Samedi

My father passed away at sunrise. I loved him very very much.
One of the last cogent talks I had with Pop was from a pay phone in the French Market, during the Flood'05, I think the day or so after the Produce Company had exploded atop a 200 year old toxic waste dump a few blocks from my studio, and sometime after I had fought another man in the dark dark with a two foot long sword. It is hard to say what day it was, but it was so hot.
Dog Flora and I were aimlessly wandering into the Quarters to get away from the acrid smell of poison which still blanketed the hood like a rat bag. Nearly everyone we knew had gone by then.
It is hard to describe the bleakness. It was just hard.
No cell phone towers within a hundred miles yet these old pay phones that Huey P Long installed still worked. So I called home. After getting the rest of the screaming family off the phones,
I began to broach the issue with my father of my last wishes etc.
It took a second, since Pop was still under the impression that "this can't be happening in America".. that people wearing a uniform meant something and I just needed to go find them and get out of there.. that our country, his country.. well whateva...
About that moment a NOPD car drove by full of BlackWater Mercenaries, all the windows gone with their little rifles sticking out, ball caps on jar heads... I really remember the tiny sunglasses when they looked Directly At Me.
"No, Pop. America doesn't DO uniforms any longer," I said.
So, I needed to get my affairs in order. No more 2nd chances.
"No, Pop, I'm not leaving dog Flora. She is all I have left."
Pop of course disagreed with that sentiment, all of it --and wasn't having any of it. "OK THEN, You get your Goddamn Dog on the Goddamn Levee and go North and we'll find you!" said R.L. Biles.
I broke down.. "Yes sir," said his son, and got my ass in gear.
Alas, his youngest, the straggler, the errant troubadour, I could not face my father until he found me, still armed, in Memphis,
4 months later. He had a big stroke the following April.
A Ramblin'wreck from Georgia Tech and a Hell of an Engineer,
both Civil and Electrical, 17th in his class, Lt. Col. USAF Ret,
Formidable Nemesis of the Corps of Engineers,
"Son there is Nothing more dangerous than a lying engineer,
because then all you have left is the word of a liar."
Planter, Maker, Science Fiction fan, Dog Lover,
Master of Sarcasm and Ruthless Wit,
Protector of the Sunflower River,
Son of the Mississippi Delta,
Richard Leonidas Biles Jr.
...he will be missed.

Vendredi

The Third Annual New Orleans Running of the Bulls takes place Saturday!~Don Ames
~San Fermin in Nueva Orleans replicates and pays homage to the world famous Encierro of Pamplona, Spain, or "The Running of the Bulls," with our own version of bravery on display. Hosted by Big Easy Roller Girls, our bulls will actually be roller girl teams from New Orleans, Houston, Jacksonville, Baton Rouge and Houma.
~Editilla gotta toll'ya~ We know a couple of these grrrls, not gonna say'ya which, but rest big easy they know who they are --and these grrls, they gotz Horns... and Bats... Outta Hell...
...On Wheels! ..Get Down! Get Back Up Again!

State wants Corps less involved in hurricane protection
~Lee Zurik~Editilla wants the Corps more involved in ass'watchin at Angola.

Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. to Retire
~Update~Slabbed: Rumors of Judge Duval’s retirement are a bit premature

Maps will help decide where to limit coastal development
~Nikki Buskey

Millions will benefit local levee, water projects, as Corps stays stuck on stupid in study'hole

Wetlands designation boosts price, Corps' control of property
~City Administrator Rod Otterness says Minnesota has done a good job protecting wetlands. According to Otterness, the Army Corps of Engineers has gotten more aggressive in northern Minnesota. "When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gets involved, everything slows down, everything becomes more expensive, everything becomes more frustrating to the people we're closest to," said Otterness.

Jarvis DeBerry: Mayor's words reveal no sense of shame

"Woe be the feckless..."
~SaveCharityHospital.com

“Women’s only,” round 1000
~Feministe~Did you know there’s a women-only pharmacist in Vancouver? It opened yesterday.
Only, “women’s only,” doesn’t mean all women.
A number of bloggers have been posting about how this new pharmacy has from its birth held onto some old prejudices –excluding trans women from access to its services.

Sinn Féin, We Are Not OK
~On the morning of July 8, as the Group of Eight leaders began arriving in L'Aquila, activists scaled the hill overlooking the red zone and laid out huge sheets of white plastic to form 10-meter high letters reading 'Yes We Camp.' As Mattia Lolli of the 3e32 Committee, which takes its name from the time the earthquake hit, explained, "We want to make sure the G8 leaders as well as public opinion in Italy know that three months after the earthquake there are still over 22,000 people living in tents."



New fund to accept disaster money smells like Team Spirit ~Amber Sandoval-Griffin

Wollongong lawyer's death-row mission to New Orleans
~Emma Shaw

Wayne Curtis may have the cure for what ails you at Tales of the Cocktail~Brett Anderson

Honey Island Swamp Band steps up with new "Wishing Well"
~Keith Spera

Photo exhibit offers an intimate look at America's jazz ambassadors~Carla Murphy

Jeudi

State wants Corps less involved in hurricane protection
~Lee Zurik

Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. to Retire

Lessons Not Learned, Continued --Forget About Disaster Housing From FEMA~Harry Shearer

Family uses old tarp to celebrate new roof~Naomi King

Sunflowers bring hope – and possible eco-benefits- to New Orleans ~Judy Lowe

N.O. home-rebuilding program running out of cash
~David Hammer

Mitch Landrieu: Why Not Mayor Of New Orleans?
~Stephen Sabludowsky

FBI Probes New Video In Katrina Slaying~WDSU
~UpDate from Pennsylvania outlet that broke new details.

Company applies for bonds to revive La. theme park
~Alan Sayre

Jim Brown on Bobby Jindal’s National Prospects~slabbed

Isle In The Stream
~Nathan Stubbs

Community Resilience following Hurricane Katrina focus of Southern Miss study

MEMA announces nonprofit cottage donation awardees

Shrimp and White Bean Soup
~Library Chronicles

Woodenhead To Perform Sat
in New Orleans~all about Jazz

Nola Roads, Buckwheat Zydeco: The sounds of life after Katrina
~Courtney Devores

Mercredi~A once in a lifetime Humpday: 12:34:56 on 7/8/09

G8, Obama, 'We Are Not OK'
In L'Aquila
The pic relates to protests in Rome, before the parliament house.
The initiative is meant to remind the G8 leaders and our premier that 25000 people are still under the tents in L'Aquila, three months after the earthquake.

Superior hurricane protection too expensive -- for now--
says Corps of Engineers
~Bigad Shaban, WWL
~The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it has already decided how it plans to provide 100-year flood protection for the metro area, but local and national lawmakers are saying not so fast. --But the Corps still sayz:
"Screw You New Orleans! Ya'Buggaz,
It's Our Way or the Flood Way!"

Another Stimulus? Who Needs It?
Not New Orleans~Harry Shearer
~Editilla motellas from the back hand path~
We have been carrying Harry's latest post for the past couple of days, as this issue with the Exquisite Corps shoving OPTION 1 up our outfall canals is a very big deal. Getting reamed is always a big deal, even when the pusher isn't particularly well endowed.
As such, the Exquisite Corps knows the game of Endowment.
Here we can see the Real ASCECORPS at work, to wit: The Fix.
All this other stuff we have been subjected to, the local media infiltration and PR spinfiltration, the local blogger astro-turf disguised as (ha!) local bloggers grass roots, the heavy handed firings within the hurricane research community, all has served well to distract the taxpayers from this Major ASCE'Fork.
Most, if not all, of what the Corps says is bullshit slight of hand to keep our eyes off this very Funding Ball.
They have put a gun to our heads this hurricane season and said:
"You will take our Option or you will drown."
That is called being offered a Deal We Cannot Refuse by a Bazillion Pound Syphilitic Gorrilla spitting in our living room.
Editilla axs everyone to watch the Committee Hearing.
See Senator Vitter clearly demonstrate the Exact Wording of the Congressional Mandate on a big poster board to the insolent, straight-faced obfuscating Brigadier General. Hear the brave Corps General Yes Mam keep bouncing the answers back to:
"Let me talk to our lawyers and I'll get back wit'yaz."
He never answered the questions.

The Corps does this Costs-Humping regularly, usually right now at the start of hurricane season. They tried it last year with Morganza to the Gulf surge protection, flood control system: from $800 Million to $11,000,000,000, Billion with a capital B.
They did it again this year with the MRGO/ICWW Surge Barrier, nearly tripling the original costs: {The cost of the barrier and a second gated structure that will be built at the Seabrook entrance to the Industrial Canal from Lake Pontchartrain is now expected to cost about $1.8 billion, said Karen Durham-Aguilera, director of the corps' Task Force Hope, which oversees levee construction. Durham-Aguilera said that's about $540 million more than the two projects were originally expected to cost.
The corps has asked Congress for permission to cover higher costs with money now set aside to pay for armoring earthen levees when they are completed in 2011.}

Unfortunately for New Orleans the Corps has hired an expensive public relations firm to mix up the local media view of this asce'fork and hence was able to literally drop this latest slam-dunk in the laps of a confused and misinformed citizenry: the American Public, the Actual Stakeholders.
I would like all of you reading to bare in mind: once the Corps gets through with New Orleans the rest of you will be a piece of cake.
You will eat this cake and you will like it.
Or you will drown.

Federal, local agencies to split levee-study costs~Nikky Buskey

The Easy Answer to the Trinity River's Levee Problems? Just Blame Katrina~Sam Merton
~Indeed, the 53 levee breaches flooding 80 percent of New Orleans forced the corps to develop new testing standards, which is why Dallas slipped from receiving "excellent" ratings on its levees to a point where no one knows exactly how much work or dough it's gonna take to ensure downtown Dallas won't become the next New Orleans.

Bid to Cut Army Corps' Project Spending a Net Loss for Taxpayers~Taryn Luntz

Tugboat pilot plan may have backfired~Cain Burdeaux

N.O. hospital leader leaving
~Jan Moller

Landrieu: I'm not running for New Orleans mayor
~Analyst: Landrieu's departure leaves New Orleans mayoral race wide open

Stormy Daniels to Sarah Palin: Let's talk!~Politico
~“As a woman who is often criticized and dismissed by the media, I obviously can relate to Governor Palin on many levels,” Daniels said in a statement. “Given this, I am very interested to hear what she has to say about the challenges women like ourselves who are not afraid to display our sexuality face when it comes to being taken seriously as leaders.”

Dow cleanup continues as motorists detoured from River Road~Matt Scallan

7th Annual Tales of the Cocktail!
~2009 Official Cocktail: The Creole Julep
Created by Maksym Pazuniak, Rambla/Cure
~2 1/4 oz. Cruzan Single Barrel Estate Rum
~1/2 oz. Clement Creole Shrubb
~1/4 oz. Captain Morgan 100 Rum
~2 dashes Fee Bros. Peach bitters
~2 dashes Angostura bitters
~8-10 mint leaves
~1 Demerara Sugar Cube

Maksym's cocktail will be served throughout Tales of the Cocktail,
July 8-12 and will be featured in the summer issue of Culinary Concierge Magazine and on CocktailTimes.com.

Be sure to keep up with what's happening at Tales of the Cocktail
<~via the TalesBlog.

~Shorter descriptions for the Gambit's "Top 50 Bars" list for your convenience, from The Librarian.
~Book Signings~RumDood~LA'tail

Modiki El Niños and Atlantic hurricane activity
~Dr. Jeff Masters

An Evening with the New Orleans Master Plan
~Gill Benedek

A Fresh Look for New Orleans' Working-Class Neighborhoods
~Emilie Bahr

Keeping count of the Gulf Coast
~Facing South

Author Makes Mark by Inking Book Deal in Spite of Flood
~On August 27th, 2005, two days ahead of Hurricane Katrina, Daphne Marie Doucette and her family fled New Orleans, Louisiana in her Toyota Sequoia en route to Alabama.
Underestimating the threat of Katrina, (and, as everyone else, completely ignorant of the Corps of Engineers' bad flood walls~Edtitilla,) Doucette packed very little and as a result left behind floppy discs of her three finished manuscripts, which represented nearly four years of work at her personal computer.

An American Opera: The Greatest Pet Rescue Ever!
~Interviewing leaders of animal organizations and volunteers who went to New Orleans after (the Corps of Engineers bad floodwalls failed and flooded the city), it is revealed that at the beginning, everyone had different ideas about how things should be done, but no one was willing to take charge because the problem was bigger than anyone could have imagined. The film champions the volunteers whose only concern was saving animals, unlike the animal organizations who were more concerned with the chain of command.

The Shaw Group Inc. will perform solar power work

Google Announces Chrome OS
~Nick Mediat

From a tiny acorn...

Heroin Makes Comeback (?) ~WDSU

Now Is the Time for New Orleans Breast Enlargement?

Project 30-90 greens up music festivals in New Orleans
~Meghan Jones

Local musicians to perform at memorial for New Orleans musician~The bands are set to perform at a memorial benefit in honor of Steve Phillips, an active member of the New Orleans music community for more than 20 years. Phillips died June 5 of cancer. He was 53. The benefit, an all-day show and dance, is planned for 11 a.m. until "well after dark" Sunday at
The Bayou Barn, 7145 Barataria Blvd., Crown Point.
The venue is about 20 minutes south of New Orleans.

Mardi

Louisiana Lady Republican Rising Star Audra Shay "schools" Young Republicans on Facebook
~about the difference between a "Coon" and "Cracker Honky White Trash".
“You can cover cyanide with chocolate, but you still can't call it candy.”~respondeth Lenny McAllister, author of the upcoming Diary of a Mad Black Proud Young Conservative.

~Editilla Gotta Ax~
You can enjoy a Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,
but you still can't call it pussy?
What is it with these Republican Bitches? The Men? The Women? They all Bitches! What is up you all wit'dat? Even angry Blacks in this partay lay their genitalia out to dry like raisins in the sun?
What could it be that is kinkin'up these arguably kinkiest of the kinky new kank of Grand Old Preverts? Magic? Who'doo? Bad Tuna? Satan got their tongues?
Or Maybe... just maybe'baby... YES!
They are baaaack thank you very much:
Masqued E'vinga Screw'doo Dolls!


Congressman Cao Changes Tune
~SaveCharityHospital.com

Biotech Industry Falling Apart?
~We Could Be Famous

The Fastest Growing Forgotten City in the U.S.~Paul Greenberg

"We also need some way to make us look official, like we got all the answers. "~Library Chronicles

Dictator Louisiana Governor Jindal Or Bobby The Mature?
~Stephen Sabludowsky

Sen. David Vitter (R-Pamp) mentoring other political bad boys~New Orleans Levee

Nasty smell covers area
~Dave Cohen
A foul smell has descended on much of the New Orleans region this morning. Officials say it isn't dangerous, but people report getting light headed and nauseated.
The St. Charles Parish Emergency Operations Center identified the source of the odor as Ethyl Acrylate.
Workers at the St. Charles Parish EOC told WWL First News, "Dow had a unit... get upset". (?) (Like, agitated? Piqued? Punked? Peeved? Perturbed? Prone to tantrums? Petulant?)
It released a bad odor. It is non-toxic. It's non-hazardous.
It's not dangerous as far as we know right now." (Oh, flatulent.)
~Editilla wispa'willas~If this is how an Upset Unit behaves theeen'uh we betta'hope we don't get the thing really pissed off!
~Some Hahnville, La. residents can't go home.

Ammonia leaks from Cytec plant
~Equipment failed after power outage

Seattle students put down roots in South Louisiana~Nikki Buskey

The 20th Annual Breakbulk Transportation Conference

Can I Get An Organic Sno-Ball Wit'dat?~Mommy Greenest

New Orleans ~Six Degrees of Conceptualization

LaGrange buyouts just another chapter in rebirth of stubborn town~Brent Engel
~LaGrange, MO —LaGrange is reshaped by each battle with the Mississippi River.It’s a give-and-take war that’s been an accepted fact of life since Godfrey Le Seur set up the first trading post in 1795. Now, another make-over looms as the community awaits flood buyout offers.

Florida Keys Managers To Relax Evacuation Policies

Essential Information Elements for a Culture of Preparedness - Transboundary Crisis

Can National Public Radio kiss China ASS any Mao'purty?
~Editilla gets all Pop-Eyed'N'Sentimental~
NPR continues to roll out the Cultural Red Carpet for the world's favorite oppressive capitalist Borge regime, Communist China. Yes, that is right. The same junta thugs who wrote the book on Disaster-burial Public Relations and also brought the world cyber-cropped and lip-sunk Olympics, Total Internet Censorship, Tibet and Tienanmen Square Massacres, Uighur oppression, Burma oppression, Religious oppression, Political oppression, Business oppression, depression oppression, anti-freeze cough syrup and over 80% of the world's vitamin-C, poison pet food, global pollution, North Korea, WuMart and Walmart are being continually marketed by NPR as an Actual Cultural Phenomena. OK, so these Commy Poltard bastards are like any other nursery school Staff Infection right?

New Wave Brass Band adorns streets of İstanbul with New Orleans jazz

Future Of Music Coalition Artist Retreat, New Orleans, Part 1
~Scott McCaughey

Mid-Year Reviews:
Everything Old Is New Again
~Home of the Groove

Composer Mike Rihner's
'New Orleans Suite' with GNOYO at Carnegie Hall

Lundi

New Orleans's economy gets mixed reviews, the best of times or worst of times?
~Jacketta White

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times;
it ws the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness;
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity;
it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness;
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair;
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way." ~Charles Dickens

It's Monday... got slabbed?

Corps of Engineers Increases Risk in New Orleans, threatens to put the Lake back in Lakeview
~Editilla Notellas~"Almost" does not cut da'muster.
This flaccid editorial by the Times-Picayune comes 5 Days after the crime, and refers back to this article in Thursday's Print Edition <--which was published without comments section, contrary to the usual practice with T-P/Nola.com articles.
Since we have yet to get a straight answer from Nola.com regarding overwhelming evidence of Corps Infiltration of that media outlet, we must presume collusion between Corps OPPPR (COPPPR) and the T-P Editorial board to delay and manipulate the news that the Corps had planned all along to stuff Pump Option 1 up our Outfall Canals.
~More Corps Risk-Building here
~More Corps Risky Buildings here: The DOD-IG is probing allegations that the Army Corps of Engineers accepted a $28.7 million headquarters building in Kabul, Afghanistan, with leaking pipes, sinking sidewalks and unusable bathrooms, according to documents and congressional testimony.
“The only way you could physically approve it is not be physically there,” said Michael Thibault, chairman of the Commission on Wartime Contracting.

Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District to Implement Dataforensics

Homes rebuilt in flood-struck Lakeview display gutsy individuality~Stephanie Bruno
~The failure of the 17th Street Canal floodwalls sent a tsunami of floodwaters through the sprawling neighborhood, submerging lower levels of homes for weeks. And though many homeowners have chosen to renovate, salvaging traits of the pre-2005 Lakeview, others sold to the Road Home program or simply demolished and started anew.

Repairs To Streetcar Cables Will Be Hurricane-Proof ~WDSU

First direct international flights set for takeoff at Armstrong
~Scott Satchfield, WWL

Crescent City Hack

Losing Louisiana?

Mourning the Iowa River,
New Orleans style
~Chris Curtland
~Six pallbearers carried a casket through the rain, on July 4th, to the tune of “When the Saints Come Marching In,” followed by a herd of umbrellas.
They held a New Orleans-style funeral for the Iowa River,
ranked as the third-most polluted river in the U.S. in 2007 by American Rivers, a national conservation organization.
The funeral was held by Save The Iowa River (STIR)
Photo~Rachael Jessen / The Daily Iowan

Tiny Houses on Tiny Islands

Houston Roller Derby Skates New Orleans Running of the Bulls

Yo-ho-ho: A spirited collection of 1,000 bottles of rum finds a home in Broadmoor
~Karen Taylor-Gist

Rum 101: Rum In The USA (Pt 1)
~RumDood.com
~When most people think of spirits in the United States, they think of Rye, Bourbon, or Tennessee Sour Mash - the Holy Trinity of American Whiskey. What they don't realize is that another spirit has defined the US - and pretty much the entirety of the Western Hemisphere - almost since Europeans first set foot on the Western side of the Atlantic Ocean.
That spirit, of course, is rum.

LadyFest set for Nov 4th, 2009!

Iowans digging jazz with a Latin accent~Adam Salazar

Dimanche

Corps considering change to water flow into Atchafalaya
~Richard Burgess
~Old River Control Structure near Simmesport, where the Corps of Engineers raises and lowers giant gates to regulate how much of the Mississippi River (left) is allowed to flow into the Atchafalaya.

Saving the Basin, Part One:
Man takes control~Claire Taylor
~The Choctaw called it Long River. Basinkeeper Dean Wilson calls it River of Trees. But for the many who live along this 140-mile length of winding waterway and the nearly 1 million acres of swamps surrounding it, it's simply Our Atchafalaya.

Steve McNair Responded to Hurricane Katrina

July hurricane outlook
~Dr. Jeff Masters

New La. film to examine natural gas drilling boom
~Alexandyr Kent

Port Public Relations downplays risk of ammonia leaking from proposed new warehouse
~Allison Good

Borrowed servants? Great idea, could use one who irons and cooks ~slabbed

Riding the Storm
~David Tortorano

Ya'gotta Admit...pretty Cool, eh?
~Look Ma, No Corps!~Click to enlarge

Joe Krown Trio with Walter "Wolfman" Washington & Russell Batiste~Maple Leaf Bar

Luxury Wafers Exclusive: Theresa Andersson, The Waltz

WWOZ ~offBeat~NOMENU
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