone finding themselves homeless. What I can’t understand is the point one reaches when they feel as though the government has a responsibility to provide them housing when they don’t accept that responsibility themselves. The government is an uncaring, globular institution which can be swayed in many different directions and will often leave its dependents without roofs over their heads. People of all classes should be strongly encouraged to become independent of it.

So leave a comment, even if you are a confirmed lurker leave a comment. Give me some more viewpoints. It is a complex issue and one that we all need to get a grip on ASAP.

Loki
HumidCity Founder

EDIT/UPDATE: There is a very worthwhile discussion of this going on in the New Orleans LiveJournal Community Here END UPDATE 

As we go back and forth over the issue of public housing in New Orleans we get the joy of scenes like the one currently being enacted downtown. It seems that things have tipped in the direction of violence between protesters and police down at the City Council.

Why is it that we, as a species, cannot seem to escape the urge to be just plain shitty?

A Little Xmas Pepperspray to go with the SWAT teams deployed to City Hall

Joy.

Joy to the [CENSORED] world.

-Loki

The above flyer has been posted all around downtown, from the encampments of homeless across the street from City Hall to trashcans on Poydras Street.

Dangerblond thinks those responsible should be sent to Gitmo.

Laureen at NOLA Metroblogging fills us in with a well researched post giving tons of background on the situation. She also is the first I’ve found that has picked up on the fact that crime stats have not been significantly impacted by the closure of the projects.

Michael Homan’s position mirros my own. As he eloquently puts it:

I have no doubts that the powers that be are using Katrina to do away with the large public housing projects. Many of these units never flooded and they could have reopened in October of 2005. But how do I feel about large concentrations of poverty in the projects versus mixed-income neighborhoods with subsidized rents spread throughout? I don’t really know. I do know that poor people need a place to live in New Orleans, and the increased rents have kept many from returning.

Ray In New Orleans has posted his open letter to the powers that be.

Two pictures of the flyer on Flickr have developed extensive discussions in their comments here and here. (And at least one of the photos have been filtered so that you have to agree to view objectionable content before actually seeing it.)

But the real venom comes out when you read the comments on the NOLA.com article. This is where you can see the soul sickness that has gripped our city. This is where under the veil of anonymity, the racists and the classists on both sides of the ideological divide come out in force hurling epithets thick and fast.

Last comes one from the national arena. You see, while I will not commit to support of any candidate for the Oval Office as yet, I will give John Edwards some points. He is to be congratulated for being savvy enough to actually try to use the internet effectively as outreach. The upside of this has been steady communication with his blogmaster. She was kind enough to forward this my way just as I began typing this up. So here you have it, John Edwards take on the demolition situation, straight from Chapel Hill, NC:

EDWARDS STATEMENT ON HUD PLAN TO BEGIN DEMOLISHING PUBLIC HOUSING IN NEW ORLEANS THIS WEEK

Chapel Hill, North Carolina — Senator John Edwards today called on HUD to reverse its plan to begin demolishing public housing in New Orleans this week and urged the New Orleans City Council to stand strong in defending housing for city residents. Edwards said in a statement:”There is a housing crisis in New Orleans today — the result of government policies that have failed the people of the Gulf since Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. Rents have doubled, families are being evicted from FEMA trailers and now the current administration is now trying to make a bad situation worse.

“I am calling on HUD to postpone its plans to destroy affordable public housing until replacement housing is ready. Knocking down historic and livable housing today that withstood the winds of Katrina with the bulldozers of Bush is counterproductive to the goal of giving residents a home to which to return.

Decentralizing poverty by encouraging new mixed-income income makes a lot of sense — I’ve proposed creating 1 million new housing vouchers to do exactly that. But eliminating housing where people could live in a city where a desperate shortage of shelter exists makes no sense at all.

“I urge the City Council to reject the demolition permits HUD needs for its plan to destroy hope for current and displaced New Orleans residents.”

Please take a moment and leave us a comment. Please let us know what your thoughts on this…..

Loki
Founder, HumidCity

The Jena 6 Case is History Written in Lightning

Lady Justice is said to be color blind and free of racism, cept in Jena, LA and that’s on both sides. The lightning strike is coming for those who pervert or abuse justice for personal gains.

Guest Post crossposted from:

AZRainman : Photoshop Satire

I was wondering how long it would take for him to show his colors as a “Louisiana Politician.” Guess this examination of appointments and campaign finance answers that question.

image courtesy of Skeleton Krewe

And There Was Much Rejoicing! (Yayy!!!) More to come once people get home from work and start typing. I will try to add some updates later but no promises.

Citizen Crime Watch * Pistolette * City Business

Dangerblonde * People Get Ready

Gentilly Girl * Ken Foster

Its a long fall from the lionized victor over Edwin Edwards to the most worthless DA in New Orleans history. Many of us hope he breaks something (or several somethings) at the end of it.

Now that we, the taxpayers, get to pay off the fiduciary penalties of this racist ass I have one question for our FORMER DA.

While you were depriving your department not only of its caucasians, but also of computers, voicemail, and the simple necessities of the job, how many of our children and neighbors die horribly?

Ask Pontius Pilate, blood on your hands never washes clean.

Good riddance to bad rubbish. (of course maybe it is all to get his lawsuit paid for…)