Library Chronicles

• You just want to be on the side that's winning

  I'd go off on yet another long rant about why most Democrats and most people who call themselves "liberals" now are useless pseudo-intellectual Yuppie turds, but it's more fun and instructive to just make sure everyone is still reading the Daily Howler. Sommerby's "Heathers" series is spot-on. Most of it,' [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 4:32pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Firing the crappy coach is what gets results

  Don't take my word for it. Check out the Hornets.
  
  Of course dumping Miles won't turn things around quite as fast for LSU. They've waited too long to do it. But for God's sake, it's time to do something.
  
  The Tigers were divided over what plays' [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 10:54pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Now can we fire Miles?

  [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 6:13pm EST
  by jeffrey

• "We're trying to be prudent"

  As often happens on Saturday, I'm asking anyone who has not seen it yet to watch this week's Bill Moyers' Journal online. As President Obama decides (after the holiday now) whether to send as many as another 40,000 Americans into an open-ended faraway military action, Moyers shares tapes of [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 10:20am EST
  by jeffrey

• So long. And thanks for all the fishwrap

  It has been reported in several places that a number of Times-Picayune writers have been taking "voluntary buyouts" as the paper's parent company, Newhouse Publications undergoes massive cost-cutting exercises. Among these are veteran contributors Chris Rose, Walt Philbin, Angus Lind, Susan Larson, James Gill and others.
  
  When I [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 11:08pm EST
  by jeffrey

• What if the Mayor really did "get involved in education"

  Tonight on Informed Sources, Erroll Laborde kind of wished out loud that the Mayor had more direct responsibility for the public school system in New Orleans. One of the candidates currently running has been "involved" as an OPPSB member and also as an advocate for "school choice"
  
  Here, [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 8:43pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Show Cao

  
  
  Looks like our temporary Congressman is still basking in his 15 minutes media of extra exposure (And also the above-pictured extremely low-budget local "thank you" campaign) stemming from his vote on Health Care Reform in [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 3:55pm EST
  by jeffrey

• When Dinosaurs roamed the city

  I thought I had spotted Mike Mills at Molly's last week. Circumstantial evidence here seems to corroborate the story. [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 3:47pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Un-bucking-canny, this is

  Could we really be bucking yet another trend? The number of vacant properties in New Orleans has plummeted in the past year -- from nearly 70,000 abandoned lots to about 61,000 -- while blight in several other major American cities has seen a steady uptick, according to a new report [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 1:45pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Why did we never get a pool together on these things

  Who do you think they're going after now?
  
  Adding: My money's on the Pontchatoula Ponzi scheme... just thankfully not in it.
  
  Update: Dambala thinks it's gonna be about Billboard Ben.' [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 10:40am EST
  by jeffrey

• Question

  Could it be that Byron Scott was actually a crappier coach than Chris Paul was a valuable player? [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 9:29am EST
  by jeffrey

• The Federalness of the Flood

  Corps' operation of MR-GO doomed homes in St. Bernard, Lower 9th Ward, judge rules The failure of the Corps to recognize the destruction that the MRGO had caused and the potential hazard that it created is clearly negligent on the part of the Corps," said U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval'" [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 1:45pm EST
  by jeffrey

• I'm a f*#!%ing Eagle Scout, bra

  One more thing about that Perry ad. Does anyone else notice the comic dissonance between the (implied) cursing and Perry's touting of the fact that he is an "Eagle Scout"? Are they even allowed to curse? Does this sound like a Ballzack lyric to you?
  
  Update: As the [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 9:23am EST
  by jeffrey

• This should be the regular uniform

  Okay the design is a bit garish but the color scheme is far more genuinely New Orleans than the insulting "Creole blue" [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 11:29pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Unbelievable Douchebag of the Day

  James Perry's f*#%ing campaign manager, Alex Morgan.
  
  “The Times-Picayune missed the mark on its description,” said Perry campaign manager Alex Morgan. “Obviously you can’t run ads with the word f-u-c-k in them,” he added, spelling out the word so as not to offend. “It’s an ad that expresses' [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 8:06pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Start working on your fake sandwich artistry

  If I were living Karen Gadbois' fake life I would have at least tried to get a fake job at Ray Nagin's fake Gene's Po-boys. Would have solved the whole fake problem right there.
  
  Doesn't work so well in real life, though. But still.. maybe Leslie Jacobs can [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 5:40pm EST
  by jeffrey

• The illusion of choice

  DeBerry is far too kind here. It should be obvious by now that the byzantine charter school system is discriminatory against low-income families and the most at-risk children. It's a scheme set up deliberately to benefit parents and children with financial resources and/or social connections by institutionalizing their segregation [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 4:05pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Back to Basics or The Thankless Job of Winning 9 in a Row

  We're going to try something a little different this week. It has become our custom to introduce these game re-caps with an amusing item or two about breast cancer or alcoholism or theoretical physics or swine flu or, well, whatever. But, in recent weeks, we've come to feel like we've' [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 11:59pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Mark Shields wants a President who knows how to Ram It

  Good God [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 4:28pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Does anybody have Jason David's phone number?

  It's going to be an interesting rest of the season. [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 10:10pm EST
  by jeffrey

• The Incalculable Wrongness of ... blah blah blah (Part 2)

  We now return to our two part series on the heroic struggle to stave off the prevention of the possible destruction of the universe, or something like that.
  
  Saints vs Panthers (Second half observations)
  
  How the game was won: I hate hate hate to do this but I [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 10:49am EST
  by jeffrey

• The Incalculable Wrongness of Yellow Blog Football Prognostication or How I Fought Off the Demon and Managed to Save the Day for All of Us (Part 1)

  Note: The first half of the title here is a riff on the title of last week's unpublished football post which would have read "The Incalculable Wrongness of Bob Roesler or Why the Saints are Guaranteed to Lose This Week". As you can see, there's a lot of stuff going [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 4:30pm EST
  by jeffrey

• More analysis of the GNOCDC housing report

  We are pleased to refer you to The Lens [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 3:55pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Bye, Byron

  You'd think they would have taken care of this a few months back when it could have done some good. ' [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 1:29pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Sophisiticating up the corruption: Baltimore edition

  It was over two years ago now when Robert Cerasoli told us our corruption wasn't "sophisticated" enough. “Corruption in other cities is so sophisticated (because of their rules) you wouldn’t find briberies. It’s very unusual you’d find someone passing money in an office somewhere.”
  
  And it was only' [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 10:09am EST
  by jeffrey

• Jefferson Parish Carnival Krewes do not think very creatively

  I don't see what the problem is here.
  
  Not wanting to compete with the biggest game in football, and potentially the biggest game in New Orleans Saints history, Metairie’s Krewe of Rhea has canceled its 2010 Carnival parade on Feb. 7, Super Bowl Sunday.
  
  Nobody knows how' [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 9:31am EST
  by jeffrey

• Ray Nagin's laissez-faire recovery in progress

  Are they still paying big-time wages at Gene's Po-boy's?
  
  There is a glut of vacant apartments in New Orleans but the people who need them can't afford them, according to a study released today by a pair of research organizations.
  
  The study estimates that by next year,' [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 10:33pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Feel free to do it again

  Sternly worded letter passes expiration date. Two-and-a-half years after putting Tulane University on its blacklist for post-Hurricane Katrina personnel actions, a national organization of professors has lifted its censure because, an official said Tuesday, it approves of what Tulane has done to correct the situation. In other words, they just [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 10:29pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Sleepy Town Daily

  I'm so old I can remember when there was room at the T-P for Angus Lind and Chris Rose. You got one slice-of-life New Orleans column for (mostly boomer) natives and one in a similar vein for transplant faux-hipster douchebags. I wasn't a Rose fan but I will say the [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 8:56pm EST
  by jeffrey

• High comedy

  I'm listening to the Les Miles Show while I'm cooking right now. Every caller wants to beat up on the game officials from Saturday's game. Les doesn't want to get fined for agreeing with them. Very entertaining. [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 7:30pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Um... I think you just did

  Former Enron executive and Mayoral candidate Troy Henry on why his business-reform background doesn't make him another Ray Nagin: "People judge you for who you are," he said. "Nobody says (campaign opponent and state Sen.) Ed Murray is a crook because Bill Jefferson is going to jail. I think'" [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 12:23pm EST
  by jeffrey

• It's hard to hold a candle...

  Well this is neat. Whoever heard of a hurricane in mid-November? But then whoever heard of an 8-0 Saints team?
  
  I promise to post about this game. It was a fun one. [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 7:41pm EST
  by jeffrey

• There's a reason the SEC imposes heavy fines for criticizing the officials

  They are horrible. I know I'm saying this at the end of an LSU loss that can be directly laid on at least 4 major blown calls but this applies to SEC officials this entire season. They are horrible. The SEC has decided the way to solve the problem of' [...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 6:06pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Too much to do

  I'm not going to waste this day finishing the Saints reporting. There's too much going on out there. This week's post was turning out to be more about Bob Roesler and mercury denaturing and xbox and Higgs boson particles than actual football anyway. I'll just fold all that bullshit into [...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 11:32am EST
  by jeffrey

• Wait

  I just got in. There was a debate tonight? I thought there were still like 70 more candidates waiting to declare.
  
  Update: Just going by Kevin Allman's notes in that post, I'd say Murray wins that one.
  
  Also... (sigh) Perry, ever-wired into the Facebook/Twitter Zeitgeist, managed to [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 10:43pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Yes there's one of those long rambling football posts sitting in the drafts folder

  But I'm going to see Dave Eggers speak at NOCCA tonight so I'll just have to waste part of my Saturday finishing it up... or maybe I'll make next week another two-fer. But that would suck since half of this week's post is about why the Saints are guaranteed to [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 4:54pm EST
  by jeffrey

• A Good Circuitry Soldier

  Sometimes the way will have an eye on them
  Other times the ass will snatch the morsel
  Clive licks the eyes of the lonely ones
  Here at the time when the mission kicks the tribe
  The commission takes the bribe
  
  The schadenfreude portion of the Dragonslaying process is usually [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 4:13pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Suing for libel is the new black

  Former Public Service Commission member John Schwegmann calls columns libelous
  
  Greg Meffert: “The Times-Picayune is the biggest bully in town.” [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 12:15pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Doing it wrong

  Krugman:
  Back in the first few months of the current administration, when I was writing piece after piece urging the new administration to adopt a more aggressive economic policy, what I had very much in my mind — and wrote about on a few occasions — was the possibility [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 11:17am EST
  by jeffrey

• News is not news Learn something old every day

  Some guy came into the library the other day handing out these fliers.
  
  

  
  
  At first I didn't think much of it. We get a lot of freaks in there. But then the same thing turns up on every freaking channel and I'm beginning [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 11:01pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Ed Blakely, red tape, and "locking people in cages"

  Please read what Karen posted yesterday morning. Post Gustav Ed Blakely did his best to show a strong show of force, and in some ways it would seem that Gustav was Blakely’s perfect storm. One that did little damage but emptied out the City of pesky residents. In fact [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 2:24pm EST
  by jeffrey

• I've been too nice to Gambit lately

  In fact, my next post will recommend two items from that paper. So it's only fair for me to say here that I could not possibly give less of a fuck about 40 social-climbing Yurps. Please can we do away with this annual embarrassment to everyone involved?' [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 11:25pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Saints teaser post

  As many of the regular readers are aware, when I go to the Saints games I bring with me 1) a cell phone for posting comments to the Tweeter Tube and 2) a flask full of liquor for mixing with my eight dollar soda. The combination makes for increasingly fun [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 11:50am EST
  by jeffrey

• It's the little details about the universe that help us make sense of the void

  For example, 8/29 is also the day most of us met Sarah Palin. Ponder on that for a while. [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 4:25pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Should have known

  It was Brees' fault. Brees works teammates with the autocracy of a corporate CEO. He printed up T-shirts in the preseason with mission statements like "Smell Greatness, " "Finish, " "Be Special" and Super Bowl 44" on them. To emphasize the need to finish games, he bought wristbands and the'" [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 3:31pm EST
  by jeffrey

• Tragic hero recounts the tragedy of his heroism

  That tragedy, of course, being that he realized too late what the rest of us knew from the beginning. "I should have left a little earlier, for two reasons: One, my health wasn't good. Secondly, I had other things I wanted to do, and administering a recovery is not one'" [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 12:41pm EST
  by jeffrey

• First day of Carnival seems like a good time to start

  I'm not sure if this really is going to be the "first" forum but it would be appropriate.' [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 11:25am EST
  by jeffrey

• Do they even know what journalism is for?

  City Business editorial: It is unfortunate that Rosenthal has chosen to take her worthwhile battle to a front where there seems to be little resistance to her cause. It’s also a borderline insult to local newspaper readers and TV news viewers, implying that they require explicit and redundant detail [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 10:48am EST
  by jeffrey

• We owe Sean Payton a half-apology

  Apparently, this was Ronnie Lott's fault all along.
  Lott, who played cornerback and safety in his 15-year Hall of Fame career spent mostly with the San Francisco 49ers, is now a successful businessman in northern California.
  
  He met with the Saints this summer when they traveled to play [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2009, 3:01pm EST
  by jeffrey

• 4 Years

  On this day in 2005, we restored library service in New Orleans. And that really does seem like just yesterday. Every three or four years, I find myself saying, "those were the strangest years of my life" or some such. In this case, yes, very much so. If the pattern [...]
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  Posted: October 31, 2009, 4:41pm EDT
  by jeffrey