America is Doomed Tuesday, May 27 2008

The more I read things like what I posted below, the more I think that America is really doomed.

Former Republican congressman from Oklahoma J.C Watts is part of a small group of private investors who are pushing to launch a cable television network, tentatively called Black Television News Channel. It’s slated to launch in early 2009 and already has agreements with Comcast Cable to be carried in Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Washington DC, Atlanta, and Baltimore. The news channel, which has been referred to as “a Black CNN”, would fill what former Oklahoman Watts calls a void in national news for the African-American. Watts, who is also a member of the board for Clear Channel, has partnered with two unnamed cable industry veterans to bankroll the start up.

Yes that’s right. Blacks are not allowed to watch the news channels we have now. I mean this is a joke right? What other groups are not being “served” by the over 12 news channels now available to most of the country? What exactly is a void of national news for black folks? Do CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, FOX, CNBC, MSNBC et all produce and air stories that are only for white folks? Hmmmm I missed that news feature I guess.

What about all the other groups that don’t have their own News Network? Don’t the latinos need one cause the current networks don’t focus on ways to cross the border? Do gays need their own news network to focus on what heels go with what dress? Do American Indians need a news network to tell them what life is like on the reservation?

This shit is tired and old Rep. Watts. The more this country attempts to divide us as Americans, the further away we are from becoming the country that we were at one time.

Someone needs to create a news channel for me. One that covers the major stories of the day. Oh wait, we’ve got 12 of those already.

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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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Pucker Up Wednesday, Mar 12 2008

The bouquets for Donald Powell have been flowing since the White House Recovery Czar for the Gulf Coast announced that he would be stepping down from the position. I have to say I don’t get the love-fest of the last two weeks. From Senators to Media outlets, the constant kissing of Mr. Powell’s ass is sickening.This is not about Mr. Powell being a nice guy. It’s not about him waking up one morning and finally understanding that the Worst President Ever was and has been a complete fraud when it comes to his desire to help New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region. I will allow that the Grinch did grow a heart after being down here and seeing the way that the United States government has mis-handled the situation from day one. But that does not give Mr. Powell a pass on his inability to get things moving forward from a federal standpoint.

With all of the accolades flowing in op-ed pieces and press releases, no one seemed willing to point out the obvious. The banker from Texas was nothing more than a White House mouthpiece, spouting Republican talking point after Republican talking point. The radio station had Mr. Powell on as a guest many times in the early stages of the “recovery”. We finally called an end to it when all he could do is keep saying how important the recovery of New Orleans was to the President, when those of us with our feet on the ground here knew that was a flat out lie to the citizens of New Orleans.

If Mr. Powell was such a wonderful recovery czar, where is the FEMA money to START rebuilding the infrastructure of this city, two and a half years after the fact? Why is the city of New Orleans still bickering with FEMA about what potholes they will or will not pay to fix? If Mr. Powell was such an advocate for this city, why were people living in formaldehyde laced trailers for the last year, when everyone knew something was wrong with them? Why is this city still fighting about the Stafford Act if Mr. Powell had the ear of the Worst President Ever? Why hasn’t Mr. Powell ever stood up and said that the Feds need to get off their ass and get some crap done here?

I know the answer to those questions. If you live here or if you even pay attention from afar, the answer is pretty clear. Mr. Powell didn’t have New Orleans and the Gulf Coast back; he was covering the Worst President Ever backside before he ever thought of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans.

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Thanks or stopping by!! Wednesday, Aug 29 2007

An open letter to America:Good afternoon my fellow Americans. Everyone here in New Orleans wanted to thank you for paying attention to us yesterday. We really do appreciate this country taking time out to say hello on the 2^nd anniversary of the thing.To all the mass media that took time away from covering the latest Lindsey Lohan or Paris Hilton exploits, thanks for stopping by! It was nice to see you for a change. It’s been what a year or even two for some of you so again, thanks for passing through.

To our wonderful fantastic leaders in Washington D.C., thanks for taking time away from sending taxpayer dollars to either your cronies or to some far away land that needs a windmill. We know how busy you all are, either shooting things in Texas or trying to move a moron from one disaster (see Homeland Security) to another (see Attorney General).

Thanks for giving us that wonderful news President Bush. Even though you made a decision to not speak with anyone who lives here, except for other losers like yourself (meaning politicos), we thank you for noticing that things here are so much better. I know that view from a schoolyard is a really good way to understand what folks here are going through.

Once again, we cannot express how grateful we are for everyone paying attention for a day. It has really made everyone feel safer and just gives us a tingling feeling.

Don’t forget to mark your calendar for August 29^th 2008. We know we probably won’t see you until then but I’m sure we’ll still be here, waiting for your yearly drop-in.

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This and That Saturday, Jul 7 2007

Is Paris Hilton out of jail yet? I’ve been a little overwhelmed lately, backed up on the “News” of this country sometimes.I read in an article about recovery at an Essence Festival forum that OUR MAYOR, C. Ray Nagin stated that he was getting worn out dealing with the recovery. Hmmm, we’ve got 3 more years of this kat and he’s worn out. That’s just too fucking rich. Like a dark chocolate Hershey bar.Essence weekend was a blast. I sat at the third floor window and just watched the mass of people streaming through the French Market. Thank goodness for a crowd in New Orleans summertime. Too bad the towing trucks were out in full force. Interesting how vehicles with Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas license plates were towed before ANY local one was. Especially considering that 95% of the cars were parked LEGALLY. Maybe that’s wearing C. Ray out, taking tourist cash in what basically amounts to a towing scam.

Senator David Vitter. Man you were supposed to be one of the good guys. Even though your family values stance made and continues to make me puke. It is nice though that the Madam of the Canal Street Brothel says Mr. Vitter was a very nice John. Isn’t that special. Good to know he could treat his whores right.

Beware those who want to legislate the way YOU choose to live YOUR life. On either side of the political spectrum. Let me live my life the way I want politicians. Keep your runny ass noses out of my biz, spend my tax money decently and we’ll get along fine. Tell me who I should sleep with and I’m gonna slap that Giddeons bible right outta your hand.

I think the thing that makes me even sicker is the stance some take regarding Mr. Vitter. These are the same people who screamed for President Bill Clinton’s mmmm head on a platter. Bill Clinton got a BJ from an intern….Boo Bad President getting licky licky….Hoo-Ray Senator going to a whorehouse. I mean what’s the difference here folks? Remember prostitution is ILLEGAL in this country. Except in Nevada and Washington DC obviously.

Marc Morial is taking the Bill Jefferson high ground. Asked by Ch. 4 TV to comment on his peeps getting years upon years in prison for financial schemes during his administration, Morial didn’t offer anything other than maybe someday in the distant (meaning 2089) future he’ll offer a honorable explanation. Yeah his ass is gonna get rung up too, just a matter of time. God Bless Jim Letten.

You may not like it but I could care less. The Jefferson Family might be America’s most corrupt family of all time. These criminals and yes they are criminals, have been scamming and stealing from this city, state and nation for 20 years. And basically in every imaginable way. Anyone drive by the 10k building Mose Jefferson claimed in insurance papers was worth 650k? Then rented one room out to family friend and Former City councilwoman Renee Gill-Pratt for 1800 a month as a satellite office? It’s basically a crack house. That you and I were paying for due to the scams these criminals have been running in New Orleans for 20 years. Just unreal.

The murders have gotten out of control again. I think one day we had 4 in 5 hours or something crazy like that. A couple things here. It’s not funny but it is. We can’t keep a correct count of murders this year. 5 different sources have 5 different counts. Some news media, some government agencies. Is New Orleans that dysfunctional right now that we can even add up the bullet ridden bodies?

Two weekends ago after another bad mojo of shootings, stabbings and beatings, Silence is Violence set up another march on City Hall. The last march attracted close to 5000 peeps. That was after the murder of filmmaker Helen Hill. This march attracted about 30 people. I guess without a white mother or a local musician getting shot no one gives a crap. Oh it’s just young black men killing each other. I’d rather sit on the couch and watch re-runs of Morgus seems to be the line of thinking around here.

Remember the 5 youngsters gunned down in Central City that was also one of the contributing factors to the large turnout to the first rally? D.A. Eddie Jordan, or Special ED as we call him at the station, has passed on that case. Yeah seems a witness checked out (or was gunned down, seeing as we can’t keep track around here who knows?) so Special ED said, yeah here’s one for the feds. So some murderer gets away with murder. Again. If it didn’t make my migraines worse I’d ram my baldhead against his just to see if I could get him to do his fucking job.

I have been gorging myself on Taqueria’s since the racist Jefferson Parish council decided to run these good legal immigrants outta town. Why isn’t the Jefferson Parish council more concerned about removing the illegal immigrants from the area’s street corners? How about enforcing the laws you yahoos wrote already instead of writing new ones? Just a thought.

Returning the parish to normal was the reason given to ban the Taco Trucks. That my friend is a joke. Blue Tarps remind me of Katrina. I demand that all blue tarps be removed from houses. They remind me of Katrina. Three dollars for a gallon of gas remind me of Katrina. All gas must now be 2.99 or less. What fraud. I’d rather have the Giant Sloth as a friend than any politician. I know what I’m getting with the Sloth my friend. I’m afraid I just insulted the sloths of the world by comparing them to politicians.

I think the worse thing is of all the social agencies that have come to save the New Orleans area after Katrina, well where are they standing up for these Americans attempting to make a dollar or two. Oh wait, maybe that’s the problem. ACORN, SOUL, COUP et all are only interested in helping those who are UNWILLING to help themselves. Gotcha.

Jesus lives in a Slidell courthouse. Not really but you’d think so according to some folks. I do have a couple questions regarding the picture of Jesus in the courthouse and the ACLU.

Would the ACLU attempt to take down the picture if the Jesus depicted was of the black or latino variety? Cmon, we’ve all seen the Black Jesus and Mexican Jesus pictures. Would the ACLU try to take down the picture then? Doubtful

On the other side, if the picture depicted a Black or Latino Jesus, would the bible thumpers be out in force to demand the picture remain in the courthouse? Would the peeps with 5 teeth, standing with their signs, demand that the picture remain up if Jesus was Latino or Black? That’s doubtful too.

Would I be offended if I went to a courtroom and they had a picture or statue of Buddha staring me down? Probably not but I can see how a Christian might. How come the Christian can’t see how the Buddist could possibly be offended?

I could write about the levees not being ready but yawn. Tell us something we didn’t figure out on our own already.

Tales of the Cocktail starts in two weeks. If you’ve never done the event, get off your ass and get involved. It’s a great time and it’s run by a bunch of great New Orleanians. Get out and support it. Or stay home and watch Morgus re-runs.

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Mardi Gras Sponsorship= Failure Sunday, Feb 18 2007

I wrote this week about the city’s efforts to raise money for Mardi Gras by asking locals and visitors alike to donate money via text message. Really no response on my thoughts other than by Chick Ciccarelli who works for MediaBuys LLC, the company that the City of New Orleans has worked with for the last 18 months to find a sponsor or sponsors for Mardi Gras. Here is his response:

“You may really have gone off the deep end. The Paypal Text To Give program is not a scam. It is the “Support” portion of the Mardi Gras Sponsorship and Support program. Our company’s job is to help offset costs of Mardi Gras, whether it be from sponsors or individuals. The program is designed not only to help offset Mardi Gras costs underserved by corporate sponsorship involvement, pay for city infrastructure repairs underserved by slow moving government funding but also to tap into public support due to lack of help from Katrina Relief (501c3) organizations.While you are making fun of helping New Orleans, what you should be doing is donating to the cause. You can do so by visiting http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?tabid=86.”

In my initial post, I did not even mention MediaBuys. I wrote about the effort last Mardi Gras and didn’t feel the need to point out what everyone living here already knows. The attempt to sell sponsorships for Mardi Gras by MediaBuys LLC has been a failure.

At first I thought I would just blow off Chick’s comments. Free country, welcome to post anything he wants to really. But as I was in the shower, preparing for a beautiful parade day, I couldn’t get what Chick wrote out of my head and felt the need to respond.

The radio station (AM 690 WIST) has City Council Vice President Arnie Fielkow on at least once a month to discuss the state of the city. Mr. Fielkow was vice-president of the New Orleans Saints before being fired by Tom Benson for pushing the team to play games in the state of Louisiana last season. He was involved in corporate style fund-raising/sponsorships for many years with the Saints. The last time we had him on, Mr. Fielkow stated matter of fact that MediaBuys LLC has failed in their efforts to sell Mardi Gras. This isn’t to say that MediaBuys did not try hard, nor does it mean they are not a good company. It just means they failed. None of us, individual or company, succeeds 100 % of the time. But after 18 months of having the ability to find sponsors, yet not finding any with a large cash donation, it’s time to go in another direction.

Now I was unaware that the Mardi Gras sponsorships were intended to “pay for city infrastructure repairs underserved by slow moving government funding but also to tap into public support due to lack of help from Katrina Relief (501c3) organizations”. That is a new one from my vantage point. The selling of Mardi Gras sponsorships, the public was told anyway, was to pay for the event itself. Period. No one in city government has EVER said publicly that this was to help pay for other issues.

Blaming Katrina Relief organizations for not stepping up to the plate? You’re kidding hopefully. If not for the efforts of thousands of everyday Joe’s and Jane’s, we would have 100,000 un-gutted homes instead of 12,000. Without Habitat for Humanity shipping houses down here faster than Ray Nagin can shave his bald dome, no one would be back or even have a chance at coming back. Even with all the help from these organizations, we still have firehouses based in trailers, people living in tents, a homeless population out of control and a city that mentally is hanging on by a thread. I guess Chick and the city think they should give up the efforts they are making and just give Ray a big blank check.

Chick thinks I should stop making fun of the text message-begging plan and do my part by donating. Hmmm. Chick I live in Orleans Parish. I pay taxes on everything I buy in Orleans parish. I try not to buy anything outside the parish so I can help in my own little way. Even though it cost more in Orleans Parish and the taxes are higher. I drive through the destruction (yes, there is still destruction) twice a day. Everyday. I see it, breath it, live it 365, 24, 7. I pay the parking tickets that arrive on the car at 10:30 at night, when the meter maids are suppose to have been in bed. I walk through my city’s streets with one eye ahead and one behind to make sure I’m not shot, mugged, beaten and robbed or a combination of all three.

I am Vice-President of the corporation that owns the radio station I oversee on a daily basis. We are investing millions of dollars in rebuilding the radio station in New Orleans. We have not and will not attempt to get grants or SBA loans because we feel that there are other businesses that need those things more than we do. Is that smart? Maybe not. Replacement costs are double what they would have been before Katrina. But we decided to tighten the belt and make it happen. We talk about recovery 9 hours a day, Monday through Friday. Do you have any idea how difficult that is Chick? Do you have any idea how much people depend on us to get them information that can inform, enlighten and entertain them to get through another day?

That my friend is what I’m doing to help MY city recover. Your effort has been commendable. But the bottom line is that MediaBuys attempts to sell Mardi Gras have been a failure. Thank you for the attempt, but it’s time to find a company that can really get it done instead of turning our city in a panhandler.

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