“This is like Baghdad” Friday, Apr 11 2008 

Dinerral Shavers and Helen Hill and New Orleans Crime and New Orleans is Baghdad and new orleans , , , danfraz 8:58 am

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.

 

 

So we have to pay twice for the hat? Thursday, Aug 16 2007 

Eddie Jordan and New Orleans Crime and new orleans danfraz 6:11 pm

It’s not bad enough that the citizen’s of Orleans Parish and the metro area in general have to suffer the inept “leadership” coming from the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office. It’s been well documented how DA Eddie Jordan cannot keep murderers in jail, cannot find witnesses that are across the street and how he nor his office cannot assist in making people around here feel safe.Now it’s time to pour salt in our gaping wounds. After being elected, Eddie Jordan, AKA the Hat, basically went through the DA’s office and fired all the white people. Maybe not all the white people, just the one’s who had experience in convicting some criminals around here. They didn’t convict them all obviously, the former DA’s record wasn’t a whole lot better but they did succeed occasionally. So the white people who were fired sued The Hat for discrimination. Well they won the first go round and of course the Hat appealed. And lost again yesterday. The Orleans Parish DAs office now owes millions of dollars to wrongly fired former employees.This is where we all lose twice though because of the Hat. Eddie Jordan made the decision to fire these people. Eddie Jordan SHOULD be responsible for paying this judgement. But he’s not. It does not matter whether you voted for the Hat or not, if you’re a citizen of Orleans, YOU will be paying this judgement.

I’m not here to say that these people do not deserve what the justice system says is owed to them. If they were fired wrongfully and the courts feel they are due any type of compensation, then give them their money. But why in the world should the citizens of this city, whether you voted for the Hat or not, have our taxpayer dollars go to settle what the Hat screwed up? Isn’t it bad enough that we have to watch over our shoulder while walking the dog? Isn’t it bad enough that tax paying God fearing citizens are scared to leave their house because the Hat let’s murderers walk the street with no consequence expect for street justice being handed out?

I know one of the victims from the Treme shootings. He was an innocent bystander. Just finished a game of pick up basketball. Family guy, solid job, car salesman who just wanted to play some ball. And he ends up dead because the only justice being carried out in New Orleans is thug justice. You murdered my boy, I’m gonna murder you. Just someone innocent standing around. Too bad, I gotta get my own justice back. It’s sickening. And seemingly never ending as well.

Are all of our woes the Hat’s fault? Of course not. He is just one of many hindrances to this recovery at the present time. But I will be damned if one penny of my tax dollars goes to this lawsuit because of the Hat’s bigoted decisions. Let his campaign fund pay for it. Let his “millions and millions” of supporters pay the damn thing. Let this sucker have a garage sale to come up with the funds. Anything other than taxpayer dollars. The Hat did the crime, let the Hat pay the dime.

 

This and That Saturday, Jul 7 2007 

Media and New Orleans Crime and Politics and new orleans and ray nagin danfraz 6:18 pm

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.

 

New Orleans Summertime Friday, May 11 2007 

My Life and New Orleans Crime and new orleans danfraz 6:22 pm

As Rayna pointed out in an earlier post, it’s hot here in New Orleans. Very hot. If you’re from here you know that two things go on in New Orleans during the summer. The heat is oppressive number one. It is stifling. Imagine walking in a huge bowl of Jell-O that’s hot but still in its gelatin state. That’s what it’s been like for the last 5 days.The other things that locals know about summertime in New Orleans is that the shootings always rise in the summer. It’s been that way since my first summer in New Orleans. We get very hot, tempers are very short and we just start shooting each other. Some would say we do that all year long. I can’t disagree with that. We lead the nation in murders so it’s not like all of them occur during the summer, but it has always gotten worse when the heat rolls in around May.

I’ve always tried to figure out why it is that when the heat rises so does the city’s collective anger/frustration/dislike of each other. Blaming the heat is the easy way out but I think it’s a contributing factor. No schools in session could have an effect. Daylight last longer so you would think that would decrease the numbers but it doesn’t.

It doesn’t help any when the Metro Crime Commission releases a report stating what has been obvious to us who live here now. The NOPD is focusing too much on trivial traffic and “misdemeanor” offenses. What that means is the NOPD is more focused on stopping you and I for driving a vehicle without a brake tag. Instead of focusing on the killers killing each other. Or the killers killing innocent business owners. I’ve known and written about the city’s efforts on raising cash. Why focus on stopping murders when there are dollar bill’s driving around the city, waiting to be pulled over and taken to jail. It’s a money making scheme and just validates my belief that the city government sees EVERYONE who is back as a walking/talking/driving dollar bill.

Back to summertime- I like to look back on things a lot. Probably too much. I look back on the summer of 2005 and wonder why none of us saw the destruction coming. This is a crazy city in general but my mind seems to remember that summer being different. The city was on edge before Katrina busted us a new one. Or maybe it was just craziness going on in my life, not really sure. I know in the three weeks before Katrina hit, I was mugged, hit by a Vespia, knocked off my bike by some drunk homeless dude lurching out from behind a dumpster, the hood I was living in got very squirrelly and someone attempted to break into the apartment 3 different times, all within the month of August 2005. We should have seen it coming. Or maybe I should have.

It’s a good idea to check the temperature before heading outside but it’s too bad we can check the peeps of New Orleans temperature before we head out. Probably all be safer if we could.