Moldy City

• (Really) Damn

  Number of comments: 0
  This went up on the wrong blog last week.
  
  I guess we won't have a candidate for mayor of Dubai after all. In case you missed it, we can't afford visionary leadership any more than Dubai could. [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 11:10pm EST
  by bayoustjohndavid

• Seems like an updated version of the Edgar Mouton commercial that John Anderson copied to me

  Number of comments: 5
  A Times Picayune reporter seems shocked that a James Perry commercial uses bleeped out profanity to make a point about two of his opponents in the upcoming mayoral election. Unfortunately, I'm anything but shocked that no journalists showed the slightest bit of curiosity when a fourth candidate, Troy Henry,' [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 12:22am EST
  by bayoustjohndavid

• I wonder

  Number of comments: 4
  Was somebody just talking about me? [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 7:31pm EST
  by bayoustjohndavid

• A math word problem for journalists

  Number of comments: 3
  Update It appears that the Oct. 29 column will not be posted online. See the comments if you're interested in reading it. I'll add a few comments after the Saints game if I'm not too tired.
  
  I couldn't find the link that would make the point of [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2009, 11:20pm EDT
  by bayoustjohndavid

• Evil Bastards

  Number of comments: 0
  Baby Boomers are simultaneously endangering Social Security's finances by retiring early, and blocking the career advancement of Gen Xers by not retiring. That's pretty vicious trick. No wonder I hated Dr. Spock's spoiled generation before I became a part of it in the generational gerrymander of the' [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 11:38pm EDT
  by bayoustjohndavid

• An obvious thought

  Number of comments: 0
  If the point of awarding the Nobel Prize is to influence U.S. policy, shouldn't the prize in Economic Science be awarded to Simon Johnson. Some wag has probably already suggested it, but I'm almost almost serious. [...]
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  Posted: October 11, 2009, 12:27am EDT
  by bayoustjohndavid

• Reading Glen Beck* makes you smarter

  Number of comments: 2
  I apologize for the slightly misleading post title.
  
  The Daily Beast "crunched the data on the brainpower of America’s 55 largest cities, from first-to-worst." Silly surveys always spawn silly arguments about their results, but I think it's more interesting to look at methodology (or to compare similar' [...]
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  Posted: October 10, 2009, 11:12am EDT
  by bayoustjohndavid

• Piss away a million dollars, piss away 20-30 jobs

  Number of comments: 3
  I started a rant about this editorial last Friday, but got sidetracked over the weekend. Since I'm taking a couple of night courses, I didn't get back to it this week. I will over the weekend, because that editorial really ticked me off.
  
  In the meantime, it is [...]
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  Posted: September 11, 2009, 1:12am EDT
  by bayoustjohndavid

• Prosecution exhibit 10.05.06

  Number of comments: 0
  As I've said many times before, I doubt any laid off city employees blamed the mayor for the 2005 layoffs; the mayor only did what he had to do. By the same token, I don't understand the constant need to praise the mayor for his brilliant decision to tread [...]
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  Posted: September 11, 2009, 12:40am EDT
  by bayoustjohndavid

• Before the Fall

  Number of comments: 0
  Sorry, if you're looking for a post about football or the weather, you've come to the wrong blog. I have no idea idea what to make of the stock market, but early indications point to a possible sell off today. Notice that neither article mentions Obama's health care' [...]
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  Posted: September 10, 2009, 6:14am EDT
  by bayoustjohndavid

• The Most Misunderstood Mayor in America

  Number of comments: 4
  What do this Christian Science Monitor article:
  Some 64 percent of New Orleanians say they want a mayor with "political connections." This might sound like a step backward – toward backroom politics. But to political consultant Greg Rigamer, who advises nearly all New Orleans candidates, it suggests a post-Katrina [...]
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  Posted: September 01, 2009, 12:18am EDT
  by bayoustjohndavid

• Then, we'll securitize the city debt and sell credit derivatives

  Number of comments: 3
  If Thursday's headline about the city budget came as a surprise to you, you haven't given much thought to the city's financial situation. Earlier this year, there seemed to be chance that a post-Katrina reconstruction boom would hide the extent of the city's financial difficulties for a couple of [...]
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  Posted: August 21, 2009, 10:44pm EDT
  by bayoustjohndavid

• I'll probably won't be at Rising Tide tomorrow

  Number of comments: 4
  I've already registered, but the recovery from a procedure that I underwent Wednesday won't be as quite as fast as I had hoped. So, I've decided that it would be prudent to avoid potentially chaotic situations in which punches may be thrown. However, if anybody reads this' [...]
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  Posted: August 21, 2009, 9:38pm EDT
  by bayoustjohndavid

• Three announced candidates for mayor, three mayoral candidates on WDSU

  Number of comments: 3
  Edited edition.
  
  WTF?
  
  The Times Picayune on August 9th:
  So far, though, the tally of declared candidates totals just three: state Sen. Ed Murray, state Rep. Austin Badon and James Perry, executive director of a fair housing organization.
  The Picayune last Saturday:
  In fact, it [...]
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  Posted: August 18, 2009, 12:06am EDT
  by bayoustjohndavid

• Sounds reasonable to me

  Number of comments: 0
  On Meet the Press this morning:
  MR. GREGORY: “Pull the plug on grandma.” That’s not part of this debate. It’s not in the bill, Senator.
  
  SEN. DASCHLE: Well, David, it’s hyperbolic, it’s fearmongering, it’s actually politics at its worst. That’s the kind of thing that generates the kind [...]
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  Posted: August 16, 2009, 9:39pm EDT
  by bayoustjohndavid

• Two things I wondered about last week

  Number of comments: 2
  Can't believe I'm asking this, but is it possible that Texas librarians are cooler than Louisiana librarians? When I saw the Tattooed Ladies of TLA calendar on sale last week, I expected body piercings on the LLA website -- couldn't even find any interesting hairdos. I'd say something [...]
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  Posted: August 11, 2009, 11:43pm EDT
  by bayoustjohndavid

• There are some questions that I wouldn't expect a journalist to ask

  Number of comments: 0
  With the city's looming financial problems, one might expect the city government to look for the most cost effective way to restore its battered commercial district. So, it's entirely appropriate to ask why the mayor keeps coming with expensive proposals to shift its center of gravity.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: July 24, 2009, 2:19am EDT
  by bayoustjohndavid

• This post would have been much easier to write a year or two or ago.

  Number of comments: 4
  But somewhere along the line, I decided to stop being quite so freewheeling with the insults. So, I'll assume that Mark Singletary puts more time, energy and effort into editing the content of his paper than into writing his commentaries. I thought that last week's was pointless (see comment [...]
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  Posted: June 10, 2009, 11:52pm EDT
  

• Do Bob and Irvin read the paper?

  Number of comments: 3
  We all know that our current mayor won't acknowledge any responsibility if the city's in bad shape in three years. If he comes with a grand vision of the city's future and personally chooses the contractors to start the work, it won't be his fault if his successor can't' [...]
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  Posted: May 26, 2009, 12:51am EDT
  

• Funny old quote

  Number of comments: 0
  It was not the night's only episode in which Nagin professed to be an unwitting victim of injustice in politics. Later, he employed a part-jovial, part-indignant tone during the Alliance for Good Government 's endorsement forum.
  
  "I hope that once I sit down to write my book, one" [...]
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  Posted: May 25, 2009, 11:52pm EDT
  

• What's entirely missing this time?

  Number of comments: 0
  Over half the city's residents rent their homes. At least, that was the case before Katrina. Yet, neither the mayor nor the city's daily newspaper seem to care about 53.5% of the population.
  
  Mayor Nagin:
  Everyone has a right to return to this city, especially if [...]
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  Posted: May 24, 2009, 3:06am EDT
  

• Blurry memory, I suppose

  Number of comments: 0
  The mayor claims to have been making a heroic stand in New Orleans:
  I have made some tough, sometimes unpopular decisions. To lead effectively, you must sometimes tell people what they need to hear and not what they want to hear. Sometimes you have to go against the grain [...]
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  Posted: May 24, 2009, 1:22am EDT
  

• There's more than one queen of mean in this deck

  Number of comments: 6
  Once again, Lolis Eric Elie:
  Presumably, public officials realize that Louisiana law allows for few exceptions to the documents considered public records. But average citizens -- who might e-mail a public official about criminal activity or a personal issue -- might not realize their correspondence is subject to public [...]
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  Posted: May 20, 2009, 12:18am EDT
  

• She better not be offended

  Number of comments: 3
  So much for ignoring a shit stirrer's shit.
  The most confrontational words were aimed not at any other candidate but at Mayor Ray Nagin.
  
  While other candidates talked of finding peace with the administration despite recent, very public dust-ups, Clarkson advocated using the budget, the council's main source [...]
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  Posted: May 15, 2009, 11:28pm EDT
  

• I'll bet the bikes didn't have lights.

  Number of comments: 1
  In a conversation about crime last Winter, another local blogger said something about young guys on bikes making him nervous, especially at night. He went on to ask another person present if it was true that the problem of muggers on bikes in the French Quarter had grown worse in [...]
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  Posted: May 10, 2009, 8:15am EDT
  

• What's (almost entirely) missing?

  Number of comments: 0
  Though I agree with the Times-Picayune editorial page staff that raising that raising the homestead exemption would be a bad idea, I can't say that I was impressed by Thursday's editorial. Though I'm no fan of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, it's probably correct that businesses pay [...]
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  Posted: May 09, 2009, 3:43pm EDT
  

• Matthew 6:24

  Number of comments: 0
  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
  You may have noticed this item in the news over the weekend:
  A Virginia [...]
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  Posted: April 28, 2009, 7:40am EDT
  

• Will we see similar savings in New Orleans?

  Number of comments: 1
  Interesting article in yesterday's paper:
  Governments get lower bids from contractors as economy slows
  
  A catastrophic hurricane and a booming world economy combined to make construction prices soar in the New Orleans area in the past three years. But the tide has turned, and contractors are underbidding construction' [...]
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  Posted: April 27, 2009, 8:18am EDT
  

• Questions of general principle

  Number of comments: 2
  That should be asked before Saturday's election.
  
  Do you think that ridiculous hyperbole should be treated with ridicule? If a politician kills an important piece of reform legislation because it goes too far, do you think she has an obligation to help craft a more acceptable piece of legislation?[...]
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  Posted: April 02, 2009, 9:41pm EDT
  

• Which is the April Fools' Day Joke?

  Number of comments: 0
  
  The Justice Department dropped the case against Ted Stevens.
  
  After our experience with Nagin, it would be insane to elect an inexperienced politician to serve as our next mayor.
  
  Penile fractures are unusually common in western Iran.
  
  If the lack of a link doesn't' [...]
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  Posted: April 02, 2009, 11:06pm EDT
  

• New comment on an old post

  Number of comments: 3
  I wanted to wait until I had time to add a few thoughts, but it's already been a week since I received an interesting comment on a post from December of 2006. I will say that though I think that all of the questions that I've raised about James Carter [...]
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  Posted: March 31, 2009, 10:47pm EDT
  by bayoustjohndavid

• Reversal of something or other

  Number of comments: 7
  Interesting comment on a recent Picayune article:
  Posted by stinc on 03/23/09 at 8:26AM
  
  Tracie Washington KNOWS the rules. She was the attorney for Capital Metro in Austin Texas, their version of RTA. She was fired for calling the local prosecuting attorney an SOB in front of reporters [...]
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  Posted: March 29, 2009, 10:10am EDT
  

• “I can go out and champion against everyone and be unemployed"

  Number of comments: 0
  WWL did a report on the pathetic state of the city's playgrounds, informing us that the city has spent less than $3 million of the $16 million that FEMA has obligated for playground repairs. There was the usual back-and-forth about whether FEMA or the city is more responsible for' [...]
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  Posted: March 25, 2009, 7:25am EDT
  

• Oops, sorry for the mindfart.

  Number of comments: 1
  I did a fair amount of thinking out loud in last week's post on electronic monitoring, but I never got around to adding a clarification at the end. TSAP's listing on the state's corporate data base is vague enough to pique any amateur detective's curiosity, but I can't' [...]
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  Posted: March 22, 2009, 10:11am EDT
  by bayoustjohndavid

• I know they bring excitement to the teaching profession

  Number of comments: 0
  But, I think this Teach for America employee got a little too excited:
  MARRERO, La. – A teacher at Higgins High School has been arrested by Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s deputies for obscenity after three students claimed they saw the teacher masturbating alone, inside a classroom, according to JP spokesman [...]
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  Posted: March 20, 2009, 7:12am EDT
  

• An error message would be nice

  Number of comments: 0
  I left a comment on WWL's website that was indecipherably cryptic, because the website didn't accept html. It accepted the comment, but without the link I assumed would be included. Just as well, because it was late and I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, I misunderstood something in' [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2009, 10:36am EDT
  

• A Great Mayor Before Katrina

  Number of comments: 2
  A pre-Katrina Stephanie Grace column
  
  Sure, we’re watching; Nagin asked for it
  Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA) - Thursday, May 12, 2005
  Author: Stephanie Grace
  
  "Contracts!" Mayor Ray Nagin, said, his voice filled with carefully scripted indignation.
  
  Why is the media so fixated on examining the contracts [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2009, 9:35am EDT
  

• Not quite a Jeff Sadow imitation*

  Number of comments: 0
  I hate for my first post in ten days to be little more than a collection of links to earlier posts, but I saw Lee Zurik's report on the Old Gentilly Landfill and remembered that I had written about it a few times myself:
  
  Nov. 14, 2007:[...]
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  Posted: March 13, 2009, 1:09am EDT
  

• O.K., now let's see your fastball.

  Number of comments: 5
  About a month go, I basically acknowledged that it was softball question when I asked:
  How can SDT provide private collection so much more cheaply than any of the firms provide public collection?
  Speculating about a possible reason, I wrote:
  The private collection would be for buildings with five [...]
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  Posted: March 02, 2009, 10:39pm EST
  

• F*** Josh Marshall

  Number of comments: 9
  Still, the Louisiana coast might have survived another 1,000 years or more, Louisiana State University scientists said. But the discovery of oil and gas compressed its destruction into a half-century.
  
  By the 1980s, the petroleum industry and the corps had dredged more than 20,000 miles of canals and new [...]
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  Posted: February 26, 2009, 10:40pm EST
  

• F*** Chris Matthews

  Number of comments: 3
  Rush job, articles that I had quoted in the past are no longer available online, so I found myself imitating a conservative Shreveport professor.
  
  I don't often defend Bobby Jindal, but Chris Matthews' comments were way out of line Tuesday night. Others have criticized Chris Matthews far more [...]
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  Posted: February 26, 2009, 7:57am EST
  

• What was the worst thing about Jindal's presentation tonight?

  Number of comments: 0
  Was it that he sounded like that museum tour guide who talked your ninth grade class as if he were talking to a third grade class? Was it that he was more interested in talking himself up than in criticizing Obama's speech? I mean, it was the Republican response to' [...]
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  Posted: February 24, 2009, 10:31pm EST
  

• At the 8th Annual "Newest New Orleanians" Breafast

  Number of comments: 0
  What will his smugness say next October? Will he welcome new residents and thank them for helping to shore up our decimated tax base? Or, will he tell them not to bother asking how their tax dollars are spent because they're not from here and wouldn't understand?
  
  [...]
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  Posted: February 22, 2009, 1:32am EST
  

• Last minute advice for Val Kilmer

  Number of comments: 0
  When Nagin urges the King of Bacchus to shake his booty, Val Kilmer should respond that he's not from here. So, he wouldn't know the history of shake the booty dance and what's going on. And Ray Nagin should show him how to do it, or he'd [...]
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  Posted: February 22, 2009, 1:18am EST
  

• Did I hear the smug prick say, "name one"?

  Number of comments: 2
  I can't find either a transcript or a recording, but I thought I heard the smug prick challenge his critics to name one questionable professional service contract. When he defended his executive order suspending professional service contract review panels, Nagin that that the 311 and crime camera contracts were' [...]
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  Posted: February 19, 2009, 11:18pm EST
  

• It worked for Bush, didn't it?

  Number of comments: 0
  Bush in 2007. Nagin in 2009 -- not so much a similarity as a lesson learned.
  
  I saw part of this interview several days ago and was immediately flooded with memories of the exact moment that I came to hate the smug [...]
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  Posted: February 18, 2009, 7:21am EST
  

• Almost forgot Valentine's Day

  Number of comments: 0
  The most romantic clip I could find on short notice
  
  
  
  Also, a heartrending ballad of unrequited love:
  
  [...]
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  Posted: February 15, 2009, 11:54pm EST
  

• I couldn't resist

  Number of comments: 0
  John Pilger in The New Statesman:
  The politics of bollocks
  
  Supporters of the new US president refuse to admit that the "man of change" is, in fact, changing very little. It's time the Obama lovers grew up
  Probably a little premature, but somebody other than Anderson Cooper has' [...]
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  Posted: February 12, 2009, 5:50pm EST
  

• Today's first easy "Gotcha"

  Number of comments: 3
  Can't guarantee a second will follow
  
  SDT's new commercial, prominently featured on the company website*, promises private garbage collection for "the same or less than what the Sewerage & Water Board puts on your bill." All three sanitation companies charge the City of New Orleans more than what [...]
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  Posted: February 08, 2009, 10:32am EST
  

• Thought I blogged about that

  Number of comments: 0
  Last November, I heard it from a very reliable source that O.C. Coleman was planning to run, as a Republican, for J.P. Morrell's House seat when Morrell moved up to the State Senate. Sure enough, in today's paper, I read that he's declared his candidacy. Since he's officially [...]
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  Posted: February 08, 2009, 11:39pm EST