Reading the headlines Tuesday, Apr 29 2008

Some good stuff came our way today. I bitched about this awhile back and I am one thrilled New Orleanian that we have gotten a Presidential Debate to come to NOLA!! Leave it to the “new media” to get it done. Thank goodness. Again, I cannot wait for John McCain to bumble around here telling everyone how committed the Republicans are to “rebuilding”. Nor can I wait for the winner of the other two losers to come down here and lie to our faces about how much “they” have done for the recovery. Now I guess we just have to wait to see if both party’s candidates will actually show up.

On other local stuff, two things really have stuck out lately. First, and this news has not been covered yet because the radio station is the first one to go with the story. The New Orleans recovery department is going through a “re-organization”. The 17 targeted recovery zones are now….wait for it…..DONE. No more targeted recovery zones. Now the recovery department will focus on blight in Districts A, B, C & D. Please note that District E is not mentioned. District E is New Orleans East. Yeah the area that suffered more destruction than any other area. No focus on blight there? And another thing, it’s been 3 freaking years and the office of recovery is just now figuring out that blight might need to be focused on? Katrina was a real disaster but the government of New Orleans post Katrina is starting to look worse than anything a hurricane did to us.

The other thing that got my blood boiling was to hear that former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial and his family are up in arms because of a name change to a city owned building. Marc’s dad Ernest Morial or Dutch, basically got the convention center built during his time in office. The convention center is named Ernest Morial Convention Center. Nothing wrong with that but times change. Needs change. The group running the convention center decided that New Orleans needed to be spotlighted in trying to sell the center to group looking for convention space. That’s just smart business frankly.

Well Marc Morial and his clan don’t see it that way. The newly named New Orleans Morial Convention Center has received a letter from Marc and the clan dealing with the name change. He has accused the convention center of trying to ruin his father’s good name by changing the name and trying to get more business to the city.

I find it interesting how a man who is under investigation for years of corruption while being Mayor can say that a name change is ruining his father’s good name. You know what Marc? You RUINED his good name years ago with your corrupt ways. YOU ruined the good things your father did for this city because you were a freaking disaster as Mayor. How everyone in this city looks at you and knows you were lining your pockets off the hard working people of New Orleans. What a FRAUD you are Marc Morial.

Last but not least, if you care about this city as much as you say you do, then you should KNOW that we must do whatever we can to bring business back to New Orleans. Even if it meant naming the convention center the FREE DRINKS FOR EVERYONE CENTER.

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Tough times Monday, Apr 28 2008

I awoke Saturday morning to the headline that the Head of the FBI in New Orleans, Jim Bernazzani, a man who has lead the fight against corruption in New Orleans was being shipped out of town. The radio station has had him on as a guest almost weekly since we returned to the airwaves after Katrina. He has always been straight forward with us and we really admired him and his efforts.

At some point last week, he spoke with two TV stations about a possible desire to run for Mayor in 2010. (Boy we need someone like him running this city). Well the FBI’ers in DC did not take too kindly to that and shut it down. And shipped him out. It’s not really my place to tell the FBI how to run their biz, but I can say that this is NOT what the city needed right now. The last thing New Orleans needs is shipping out a guy who has done nothing but fight to get this situation straight. And that is all Jim has done.

I understand the conflict of interest. I understand that you cannot go after corrupt politicians while being one yourself. But that’s the thing. Jim never said he was running, just said that he was THINKING about running. I’m thinking about a Big Mac for lunch, does that mean I am getting a Big Mac? No it does not.

The guy is almost 65. He will be forced to retire soon anyway. While I understand the FBI shipping Mr. Bernazzani out of here, I don’t have to like it. And I don’t like it. We are in the fight of our lives in and for New Orleans and we need all hands on deck, especially from people who actually care. And Jim, if nothing else, cares deeply about this city.

Let’s hope we see Jim again in the future. Maybe on a yard sign, saying Vote for Jim Bernazzani- Mayor

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Makes no sense Wednesday, Apr 16 2008

I’m talking about two things here. One, Why are the New Orleans Saints the home team for the London game against the Chargers? And two, Why does the Saints schedule keep them away from home for 5 straight weeks? Or if you prefer, the Saints will not play in this chocolate city for 37 days in the fall. WTF?

Everyone in the city is thankful and grateful for the “love” that the NFL has shown the city since Katrina. This is not a attempt to diminish or not give the league credit for the attempts at making things work here during our difficult times. Plus I know that sporting event schedules are what they are. But damn, the way this has played out makes no sense whatsoever.

New Orleans is the last city that can “afford” to lose a home game right now. Not for the team, they’ll get their money back from the league. Plus I know that the Saints are honored to be playing overseas. It is an honor and I think everyone here is grateful for this honor. But the local businesses that frankly survive because of Sunday home games won’t be getting a check from the NFL. They will lose a day of revenues that might pay their bills for an entire month. The businesses that operate like squirrels, gathering their nuts all in one day and then slowly using them to survive the rest of the year are SOL. The support staff, the non-profits, the church groups that run concession stands are SOL. Need that week of revenue to keep your business aflot? Too bad sucker. While it is a great opportunity for the Saints and the city itself to be showcased in London, couldn’t the freaking Chargers have been the home team? It makes no sense and frankly is just plain stupid on the NFL’s part.

Now on to the second problem. 5 straight weeks on the road? Hell did the Saints win the Super Bowl and I missed it somehow? Didn’t they finish last season a weak 7-9? Wouldn’t you think that the teams that were successful would be dealing with 5 straight weeks on the road? Yeah I know one week is a bye, but when your at Carolina, London, Bye week, at Atlanta and at KC, it’s five freaking weeks on the road in a row. Again what the hell is going on here?

The people in the city have given up on people giving a crap about us down here. It took awhile but we finally got the point that the rest of America frankly could give a shit about the recovery. There are losers to vote for on American Idol, which holds folks attention much more than rebuilding a city in our own country can. We get it. Don’t like it, but we get it and have accepted it. But damn, when a business like the NFL, which pretty much controls everything in their own power, looks like they knelt down over the city and took a big ole steaming dump, it gets a little frustrating.

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“This is like Baghdad” Friday, Apr 11 2008

Living in New Orleans, we have heard this phrase, especially after the storm hit. “It looks like Baghdad” was a common theme in the immediate aftermath. Oh for six months at least, maybe longer. Some area’s still look like Baghdad in some respects, but the above quote was not referencing how things look around here, it was in regards to the society of New Orleans for the last two years.

The trial of local musician Dinerral Shavers came to a conclusion yesterday. Dinerral was the drummer for the Hot 8 Brass band and created the band program at a local high school. He was gunned down in his vehicle in 2006. It was a shooting that woke many people up to the issues going on in the inner city of New Orleans. Along with the killing of filmmaker Helen Hill.

The “This is like Baghdad” quote above was spoken by the judge overseeing the trial. This isn’t just some local yahoo making crazy jumps, trying to bring understanding to a situation that most people cannot understand. This is a quality judge who is not known for making out of my ass statements. His point is that the killings occurring on the streets of New Orleans are about “turf”, my “hood”, about the lack of parental influence and an overall lack of being able to function within a society.

When Recovery director Ed Blakely stated that New Orleans was like Iraq in the way that Sunni’s, Shiites and Kurds cannot reach a common ground, he was thrown under the bus. I said at the time that he was right and I stand by that statement. What we have going on here is a mini war, for lack of a better phrase, between “wards”. Wards in New Orleans are basically neighborhoods. Young black males in say the 6th ward, don’t care for the young black males in the 8th ward. When one sees the other in their ward, the bullets start flying. And the innocent people, such as Mr. Shavers, get caught in the middle.

The alleged gunman was attempting to shoot Mr. Shaver’s son, who was not welcome in this particular ward. The prosecution had three witnesses, one key witness who supposedly saw the alleged gunman fire the shots in the Shavers vehicle.

When it came time for this witness to identify the suspect in court, she stood up and said, ” I don’t see anybody. I must need glasses.” During the trial, it was reported that the alleged gunman was making gestures toward witnesses. Those gestures must have worked. The alleged gunman was acquitted of all charges Thursday afternoon.

I don’t know what’s going on locally in any other city. I don’t know if the cities of America are all experiencing the kind of craziness and murders and shootings and just plain old pain that New Orleans is experiencing. I have a hard enough time getting through the things going on here to understand other cities problems. I don’t know for sure if the alleged gunman is getting away with murder or not. I know what my gut says. I also know how this city works. Whether the alleged gunman got away with murder or not, I know from the past that the alleged gunman better haul ass outta town. Because just like Baghdad, New Orleans has it’s own style of justice in the streets. The only real difference that I can see is that the beheadings haven’t reached the Big Easy…yet.

 

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Le Hornets are # 1 Wednesday, Apr 9 2008

Would any sports fan in the world have seen this coming? At one point, people thought the team would leave asap. The team and the state came to an agreement that called for a minimum number of tickets to be sold. Anyone remember 14,735?  Anyone remember winning 18 out of 82 games three years ago?

The Hornets are tops in the NBA Western Conference with 4 games left to play. They have clinched a playoff berth and at the current time, are seeded number one heading into the playoffs. The toughest conference in the league and the HORNETS are on top. No one, including the team saw this coming. They expected to be good, but even they did not see them being on top with 4 games to go. The Hornets just wanted to make the playoffs, seeding was not really important, just get in.

That is no longer the case. The city has gotten Hornets fever. Citizens expect Chis Paul (CP3 to the clueless) to win the league’s MVP trophy. New Orleanians expect the team to go all the way…or at the very least the Western Conference Finals. We’ve seen this team dismantle pretty much every team in the league at some point….except one. Of course, that one team is the team that has some history in NOLA too.

The one team that has handled the Hornets is the team with the nickname that should be across the New Orleans jersey. The freakin Jazz. The team that once was ours is the club that the current NBA franchise in town can’t seem to handle.

I write this because of what happened Monday night in the NCAA championship game. I lived in Memphis for awhile, ran the sports talk radio station in town for a good number of years. I made friends in Memphis and have fond memories of some of my times there. No city other than New Orleans really deserves to be labeled a championship city than Memphis. They’ve had tough times, racial and economic woes. A NCAA championship would have given the folks there a good boost, something positive to latch onto, to get them thru times when things are troublesome. But they didn’t get it. They were the better team, played well and such but in the end they blew it.

I go there because I see the same thing coming our way in regards to Le Hornets. This team is good enough to make the NBA finals. No doubt about that in my eyes. But if things play out in their normal way, we’ll have to play the Jazz at some point, a nickname that BELONGS in New Orleans. And in the un-fair world of sports, the city of New Orleans will end up being the bridesmaid to a franchise that broke the city’s heart 30 years ago.

 

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Checking the headlines Monday, Apr 7 2008

Hello David Vitter, I hear you may take the fifth today. That’s probably not a bad idea. Anytime you get elected on the “family values” platform and end up with your hand in a whore’s panties then it might be best to say nothing. Hopefully, since you have no backbone to resign, that’s the amount of votes you will get in 2010….Nothing.

Ray Nagin is in China. Hopefully, he will run his big fat supid mouth and they will arrest him. Put his lame ass in a Chinese Jail for about, oh two years I think would work for the citizens back on the ground in New Orleans. Could we be that lucky?

The Hoarding house is gone. If you were not paying attention, a local family (or loco) has been living in a house on Magazine St. that should have been demolished years ago. The entire family of three has mental issues. The brother hoards among other things. That basically means that he collects crap and piles it to the roof. Well after much hand wringing and bawling, the city finally tore that sucker down. It was frankly disgusting and should have been ripped down years ago. Now the peeps who think they know all the answers and can save anyone from their problems, are moaning and groaning about the retards house being crumbled. I guarantee you these are the same nut cases screaming about the projects needed to stay as they were. This family has been saved from themselves, everyone should be happy for them.

Speaking of the projects, one of the most beautiful areas in the city right now is where the St. Bernard projects once stood. That’s right, once stood. The reason it’s so beautiful over there now is that there is nothing left of the projects but rubble. Nothing but broken up concrete. I don’t think I’ve seen a better looking lot in many many years.

I’m not a “conservative” other than the fiscal type. Even though I run a talk radio station, I think the gubberment should keep it’s nose out of peeps biz usually. With Charlton Heston dying over the weekend, I think he gets a bullshit rap because of his NRA wackiness. Which I understand but I don’t think it’s fair to only focus on his “from my cold dead hand” comment. I’m 40 now, a little over 6 months I guess. As a kid, Charlton Heston was the freaking bomb!!! If he was in a movie, it had to be seen. I still remember every Easter weekend watching him as Moses. The range of characters just blows my mind with this guy. And yeah, Soylent Green is still people.

Attention, attention. There has been a Ed Blakely sighting!!! The area’s recovery czar is running his mouth again too. Although I’ve generally agreed with everything he has said in the past, it drives me freakin up the wall when he backtracks after some group gets wind of what he’s got the say. Now he’s upset the black folks. Blakely basically said that blacks in power in New Orleans don’t want to listen or are unwilling to listen to their white counterparts. No shit. It’s been that way for 30 years Ed. Now if you’ll just stand by your statements instead of running from them.

I’ve not written much about the presidential election other than the debate issue. To wrap up this short, not too funny post, I’ll just say one thing. I’m pulling for Obama. He’s a great speaker, too liberal for me yes but I feel he’s what all of us as a country need. The reason? Along the same lines as what Ed Blakely said above. Obama will inspire Black America. Hopefully.

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