Samedi

Get Off Obama's Back: Second Thoughts From Michael Moore

Residents call on Obama to tour progress as White House defends plan for quick visit
~Katy Reckdahl

Obama's Trip To New Olreans
looking more like a quick Pee-
stop at an UnDisclosed Location
~Jonathan Tilove
~Thursday will mark the first presidential visit to New Orleans since Bush's last, which he made just ahead of the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in August 2008, and, according to the latest word from the White House, Obama's visit will include a town hall event at an as yet unspecified time and location, and a second unspecified event.
~"I think President Obama faces quite a public affairs challenge," said retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who commanded Joint Task Force-Katrina in the wake of the hurricane, and accompanied Bush on his Gulf Coast trips. "Katrina has many faces," Honore said. "You can't just talk about the 9th Ward, because the entire city was hit hard. You can't go to Orleans Parish without going to St. Bernard. It's hard to come to Orleans Parish and St. Bernard without going to Gulfport and Waveland, Miss.
You can't just talk about the near-term -- which is to continue to help restore schools and get people back in their homes -- without talking about the long-term and coastal restoration and his commitment to continue to challenge the corps of engineers to make those levees as strong as they can be.
I think there will be an expectation that he will make the rounds and look at what has not happened," Honore said.
~Editilla Coda'roillas~Are we drowning yet in the dank preternaturally viscous shallows of Dis-Ingenious Yankee Bourgeois Naivete? We thought that the President already had a bathroom on his Big Plane. So, if this is all he has planned why not just do a fly-over of New Orleans --just don't Flush It!
Hey, it worked for Boy George didn't it?
Oh Snap! A Stood'Update~ It appears that our President can't spend too much time in the City That Boy George Left For Dead because...he has a date with Daddy Big George?
From New Orleans, POTUS heads to San Francisco for a DNC fundraiser that evening, and then Friday he flies to College Station, Texas, for a Presidential Forum on community service hosted by former President George H.W. Bush and the Points of Light Institute at the George Bush Presidential Library Center on the campus of Texas A&M University.
Yes, Well! Excuuuuse US, Mista'POTUS! Point this Family Affair!

I'm sorry y'all but this White House Back House doesn't seem to be getting it --and they need to get this and get it good or even Haley Babar could take it from him in 2012 like a sweet old Uncle Sugar Daddy. I voted for more than one term from this President, but if he doesn't get New Orleans and get Louisiana onto his plate for breakfast every morning then he won't get my vote next time.
We just don't have time.


No more horsing around on local levees ~Nikki Buskey

Wetland Watchers Park work almost ready to begin
~Matt Scallan

Strain asks Jindal to declare drought agriculture disaster

Corban v. USAA
– The 1500 day Greek Tragedy
~Bam Bam Bigelow, slabbed

"Green Rebuilding New Orleans" Conference: November 8 and 9
~Help Holy Cross

Flea (Market) Infestation
~Noah Bonaparte Pais

Coming up in this week’s Gambit: Can summer please be over now? edition

First Annual Student Joan of Arc Competition~NOLAFemmes
~Editilla Botellas~Viva La Pucelle d'Orléans!
~We have this problem with other hot blogs in the way their content grows ever more interesting and varied and we get all dain'bramaged trying to pick one out of a whole bowl full of candy, hence we hung this lede with a General Link so you have to scroll down past their other whippin' posts.
~HT & Editillos to Mz Thang o'da casa de Charlotte della luna --sorry about NASA trying to shoot one up your dark side.

'Me and Orson Welles' actor Christian McKay steals show on Day 1 of 2009 New Orleans Film Festival~Mike Scott

Patricia Clarkson enjoys her career – somewhat
~Johanna Schneller

People pour in to rain-soaked Gumbo fest~Lloyd J. Nelson III

Oyster festival set for 2010
~Bill Capo, WWL

Tombstone Tours

Vendredi

Obama, Jindal have a job to do: Save the coast -- an op-ed by outdoor editor Bob Marshall
~"So how about some leadership.
How about a national speech from the Oval Office by President Obama detailing the tragedy of our coast, explaining how the nation's thirst for cheap energy and a dependable industrial corridor eviscerated the continent's greatest delta, and imposed a death sentence on an entire region.
And how about doing it with Gov. Jindal at your side?"

"Unpublished for two years"
~Your Right Hand Thief
~A federal Minerals Management Service study concludes what Louisianians have known for a long time: oil and gas production has taken a significant toll on Gulf Coast wetlands, contributing to this state's land loss crisis.
Tell me something I don't know.
These findings, which went unpublished for two years, lend strong support to Louisiana's argument that the federal government should bear a greater share of coastal restoration costs. Oil and gas networks serve the energy needs of the entire nation, and it's only fair that the environmental cost be shared, too. Unpublished for two years? Why?

Bayou Some Mo'Wetlands?

So let us Get Down to Ta'bonne, make our VOWs heard!
~Beeeeutimous Southdown Plantation~
Editilla invites President Obama and Family...
to come on down here and get themselves some Holy Music...and maybe a little budan fo'da belly too? --from the Heartland & Soul of Louisiana!



New Orleans was sunk in fetid soup by shoddy levees
~Letter: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Some City Park rebuilding spending questioned by federal audit; park to appeal the findings
~David Hammer

Stop wonking and start working
~C.B. Forgotston

Moon Impact Geology
~LCROSS

Reaction to Corban Ripples Across the Media ~slabbed

Hurricane Katrina Ruling Creates Coverage Uncertainty
~National Underwriter

ACORN activists refuse to buckle to video scandal~Christina Hoag

Healtheon wins New Orleans pump station repair contract
~Power Industry News

Moody's Lifts Louisiana's Credit Outlook To Positive ~WSJ

Deluge in rain-soaked Philippines kills over 160 ~Hrvoje Hranjski

President Barack Obama's visit to New Orleans should be more than 'a town hall,' senators say
~Jonathan Tilove
~Editilla, takes to the sky wit'a Pelican Eye...
as we hear that our President intends finally to drop by New Orleans next week... for a little meet'n'greet, Town Hall (whatever in Hell that means) Thingy Visit to the Corps' Hurricane Ward Place.
Now, it appears he will be here just long enough to snap a few pics, take a piss and get the hell out gone --wham bam thank'ya mam?
That dog simply will not hunt. He's gotta'do better. Really.
Does he want to show his New Fancy'pantsy Nobel Friends the low esteem in which he holds the The City The Corps Forgot? Pfth!
It would take me more time to cross a snake's belly in a wagon rut.
Soooo, why not come early stay late? Come on, Mr. President, come and hang out with Us for for a little while, hear our wetlands' wonderful music, eat some great food......listen to the peoples... --LOVE LOUISIANA! While we wish that we could get more of a rise out of our busy popular Buck-Stoppa, it would be enough just have this President learn the value of a Dollar and la différence between Shit and ShiiiiNola.


Susan Cowsill's Double Life?

~"When I moved here, people mostly knew me as a Continental Drifter or
Peter Holsapple's wife or whatever," Cowsill said recently. "The Cowsills thing would come up much later in the conversation: 'You're what? You're who?' "It just didn't matter one way or the other, which is something I really liked about being here. I had the opportunity to adapt an identity of my own."
On Saturday, Oct. 10, locals will finally catch a glimpse of her alter ego as she and the current incarnation of the Cowsills stages its first-ever New Orleans performance at Carrollton Station.
~Editilla Ho'tellas da'Go'tella on'da Mo'tella~
Our Herollero Goddess will also perform at the VOW Festival, along with other Pristine & Truly Noble All Stars.
Editilla also expects to see our Sexy New President, da'honorable
Barack "If-you-think-it's-Butter-but-it's-not--it's-Nobel!" Obama, and his lovely family --since we invited them and everything.
Actually, if we could just convince Mrs. Obama and the Girls...


Let Me Down Easy ~Review by Brian Scott Lipton

Louisiana Book Festival Oct. 17
~Blair Kilpatrick

Madisonville Wooden Boat Festival attracts vessels both large and small~George Morris

New Orleans Film Festival ~Mike Scott
~This much is easy: If you go see just one new movie this weekend, it should be one of those unspooling as part of the 20th anniversary NOFF.
The only problem: More than 100 films are scheduled to screen over the course of the seven-day celebration of celluloid.

Festivals Acadiens et Créoles
~The festival,
in its 32nd year, features “lots of music and lots of dancing,” said Patrick Mould,
a festival board member, as well as “some of the best Cajun and Creole food you’re going to find on the planet and one of the greatest celebrations of Cajun and Creole culture.”

Former New Orleans Saint's Kyle Turley now a music man
~Chris Rose

Nola's Derrick Tabb, vote for this year's 'CNN Heroes'~Vote Early, Vote Often!

In pictures: The Spirit of Jazz

Kermit Ruffins Releases Holiday Album : Have A Crazy Cool Christmas ~VentVox

Jeudi

Corps of Engineers Possessed by Gray Ghost Evil Demon'Devil
~What may have been the largest single piece of graffiti in the nation is getting wiped out in Los Angeles.
A contractor for the Corps of Engineers on Thursday began painting over the gigantic letters "MTA" on the concrete bank of the LA River.
Corps spokeswoman Jennie Ayala says the letters are 57 feet high and one-third of a mile long. "MTA" stands for "Metro Transit Assassins." Authorities contend the letters were painted on the riverbank by up to 40 taggers.

Why is Senator Vitter, R-Pamp, soft on RapeRape? (and more)
~Your Right Hand Thief

MS Supreme Court rules for homeowners in Katrina damage case ~slabbed

Tonight Is The Moon’s Last Night On Earth!! ~Wonkette

In First Lady’s Roots, a Complex Path From Slavery~NYT
~Editilla Mo'tellas~ We think Michelle Obama is one of the Sharpest, Coolest and Most Beautiful people America has going for it right now. We have an Ivy League Bad Ass Self-Actualized Woman Slave Child living in the White House. I dare say History will mark her effect on our nation's First Home at least as strongly as that of her husband, perhaps even stronger. I mean, come on, it appears that our country has grown past The Stepford First Lady.
Editilla has been trying for ever to get a Woman elected Godess, but I would have settled for President of the United States if it hadn't been Another Goddamn Clinton... sooo, until we get there, I am very glad that we find our nation here.

Harry Connick Jr. Doesn't Do Black-face ~The "Jackson Jive" parody, which aired on a reunion episode of the variety show Hey Hey It’s Saturday last night, was deemed offensive by the guest judge, the US singer Harry Connick Jr, who complained on air, saying:
“If I knew that was going to be part of the show I definitely wouldn't have done it. On behalf of my country I know it was done humorously, but we’ve spent so much time trying to not make black people look like buffoons that when we see something like that we take it really to heart."
Update~Wellll check out David Winkler-Schmit's find.

'Never Forget', USS New York hoping for grand New Orleans send-off~Paul Purpura

New Orleans City Business fails to disclose important conflict of interest~Save Charity Hospital

Orleans Levee District workers could have a safehouse by next hurricane season~Bob Ross

Housing voucher office opens in Algiers amid criticism
~Katy Reckdahl

Coastal Louisiana could see resurgence in energy exploration, production
~Jen DeGregorio

Canada’s 20th Annual Breakbulk Conference being held In NO

Technology recycles waste into 'Tiger Bullets'~Keith Magill

Fitch Rates Louisiana GOs 'AA-'; Upgrades Outstanding GOs

Same old song – this time to the tune of $1.88billion ~slabbed

My wife is now my mother’s mother
And it makes me blue.
Because, although she is my wife,
She’s my grandmother, too.

If my wife is my grandmother,
Then I am her grandchild.
And every time I think of it,
It simply drives me wild.

For now I have become
The strangest case you ever saw.
As the husband of my grandmother,
I am my own grandpa!

Hubig's goes Hu-Buff,
Pie company's symbol goes from pastry puff to beefy!
~The New Orleans Levee
~After 90 days of muscle-pumping workouts and tireless effort to transform his body from regular to ripped, 87-year-old Savory Simon, the rotund figure on Hubig’s Pie wrappers since 1922, has revealed how he went from toady and tired to magnificently muscular.

Baked Oysters Fortuna
~Judy Walker
~Going out to The Big Molluski over at Your Right Hand Thief.
~"I dust a bit...in addition, I am at the moment writing a lengthy indictment against our century. When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional cheese dip."
~Ignatius J. Reilly
~And Also~"What's behind the New Orleans' culinary curtain?" This week, 60 North American food journalists are in New Orleans for the annual Association of Food Journalists meeting. The professional group will explore topics ranging from sugar and sugar cane on the road to Baton Rouge to "The New Orleans You Don't Know," the conference theme.

Sarah Vowell at NOCCA,
Ned Sublette at Octavia,
Jason Berry at Ogden,
Simon Pettet at 17 Poets!
-and much more~Susan Larsen

Shorties: Lucinda Williams, Herta Muller~Largehearted Boy

ArtSpot Productions
and Mondo Bizarro
~present Loup Garou, a new environmental performance featuring performance poet Raymond “Moose” Jackson in a poem/play that explores the deep interconnectedness between land and culture in Louisiana. The outdoor performance runs through Oct. 25, in the abandoned fields of City Park’s old East Golf Course. Showings are Thursdays at sunrise (7am)
and Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 5pm.
~Very special thanks to Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans


Radiators Harvest the Music Today in Lafayette Park!

34th Zwolle Tamale Festival

Voices in the Wilderness
~John Swenson, offBeat

Dylan and the Blues~Citizen K

In Pursit of Bo Consciousness -Part 5 ~Home of the Groove

Mercredi

The Afghanistan War: Just Askin'
~Harry Shearer

Did Louisiana Child-Governor Jindal Play Kiss-Up To Obama On Health Care? ~John Maginnis

Study Forecast: 35,800 new Louisiana jobs over 2 years,
New Orleans economy shunned on fears of levee safety

Coastal restoration advocates prepare push for Obama visit
~Mark Schleifstein


~Editilla Go'tellas~ I have been hard on our Beaux'bama of late, regarding what we see as Yankee Bourré Slighted Hand on his place in our flood recovery. Louisiana has opened the door wide for him, yet he continues to ask the Corps of Engineers for directions to the bathroom. Lemme toll'ya, it's embarrassing!

After working for his election (and actually donating Money, hard-earned green energy) he pissed me off so bad by not showing in New Orleans for the Anniversary, instead going to play golf at a Rich Peoples Place --like Some Former Faux Presidente.
Rather, Obama left us waiting like badly medicated step-children, then gave us all a Cotton Candy Public Relations Interview. Grrrr... if I wanted to be really rude I'd say he put on his Black-face make-up to dance a little jig for the ignorant native journalists... but there is no cause for such reciprocal rudeness.
Still, at least Hillary actually bedded a Southern Governor --yet all Obama's Ram'n'Axelrod seems wont to do is Stick It To Them.
I'm tollin'ya, it's embarrassing. We don't get no respect.
Dude thinks he can play golf with the Family Jewels....
--Not My Nola Diamonds Thank You Very Much!
But what really puts a tick up Editilla's Bum is how Obama seems to state publicly that Katrina flooded New Orleans, which is of course the ASCECORPS PR LIE. That is why we are calling this The Hurricane Tour On The Road Home To No Where.
The hurricane hit Mississippi. The Corps of Engineers hit New Orleans. Why is that so hard for our smart sexy new President to get? Is he going to come here an tell us Katrina did it?
Obama, IT'S THE LEVEES STUPID.
Anywayz, when I saw this video again it reminded me of the Hope that we all had --this month one year ago-- after such abject Hopelessness. I remember how New Orleans came out for Obama. He better remember too, and start listening to Our Body Politic --instead of his Exquisite Corps.
Editilla expected us to have real, honest flood protection at least going by now, for Goddess Sakes! Instead the Corps has installed inoperable bad pumps on our outfall canals, decided against replacing their bad flood walls and is now shifting millions of dollars between projects to cover their ASCEs.
Speaking of Goddesses, our girl Susan Cowsill will be performing at this years Voice of the Wetlands Festival, along with an All-Star Line-up of Herolleros who Live for Louisiana.
If Obama is really smart he would be there too, taking the VOW.

Public meeting called for Tonight
~Save Charity Hospital

Davis Pond Diversion should get more use, officials say, despite threat to oyster beds
~Matt Scallan
~A crowd of state and local officials lined up Tuesday to demand that the Davis Pond Diversion structure in Luling be opened wide to pump more fresh water into the Barataria Basin. The structure, which opened in 2002, pumps an average of 5,000 cubic feet of water per second from the Mississippi River into the basin, has the capacity to divert 10,650 cfs. The Army Corps of Engineers is considering ways to improve the operation. Rut'row.

Learn to live with it
~Filipino Voices~The Dutch project, although experimental and small—15 floating and 35 amphibious houses plus a floating greenhouse—has attracted international attention. BBC news reported that officials from New Orleans visited Maasbommel to see how these houses worked. But floating and amphibious houses are only the beginning.

In New Orleans, Home Floats To Withstand Floods ~NPR

Local man raising funds for Manila recovery effort
~Michele Marcotte

Flood control millage goes to voters~Bob Warren

Housing Battle Reveals Post- Katrina Tensions
~Campbell Robertson

World Monuments Fund targets Phillis Wheatley Elementary
~Phillis Wheatley Elementary School

Check out Josh Charles - download a song, help rebuild New Orleans through the Preservation Resource Center ~ROFNO ~H/T & Editillos to Red Stick Irene!


Mayor Ray Nagin increases budget shortfall estimate by
55 percent~Bruce Eggler

The Yes Men Fix the World is a Riot. No, Really.~The Yes Men
~"You'll see us knock $2 billion off Dow Chemical's share price, expose New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin for the corporate lackey he is, and show some of the most powerful free-market spokesmen to be C-level liars."

Katrina the Clown mulls running the show
~The New Orleans Levee
~“While Katrina has no comment at this time – and not just because she’s mute – we can confirm that she has been in meetings with advisers since Arnie Fielkow’s withdrawal and is closely following the mayoral race,” said Rita Bendin-LaBonk, Katrina’s recently appointed media juggler.

New Orleans: Who Calls the Shots?~A 2nd from Stuart Lob

Obama may decide fate of NASA jobs in New Orleans~John Snell

Fifth Circuit vacates District Court ruling in Katrina Canal Breaches Litigation ~slabbed

“Water judge” way out of line
~Bob Barr

WA Levees Get Inspected

Study examines waterflow effect on dam~Nancy Cohen

County, Corps of Engineers to fund Galveston levee study

Geo Domains Expo to be held in New Orleans

Holly Clegg And Crab Nachos ~BBuzz

Poet Dave Brinks finds his bliss in 'the encyclopedic living nature' of New Orleans' people
~Susan Larson

Odd Words...
~Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans

Words & Music: A Literary Arts Festival in New Orleans
~Shari J Stauch

Preservation Hall Jazz Band forges creative partnership with bluegrass legend Del McCoury
~Keith Spera

Rocktober~Gambit

New Orleans Moonshiners to Reopen the Spotted Cat Tomorrow Night
~Jay Mazza, New Orleans Music

Mardi

Map: U.S. Counties with Levees,
What if Hurricane Katrina Impacted Your City?~H/T & Editillos~ Levees.org
~With Special thanks to Ezra Boyd and Dr. Ivor Van Heerden

Higher levees on Mississippi River at New Orleans ~WDSU

In limine in limerick
– Bossier v State Farm
~Nowdoucit, slabbed
~A lawyer by the name of Guice
has tried to play fair and be nice
but when State Farm raised her ire
she grabbed their personal voir dire
and asked the Court for ice.

Wetlands loss linked to Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas pipelines in new study
~Mark Schleifstein
~A new study for the federal Minerals Management Service concludes that the construction of pipelines related to oil and gas production in the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico "can cause locally intense habitat changes, thereby contributing to the loss of critically important land and wetland areas."
~Editilla Ho'tellas~ Many of these "energy developers" are in town this week. Sooo, we would like to suggest that if any'yaz want to go meet them and give these folks a piece of your mind, or walk around in front of the place with signs, or just hit them in the face with a Hubig Pie, then you can find packs of them here.

~Catastrophe in the Making~

~Special thanks to Levees.org, and MRGO must GO

Investigators Link Levee Failures to Design Flaws~Joby Warrick and Michael Grunwald
~Editilla No'tellas~ We call old articles like this:
"Ghosts Writers of the Storm", because of the way they will show up out of the blue on one of our incredible arrays of search engined ass'grabbery... an article written just months after the Corps' levees failed. That is one of the most endearing qualities of my own interest in the Internets post-Federal Flood, to wit: the Corps and the Energy Industry can lie, cheat and steal their asses off --as they regularly do-- to control our information on the failures of their systems, but just as well on the Web, the Net, the Truth of our own work to counter that ASCECORPS PR also lives forever and stands to contradict their lies with facts.

Obama Visit To New Orleans' Hurricane Place Ward Thingy: You Comment ~BBuzz

Obama Blows Dalai Lama Meet To Kiss Chinese Junta Ass
~Editilla Lo'tellas~ Correction: Obama Kisses the Saudi Royal Hand, Sucks the Chinese Junta Ass and Assumes the Position of the Exquisite Corps as Commander In Name Only?
What am I missing here? I thought Obama is supposed to be Our President, that is 2% of the US population, or at least goddamn know who flooded New Orleans, why Aung San Suu Kyi is Still imprisoned, whether women can drive alone in Saudi Arabia and who drove tanks through Tienanmen Square. It isn't much to ask. I know the answers to these questions but I'm not President Hope
--even though Hope was in my vote. Now I feel as if I've been Hope'A'Doped.

Alligator Bayou flood gate closed
~David J. Mitchell

More projects return America's rivers to their natural state
~Jeff DeLong

Makeshift levee work could boost flood risk, USACE warns
~Chris Grygiel

State will go for secret special arbitration with FEMA on Charity Hospital
~Save Charity Hospital

Shaking Up HANO
~David Winkler-Schmit

Ham radio club seeks access to Jackson County antenna
~April M. Havens

GCCF awarding remainder of Katrina funds to nonprofits
~Anita Lee

"Always leaving the same effect without ever knowing why",
the Library Chronicles turns 6 this week!

Coffee fest to focus on market opportunities in India

Bongé in New Orleans
~Pam Firmin

We Dance: Post-Flood ONCE ON THIS ISLAND Documentary Now In Theaters~The Marquee

The New Orleans Film Festival ~Gambit

NOLA Project: Finer Noble Gases and White Bitch
~Noah Bonaparte Pais

Sneak Peak of Universal Pictures' Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant to Benefit the Tipitina Foundation

This just in: Gretna Fest rocks
~Chris Rose

Lundi

Dems question Vitter contribution from former Miss. congressman ~Kevin McGill
~The Democrats said they will bring their complaint to the Federal Elections Commission, citing a $5,000 donation Governor Haley Babar's PAC made to Vitter in August.
That donation was followed by a $5,000 contribution to Babar's PAC from the Commerce Hope Innovation and Progress PAC. CHIP PAC is affiliated with former GOP Rep. Chip Pickering, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
~Editilla gotta ax~ Is Chipper such a Picker? Chip da'Pick?
~Mississippi Gov. Haley Babar has shown he knows how to maneuver his way through a bad storm.
While leaders in neighboring Louisiana rebuilt the state's recovery from 4 major hurricanes and the Federal Flood of New Orleans --and at the same time trying to get their mind around Senator David Vitter (R-Pamp), his illegal appetite for prostitutes on the tax-payers's dime and an absolutely Clownish Diaper Fetish...
Babar was taking bows for his work in Mississippi and cruising to re-election with a higher margin than four years earlier.
What? Oh! Well... jus'sayin...harrrump da'trump!
Among Babar's other associates are the monkey Zephir, the old elephant counsellors Cornelius and Pompadour (Pompadour was created for the Babar TV series), his cousin Arthur, and his children, Pom, Flora and Alexander. Later, a second daughter, Isabelle, was introduced. The Old Lady comes to live in the Kingdom as an honoured guest. Despite the presence of these counsellors, Babar's rule seems to be totally independent of any elected body, and completely autocratic, however his leadership style seems to be one that works for the overall benefit of his elephant subjects; a form of "gentle authoritarianism".

NYT can’t fit the word “levee”
~Ray Lang, OLF&AWE

New Orleans: Who Calls the Shots?~Harry Shearer
~She is one of many people advising the president about what he should do and see while in New Orleans, but she does not know who ultimately calls the shots on that.
"I don't even actually know who that person is, " Woodka said. "Maybe it's the president himself."
~Editilla takes the Back Hand Path~
~Yes, the President is supposed to be the Commander In Chief. Yet, he appears to be getting all his direction from the Corps of Engineers, hence a Gulf Coast Hurricane Recovery Tour to the New Orleans Disaster Ward Thingy Place... a trip that doesn't include the Gulf Coast or Hurricane Recovery.
The Hurricane hit Mississippi and the Corps of Engineers hit New Orleans. We survived the hurricane...Go Figure. Go Fish!
As Harry described in one post about trying to "Go Insider", after a labyrinth of playing cards and who'dats, he finally met with the President's Word on this --and who did THAT turn out to be?
You guessed it, our Exquisite Corps of Engineers!
Everyone is saying we should be Nice to the President when he comes to town. But, I really think our attitude towards his Yankee Bourgeois Naiveteiness regarding the Flood of New Orleans does not matter, because he and his "people" don't seem to be listening to We The People.
While there is no cause for Rudeness, I am just about tired of Obama's Game and think he now owes us more than a few explanations about the Corps of Engineers continued Bad Engineering Scams --not more full court press partays.
We have problems in New Orleans: in-operable pumps, un-repaired bad flood walls, millions of dollars getting shifted around from project to project. He has had the OSC Report on this (again posted by Harry) on his desk since JUNE.
We need Answers and Action from the Commander In Chief.

Landrieu Examines Galveston Disaster Recovery Efforts and Future Reform Needs

Squatters make dikes ineffective
~Hermogenese Ebdane Jr.

Execs unable to deal with stagnant flood~Manila Bulletin

The Swamp Witch Tackles the Green Monsters~NOLAFemmes

Surprise! Surprise!
~Crescent City Hack

Guess Who Loves The Saints ~Kotaku

N.O. coffee business strong, but competition brews along Gulf
~Susan Buchanan

Project Home Again (PHA) Continues to Help Families Affected by Federal Flood
~“Four years after the storm isn’t the time to quit, it’s the time to look around, understand where redevelopment can happen and redouble our efforts to bring the city back. There are still thousands of families out there who, now more than ever, want to come home,” said Leonard Riggio, chairman of Barnes & Noble, who along with his wife, Louise, founded Project Home Again shortly after Katrina. To date, PHA has built and gifted 32 new homes in the Gentilly neighborhood.

New Orleans inspector general office's report blasts city's budget process ~Bruce Eggler

Money troubles in Catahoula Parish ~WWL

This little piggy went to mediation …and this little piggy
~Nowdoucit, slabbed

This little piggy went to market mediation,
This little piggy stayed at home,
This little piggy had roast beef got taken
This little piggy had none.
And this little piggy

went “Wee wee wee” all the way home.

Structural Project Engineer -Flood Control

Birds are getting scarcer in Grand Isle ~Matthew Barnidge
~Louisiana lost about 1,900 square miles of coastal land in the 20th century. Scientists predict another 700 square miles will disappear by 2050. This coastal land is critical habitat for migrating birds because it provides a resting place en route to Latin America.

In Season: Serious Eats
~Figs were a common theme in the Bible, and the Egyptians considered figs to be sacred, often burying the dead with baskets of figs. In ancient Greece, Plato wrote that athletes were fed figs to make them stronger. Fig culture spread to the northern Mediterranean and Adriatic shores until it reached southern Italy, and then the rest of Europe. When the Spanish planted figs in Mexico, and the Franciscan monks moved northward with pockets full of figs--that's when they came to the States.

Author Nevada Barr reads and signs her novel today
~Octavia Books 513 Octavia St. Book launch party with author Nevada Barr who will read and sign her New Orleans novel, "13 1/2", 6pm Free.

Louisiana writer Tim Gautreaux to be honored~Kevin Allman

Norton Girault, at 91, words still matter ~Bill Ruehlmann

Tombstone tours: Check out these famous boneyards
~Beth J. Harpaz

New Orleans Bounce
~My Private Casbah

Rev Billy and the Life After Shopping Gospel Choir Rocked the Brooklyn Lyceum
~Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn

A Fall filled of festivals
~Geraldine Wyckoff

Heritage School of Music fund-raiser featuring
Richie Havens

Dimanche

Hate To Say We Told'Ya, But...
~Congress lets New Orleans down:
a Times-Picayune Editorial --paid for by your US Army Corps of Engineers
~Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Ariz., and Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., were the lawmakers who took the action that Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., called "breathtaking in its arrogance.'
Both Sen. Landrieu and Sen. David Vitter, R-Pamp., said that the Corps of Engineers was responsible for persuading committee leadership, through "back channels", to strip the language from the appropriations bill. That interference is especially offensive coming from the agency that built the flood protection systems that failed catastrophically during Hurricane Katrina.
~Editilla jus'tollin'ya~"Back Channels" are for jail punks!
Aside from the unbelievable coincidence that nearly all of those committee members had bad flooding in their districts just last year, what we have hear'ah is more than a fail'ya ta'comoonicate.
~The Corps of Engineers doesn't so much as "Lobby Congress" as hire public relations firms to advance their Stakeholder Interests in Congressional Districts across the country --where the Corps inevitably has pork barrel feeding troughs. Given that the Corps is on the ground in 45 of 50 states and that over 50% of Americans live within running distance of a Corps Flood Control Structure, one could understand the Corps' Special Hubris fo'da Peoples, t'wit: We The Survivors of their Failures, the American Taxpayer.
And yet, greased as we are, one might still not consider that the Corps might also deploy expensive lobbyists against our interests in Washington DC. Bipartisan My Ass Splitisan.
Smiling Faces Show NO Traces...


Tribe says it must abandon island community~Naomi King

Census plans special effort on the Gulf Coast
~Alexandria Town Talk

Fish Farm Clusters in Gulf Concentrate Pollution and Oppostition~Amy Wold

The man who will never be Mayor ~Library Chronicles

Where did our billions go?

And we are worried about Dry Walls?
I mean...come on...are those rows of armed women goose-stepping in pink mini skirt uniforms and white go'go boots? What? And they're wearing little white jazz berets??? What?????
Who are these Peoples? Where they Got them Boots?
The Borg? HA! The Borg's got Nothing on these blush replicants!
The Borg rattle in fear before the Charge of the Go'Go Brigade!

Will California become America's first failed state?
~Will Blog for Food
~But even Schwarzenegger is humbled by the scale of the crisis. At a press conference in Sacramento to announce the final passing of a state budget, which would include billions of dollars of cuts, the governor speaks in uncharacteristically pensive terms. "It is clear that we do not know yet what the future holds. We are still in troubled waters," he says quietly. He looks subdued, despite his sharp grey suit and bright pink tie.
Later, during a grilling by reporters, Schwarzenegger is asked an unusual question. As a gaggle of journalists begins to shout, one man's voice quickly silences the others. "Do you ever feel like you're watching the end of the California dream?" asks the reporter. It is clearly a personal matter for Schwarzenegger. After all, his life story has embodied it. He arrived virtually penniless from Austria, barely speaking English. He ended up a movie star, rich beyond his dreams, and finally governor, hanging Conan's prop sword in his office. Schwarzenegger answers thoughtfully and at length. He hails his own experience and ends with a passionate rallying call in his still thickly accented voice. "There is people that sometimes suggest that the American dream, or the Californian dream, is evaporating. I think it's absolutely wrong. I think the Californian dream is as strong as ever," he says, mangling the grammar but not the sentiment.
~Editilla Gotta'Ax~ Yeauuuuh, what's he supposed to say?
"Ja! Sie sind alle beendet worden!"???

Changing weather patterns affect local water storage ~Aquafornia

Louisiana book festival
~Greg Langley

Live review: Henry Butler
~John T. Davis

In Pursit of Bo Consciousness
- Part 5~Home of the Groove

Family Ties Parade Today, 1pm
~Red Cotton

Harvest the Music
~Lafayette Square (located in the 500 block of St. Charles Avenue, across from Gallier Hall).
This FREE, series runs each THURSDAY through October 29 from 5:00pm until 7:30pm.

Inspired by Adrastos: Already Gone