Jeudi

Corps of Engineers Chooses Inferior Pumps Plan, Option 1
Refuses Congressional Mandate
to Protect New Orleans
--instead increases City's Risk!
~M. Schleifstein, S. Grissett
~According to the environmental report, (379 page pdf) the existing floodwalls along the canals inside the new pump stations "would be maintained in their current condition and would not be reconstructed" --even though the corps has concluded that water levels must be kept no higher than half the walls' existing heights.
Critics have slammed the idea of double pumping as unnecessarily risky during an emergency. Instead, they pushed for the corps to build a single all-purpose pump station in each canal that would operate 365 days a year, allowing the S&WB pumps to be decommissioned.
Also rejected in the report were alternatives that would have pumped water from parts of Metairie to the Mississippi River instead of into the 17th Street Canal, and would have pumped some water from the London Avenue into the Industrial Canal.
The corps decision was immediately criticized by U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., who has been vocal in his support for a more comprehensive alternative, including pumping to the river.

Dangerous pump vandalism continues around the parish
~Nikki Buskey

New Streetcar Lines Are A Fantasy~YatPundit

CenLamar

Tenants vie for public housing
in redeveloped St. Bernard complex~Katy Reckdahl
~Before Katrina, the development was home to 963 public-housing households, which paid monthly "HUD rent" up to one-third of their income. By comparison, the first phase of Columbia Parc includes 466 apartments, but only 157 will be subsidized public-housing apartments where rent is based on income. The remainder will be 149 market-rate apartments and 160 "affordable" tax-credit units that target moderate-income households, charging rent significantly higher than that faced by public-housing families.

Blacks, Latinos share similar experiences in post-Katrina
New Orleans~Chicago Defender
~African-Americans and Latinos living in New Orleans share remarkably similar experiences and are willing to work together to bridge differences according to a new study released last week by Oxfam America and Dr. Silas Lee & Associates.

Duplex by Frank Gehry
for Make it Right~Dezeen


~The new designs, unveiled yesterday, are for multi-family dwellings and follow the range of single-family homes unveiled in January last year.


"Brad Pitt for Mayor" tee shirt featured on national television
~Storyville Times
~H/T~Louisiana Now

Brad Pit for Mayor?
~The New Orleans Levee
~Pitt, the actor and friend and part-time resident of New Orleans, would neither confirm nor deny for The Levee his intent regarding the growing grassroots campaign under way in the city to draft him to qualify by Dec. 11 to enter the Feb. 6 mayoral primary. However, a woman who answered the phone at their home identifying herself only as “Angie” and claiming a close, personal knowledge of his activism, addressed the “Brad Pitt for Mayor” effort.
The Levee obtained the phone number through Pitt friend and the newspaper’s senior writer, ChaCha Pitoulas, who starred with Pitt in the New Orleans-set “Interview With A Vampire,” with Pitoulas portraying the little girl vampire Claudia.
“I can tell you Brad loves New Orleans. After all, a river runs through it,” she said.

Larry Flynt To Run For Mayor Of New Orleans~Editilla O'rilla d'Aphasia
...”on the beat off the record!"
[dateline: Flint, Michigan]
~One-time Presidential candidate, free speech activist, beaver enthusiast and inventor of "The Wheelie! Protective Cup", Larry Flynt announced today his intention to run for mayor of New Orleans.
But why announce in Flint, Michigan?
"Well, I like the name recognition." says Flynt, in Flint.
"People often call me a skin-flint. And also, everyone knows how Flint starred in Michael More's first movie. What a lot of people don't know is that Michael starred in one of my movies back in the 70s and worked for me as a cub intern early in his career.
That's right. Where do you think he first learned the secret ins and outs of hidden-camera blackma—errr'ah, I mean, documentary film making? But does he ever remember to mention who gave him his first shot, who broke him in, showed him the ropes, taught him how to struggle, how to behave, how to say 'yes please, Mr. Flynt, may I have another?' Does he ever think of me when palms his little Oscar? Nah! What a pig."

When asked about his reasons for leaving a lucrative position at the head of such an Ostentatious Pornography Potentatency (OPP) to try to run the city of New Orleans, arguably the least lucrative work in the OPP business, the Master'Baiter had this to say, "Leave this? You gotta be joking. But hey, did not Nagin prove that you don't have to actually "live" in the city to be elected mayor, much less show up for work? Plus I already have a Hustler Club down there on Bourbon St, which would save the city a bundle on office space, secretaries, VIP "conference" rooms and Congressional lays --errrah, I mean, liaisons."

Larry Mack went on to further expoundulate upon his new fetish for Louisiana politics, "New Hell! I've been making butt'loads of money off of Louisiana politicians for years. It’s just lately that I didn't even have to pay any money up front. Wish I'd'a figured that one out sooner, like when I was opening my club. Jezuz'Judaz! Now THAT cost a porkin' tub-0-grease! But it turns out to be a much better return on investment this way. Yeah, there's the cost of the occasional lie detector tests, but that's what, 150 bucks? Chump change. That reward money I used to entrap, errr'ah, I mean…ensnare Sen. Bob “Make a” Livingston? It all came from donations! I swear! Every penny. Really. It's true!
And get this, the magazine revenues generated by that one 'outing' paid for a lot of my girls to finish high school—errr’ah, I mean college, let me tell you. I swear! Every penny. Really. It's true!
And this guy Vitter? Aw man, what a gold mine!
I can’t beat 'em off with a stick!"

Finally, I asked the the Porn King and Potential Potentate if he wasn't at least slightly afraid of another hurricane striking the city, and his plans for evacuation, given the current mayor's sad state of preparedness and his own evacuationally challenged modus ambulatus. "You are kidding right?", rasped Flynt,
"Why, I've been shot out, laid out, blacked-out, black-mailed and priority-mailed. I've been rolled, bowled, doled, trolled, pimped and gimped. I've had my chest shaved. I've had my legs shaved. Wanna see my butt? I've even had my butt shaved! And don't ask me about wax jobs. I've been whipped, dipped, stripped and tipped. I've had midgets walk all over my back in gold lame‘ and purple rhinestone spiked heels while drinking gatorade and laughing like cute little tiger'fans. I'm so bad my mama had to ask permission for me to attend elementary school. My daddy used to beat me over the head just for lookin' cross'eyed. You think I'm gonna be afraid of a little old hurricane? Damn Right! But I have a plan. A big plan. Big big big. We'll market New Orleans as, get ready, you're gonna love this…we'll get Fox to do a cop show, right? Name it: "Hustler & Blow", about a white chic/black guy team, where she's not really a chic and he's not really a cop or black but a caramel'colored, not from Louisiana either and needs a blow job every couple of hours to stay focused... Anyway, I'll be long gone before any of you suckers even think about calling the mayor with your problems. Evacuation Esshhmaculation! "
Campaign slogan anyone?

Sharks seen in Livingston Parish

Artist Jose Maria Cundin talks about his new work~Chris Rose

New Orleans jazz trumpet icon Kermit Ruffins on BBQ
~David Pescovitz

Teacher's master work was sharing her love of music
~Jim McNally
~In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, former music teacher Mercedes Tucker Stamps made Statesville, NC her home.
In a small book about her life, subtitled "A Public School Teacher's Contribution to New Orleans Music History," Mrs. Stamps, 83, recalls former students who would would play influential roles in New Orleans' jazz scene and in other spheres of music. Many more would become music teachers themselves.
One of her younger students that first year at Gilbert Academy was 12-year-old Ellis Marsalis Jr. "Even when he was young, he was good," Mrs. Stamps said. "He was almost as good as I was." Photo by Regan Hill

Ponderosa Stomp Curator Ira Padnos Joins Terence Blanchard for Summer Scoops Live ~Movement