Samedi

Tree, fence removal set for Saturday on west side of 17th Street Canal~Sheila Grissett

Corps gives go-ahead to new west bank levee~Paul Rioux

Destroying Levees in a State Usually Clamoring for Them
~Cornelia Dean

New Orleans streetcars win stimulus cash~Bruce Eggler

A simple hat and a complicated
story: the risk of unreliable storytelling in a recovering
city~Ariella Cohen
~H/T~ Library Chronicles

Galactic's Stanton Moore powers Tom Morello's new Street Sweeper Social Club album
~Keith Spera

Vendredi

Affidavit on smear campaign against Corps critics:
Why I spoke out~Jon Donley
~"During my tenure as founding editor-in-chief of the New Orleans-based sites affiliated with The Times-Picayune, my duties included management and oversight of an aggressive program of community engagement features. As detailed in the affidavit, I began observing a group of about 20 user aliases deriding any story or user comment questioning the Corps’ performance in protecting New Orleans from flooding.
These comments tracked Corps talking points and media statements, often almost verbatim.
~I learned in mid-2008 that the IP address associated with these postings belonged to the New Orleans office of the Corps of Engineers. At that point I watched the postings more closely.
The Corps later admitted that posts were being made from within its network, but described them as an isolated event. In the latest response, Corps representatives said that any postings were made by people on breaks, as allowed by Corps policy.
This clearly was not the case.
But what crystallized the issue for me was the news about the multimillion-dollar public relations campaign, whose launch tracked the beginning of the attacks on critics of the Corps on NOLA.com. The public relations firm – Outreach Process Partners (OPP) — bragged on its web site that it had influenced the coverage of the Corps by major news organizations. I know that the use of covert postings is a recognized, if somewhat crude, tactic by many public relations campaigns. Red flags were going off. (emphasis all Editilla!:)
~TP/Nola.com responds to WWL (but not yet Donley), with an Absolute Fluff PR'n Piece of Corps BoIntelPro Spin'Filtration, replete with misstatements of Corps Policy regarding computer use and attempts to marginalize founding editor Donley as a Temp Laborer, to quote: "An Internet consultant who had worked for nola.com". Excuse me?
The TP/Nola.com now does not address the clear and present felony violations of the Federal Code and the Hatch Act, both of which govern the fraudulent use of Tax-funded Federal Property, particularly computers. The TP/Nola.com allowed the Corps PO Ken "Doll" Holder to again misstate policy and contradict the public statements of his boss, as posted in yesterday's Ladda.
Y'all go check out the comments section now, since Nola.com is basically, though erroneously, giving permission for every Troll down on Leake Street to come and pump more shit in our veins.
Who'z Paying the Piper Here???
We the People want to know how much of this nefarious gansta skulduggery is directly executed by the Corps own tax-financed
$5,000,000 Public Relations / Media Manipulator:
Outreach Process Partners (OPP).

Dr. Hollier on abandoning
New Orleans: Not feasible, massively expensive
~SaveCharityHospital.com

MS Housing, islands get millions
~Michael Newsom

Assoc. of Boxing Commissions Annual Conference July 28th

Damn right! Editilla sayz bring it on!

Ecology of Absence

Sax in the City
~Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans

Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival Fiction Contest

Book Review: New Orleans Classic Gumbos & Soups
by Kit Wohl~The Thin Red Line

Herman Leonard chronicles intimate jazz moments

Bonerama: Sullivan Hall Tonight
~NolaFunk NYC

"The City That God Forgot"
by Speedbuggy USA
~Markus Pacal

Jeudi

Corps of Engineers employees masquerading as commenters?
~Dennis Woltering, WWL
~700 "Isolated Incidences"??? It comes in an affidavit from the former editor in chief of NOLA.com.
"What stuck out though was the wording of the comments, in many ways mirroring the news releases from the corps of engineers," former nola.com editor in chief Jon Donley said.
...Donley said he also noticed these users who attacked corps critics were using corps equipment. He made a spreadsheet of the activity over six weeks at the end of December and beginning of January.
"During that six-week period, there were nearly 700 comments from corps IPs, the same group of people I had been watching for over two years," Donley said. "So this was not an isolated incident."

~Editilla pulls a Pilla~ At the risk of having to endure more face-time from OPP, We the People would like to know if the Corps of Engineers violated Federal Code here...
by using our tax-funded computers, on our tax-provided time,
with our tax-sweated dime --thus committing Felony Crime,
---thusly sticking their finger in The People's Anus.
Perhaps one of our gentle readers is a Federal Prosecutor and can interpret this story of "For Whom the Bar Codes" better than yer'outlaw Editilla. Of course, since the Department of Justice represents the Corps in court (MRGO etc), ie they are the Corps' Lawyers, who can bring charges against these Corps employees, should it we determine here that A Felony Has Been Committed? Are they civilians? Or Military? Court of Law or Courts Marshal?
Felonious Punk???
~UNITED STATES CODE ANNOTATED
TITLE 18. CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE, PART I--CRIMES
CHAPTER 47--FRAUD AND FALSE STATEMENTS
§ 1030. Fraud and related activity in connection with computers.
Section (3) intentionally, without authorization to access any nonpublic computer of a department or agency of the United States, accesses such a computer of that department or agency that is exclusively for the use of the Government of the United States or, in the case of a computer not exclusively for such use, is used by or for the Government of the United States and such conduct affects that use by or for the Government of the US.
Section (5) subparagraph (B) clause (iv)
--a threat to public health or safety. (italics mine)
clause (v) --damage affecting a computer system used by or for a government entity in furtherance of the administration of justice, national defense, or national security.
We added clause (v), since we really don't know if the Corps is telling the truth regarding what nefarious horse shit these punks may be up to with our computers on our dime, time and crime,
to wit: for whom the Bar Codes.

~Hatch Act for Federal Employees
~How to File a Complaint Alleging a Violation of the Hatch Act:
Filers alleging a violation of the Hatch Act may use Form OSC-13 (Complaint of Possible Prohibited Political Activity) to submit their allegation to Office of Special Counsel.
Form OSC-13 can be printed from this Web site. Filers can fill the form online or fill it out after printing the form. Once the form is filled it should be mailed or faxed (202-653-5151) to OSC.

Ken "Doll" Holder with the Corps of Engineers
said employees are allowed to use computers to read blogs and make comments during their breaks.
“You certainly don't check your citizenship rights at the door,” Holder said. “You would be able to use, as I mentioned earlier, you would be able to use your computer during the break times that you had.” --Wrong Call, Ken'Doll. Read the da'Law.
Opinions are like assholes and everybody's got one.
Butt, Federal Property is an entirely different piece of real estate because we chose to invest in it. Hence, we have Laws to keep Assholes (like you?) from gettin'midevil with our Property!
This Public Relations Ken'Doll pewka just came on the job and must not realize that he directly contradicts the Exquisite Corps Commander's own public statement 7 months ago, on Thursday, Dec. 18, when Colonel Alvin Lee issued an apology to Levees.org:
“Please accept my apology for the unprofessional comments someone in my District posted to your web site,” said the letter. “I have reinforced with my entire staff that this was an inappropriate and unacceptable use of our computers and time.” Perchance Ken'Doll has yet to receive his Letter?
Editilla sayz it just doesn't get any better than this, real carnival,
like shooting voodoo dolls in a fish bowl with a sawed-off shotgun loaded with 12-gauge double-00 Lucky Beads.

Editilla drops special T'n'T on Sandy Rosenthal, Executive Director of Levees.org, for staying on top of this story, following it up and tracking down that nola.com editor in chief, Jon Donely, exiled to some goat-neck Texas town.
Mrs. Rosenthal has provided dozens of examples of this putrid "Astro-Turf" Corps Computer Fraud, as well as a download of Jon Donely's Sworn Affidavit here. Both are heroleroes.
I heard that this editor in chief was notified of his "layoff" by security guards. Anyone else hear that? Another loss to OPP?
Perhaps we should ask his replacements at nola.com?
If you agree, write to Jim Amoss, Editor of the Times Picayune, at this address: jamoss@timespicayune.com, and say this: "I deserve to know the full details on how the Corps of Engineers has been using my tax payer money to protect its image. I deserve to see all the comments that came from the Corps' computers."
You could also leave a message on Mr. Amoss's voice mail by calling his direct line: 504-826-3475.
~Special H/T: The Murder of New Orleans
You can toll'em Editilla sent'yaz!

Is The Corps of Engineers
Astro-Turfing Its Critics?
~Harry Shearer
Astro-Turf PR is the Atomic Opposite of Grass Roots Networks.

Quote of the Day...
Overheard at a Senate hearing yesterday:
"Could you say 'senator' instead of 'ma'am?' It's just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title.
I'd appreciate it."
~Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) to Brigadier General Michael Walsh during Senate hearing Tuesday, when he the general repeatedly said, "Yes, ma'am," and "No, ma'am," when answering Boxer's questions at hearing she chaired on New Orleans' levee system.

OPP-run meeting with Corps frustrates, disgusts residents
~Christine Harvey
~"I really feel terrible for the people who came to this meeting, and all they're getting is bureaucracy," said state Rep. Kevin Pearson, R-Slidell. "These people have been working for four years. All we see are lines on a chart."

Corps to spend $68.8 million on Calcasieu Ship Channel
~Breakbulk Shipping

Now this is what Editilla calls a Birthday Cake!
***Happy Birthday KK!***

New Orleans' International markets bring many cultures home~Judy Walker

DRUM! Magazine Writer Sticks “Hip” To New Orleans Guitar Player Leo Nocentelli

Johnny To Get Jazzy at the Leaf Tonight!

Mercredi

~Iran Updates (VIDEO):
Live-Blogging The Uprising
~Nico Pitney
11:45 AM Tehran
(8.5 hrs ahead of Nola) ~Journalist defies the crackdown on foreign media.
Via readers John, Pejman, and Colin: the pugnacious British reporter Robert Fisk witnesses a stunning scene in which Iranian soldiers keep a group of plainclothes paramilitaries away from Mousavi supporters!
~Live-Tweeting the Revolution~Daily Dish
~Al Jazeera
~Editilla Greens da'Ladda for the People of Iran.
We hope They Win Their Election!

'Pump to river' plan gets support of powerful California Senator
~Mark Schleifstein
~U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., influential chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, promised Tuesday to push for legislation to force the Army Corps of Engineers to build the proposed $200 million "Pump to the River" option to reroute some rainwater from the 17th Street Canal to the Miss. River.
"I am so persuaded this particular project makes sense that I have asked my colleagues to work with me in adopting stand-alone legislation authorizing the work," Boxer said.
"This is an urgent need."
Yea Mark Schleifstein, the last o'da Mo'Speakins!
~Full Congressional Committee hearing titled: "New Orleans Hurricane and Flood Protection and Coastal Louisiana Restoration: Status and Progress."--offered in two streaming video formats.
~Editilla rips a pilla~ We recommend everyone watch this hearing. It is pretty long so maybe brew a pot, pop a top, fire it up or whateva... sit back and watch our wheels of government turn like a snake in a steel trap.
You will have to sit through General "White" Walsh from the Corps, as he obfuscates and keeps referring back-step to the Corps Legal Department. It is however good to watch the General's Eyes... he is definitely the kind of flak-catching liar you'd want in a high-stakes game of Bourré.
The Ghastly Strangelover even had the unmittigated gall to open his testimony in memory of 3 of his fallen COE soldiers in the war. Oh, the Corps of Engineers is in Harm's Way?
Fuck off in Hell, General. They are OUR soldiers and we don't need You trying to School Our Congress on the Our Casualties of War. We accept our role, so why can't this General accept his --and step up to the plate with Straight Answers instead of disgracing the uniform by passing the buck: "I'll have our Lawyers get back to you"? Sorry, Gen'rail, Answer Time Is Now. There are other times and other more appropriate venues to Honor Our Fallen. He forgot to mention OUR soldiers electrocuted to death by the faulty engineering work his COE signed off on in Iraq. Needless to say he had nothing for the 1000s of American Citizens killed by his Exquisite Corps' engineering failures on American Soil.
It is really hard for me to watch such a good ol'boy creep, who will move on soon and eventually probably settle into a nice cushy lucrative job as a Government Contract Lobbyist.
This smeagly fakir needs to be Branded and thrown out to face the Indians.
Rank may have its privelages, but not its own coat tails. So this General can ride off on someone else's loss.
Nationalist Service my Ass.
But then, after the general was taught why they call Madam: Senator Boxer... then come the Smart Americans, the Citizenry. We should listen to The People more often --especially the ones from New Orleans like Joseph Rault and Tom Jackson.
Editilla is so proud of the entire Louisiana Delegation, but those two were definitely swinging Louisville Sluggers.
For all the considerable shit I have shovelled onto Tom Jackson, he gets 3 cheers, Hip'Hip Who'dats, for the way he presented and handled the situation to this committee.
Also~Louisiana Sen. Landrieu Seeks Radical Reform Of Water Policies, Agencies Roles ~BBuzz

Iowa Officials frustrated with FEMA on flood recovery

Biloxi's FEMA trailer residents get 6-month extension
~Facing South

FEMA Disaster Contracts Lost and Misplaced -- DHS IG Finds Piles of Boxes and Papers
~ABC News
Special H/T~ Mock, Paper, Scissors

Team Witchcraft 2012!?
~Daily Kos
~Editilla gotta Ax'yaz~ Whadda'bout Haley Babar 2012?
Babar'n'Zephir? The Exorcist and da'Fatman? Rut'Row, Batman!

Did Louisiana Team Jindal Get Caught With Its Pants Down?
~Stephen Sabludowsky

Insurance report card gives Louisiana an "F"
~Times-Picayune

It's Hump Day, let's get slabbed!

Louisiana running in middle of pack for green jobs
~New Orleans CityBusiness
H/T~Louisiana Now

1st black woman president of bar
~The Advocate

Running 'Cause I Can't Fly

2,500-mile rail line from New Jersey to New Orleans to take as many as 1 million trucks off interstates
~Truck Drivers News
~Norfolk Southern said the Crescent Corridor aims to use a network of terminals and railway improvements along a 2,500-mile rail line from New Jersey to New Orleans to take as many as 1 million trucks off interstates by transporting their cargo via train. In Alabama alone, an estimated 300,000 trucks could be taken off the interstates each year, the company says. That would alleviate congestion and emissions on the roadways, saving 100 million gallons of fuel per year.

SIGGRAPH 2009 Announces Plans to Benefit New Orleans

NOFS presents SIDDHARTHA
~Curious Tribe

The Healing Touch~Nat Henfoff
~Louis Armstrong, a true believer in the healing power of music, sent recordings of jazz and classical music to a hospital in New Orleans, so they could be played for women giving birth.
In keeping with his wishes, the Louis Armstrong Department of Music Therapy at New York's Beth Israel Hospital – funded in part by the Louis Armstrong Foundation – treats patients in pediatrics, oncology, pain care and other specialties.

Mardi

Above: A young man climbs "Freedom Tower" in Azadi Square in Tehran.
<~Left: A demonstrator wears a mask in the party's color of green, due to fears of being identified. (AP) ~Huffington Post

~Iran Updates (VIDEO):
Live-Blogging The Uprising
~Nico Pitney
~9:31 AM ET -- Rallying for punishment: "In downtown Tehran, thousands of people gathered Tuesday in a state-organized rally that Iran's state media said was designed to demand punishment for the rioters from Monday's clashes.

~Photo above by Flickr users iran09
~Live-Tweeting the Revolution~Daily Dish
~Editilla Greens da'Ladda for the People of Iran.
We hope They Win Their Election!

Red Tape and Sniping Leave
New Orleans in Danger
~Patricia Murphy
~Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, the commander of the Army Corps' Mississippi Valley Division, which has oversight of work in New Orleans, appeared Tuesday before the Senate's Committee on Environment and Public Works. Besides Walsh, the hearing featured state officials, Jeff Jacobs --an expert with the National Research Council-- and Tom Jackson -engineer and member of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority East. As well, Pump to the River and Louisiana's two senators, Mary Landrieu and David Vitter, testified.

Revised flood-risk maps to be presented for New Orleans
~Newly revised Preliminary Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps showing the potential for flooding caused by a 100-year rainfall and hurricane-strength surge for New Orleans will be available for review and discussion at a Wednesday open house in City Park.
Adoption of new maps by the city of New Orleans is voluntary, but it is normally a requirement for property owners in the city to participate in the National Flood Insurance Program.

Brief? Not if it’s 125 pages
– a MRGO post-trial update ~slabbed

Proposal puts roadway, cargo dock at Bonne Carre spillway
~Matt Scallan

New Orleans City Park wins $50,000 grant to restore forest
~Sheila Stroup

Bloomsday~Toulouse Street

Incoming~American Zombie

Even More Press!
~New Orleans Craft Mafia

Louisiana Governor JIndal:
The Toilet Paper Man
~Stephen Sabludowsky
~But does he really give a sheet about Louisiana?
Hey it worked for that Idiot Bastard Son George Bush, eh?
Just look what he did with our US Constitution!

Personal, powerful Katrina stories preserved forever
~David Elliot

The human levee music project
~H/T~Urban Music 2000

Lundi~Vote for the People of Iran

~Photo of a protester helping an injured riot cop.
I'm Wearing Green
~We Could Be Famous
~Editilla Greens da'Ladda for the People of Iran.
We hope They Win Their Election!
~Watergate Summer

Smart Money or Risky Bet?
~SaveCharityHospital.com

Tell Senator Landrieu To Support A Public Health Insurance Option
~Daily Kingfish

Second surge hidden hazard of hurricanes~Amy Wold

Miss. River could become even stronger money maker for
New Orleans~Scott Satchfield

Wilco Marsh Buggies of Harvey wins contracts valued at $1M
<~Click to enlarge

New Orleans Nagin: Perking Up The Lawn~Jeff Crouere

New Orleans City Government Overthrown~Creole Tomato

Coast Vietnamese have become a culture dispersed~Mary Perez

New Orleans Catholics angry as archdiocese tries to redirect aid
~Bruce Nolan

New Orleans Program Links Green Jobs, Youth Development
~Phil Taylor

Chinese drywall pre-trial matters to be handled in New Orleans

Don't Let the Plan Be the Disaster ~William M. Lokey
H/T~Barrier Briefs

Storm stories: New books tell Last Island's tragic tale
~Susan Larson

Hackometer 4,992.0 miles
~Crescent City Hack

The Truth & Other Lies
~Lord David

Restaurant Review: Lusco's
~NOLA-dishu

Hog's headless cheese~Chadzilla

Dave Matthews Band
‘Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King’
~Katrina- Kasey Wheeler

Rifftides' Anniversary Yeah!

'Preserving' and promoting our treasured musicians
~Geraldine Wyckoff

NOCCA adds a $2.3M wing devoted to training in video, music production and design ~Stephen Maloney

Berklee Returns to New Orleans Musicians' Village to Build Homes~Jazz Corner

Dimanche~Naked Brunch

Happy Flag Day

Riders get nekid, pedal through Quarters to expose cyclists' problems
~Ramon Antonio Vargas

Dredged mud can save Louisiana coast, state says
~Mark Schleifstein

~Sediment from a dredge in Lake Pontchartrain is pumped into dyked marsh. A federal- state wetlands restoration project to restore more than two square miles of marsh in the Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge by dredging sediment from Lake Pontchartrain near Bayou Lacombe and piping it into the Goose Point/Point Platte marsh area was begin in June of 2008. Photo: Ellis Lucia, Ashleigh Austin

Coastal Louisiana rebuilding projects can now proceed
~Chris Kirkham

Terrebonne Parish total-control levee bills go to Senate floor
~Jeremy Alford

Madisonville copes with new reality on riverfront
~Cindy Chang

Build high, lower rates
~Anita Lee

"The Scweem"~Hrrmph!

Bobby’s cochon de lait recipe
~C.B. Forgotston
~In case there are some out that don’t know, despite the lean times facing us mullets, Bobby Jindal still likes pork; especially the pork in the state’s Operating and Capital Budgets.

4 ex-governors meet Excisercist
~Jordan Blum~Four former Louisiana governors met with Gov. Bobby "Brady" Jindal in a rare gathering Thursday to express their concerns about Jindal’s cuts in higher education.

Child-Governor Jindal's backers form federal PAC
~A group of Gov. Bobby Jindal's political supporters, including an uncle of the governor's wife, Supriya Jindal, are forming a federal political action committee to support a presidential run by the 38-year-old, ultra-Catholic, women-no-rights Republican.

Miss. governor and former
tobacco lobbyist Haley Babar tests 2012 GOP waddlers in Iowa
~Emily Wagster Pettus
~If the Republican Party is in danger of being marginalized as a conservative, white male Southern enclave, is Haley Babar
--the longtime Washington power broker and current Mississippi governor-- the best person to turn things around?
~Editilla gotta Ax'yaz~ Bobby & Haley 2012?
Babar'n'Zephir? The Exorcist and da'Fatman? Rut'Row, Batman!

Here's to the Violets:
My Thoughts on Gay Rights
~Patricia Clarkson

Illegal Immigration Poses Moral Questions About Jobs
~Carol Forsloff
~Editilla Con'swillas~
I don't see a connection between Morality and Economics. Whenever people do that it always seems to work out best for the Moralists. This problem has Nothing to do with Morals, but everything to do with Economics. I see Economic Cancer of Scale in our methods of Illegal Immigrant Employment.
Everyone has grown DisEased by undercutting the wage earners. This is about making everyone poor, Americans, Mexicans, whoever works on the hours. Really, to muddle this up with a question of Morals is to miss the real crimes against humanity.
Economically this current business model will not work. Everyone needs to make better money in this country and the next. That is the real question here, to wit: what about there... where these people come from, why can they not make a living wage in their own countries???
Our national business model has betrayed Capitalism to some thing more akin to National Socialism. As such, the state sets and enforces the minimum wage. If we were still a truly capitalistic country then perhaps we could afford the luxury of "Morality" in our Immigration Policy. As long as we continue to believe in the Economies of Scale, then the individuals who work within that scenario will matter little more than flies in a dead man's ear.

Congo on'da Bayou???
~Central La. Politics
"Male" deputies on video: cruelly macing, stripping totally nude, Bossier woman
--cell door open, in full view of jail and packs of other leering deputy pervert sicko warlord rapists wannabees!
Caution: Hard to watch! ~H/T~Louisiana Now

PTSD Radio show
~Kiss My Gumbo

Bonsai growers from around the world to gather in New Orleans to share their secrets
~Stephanie Bruno
~"Once you catch the bug," said Guy Guidry, a bonsai master who teaches around the world, "it turns into an illness. An addiction. A compulsion. It becomes all you can think about." Guidry and others are preparing for the Bonsai Clubs International's International Bonsai Congress, coming to the New Orleans Botanical Garden June 19.
~Greater New Orleans Bonsai Society

Found things~Pam Firmin

Cardinal leaves the yard for the season~Sheila Stroup

MIT art students transform FEMA trailer into green machine
~Susie Collins
~Faculty and students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Visual Arts Program transformed a surplus FEMA trailer into a “green” mobile composting center with vertical gardens, rainwater catchment system, permaculture library, and indoor multipurpose space. The trailer has been dubbed the “Armadillo” for its ribbed retractable shell.

Lockwood at Soren Christensen ~Inside Art New Orleans

Brad Pitt has got a ‘no physical contact clause’!~Editilla Chin'Chillaaas...
Ya'Coitainly can't run New Orleans without one of those, now eh?
Jus'sayin, we'wonda of a'nutta Santa Clause of Physical Contact?

New Orleans Beer 30 Thoughts
~Po Boy Views New Orleans

"Pigs Feet and Potted Meat"
~Ivan "Funkboy" Bodley
~the most Qualified Quilifier on Qualifypaper

Bonnaroo Day 2~A.J. Rodrigue
~H/T- HumidBeings.com

NOCCA students head to the White House with Marsalis family~Jonathan Tilove