Hurricane Katrina Aftermath (and other stuff I find interesting)

This was such an important, yet strange election for me. This election further enhanced my disdain for the political campaign ad, which is so tiresome and needless. Like every election in my memory, there was a real lack of true discourse. Nobody really shared any ideas, or broke any new ground (except for the ground broken in District A with the hate sites set up by both candidates' supporters, which I can't say is progress). I guess my expectations are too high for politicians.

First and most importantly, the mayor's race.

We had a choice between two candidates that honestly I wasn't too enamored with. My candidate didn't make it through the primary, and I felt that what we were left with were two candidates who were largely unattractive. The previous and now future mayor, who made this election more about race than anything substantial; and the lieutenant governor who has been in the past an attractive candidate, but has been a shell of himself throughout this campaign. I've seen speeches from Landrieu that were so much more powerful than anything from his campaign (except his concession speech, which was very emotional and powerful. He was more animated than I've seen him all campaign. Wtf is that?)

Congratulations now Mr. Mayor. You got re-elected, insinuating that your opponent was more of the same, and old-time politics with big money behind him. Prove to me that wasn't just a campaign strategy, and that you are serious about continuing the reforms that you had started pre-K. Let's hope that you're not now beholden to the big money that got you elected this time around, with your coalition of the black community and republicans who came out of the woodwork to support you in this re-election.

Mr. Mayor, now is your chance to unite this city. It's all you've got, because I'm sure the rest of the United States thinks that we're pretty stupid for re-electing you. If you don't think the rest of the world is watching, there are currently 727 reports about the election on Google News, the top story in fact. All of the major media outlets, including tons from overseas, are following this election.

In your acceptance speech, you say that it is time for this city to start the healing process. I welcome that, but we're going to need some time to heal too. I want to know that everybody is going to be accepted and welcomed in the New New Orleans. I want to know that we are going to actively work to enact meaningful reforms.

Why thank Cleo Fields in your acceptance speech? Why highlight him at your party? If you are the person who is so opposed to old-time politics, why highlight the state representative (not even from the New Orleans metro area) who is on FBI videotape taking an envelope full of cash?

I do have to say that payback seems to already be beginning for the Republicans that have now placed Nagin back into office. The Mayor's shout-out to President Bush is another in a long line from his endorsement of Bobby Jindal, and to likely a future endorsement of whomever is going to be running against Mary Landrieu in 2 years.

Anyhow, that's enough about the mayoral election. There were a bunch of other races worth noting, that sounded a much different tone in my opinion than the mayoral race. Arnie Fielkow defeated Jackie Clarkson for city council at large, which is a sign of change. Arnie is a stand-up guy, who will be an active, passionate advocate for the city. Shelley Midura unseated Jay Batt, in the dirtiest race that I have ever seen. Stacy Head unseated Renee Gill Pratt, which should be a good sign for the council. RGP was one of the few holdouts supporting the residency restrictions for the NOPD, and now of all times, we need to give that the boot. James Carter wins in C, giving us a very new look council. Let's see if we can get along now, and get some things done as a council.

Now for your comic relief, the cover of today's living section from the Times-Picayune. Why didn't Chris Rose run for mayor?

http://www.nola.com/katrina/PDF/05200601living.pdf

That's enough rambling crap for one night. God Save the City of New Orleans.

The Greater New Orleans Community Data Center. Forget that Brookings Institute crap. This is good data, from people on the ground. Check it out.

http://www.gnocdc.org/

And not a moment too soon. Everytime elections come around, I get more and more frustrated with our current system which rewards campaign fundraising ability, and places almost no emphasis on actual ideas. Attack ads are the norm (is it like that everywhere in the country?) and are extremely tiring.

Anyhow, Bayou Buzz has a great breakdown of the elections tomorrow, check it out here, and if you live in New Orleans, get yourself out and vote.

Most of the graphics from the Times-Picayune these days are. A breakdown of Katrina deaths, across the country.

http://www.nola.com/katrina/pdf/051906_katrinavictims.pdf

Attorneys for Kenneth Lay suggested bank loan documents containing terms he allegedly violated actually were signed by an automatic signature device in the Enron Corp. founder's office and not by him.

More here

It's worth a try.

"...if enough Mexicans enter our country through South Louisiana's wetlands, maybe conservatives will become rabidly mobilized to protect our "coastal borders" as well"

Full hypothesis here

This is some much-needed good news for the downtown area. Hopefully they will get this in motion quickly.

BATON ROUGE -- Louisiana State University is considering a 37-acre parcel of land near Interstate 10 in downtown New Orleans for a new $1 billion complex of teaching hospitals and medical research facilities that would be built in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, according to school officials and a preliminary report released Wednesday.

Full story here

Answers to these and more burning questions in the latest Chris Rose column here. Oh, and here's the answer to the first one.

Landrieu: Leo.

Nagin: Gemini.

Do you really need to know more?

Degeneres visits New Orleans for first time since Katrina

Faith & Tim Set Concert for Katrina Relief

Witherspoon tours Katrina devastation

You've just got to see this for yourself, to see how catastrophic the flooding was in New Orleans, and how comprehensive the failures to our protection systems were.

http://www.nola.com/katrina/graphics/flashflood.swf