HumidCity

The ever vigilant Oyster, who used to blog with us before the Levee Failure, brings us the Republican comedy show one of its most amusing moments. It seems that “Diaper” David Vitter, connoisseur of purchased poontang, and Larry “The Foot Tapper” Craig are now co-sponsors of S.J. Res. 23, The Marriage Amendment.

Now Democrats get up their own sexual antics, but they do not strain so hard to shove their morality down our throats before being exposed as the current crop of Republicans do.

The only appropriate response to this is a salute to family values in the stye of the Grand Old Party. Enjoy the Videos! First a lovely piece by Keith Olberman in which he sets a reading of the police report about Senator Craig’s bathroom indiscretions to a Dragnet style video.

Then a few words from Wendy, thats Wendy the prostitute not Wendy the wife, as she talks about David Vitter in this video provided by Larry Flint.

-Loki HumidCity Founder

Longtime HumidCity friend Lipwrap got chosen to be in a town hall with David Vitter over the phone yesterday. She reported the whole thing, 140 characters at a time, over Twitter. For those of you who would like to see what went on she posted the log from, it here.

If you’re not familiar with Lipwrap’s Lament- The Line, you should be. The NOLABlogosphere’s favorite jewish mother has a dose of perspective you should appreciate. Lipwrap, thanks for posting this, its a mitzva!

Loki, HumidCity Founder

Cross-posted from Nation of Morons

The results are in and Louisiana Taxpayers can expect a massive six-million dollar fist up the ass thanks to State Senator Ann Duplessis. Her bastard child, SB 672 which ties legislator salaries to their counterparts in the US Senate, has passed its third and final vote in the senate and is on its way to the House for approval. (225-342-6945 if you care to call them.)

Voting for the bill were Senate President Joel T Chaisson, II, Robert Adley, Sharon Weston Broome, AG Crowe, Yvonne Dorsey, Ann Duplessis, Reggie P Dupre, Dale M Erdey, DA ‘Butch’ Gautreaux, Cheryl A Gray, Lydia P Jackson, RW ‘Bob’ Kostelka, Eric LaFleur, Rovert Marionneaux, Daniel ‘Denny’ Martiny, Michael J Michot, Edwin R Murray, Ben Nevers, Derrick Shepherd, and Francis Thompson

Voting against the bill were John A Alario, Jr, ‘Jody’ Amedee, Bill Cassidy, Sherri Smith Cheek, Donald R Cravins, Jr, Jack Donahue, Nick Gautreaux, Troy Hebert, David Heitmeir, Joe McPherson, Dan ‘Blade’ Morrish, Willie L Mount, Julie Quinn, Neil Riser, BL ‘Buddy’ Shaw,and Mike Walsworth

Absent were Gerald Long, John R Smith and the vacant seat from district 9.

Overall the vote looks suspect: 20 yea, 16 nay and 2 absent. Just enough votes to pass. How convenient. While I’m certain a few of the nays were cast by stalwart senators trying to make a difference in our little Third World State, most came from cunning little politicians who figured, “It’ll pass anyway, so I may as well vote against it and look good in the press.” Pure conjecture on my part, but entirely possible.

And our buddy Bobby doesn’t seem to care. According to our “Reform” Governor, the legislature is responsible for “keeping its own house in order.” He says it’s not his job to tell them what to do. I wonder if John McCain taught him how to pass bucks like that.

Congratulations go out to Ann Duplessis, our Moron of the Year! (So far!) Her district lies in ruins, her constituency is spread across the country, but she can tootle back and forth from Baton Rouge in her taxpayer funded Mercedes S-500 in comfort knowing that all you working stiffs are going to be working a little harder to pay for it. We now return you to business as usual in Louisiana.

One final note to the vapid soccer mom I heard on WWL Radio yesterday: She called in to support the bill because our senators “give us their full-time, it’s a full time job!” Wrong sweetheart. The job is part-time, 3-4 days a week for about 2-3 hours a day. Sure, there are the occasional 4+ hour marathons and special sessions, but most sessions are much shorter; see for yourself here. The April 3rd session lasted just 15 minutes.

Averaging 17 days per month, 2.5 hours per day, that’s 42.5 hours a month or 510 hours per year. At the current salary of $16,800, that’s just under $33 an hour. Under the new $70,000 salary our legislators will be making $137.25 an hour! And remember, these are some of the same douchebags who voted against raising the minimum wage in our state! Looks like it’s back to every man for himself in Louisiana. Pittsburgh looks better every day.

Once more HumidCity is proud to syndicate the emails of engineer Matt McBride, the man who formerly helmed Fix The Pumps.

Dear New Orleanians,

A couple of weeks ago, I sent out an email about a report the Corps is holding back. It is the final report for the London Avenue canal load test, and it has been delayed for months. In fact the test took place last August. After I sent that email, I heard they are planning to release it before June 15th. We’ll see.

While members of the public and their appointed representatives on the East Bank Levee Authority cannot yet see the report, the Corps is all too content to trumpet the success of the test to their contractors and fellow employees.

Last week, at the Midwest Levee Conference in St. Louis, the lead Corps engineer and project manager from a Corps contractor for the load test gave an extensive presentation about the test. The Conference was co-sponsored by the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). SAME is the Corps’ professional organization for their engineers - kind of their private clubhouse.

You can see the June 3rd presentation on the load test here:

All the presentations are available here.

What I find interesting are the following:

1) No mention of the the external peer review of the test is mentioned, nor of the Levee Board’s insistence on including testing for seepage effects (originally, the test was only going to measure whether the wall moved, not whether water would move underneath it). In fact there’s absolutely no information whatsoever on the locals’ key involvement in ensuring the test was properly vetted. The presentation gives the impression that the Corps did everything themselves, and that they should be congratulated (Actual bullet point from the last slide: “Test was a success. No water through the wall!“). The fact is they had to be pushed into the peer review on the test.

2) Page after page of actual test data are displayed. None of this data has been made available to the public in New Orleans.

3) The last line of the presentation is a laugher: “Detailed results are available for additional study to enhance the engineering understanding of I-wall performance.” Available to whom, precisely? Other Corps engineers and their contractors? What about making the results available to the public whom the Corps is supposedly protecting before they present them to their buddies?

This is just more evidence of the tin ear the Corps has when it comes to dealing with the public. There’s no way this presentation should have taken place before the report was released to the greater New Orleans community.

Matt

Once more HumidCity is proud to syndicate the emails of engineer Matt McBride, the man who formerly helmed Fix The Pumps.

Dear New Orleanians,

There have been hints coming out of the Corps for quite a while that the permanent pump stations at the lakefront would be delayed even further than their current 2012 completion date. I think I might have found something conclusive that shows that. I could be off, but you never know…

First, take a look at a schedule of projects the Corps showed at a small business contractors’ gathering on April 23rd (go to page 10):

http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/ebs/SDVET/SDVET%20Presentations%20less%20SADBU.pdf

The line for permanent pump stations is somewhat jumbled, showing “pre-award” activities extending into the first quarter of 2009, but also showing construction beginning this fall, the third quarter of 2008. I believe the second line, showing construction, is the one that counts. It would seem that construction is anticipated to last 3.75 years, finishing up before June, 2012. This would be in line with most public statements from the Corps.

However, also in April the Corps placed a listing of all their hurricane protection contracts, including future ones, on their website:

http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/hps/pdf/Upcoming_Contracts/Potential_Upcoming_Contracts_16_Apr_08.pdf

If you scroll to the bottom of page 3, you’ll see the listing for the contract for the permanent pump stations. It is shown as getting awarded in the 3rd calendar quarter of 2009. That would appear to be significantly later - possibly a year after what the other schedule shows. If one assumes the same duration of construction, then a year of delay at the start means a year of delay at the end.

The Corps has publicly promised the permanent pump stations would be done by the beginning of the 2012 hurricane season. However, if the very detailed April 16, 2008 schedule is to be believed, it would appear that:

1) That deadline has been pushed back a year

or

2) The Corps has figured out how to shave a year off the construction schedule.

There have been other subtle hints that the permanent pump stations might get delayed. They include:

- A solicitation issued last month for cranes at the current floodgates included an option for rental of those cranes through the entire 2012 hurricane season. If the permanent pump stations were to be in place by 2012, there would be no need for those cranes. Here’s the solicitation:

https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=75973f5a51e052b17f21efe2c6b67698&tab=core&_cview=0

- Also, note Colonel Starkel’s hesitancy at the end of this June 1, 2008 interview on WWL-TV when asked when the permanent pump stations would be finished:

http://www.wwltv.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=250644

His exact words are “we’re looking about 2012.”

- Completion of the Individual Environmental Report for the stations has been repeatedly delayed, with an April public meeting pushed back to July. An article in the Times-Picayune last week mentioned that the report will be delayed again, likely meaning a further postponement of the July meeting (which was intended to outline the contents of the report).

- The Corps transferred most of the appropriated funds out of the permanent pump station project to pay for the Industrial Canal closure project (that contract was awarded in April). The pump station account is currently nearly empty. The replacement funds are tied up in the Emergency War Supplemental bill now wending its way through Congress. President Bush has vowed to veto that bill for reasons unrelated to the Corps funding. The Corps has said publicly that if they don’t have funds on October 1 of this year, projects (like the pump stations) would definitely get delayed.

- Finally, it took the Corps over a year to award the design-build contract for the Industrial Canal closure project. The permanent pump stations are of the same scale, and the Corps does not appear to have begun the bidding process yet.

All signals point to further delays on this project.

If I’m wrong, then the Corps needs to come out publicly and say with certainty that those stations will be there June 1, 2012. They also need to explain why one of their schedules shows a year difference from another of their schedules.

One has to wonder if the stations will get built at all?

Matt McBride

That is what John McCain called Senator Obama’s campaign staffers pointing out that he has not once, but twice voted against and 8/29 Commission. Now both Senators are politicians, which means I don’t trust either one of them. This is why I love the Annenberg Political Fact Check. A non partisan group that documents the realities behind the political posturing.

Today they addressed this one. Here is the summary, once you’re done click the link at the bottom for full documentation with sources.:

McCain was asked by a New Orleans reporter why he voted twice against an independent commission to investigate the government’s failings before and after Hurricane Katrina, and he incorrectly stated that he had “voted for every investigation.”

McCain actually voted twice, in 2005 and 2006, to defeat a Democratic amendment that would have set up an independent commission along the lines of the 9/11 Commission. At the time of the second vote, members of both parties were complaining that the White House was refusing requests by Senate investigators for information.

The McCain campaign accused the Obama campaign of “tired negative attacks” for pointing out and documenting McCain’s gaffe.

Read all the details at Katrina Kerffufle.

Who says The System doesn’t have a sense of humour?

Yesterdays indictments of Betty Jefferson, her brother Mose and daughter Angela Coleman, were announced exactly one year to the day that brother Bill Jefferson was indicted on 16 counts of bribery, fraud, racketeering and obstruction of justice. Elder sibling Mose has previously been indicted on charges related to bribing former School Board president Ellenese Brooks Sims. Sibling rivalry can be a real gas sometimes.

The charges are as follows:

Count 1: Conspiracy to steal from agencies receiving federal funds, and to commit mail fraud, Penalty: five years maximum imprisonment.
BJ AC MJ

Counts 2 - 11: Aggravated identity theft, Penalty: two years max.
AC counts 2, 4, 5, 9, 10 and 11. BJ counts 3, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Count 12: Stealing money from an organization receiving federal funds, Penalty: 10 years max.
BJ MJ

Count 13: Stealing money from an organization receiving federal funds, Penalty: 10 years max.
BJ AC MJ

Counts 14 - 23: Mail Fraud, Penalty: 20 years max per count.
BJ AC MJ

Counts 24 - 26: False statements by Mose Jefferson to the FBI, Penalty: five years max per count.

Counts 27 - 30: Income Tax Invasion by Betty Jefferson. Penalty: five years max per count.

Count 31: Conspiracy to commit money laundering, Penalty: 20 years max.
BJ AC MJ

If convicted on all counts Betty faces 279 years in jail, her daughter 257, and Mose is looking at 250 years. In addition each count caries a fine of up to $250,000 or double any profit to the defendant or loss to victim. Mose faces 50 years maximum for his earlier indictment and William is staring down a possible 235 years for his alleged shenanigans. That’s a lot of baloney sammiches!

These charges all center around three “non-profit” organizations run by the Jefferson clan: Care Unlimited, an organization meant to provide “educational support services” to pregnant teens and “focus on the broad problems of black males between the ages of 9 and 21;” Orleans Metropolitan Housing & Community Development, lord only knows what they do, no information is available on the web; and Central City Adult Education Agency, also cloaked in mystery regarding its exact nature.

All three organizations have received millions in state and federal funds through the help of Renee Gill-Pratt, protogé and paramour of both William and Mose, and Jalila Jefferson Bullock, William’s daughter who both held the same seat in the state legislature and used their position to earmark money for the organizations.

WDSU’s Gina Swanson reports that this may cause the public to associate the Jefferson family name with public corruption. Really? And you get paid how much for stating the obvious? Silly me, I thought the connection had already been made. Why else would the Feds be hammering away at them? Jefferson family attorneys are already hard at work pounding out Change of Venue paperwork like they did for William whose trial will be held in Virginia. Strange. I would think that New Orleans would be the best place to hold the trial considering the non-stick coating this family has been wearing for the last thirty or so years. Especially if, as they say, the Jeffersons are innocent.

This morning a WDSU poll asked if these new charges would affect voters in William’s upcoming re-election bid and the results were interesting. 72% of responders said no, they were planning on voting for someone else and 6% said they still supported Bill. 22% said that they would no longer vote for Jefferson. There may be hope for us yet! Of course, only ten percent of those people will bother to vote anyway.

So it looks as if New Orleans darker side will be thrust naked and mewling in the National Spotlight once again for everyone to see, and that’s a shame and a blessing. It’s a shame the nation will once again see our local “leaders” as greedy pigs, gorging themselves on the taxpayer teat, but a blessing that we will be seen taking action to clean our own house and that may serve as the impetus for businesses to move into the area, create jobs, lower the crime rate, fund education, fix the blight, promote local music, restore the Lower Ninth, cure West Nile, defeat the Formosans and carry the Saints to a Superbowl victory!!!!

Or am I just being overly optimistic?

For more on the William and the Jeffersons:
http://nationofmorons.blogspot.com/2007/06/jeffersons.html

In 1994 Bobby Jindal observed an excorcism. It seems his PR people did a good job of burying the story, but unfortunately for them it is a matter of public record and appears on the New Oxford Review right here. I found it through a friend’s LiveJournal post, but since it is a private post I will not identify the person who originated it. I will however share with you the excerpt that he shared from the above linked article:

Susan attempted to escape, and during the scuffle, “Alice,” the student leader for Campus Crusade for Christ, “entered the room for the first time, brandishing a crucifix.” They had tried calling a “rival” Christian group to help, but the preacher “denied” their request for help and told them to not to “confront the demon.” Alice made Susan even angrier. Susan tried lunging toward the door. Bobby began repeating the Hail Mary over and over again. He said, “Being new to Catholicism, I had yet to accept the Catholic doctrines concerning Mary and considered any form of Marian devotion to be idolatry.” But he could not think of anything else at the time, so he prayed to Mary.

Susan eventually calmed down because of the crucifix, and her sister brought out a Bible. They all began daring Susan to read passages from the Bible. She would begin to read a passage and then blurt out obscenities. But after reading several passages, Susan changed, almost in an instant. She proclaimed, “Jesus is Lord,” and then told everyone she could not remember “any of the past few hours.”
Susan even asked Bobby if he was okay. Bobby told Susan’s sister he would “commit” to a “nightlife” of prayer for Susan. Susan spent the night in the house of a missionary, because her roommate had pagan-looking decorations in their dorm room.

Bobby felt a renewed appreciation for his Catholic faith. He no longer doubted, as he had only hours before. Susan and Bobby stayed friends. Susan even became a Catholic. And her cancer somehow completely disappeared.

Watch out William Peter Blatty! Here we go- rival christians,  a miracle cure, profanity, this has it all.  So one thing I want to know is this: if any form of Marian devotion is idolatry then am I to assume that idolatry is excusable if you cannot think of anything else? And before anyone tells me that it is not fair game to get into this since it is his personal faith let me tell you this: he is a public figure. Once you enter that arena you had better be prepared to deal with it. After all Rev. Wright was considered fair game, wasn’t he?

Pagan decoration in the dorm room. *snort*

-Loki, HumidCity Founder (with thanks to the original pots on LJ that inspired this one. )

The video shows why we all need the 8/29 Investigation - a truly independent and complete analysis of the Katrina levee failures on August 29, 2005. Best if done by NOON THURSDAY JUNE 5.

Help launch Levees.Org to the top of the YouTube charts!

Want to do more? You can also:

1. Register at YouTube and rate the video.

2. View and rate our other videos on YouTube.

Help spread the word. Help show why New Orleans and people nationwide deserve the 8/29 Investigation. We have shown that the levee study done by the government is flawed and controversial. We also know that the review done by the ASCE was shoddy and biased.

-Loki, HumidCity Founder

Here is some fun footage from McCain’s speech in Kenner yesterday that I found via Suspect Device:

Thanks Greg! Y’all enjoy!

-Loki, HumidCity Founder

And so is the docket.

Breaking News:

Betty and Mose Jefferson and Betty’s daughter Angela Coleman have just been slapped with 31 federal charges and if convicted, each faces at least 250 years in jail. Most of the charges concern the incredibly slick ways that the Jeffersons ‘allegedly’ funneled state and federal monies through various non-profit organizations controlled by them into their personal accounts. Betty and Mose also face 4 and 3 charges, respectively, for income tax evasion.

The charges were announced by U.S. Attorney Jim Letten on WDSU just moments ago. More as it becomes available.

A bill to find the truth about the levee failures is stalled in Homeland Security and YOU can kick this bill into action!

If you haven’t yet, please make two (2) important phone calls today:

1. Call Senator Landrieu at 202-224-5824 and tell her we need hearings on the 8/29 Investigation Act.

2. Call Senator Vitter at 202-224-4623 and ask for him to co-sponsor Senate Bill 2826 so we have a bipartisan bill.

It’s quick and simple - just start your phone call with this:

“I would like to leave a message for the Senator…. ” And leave your message.

Your Senators represent YOU; make sure your voice is heard!

Best if done by 6pm CST today Tue June 3.

Syndicated from the Levees.org email.

Now maybe its just me, but if this was said about a Republican politician there would be a storm of protest, accusations of treason, and a general call for torches and pitchforks. I submit the following as evidence in the case for the corporations that advertise on FOX to begin pulling their ads.

Why am I bringing this up here? Because the failure of the fourth estate is one of the major factors that has allowed the situation on the Gulf Coast to become the mess that it is. The consistent, mindless jingoism of FOX in particular has endorsed the most absurd offerings to trumpet forth from the White House with no attention paid to the actual facts they should have been reporting.

Darth Cheney’s favorite propaganda network strikes again!

-Loki, HumidCity Founder

You’ll need it to defend yourself.

State senator Ann Duplessis, (is that like duplicity?,) has authored Louisiana’s newest political embarrassment, Senate Bill 672, which calls for an increase in pay for state legislators. She seems to think that our poor underpaid elected officials need more than quadruple their current $16,000 salaries. SB672 would pay them $70,000 per year and also double their expense accounts. Here, read it yourself. (Yes, recent reports say $50,000, but this is the new and improved version dated 1/1/09. Now that’s foresight!) (You know, technically the word ‘authored’ gives Duplessis way too much credit. She simply took the old bill which set legislator salaries, crossed out “$16,000″ and wrote in “$70,000.” Probably in crayon.)

This will essentially make our legislators the ninth highest paid out of all fifty states. Pretty good considering the most recent survey ranks our states economy 21st out of fifty. Heck, hardly seems worth mentioning, but still…

This comes only one year after Annie helped pass Smokin’ Joe Toomey’s HB489 which also increased the pay of other state officials and the governor. That’s a lot of your money Annie’s spending. If I paid state taxes, I’d be pissed. I’d be thoroughly enraged if I lived in the Lower Ninth Ward though. See, that’s Annie’s territory. I may be slightly off the mark here but, shouldn’t she find some way to help her constituents rebuild their neighborhood before pissing away their hard earned money on her cronies in Baton Rouge?

Annie says that with recently declared monies in the state treasury her plan is now more affordable than ever. Really. Hey Annie, what about those empty lots in the Lower Ninth? Any way you can shake loose a buck or two for the families whose houses were destroyed? No, you say? Pity. Well, as long as you’re housed, fat and happy… fuck ‘em, eh?

Duplessis’ record can be seen here. I find it interesting that she would castrate sex offenders, yet force women to bear the children of rape and incest. I guess that’s just the way she was raised. I wonder who raised her to spend other people’s money so freely?

Unfortunately, SB672 tore through the Senate Finance Committee with unanimous approval and virtually no debate, (big surprise,) and now is on its way to the full senate, presumably for rubber-stamping and a big laugh at all you hard-workin’ Joes that are gonna pay for it. What can you do? Make your voice known! Call your senator and demand they vote this spendthrifts piece-of-shit legislation down the tubes! Visit the Louisiana Action Council and answer the SB672 Poll. Or you can sit there and twiddle your thumbs. It’s your money… at least until Annie gets aholt of it.

This post was syndicated by permission from M. Styborski’s Nation of Morons blog where it appeared on 05/20/08  If you don’t read NoM, you should! -Loki, HumidCity, Founder

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?

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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.

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