Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Mardi

Preliminary Thoughts on Leslie Jacobs for Mayor of New Orleans
~Huck UpChuck

~
"When questioned about her positions on some of the hot button social issues of the day, such as the pro-life/pro-choice and gay marriage debates, she seemed reluctant to reveal herself and actually punted altogether on the gay marriage question. Her argument was that these issues are really beyond the scope of the job of Mayor and so she didn't see the need to complicate her campaign with stances on issues that were unrelated to the job. And at one level she's right on this point. However, what disappointed me is that she acted the politician when she didn't need to. Frankly, I have my own opinions on this subject and it would have been good, simply in order to know her better, to hear her opinions on them. Precisely because I know that her positions on these issues aren't directly pertinent to the job, makes her revealing them ultimately harmless -- at least when it comes to my vote."
~Editilla Crowtellas~ Gentle'rillas can read here our rant on how this candidate, fresh out of the gate, rather than simply Punt, or Spike it, has absolutely fumbled the ball on the Facts of Why New Orleans Flooded, preferring instead to open her door with Bald Katrina Shorthand.
This was among her 1st Ads, and remains on her website for all to see that Leslie Jacobs appears to Still Not Get It.
Why, even yet, have we not heard in this campaign the word Levees from the sister-in-law of the Founder of Levees.org?
It is our sincere hope that the Jacobs Campaign "People" aren't simply hoping to gain by association, and thus, ride on the coat tails of this group's fine work and its Director's unimpeachable public integrity. So far I don't see anything from her Campaign to dissuade me of this view, and will not allow it to stand without growing, progressively less tactful, calls for redress.
In trying to get to the bottom of the Flooding of New Orleans on 8/29/05 --and get the Story Straight and True-- we have all fought too hard, paid too many dues and gotten knocked down too often in the eyes of the nation to have the past 4 years, the reality of our present recovery and our hopes for the future, buttered-over and co-opted by any Mayoral Candidate, but particularly one (allegedly) so close to the grass roots scene.
~Stood'Update~ Rather than Change the offending Katrina Shorthand Jive Political Ad mentioned above, or come out with any salient response, or Public Position on the Question of the City's Relationship to the Corps of Engineers' role in New Orleans' Future Flood Safety, the Jacobs Campaign has deployed Astro-turf after yer'oh'so humble Editilla. Wah. Scary huh? Trembling Gentle'rillas can read my (believe it, restrained) response in the comments below. This saddens me greatly as we gave this candidate such support initially, only to have it now Played With like some video game of schoolyard Dodge Ball.
Perhaps, and I honestly hope in my heart, this campaign will shift into offering a difference that makes a difference, rather than the same myopic disregard for the city's relationship to the Corps, post-CORPS FLOOD, that we got from the last Mayor.
We the People cannot continue to blame the Corps for our future flood safety problems when own own leaders remain clueless and fail to step up, to at least Represent the City's Interests in that relationship, if not Advocate for more of a role in securing them.

Corps could be helping rebuild coast with dredged river sediment, state says
~Mark Schleifstein


~WWL story comments link here.

Hurricane Katrina Even More of a Man-Made Disaster Than We Thought~Laura Flanders
~No judgment will bring back the Ninth Ward which, years after Katrina and Rita and the breaking of the levees is still largely a ghost town, but this acknowledgment that the destruction didn't have to happen is important.
Long neglect of federal infrastructure by governments more concerned with tax cuts than human safety is not a phenomenon limited to New Orleans.
The NOLA negligence verdict makes the case for national infrastructure spending now.

Nightline tips the idea of "8/29 Victims Compensation Fund"
~"Things of this magnitude tend to provoke dramatic solutions that are more than just case-by-case appeals," said Prof. Oliver Houck of Tulane Law School, who mentioned the Congressional-created fund to compensate victims of the 9/11 attacks. "This was our 9/11. There's even more of a rationale here, because the government was largely responsible."

Why Obama Needs to Weigh In With the Corps of Engineers
~Harry Shearer


Officials: Developers' trucks damaging levee in Terrebonne
~Naomi King


High water levels of Miss. River may squelch bonfires
~Every year in the River Parishes, Thanksgiving weekend kicks off the beginning of a longtime tradition of building bonfires along the Mississippi River levee to light the way for Papa Noel on Christmas Eve. But Papa Noel may have to find his own way if Old Man River doesn’t calm down. For the first time in memorable history, officials from the Army Corps of Engineers (Boooo'dat?) has prohibited all bonfire activities and construction because of high water levels in the Mississippi River.


Chaos as further downpours set to hamper relief work
~Claire Murphy

~It has been described as an 'Irish Hurricane Katrina', and there is more rain in store for the country's south and western counties. Fresh downpours will hamper relief efforts across an already sodden country as Taoiseach Brian Cowen visits devastated parts of Cork, Clare and Galway today.
Photo: Hundreds of flood damged books litter the floor in a bookshop on November 23, in Cockermouth, England.
After the worst floods in the history of picturesque Lake District, Cumbrians were being allowed back to their properties today to see the devastation and begin the massive clean up.
Many Roads and bridges are still subject to closure in the district as forecasters predict more rain on the way. Getty Images

Real Stories of the Budget Patrol
~SaveCharityHospital.com


Barbour 2012?~Patrick Young

What is next for Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu: Congress, New Orleans mayor or perhaps governor? ~Jeremy Alford

Women & The Practice of Judaism ~NOLAFemmes


David Vitter
(R-Pamp)
Now Pooping
In Ladies’
Underwear
~Wonkette


Patsy Brumfield – Anybody seen Tim Balducci?~slabbed

New Orleans a possible site for potential Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather superfight
~Andrew Lopez
~While noted political analyst James Carville has left the Washington D.C. scene in order to teach at Tulane University, he's out on the campaign trail again. This time, it's for New Orleans.
The potential boxing superfight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, the sport's undisputed top pound-for-pound fighters, is looking for a home, and Carville is actively trying to bring the bout to the Superdome.

DesCours~Humid Beings


Grilling: Cider-Glazed Sweet Potatoes
~Serious Eats


Further suggestions fo'da progression lo'da coming Feast 'O' Tanksgiving
~curtsy of PWALLY, tank youz ver'mush:
~~Go buy a turkey. Pour a glass of wine. Put turkey in oven
Pour another glass of wine. Set the oven at 375 degrees
Pour another glass of wine. Turn the oven on.
Pop open another bottle of wine. Turk the bastey.
Pour another glass of vino. Bake the wine for 4 hours.
Take the oven out of the turkey. Floor the turkey off of the pick.
Turk the Carvey. Open another wottle of bine.
Tet the sable and pour yourself another glass of turkey.
Bless the saying, pass and eat out.

"Let the Great World Spin"
~romin' and ruminatin'


Writing about new New Orleans
~Shauna Robert's


2nd Annual New Orleans Songwriters Festival
~Skewed Communications

5 comments:

Will Scott said...

Editilla,

In regard to your recap of Jimmy Huck's writeup of the Leslie Jacobs dinner your quote did a disservice to Jimmy's post. He also said, prior to that which you quoted.

"Jacobs really seemed genuinely interested in hearing such suggestions from all of us who were present. In short, she was real, approachable, collaborative, and engaged. And that is a far cry from our current Mayor, not to mention some of the other declared candidates in the race. So she has that going for her. I also think her progressive credentials are solid, and I am generally supportive of her work in the realm of educational policy and her involvement with the educational reform and charter school movement. So, she's an attractive candidate for me, and one that I will be following closely over the next weeks and months."

And honestly I find your focus on Lelsie's use of "Katrina Shorthand" a bit myopic.

Here is a candidate about whom you were so excited who in one of her position pieces - not even a commercial - uses language of which you disapprove and you're ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater?

Editilla said...

Will, in the interest of full disclosure you should have stated to my readers that you work for the Leslie Jacobs Mayoral Campaign as their "Social Networking" "Person".
Ladies and Gentle'rillas, this is a Member the the Jacob's Campaign who has come onto your New Orleans Ladder to try and Astro-turf poor Editilla, as if he is merely an enthusiastic supporter, just a guy who likes Leslie.
I will save, for a full posting, a more vivid description of the deep offense and sadness which I feel now to realize this Campaign has so little substance on actual issues that they must resort to such...Corps-like tactics of drive-by attack commentary.
I will save it for now, but suffice to say...Yer Oh'so Humble Editilla doesn't play that kind of schoolyard bull shit, facebook softball, Will.
We play hard ball on New Orleans Flood Safety.

You really should have read this blog before stepping in like this. You should have asked around, gotten a clue.

This really doesn't do a lot for Mrs Jacobs' lack of a position, or any statement of Leadership on the issue of Flood Safety, which you of course Did Not Address, and have tagged as "Myiopic".
Myopic... goddamn son, couldn't you have done better than that?
If you wanted to really try to marginalize my argument, you could have said "Extreme", or "Strident", or even..."orthodox".
It wouldn't have worked, but it would have been better than "Myopic". That sounds so Obama.

You guys really Don't Get It?
That scares me more than your misunderestimation of the subtle but salient differences between the concepts "Social" and "Networking", Natural and Selection, Catastrophic Engineering Failure and Political Marketing Machinery.
Don't play flood games with me young man and don't tell me how to write my own blog.
If people want to read Huck, they can follow the Big Linky thingy in the Lede. This is how blogs work. Huck UpChuck writes his blog. Editilla doesn't write Huck's blog. Editilla writes the New Orleans Ladder. What is the last thing you need in a flood Will? What's the Frequency, Willeth?
How dare you try such cheap rhetoric with me.
Please Please Please ask Sandy Rosenthal if the view that Katrina Shorthand is a problem in keeping the Story Straight (about the devastation with which Your candidate chose to market herself right out of the gate) is Myiopic.

This isn't Mrs Jacobs' facebook page where everything looks scripted and everyone sounds alike, of which you are in charge.

How dare you come onto this blog without disclosing your Formal connection to the Campaign.

That is smarmy enough, but to try and snooker my readers and yet leave the only link back to your identity a link to your silly Social Newtworking Business.
I normally don't allow commercial Spam here, and I damn sure don't allow Astro-turf without calling it out. Bad move, Will, very bad move...Quite embarrassing actually.

So, instead of Answers to the Issues I have put forth, we get You...skittering around trying to manipulate blog commentary between blogs.
That is so like soft-hand, to wit: not 1st Hand Experience, not even 2nd Hand Knowledge, but soft-handed innuendo and out the other. This doesn't even rate as Politics.
I ask about 2 Issues, Flood Safety and Charity Hospital and you give me Ad Words.
This ain't no gameboy.
That flood was real, our Bad Flood Walls and Inoperable Pumps are Still Real, and both Really Matter (or not) to the City's relationship to the Corps of Engineers who built them Failed from the beginning.
From the defensive blogging reaction of this campaign I am guessing "Not"?
But I will still beg to differ.
Sinn Féin

Will Scott said...

My Dear Editilla,

I am terribly sorry I didn't disclose that my company is doing work for the campaign and that I myself am volunteering a significant amount of my time in support of the candidate I believe in.

My opinion, and my choice to comment are my own. If they offend you then I apologize for the offense.

I know what astroturf is and this ain't it.

I stated an opinion that is my own and pointed out that there was more to the quoted text which was of value.

So, all due respect I shared my personal opinion. If, given our earlier conversations, you're not willing to take it at face value and engage in conversation then I'm sorry we can't have a civil conversation.

All the best,
Will Scott <- Not Anonymous

Editilla said...

Will,
drop the guilt tripping.
You could no more offend me politically than Obama did when he came to New Orleans recently and tried to pee down the City's Leg and tell us it was Katrina.
If I'm not going to take that from the President for whom I voted, then excuse my cynicism when addressing any Candidate for Mayor of New Orleans who would use that flood in Marketing yet Not address its causes. It isn't just about the Ad, Will. It is the total Lack of a Position on This Issue of Flood Safety for New Orleans.

2) You even had the bourgeois naivete to accuse me of doing "a disservice to Jimmy's post" by not re-printing his every word of it on my post. Sorry, Will, but I don't do a Facebook Gloryhole, this is a Blog. I am not here to wank my own chain, or any other blogger's, and particularly not Leslie Jacobs' but address Issues the Candidate has Not. So I posted the part of Huck's post which addressed this, and added to it with my own context.

I am not here to Advertise for yours or any Candidate, but to either Trumpet or Disparage their policies as they touch on my own plans for the future.
Yet, Despite my own personal offense at the Tactic you employed, I still allowed You to cut/paste Huck's positive opening paragraph about your candidate. Hell, give the people some credit for intelligence, Will, but don't try to tell them how to exercise their Freedom of Speech and Thought, how to write their blog.
Don't you ever again try to tell me that I do a disservice to another blogger by hanging their views on my blog. If your candidate had any positions for me go get behind She would be here in that capacity. As it is, I gave Y'all AMPLE notice, pre-announcment, of my concerns because I Did Believe that she might have what it takes to Make A Difference for Real Change in the way this City approaches its Flood Safety ---and this campaign chosen to ignore them. This is about The Candidate, Will, not You or Me. You don't set the pace of the conversation here, the Candidate does (or not). If Mrs. Jacobs cannot tell me where she plans to get the funding for her "Visions" when the City will be on the hook for $10,000,000/year over the next decade just for Pump Maintenance on Option 1, then what the hell is she talking about since that Katrina Gut Check has bounced? We need to know how this Candidate plans to get that money. I am talking about Reality here, not Sunrises and Obamaesque Hope'A'Dope. We don't need platitudes about Vision, Golly Feel Good Adwords". We need a Mayor with their Eye on the Ball.

Which brings me to your 3rd Guilt Trip: the Eithor/Or Fallacy of Throwing the Baby out with the Bathwater. Honestly, you are confusing Bathwater with Floodwater, and I don't accept your misdirection. I had only 2 Questions for this candidate: the re-opening of Charity Hospital and Flood Safety as regards to the City's relationship to the Corps of Engineers current work. She punted on the former is fumbling on the latter. I sincerely hope that this is a problem with her Campaign "People" and not the Candidate herself.
But for you to imply I am discounting Leslie Jacobs entire campaign (whatever it is) just because She hasn't come out for my 2 issues is childish and bespeaks more of Idealism on your part, Pragmatism on the Campaign's part than Realism on my part.

Yes, you really should have divulged that your company currently profits from this campaign and stands to gain should it succeed in winning the office. I mean, isn't that Precisely the Big Problem of Conflict of Interests in the last Mayor's Administration? Can you spell Merffert? I can't. It makes me ill.

Editilla said...

And one more thing, Will...
[So, all due respect I shared my personal opinion. If, given our earlier conversations, you're not willing to take it at face value and engage in conversation then I'm sorry we can't have a civil conversation.]
I can't see anything more civil than publishing your comments onto my blog. I didn't have to do that.

I don't take Anything at Face Value in Politics. Are you kidding? But particularly regarding the New Orleans Flood Safety Situation --on which I am fairly knowledgeable and of which I remain scared to death-- I cannot bare silence. That issue must be out front of any efforts to Lead this City through the Flood Recovery. Did you people think I would just sit on my ass while this campaign continues to ignore this important issue?
Stop apologizing for your Candidate, Will.
There is no crying in politics.