Saturday, December 26, 2009

trying terrorists in new york

i guess i fail to see what all the fuss is over trying terrorists in new york. i know, i hear the protestations over the fact that these are not americans and thus not deserving of being put on trial as though they were united states' citizens. when i hear things like that, i guess i wonder what way of life these gung ho, so called patriots think we are fighting to defend? the united states' judicial system is not perfect but over all, it works pretty damn well. i am pretty damn proud of it and i trust anyone being tried as a terrorist or not to that system. if we as americans believe in "justice for all", then that "all" must apply to everyone including terrorists. if you ask me, that is the american way or it should be.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

movie night

wow, just wow. if only i had known just how entertaining last night's debate would be, i would have made popcorn for the occasion. damn but new orleans knows how to do a mayoral debate up right. i laughed my ass off despite the fact that it made me a bit sad for not having thrown my hat into the ring. really sorry to have missed the opportunity to debate with the finest the city has to offer. i mean who would not want the chance to mentally joust with those on last night's stage, those knowledgeable bastards(and a few bitches)who had no idea how much new orleans owes in municipal bonds. in the end i walked away from the debates greatly amused and on the hunt for pot growing amish, the apparent true saviors of this our fine city. popcorn anyone?

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

passing out free boats at city hall



i saw a cartoon of two men in suits walking down the street while fighting off flying, man-eating pigs. the one guy says to the other..."I hate this city. it is hot in the summer, freezing in the winter, and in between, there are flying man-eating pigs to contend with." i thought, aah, it is a cartoon about new orleans. it is hot as hell here in the summer time. it gets pretty damn cold in the winter especially when you factor in the fact that none of our houses are equipped to actually keep heat in. the politicians are racist, crooked, and inept. the police department is looking more and more like street thugs as illustrated by the recent times-picayune articles. our streets are in such a state of upheaval, splitting and sinking into holes the size of mini grand canyons that i am not sure why scientists are not convening on new orleans to study the forces that formed the topography of the earth. the water boiling ban is in effect for parts of the west bank and the city has gone under from torrential rainfall and all this while parts of new orleans sit shockingly in disrepair from katrina, mired in neglect and dust as though museum pieces to the wrath of mother nature and the ineptitude of man. someone remind me again why they don't pass out paxil with our morning cup of coffee and why there is not a yellow boat program here much like the yellow bike initiative launched in portland, oregon? i can see it now...little yellow boats moored across the city forever at the ready of pumps that simply cannot keep up with the force of mother nature. perhaps my friend is right, we should give up on the idea of a city on land, turn all streets into canals, and give everyone a free gondola and ten years' worth of mosquito spray. yeh, that and paxil for the masses.

Monday, December 7, 2009

nagin

i always find it tragic when politicians play the race card as nagin is doing now by hinting that new orleans is on the verge of electing a white mayor. he has come to this conclusion since our former district attorney was replaced by a white man. for too long ,nagin has put the interest of himself and the minority few above the needs of the city. i fail to understand how race should even factor into the electoral process. i simply do not care if my mayor is white, black or green from mars as long as he or she does a better job than nagin. what is right for new orleans is for the city to move forward and rid itself of the shackles of racism, no matter the form it takes. it is racism when it comes from a white man and it is equally just as racist when it comes from a black man. it is a shame that this is the legacy nagin chooses for himself. what a way to be a role model.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

spoke for mayor

ok, seriously, no one wants to vote spoke in as mayor? it is not like i could do worse. i promise not to visit totalitarian regimes and talk about how they know exactly where their citizens are in order to move them out of the way during a hurricane. i will not accept made up awards in my honor. this could be fun...spoke for mayor!! catnip for everyone!! good times are on the way. vote for spoke and we will stray cat strut all the way to city hall.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

can't seem to shake this mood

i cannot quite seem to get out of this mood. i am feeling out of sorts. thanksgiving is coming up and i am looking forward to going home but it is the everything in between. i don't know...maybe it is just this time of year. maybe everybody is slipping a bit. maybe it is not just me. i know one thing, i would very much like to spend the rest of the evening curled up on my couch with a really good book and a bottle of jameson. well enough of this pity party. i am off to do a tour.

Friday, November 20, 2009

i want to be mayor

i'm broke. tourism sucks right now. i think that i need a new truck tire to drive home on during thanksgiving but i do not think that i can afford one right now and pay for gas as well. i wonder what a bus ticket would cost? i mention all this because i am stressed the fuck out. i really need a vacation someplace exotic like...china, australia, cuba, or mexico. i want to travel around the world and have the taxpayers foot the bill just like our dear nagin does. it really must be nice. so, spoke is wondering can i count on your support if i run for mayor? spoke the cat for mayor...yeh that has a ring.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

remembering the velvet revolution

There can be no doubt that distrust of words is less harmful than unwarranted trust in them.
-Vaclav Havel

it has been twenty years since massive demonstrations in the former czechloslavakia led to the fall of totalitarianism in that country. i am not sure that as americans we fully appreciate the courage and sacrifice of such oppressed people. the foundation of our country in the blood of the american revolution is lost on most of our citizens, who cannot even seem to place that war in the right century, let alone recall the actual dates. a country born in revolution should remember that such a revolution would not have been possible were it not for true patriots rising up to question the status quo. somewhere along the way, we as americans have removed ourselves from this line of thinking. under the bush administration it was all but treasonous to speak out against the policies of this government, especially the war in iraq. there is a stephen decatur quote that says,"my country, right or wrong, my country." i have always hated that quote. it has a lazy passive quality about it. my country, well if wrong, then let us fix it. i am not sure that americans have it in them to speak out against our government in defense of freedom. we could learn a lot from those average citizens that rose up against brutality to defiantly tell the communist government of the former czechloslovakia that they had already lost. many were beaten for their trouble. i am not a terrorist if i say the war in iraq is wrong. i am not less of a patriot if i say our country is on a wrong course. we, as americans need to find our voice. we must speak out. we must consult the example of history and learn the valuable lessons of events like the velvet revolution.

Monday, November 16, 2009

damn flying bitches

is there a reason that mosquitoes seem to be drawn to your ears during the most wonderful and deepest levels of sleep?

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Monday, November 2, 2009

Friday, October 30, 2009

new orleans has a deficit

seems to me if we were really concerned about our deficit, we might post pone the city council pay raise or have our mayor restrict his travels to exotic locales on tax payer money.

Friday, October 23, 2009

in other news

thanks be to the powers that the new hate crimes bill passed that now includes sexual orientation and gender identity.

nagin has gone communist. since he likes china and cuba so much, perhaps he could relocate immediately.

vitter refused to vote for the hate crimes legislation despite the fact that it was attached to war spending legislation. you have to be one fucked up biased son of bitch to be a republican and not vote for war spending just to avoid giving gays protection.

i'm bitter. just tired and bitter.

ah good ole robbie burns

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

sometimes you just have to stop in the middle of the game

we are not open yet. the preliminary health inspection is today. it will probably be a week before we get our actual health inspection. the stress is mounting and the money is growing sparse. i'm still sick. i took a lovely little trip into the emergency room last week and still have no idea as to what is wrong with me. the doctors seem to think it is asthma but having endured asthma my whole life, i can honestly disagree. so it is off to the doctor tomorrow to try and get an actual diagnosis that is correct. my truck tire blew out. sam is in the hospital and maybe, just maybe mercury is in retrograde.
oh and to all the idiots that think we don't need to overhaul the health care industry, i say suck on it! but would also like to say that despite the red tape, i am very grateful for LSU and free health care.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

behind

well...the october 1st opening date just might pass us by as a result of equipment difficulties. in order to get a health inspection, you need a fridge and freezer on sight and in their proper places. as luck would have it, they dropped the freezer when delivering and pretty much destroyed it. we are now a bit behind as a result. i am letting this roll off my back.
a couple of days ago and i would have lost and crumbled under stress but that was before i felt like i was going to have a heart attack. i have dropped about 20 pounds in a very short time and think that i am taking a new approach with life. i am letting the stress go. go stress, go away. who cares if we are behind. things will work themselves out anyway. they always do. besides, art for art's sake is coming up the first saturday of october and even though we will not be officially open, we hope people stop by and try some free samples of our food. i also hope to have my art work up for showing.so, despite the set backs, things will be just fine.

Monday, September 21, 2009

it's different when they are your children

i have been around dogs my whole life. my grandfather used to raise bird dogs for hunting and i have seen many a bird dog born. i have also witnessed many a dog fight and am thus quite familiar with the very wise rule of never, ever getting in between two dogs who have tied up. it's different when they are your children. my girlfriend has two boxers and they both get along quite well with my dog, that is until the other night. one of her boxers got into quite the bout with my dog and try as we did, we could not separate them and i was terrified that it would end in an emergency vet visit for one or both dogs. they are both my children. i did the thing you are never supposed to do and that was, i put my leg in between them to separate them. my own dog bit me. oh boy. it is one thing to get bit by a stray and quite another to have your own adorable dog puncture the oh so tender flesh of your left leg. oh well. at least the puppies are ok, if somewhat scarred. my dog got a nasty cut on her ear that seemed so much more horrific since ear wounds bleed like head traumas. thank god for level headed girlfriends that staunch ear wounds and then tend to bite marks on their dumb girlfriend's leg. thanks S, you are really so much more than i ever could have hoped for.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

wow

it seems the critics are backing off after hearing obama's speach to school children. it is amazing to me that every one got so up in arms over the president of the united states addressing our nation's school children. imagine, the president talking to the youth of this country! what was he thinking? presidents never address the children except for all the ones that did it before obama, like reagan. hmm. of course reagan was an actual united states citizen, right? there were no rumors aswirl over his nationality. he also had a good american name, not like obama. obama...hmm, sounds like a manchurian candidate to me. and reagan was in no shape or form a socialist. he was such a card carrying capitalist that he deregulated everything he could get his hands on. obama wants to make health care available to every one and well, that is definitely something we should be fear. i mean, imagine not having to choose between eating and getting your prescription refilled? yeh, you are right, that is not important and besides that only applies to the poor and everybody knows that the poor are poor because they are lazy. right? right! so maybe it really was some subversive message that obama sent to the country's school children. i wonder if anyone has thought to play the speech backwards like we all did with mr. roboto. i am just sure it says something like, "rise up and over throw the capitalist loving pigs!!" or "death to infidels!" or "smoking is good for you!" wait, i know..."brocoli is bad!" damn, when will these stupid left wingers just shut the fuck up?

Monday, September 7, 2009

stress

well...as the dead line for opening looms, the amount of stress rises. we are all working ourselves into states of exhaustion in order to open by october 1st. it has begun to take its toll. we are all cranky and performing tasks at less than optimal levels. i, personally seem to be misplacing items of extreme importance. i work on the restaurant all day and then go do tours at night and i am not sure where i should be at any given time or what it is that i should have with me. i miss the gym. i miss crossword puzzles and lazy sunday sipping coffee days. i miss me time.

yet...i must say that as the opening date gets closer, i get more excited. more nervous too. i could vomit every second of the day but i am still excited.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

not understanding

every year i say i will not be in new orleans come august and every fucking year i am here. i must be insane. it is not good for my psyche to be in this city in august. why, why, why am i here? everyone in this place goes fucking nuts in august. dumb people become dumber. mean people get meaner. violent people more violent. lazy people lazier. if there is going to be a glitch in the system, it will be in august. if there is going to be a fuck up, rest assured it will take place in august. if you are going to have a nervous fucking breakdown, you will probably notice the first signs in august.

two certified money orders have been lost by the post office, leaving a somewhat large sum of money out there in the great ether. two! one, i could maybe understand but two?? i swear sometimes i believe the mailman is drunk or having a heat stroke or stricken by depression or just doesn't give a damn.

why must the city of new orleans pick august to rip up every fucking street from here to metarie? so now we are herded through detour after detour, all the while increasing the burning intensity of this the most stupid of months.

i want to close my eyes, snap my fingers and be transported to paris. i can just picture it now...a little sidewalk cafe, good wine, cheese, and bread. a cool breeze blowing. maybe if i click my shoes together enough times i can get there.

Friday, August 14, 2009

stupid people

i was watching the news featuring the mob mentality of the nation wide town hall discussions on health care when i saw this gentleman saying, "all we want is for you(meaning the government)to leave us alone." ok, i think that man should get exactly what he wants. no more medicaid. no more highways. no more government interference at all. hell, i am wondering why chose to live in a country at all. he clearly is one of such stalwart character that he does not need anyone or anything. i say we pick him up and put him on an island where he can live out his days in peace with absolutely no government interference.
it is the ignorance of this country that keeps us in the dark ages. we take one step forward and 500 steps back, screaming "socialism" all along the fucking way. we will all choke on our stupidity before it is said and done. pathetic.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

because i could not write it better myself

The Case For Single Payer, Universal Health Care For The United States

Outline of Talk Given To The Association of State Green Parties, Moodus, Connecticut on June 4, 1999

By John R. Battista, M.D. and Justine McCabe, Ph.D.



1. Why doesn’t the United States have universal health care as a right of citizenship? The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee access to health care as a right of citizenship. 28 industrialized nations have single payer universal health care systems, while 1 (Germany) has a multipayer universal health care system like President Clinton proposed for the United States.

2. Myth One: The United States has the best health care system in the world.

* Fact One: The United States ranks 23rd in infant mortality, down from 12th in 1960 and 21st in 1990

* Fact Two: The United States ranks 20th in life expectancy for women down from 1st in 1945 and 13th in 1960

* Fact Three: The United States ranks 21st in life expectancy for men down from 1st in 1945 and 17th in 1960.

* Fact Four: The United States ranks between 50th and 100th in immunizations depending on the immunization. Overall US is 67th, right behind Botswana

* Fact Five: Outcome studies on a variety of diseases, such as coronary artery disease, and renal failure show the United States to rank below Canada and a wide variety of industrialized nations.

* Conclusion: The United States ranks poorly relative to other industrialized nations in health care despite having the best trained health care providers and the best medical infrastructure of any industrialized nation

3. Myth Two: Universal Health Care Would Be Too Expensive

* Fact One: The United States spends at least 40% more per capita on health care than any other industrialized country with universal health care

* Fact Two: Federal studies by the Congressional Budget Office and the General Accounting office show that single payer universal health care would save 100 to 200 Billion dollars per year despite covering all the uninsured and increasing health care benefits.

* Fact Three: State studies by Massachusetts and Connecticut have shown that single payer universal health care would save 1 to 2 Billion dollars per year from the total medical expenses in those states despite covering all the uninsured and increasing health care benefits

* Fact Four: The costs of health care in Canada as a % of GNP, which were identical to the United States when Canada changed to a single payer, universal health care system in 1971, have increased at a rate much lower than the United States, despite the US economy being much stronger than Canada’s.

* Conclusion: Single payer universal health care costs would be lower than the current US system due to lower administrative costs. The United States spends 50 to 100% more on administration than single payer systems. By lowering these administrative costs the United States would have the ability to provide universal health care, without managed care, increase benefits and still save money

4. Myth Three: Universal Health Care Would Deprive Citizens of Needed Services

* Fact One: Studies reveal that citizens in universal health care systems have more doctor visits and more hospital days than in the US

* Fact Two: Around 30% of Americans have problem accessing health care due to payment problems or access to care, far more than any other industrialized country. About 17% of our population is without health insurance. About 75% of ill uninsured people have trouble accessing/paying for health care.

* Fact Three: Comparisons of Difficulties Accessing Care Are Shown To Be Greater In The US Than Canada (see graph)

* Fact Four: Access to health care is directly related to income and race in the United States. As a result the poor and minorities have poorer health than the wealthy and the whites.

* Fact Five: There would be no lines under a universal health care system in the United States because we have about a 30% oversupply of medical equipment and surgeons, whereas demand would increase about 15%

* Conclusion: The US denies access to health care based on the ability to pay. Under a universal health care system all would access care. There would be no lines as in other industrialized countries due to the oversupply in our providers and infrastructure, and the willingness/ability of the United States to spend more on health care than other industrialized nations.

5. Myth Four: Universal Health Care Would Result In Government Control And Intrusion Into Health Care Resulting In Loss Of Freedom Of Choice

* Fact One: There would be free choice of health care providers under a single payer universal health care system, unlike our current managed care system in which people are forced to see providers on the insurer’s panel to obtain medical benefits

* Fact Two: There would be no management of care under a single payer, universal health care system unlike the current managed care system which mandates insurer preapproval for services thus undercutting patient confidentiality and taking health care decisions away from the health care provider and consumer

* Fact Three: Although health care providers fees would be set as they are currently in 90% of cases, providers would have a means of negotiating fees unlike the current managed care system in which they are set in corporate board rooms with profits, not patient care, in mind

* Fact Four: Taxes, fees and benefits would be decided by the insurer which would be under the control of a diverse board representing consumers, providers, business and government. It would not be a government controlled system, although the government would have to approve the taxes. The system would be run by a public trust, not the government.

* Conclusion: Single payer, universal health care administered by a state public health system would be much more democratic and much less intrusive than our current system. Consumers and providers would have a voice in determining benefits, rates and taxes. Problems with free choice, confidentiality and medical decision making would be resolved

6. Myth Five: Universal Health Care Is Socialized Medicine And Would Be Unacceptable To The Public

* Fact One: Single payer universal health care is not socialized medicine. It is health care payment system, not a health care delivery system. Health care providers would be in fee for service practice, and would not be employees of the government, which would be socialized medicine. Single payer health care is not socialized medicine, any more than the public funding of education is socialized education, or the public funding of the defense industry is socialized defense.

* Fact Two: Repeated national and state polls have shown that between 60 and 75% of Americans would like a universal health care system (see The Harris Poll #78, October 20, 2005)

* Conclusion: Single payer, universal health care is not socialized medicine and would be preferred by the majority of the citizens of this country

7. Myth Six: The Problems With The US Health Care System Are Being Solved and Are Best Solved By Private Corporate Managed Care Medicine because they are the most efficient

* Fact One: Private for profit corporation are the lease efficient deliverer of health care. They spend between 20 and 30% of premiums on administration and profits. The public sector is the most efficient. Medicare spends 3% on administration.

* Fact Two: The same procedure in the same hospital the year after conversion from not-for profit to for-profit costs in between 20 to 35% more

* Fact Three: Health care costs in the United States grew more in the United States under managed care in 1990 to 1996 than any other industrialized nation with single payer universal health care

* Fact Four: The quality of health care in the US has deteriorated under managed care. Access problems have increased. The number of uninsured has dramatically increased (increase of 10 million to 43.4 million from 1989 to 1996, increase of 2.4% from 1989 to 1996- 16% in 1996 and increasing each year).

* Fact Five: The level of satisfaction with the US health care system is the lowest of any industrialized nation.

* Fact Six: 80% of citizens and 71% of doctors believe that managed care has caused quality of care to be compromised

* Conclusion: For profit, managed care can not solve the US health care problems because health care is not a commodity that people shop for, and quality of care must always be compromised when the motivating factor for corporations is to save money through denial of care and decreasing provider costs. In addition managed care has introduced problems of patient confidentiality and disrupted the continuity of care through having limited provider networks.

8. Overall Answer to the questions Why doesn’t the US have single payer universal health care when single payer universal health care is the most efficient, most democratic and most equitable means to deliver health care? Why does the United States remain wedded to an inefficient, autocratic and immoral system that makes health care accessible to the wealthy and not the poor when a vast majority of citizens want it to be a right of citizenship?

Conclusion: Corporations are able to buy politicians through our campaign finance system and control the media to convince people that corporate health care is democratic, represents freedom, and is the most efficient system for delivering health care

9. What you can do about this through your state Green Party

* Work to pass a single payer, universal health care bill or referendum in your state. State level bills and referenda will be most effective because a federal health care system might in fact be too bureaucratic, and because it is not politically realistic at this time.

* Bills or referendum must be written by and supported by health care providers for the legislature to take them seriously. It is thus imperative to form an alliance with provider groups. The most effective provider group to go through is Physicians For A National Health Program which has chapters in every state (see hand out for partial listing of contact people). A number of states already have organized single payer efforts: Massachusetts, California, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, and Maryland. Join with them.

* A first step is to contact state representatives from PNHP and offer to join with them to write and support a bill bringing single payer, universal health care to your state if this has not already been done. The Connecticut and Massachusetts Bills can be used as models to make this task easier (email us at riverbnd@javanet.com and we will send you copies of the bills). A referendum is another way to go, in which case the California referendum can be used as a model.

* A second step is to contact state legislators and find a group who are willing to sponsor such a bill.

* A third step is to create a coalition of groups to work together to support and publicize this work, or to try to bring together existing groups to work together on this project. Labor unions, progressive democratic groups, Medicare/Senior Advocacy groups, the Labor Party, the Reform Party, UHCAN, existing health care advocacy groups, and state health care provider groups are all imporatnt to work with and get to join such a coalition. The state medical society and state hospital association are critical to work with in order to get any legislation passed. Try to get them to work with you to design a new model for health care delivery. They will be particularly concerned about who will control the system, and be very mistrustful of government. A public trust model with participation by providers, hospitals, business, the public and government is like to be much more acceptable to them than a pure government system. Emphasize doing away with managed care, and get them to try and work with you to find other ways to control costs (necessary to convince politicians) such as quality assurance standards, which will also protect them from malpractice

* A fourth step is to give talks in support of your bill or referendum where ever possible. Senior groups, medical staffs, church groups, high school assemblies, and labor unions are particularly good sources. Excellent materials including slides, a chart book and videos are available through PNHP.

* A fifth step is to raise money through fund raisers, contributions and benefits held by entertainers. Benefits are particularly useful in bringing out people who you can inform about single payer, universal health care and your efforts.

* A sixth step is to develop media access. The creation of videos that can be shown on local cable access TV stations is very effective. Newspaper articles, letters to the editor, and articles by the press are critical. Radio interviews and radio talk shows are important.

* Getting the public to write and call their state representatives in support of a proposed bill is critical, as is coordinating testimony at a public hearing.

* Because the data about single payer universal health care are so revealing of the problems with corporate America, and because the US citizenry is so concerned and dissatisfied with our health care system these efforts may yield surprisingly positive results and be helpful in establishing the Green Party in the US as a party of the people, by the people and for the people.

We would be happy to help you. Contact us by email at riverbnd@javanet.com, by phone at 860-354-1822, or by mail at 88 Cherniske Road, New Milford, CT 06776




Connecticut Coalition for Universal Health Care l PO Box 771l Simsbury CT 06070

Monday, August 10, 2009

august in new orleans

well, it is august in new orleans and is anybody else starting to get the blahs? it's hot. it's humid. the weeds in the backyard have taken on a life of their own and are actively trying to strangle my dog. my dryer quit working. my washing machine sucks and the banana trees are in full on riot mode off my side hall porch. i am in need of a vacation. it occurs to me that i have not had a vacation in years. i do not count the gustav evacuvacation, since that is not exactly the definition of getting away from stress. especially considering that at the time that my truck died and i was at the mercy of my then girlfriend, who took that incredibly stressful moment(coming as it did so close to the anniversary of katrina)to tell me just what a complete fuck up i really am. having the person you are dating tell you that you are a fuck up is always enjoyable especially when you are terrified that the life you have built in new orleans could just go away. needless to say, we are no longer still dating. but i am still in need of a proper vacation.

my wonderful new girlfriend and i are planning a trip to this wooded retreat and i intend to savor every minute of the get away. we can take the dogs and while away the hours hiking in the woods and hunting for fossils in the creek bed. aah. this is not happening for some time. it is best to go to the woods when cold out and so i am left dreaming of a proper vacation.

i think as we go deeper and deeper into the sticky month of august, with its glorious memories, i just might need a mini break or two. damn, i hate august.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

seriously, can we get past the gates thing??

you know what i think? i assume you want to know what i think because you are reading my blog and the only reason i have a blog is to tell you what i think, because yeah, i think i am just that important. i digress. i think gates being arrested had nothing to do with race and everything to do with a testosterone fed pissing contest. gates, being the lion-king of his home felt threatened by the arrival of another male, who dared to question whether he belonged in his own house. gates then began to beat his chest and mouth off, which included a verbal assault on the police officer's mother. the police officer, not to be outdone, then pulled out his dick to show that it was bigger and arrested gates on the spot when he should have just left it alone. hmm, this is how wars start.

i really do not think that gates being arrested was anything more than this. i wonder if gates had been white, would we still be hearing about this? let's save the race card for when it is actually needed.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

palin's farewell speech

"we eat, therefor we hunt." palin said this in reference to an ashly judd commercial damning palin's position on the areal hunting of wolves.

i thought i would put a little space there for contemplation. hmm. do you think that palin has a freezer full of wolf steaks just waiting for the grill? just thought i would ask.

Monday, July 27, 2009

awsome day

sometimes a really magical day comes along and today was just such a day. girlfriend, good food, happy dogs romping in the dog park, and the joy of rain. it was domestic bliss. i am content.

Friday, July 24, 2009

racial profiling

i know racial profiling exist in this country and it is wrong. racial profiling exist but that does not mean that every black man being arrested by a white officer is an example of this. if police officers get a call of two men that seem to be attempting to break in to a home then that is a legitimate reason to investigate and ask to see some identification. it is not racial profiling. if gates did become disorderly when asked to see his identification, then he deserved to be arrested. plain and simple. i would think that gates would be grateful that the police bother to investigate such calls in an attempt to protect property, his included. perhaps if gates lived in new orleans, where police rarely show up to such calls, he might sing a different tune.

i also find it incredibly irresponsible of president obama to weigh in on the subject without having all the facts. this sends the wrong message. racial profiling is wrong but if people cry wolf when there is no wolf at the door, then the very real misery of targeting someone based on their race is lost.

we have a black president and i am incredibly proud of our country for that feat but it is time to move forward and stop playing the race card. not everything is motivated by racism. sometimes people just screw up and make wrong decisions. sometimes people are just evil and their brand of evil does not see the color of someone's skin. the only way this country can continue to move past the horrors of racism is to seek it out where it truly exist not expend precious energy crying racism where it does not exist. all that does is make the public numb to a very real issue and when there really is a need for public support, there will not be any.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

i am back

well, i intend to be posting more often now that i have my internet back up and running.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

wetlands

i went to the imax today and finally saw hurricane on the bayou. the footage of katrina was heartbreaking as it always is but the film was beautifully shot. i have been somewhat depressed about the wetlands lately, since that new study was revealed,stating that the mississippi no longer has the sediment load to keep up with the rising ocean levels and consequent erosion. it seems we will have to work smarter, strategically redirecting the river to areas where it will do the most good. is that good enough? some areas will suffer and continue to vanish at an alarming rate and not only will communities in those areas be vulnerable but the entire ecosystems of those areas. all the birds. all the animals that call those wetlands home also vanish. this is incredibly sad to me as is our continued need to discuss the problem without at least beginning to implement changes. my god, if something is not done we will lose it all! we will lose the ecological diversity. we will lose the unique cajun culture. the beauty will be lost and the greatest city in the united states(and quite possibly on earth)will turn to open gulf. what else is left to talk about? must we continue to fiddle while rome burns? let's at least start saving parts of the wetlands before there is nothing to save. when it's gone it is gone. and when it is gone, we will have lost a place of such heartbreaking beauty and mystery that none of us will ever be the same. it will be the kind of tragedy that dims the light of the world.

Monday, June 29, 2009

thinking of you over coffee

XVII (I do not love you...)


I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I do not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

remembering stonewall

today marks the 40th anniversary of the stonewall riots of greenwich village, june 28, 1969. this kicked off the gay civil rights movement at a time when homosexual sex was illegal in all states, save one. in seven states it was punishable by castration. we have come a long way since the dark days of police raids on gay bars but we still have much work to do. we cannot become complacent. the defense of marriage act must go, along with the military discrimination of gays. we must all act up and demand equal rights from the president on down! we must never forget where we have come from and those brave men and women that helped to drive our cause forward. so get out there and show some fucking pride people.

a little poetry

We Did Not Make Ourselves
by Michael Dickman


We did not make ourselves is one thing

I keep singing into my hands

while falling

asleep



for just a second



before I have to get up and turn on all the lights in the house, one after the

other, like opening an Advent calendar



My brain opening

the chemical miracles in my brain

switching on



I can hear



dogs barking

some trees

last stars



You think you’ll be missed

it won’t last long

I promise





I’m not dead but I am

standing very still

in the back yard

staring up at the maple

thirty years ago

a tiny kid waiting on the ground

alone in heaven

in the world

in white sneakers



I’m having a good time humming along to everything I can still remember

back there



How we’re born



Made to look up at everything we didn’t make



We didn’t

make grass, mosquitoes

or breast cancer



We didn’t make yellow jackets



or sunlight



either





I didn’t make my brain

but I’m helping

to finish it



Carefully stacking up everything I made next to everything I ruined in broad

daylight in bright

brainlight



This morning I killed a fly

and didn’t lie down

next to the body

like we’re supposed to



We’re supposed to



Soon I’m going to wake up



Dogs

Trees

Stars



There is only this world and this world



What a relief

created



over and over

my friend turned me on to the michael dickman's poetry and i am in love. this poem is beautifully nostalgic and wonderfully melancholy. it makes me cry. this evokes the feeling of childhood for me and the sense of enormous potential, waiting to be fulfilled. i do not think that we frail humans can ever live up to that wonder of what the world holds and all that we might one day become. it is that loss that i am mourning.

waiting for godot

i wonder when sitting beneath the tree in my backyard, attempting to remove my boot,and ruminating on suicide while waiting for godot(in this case the cable guy, dish network technician, ups, or any of the hundred other people that force you to be home bound between the hours of 8 and 5), who exactly it is that gets their appointment over with first thing in the morning so that they might be free to frolic? i have cleaned and re-cleaned my house while waiting and made forays into the miniature world of matchstick art. i built a french quarter out of matchsticks and fully intended to show it at my next art show but alas, it burned. it seems that new orleans, even a tiny version of itself is still prone to great conflagrations. we, the mites of this mighty metropolis are scurrying about in our own theater of the absurd.
and i got all that without even checking the morning paper, which i am sure will only reinforce my belief that the universe makes no sense. it is like the anonymous crack line in new orleans, that when you call, a recording tells you to leave your name and number and someone will call you back. alrighty then!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

104 degrees

it was 104 degrees in the city of new orleans yesterday. that is not just breaking the records, that is bloody well shattering them and it is not even august yet. i am scared of august.
my air conditioner, which is a portable r2d2 unit, responsible for cooling the front two rooms of my house cannot combat this kind of extreme heat. consequently, i am sitting in cc's coffee shop in the quarter, trying to keep cool. it also helps me rehydrate since the water i consume at my house cannot quite keep up with the water that i sweat out.
i bought a pair of seersucker shorts yesterday and am currently wearing them. it pays to be fashionably attired in the wilting summer months. these are red striped and i am so enamored of them that i do believe i will be going back to purchase the more traditional blue ones.
i realize that my blogs have less and less to do with politics and more and more to do with the heat induced madness of personal ramblings. it is too hot to be political. politics gets me angry and that in turn gets me hot under the collar and damn but i am already hot under the collar. so i think for now at least, that i will sit here, sipping ice tea and chatting about the weather.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

switching from cox cable

i am trapped here in my house waiting for the dish network technician to come and hook up my new services. he is expected sometime between 8 this morning and noon. i called around to shop for the best price and certainly hope that i made the right decision. dish network gives more for less. so we shall see. in the mean time i am bored. i should be cleaning the house but without the joys of central air condition, much of my house remains hellishly hot. the air condition in the living room is barely keeping these two rooms cool as we approach record breaking temperatures again today. so i am not cleaning but playing on the computer instead. i am forced to recognize that summer is not my super productive season. really, i just feel like sleeping.
i have a tour tonight. the taxi cab folks have been out in force checking our licenses and making sure all is on the up and up. i have been stopped three times now. i know of two tour guides that got their licenses yanked. as a result, i will be pulling in another shift come friday night, at least until he gets his license back. this works out wonderfully well for me as i always get a bit nervous come summer, when tourism drops off a bit. still, i am very optimistic about our dreaded season this year. the hotels are looking good and i think we can stay fairly busy right up until the heat breaks.
i have another appointment lined up for tomorrow at noon to interview a guy about his katrina tattoo. the more people we get, the more excited about the project i become. i think we might actually be able to pull off not only the book but also a documentary as well. so if you or someone you know has a katrina tattoo and a story, please have them contact me at faolnua@gmail.com
alright, it is time for some ice cold water.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

hot

it is hot. it is sticky august hot. pasty little doughy tourists from canada and other gentler climes are passing out on my tours. the rest of obese america can be seen oozing down the steamy sidewalks of the french quarter, carrying big gulps and huge ass beers. their money aside, my tolerance for them goes down as the temperature goes up. they melt and stick to everything, sizzling like bacon in the sun.

the other day i was in the cemetery where it is at least 30 degrees hotter than the rest of the city and i swear, i think the soles of my shoes were melting. i could feel myself puddling up and i slipped into daydreams of beautiful bags of water dripping into my veins from an i.v. then the head ache set in and i rushed to finish the tour.

today, against what would have been the best medical advice had i actually sought medical advice, i ventured into the jungle of banana trees threatening to take over my side hall porch. i was armed with a machete. they were armed with root systems that plunge downward until they hit bedrock, which in new orleans is a feat in and of itself. i sweated. i hacked. i drank water. i slashed. banana trees fell. i grew dizzy. i drank water. a little before noon, i called for reinforcements via the axe and shovel. the banana trees solicited the aid of the sun which moved into an overhead position, getting me squarely in its sights. i fought gallantly but the banana trees won. now i am sitting in front of the fan, blood red, feeling every beat of my heart and thinking there is no hangover like the one the sun and heat can give you. my eyes are glowing and i no longer think it is possible to drink enough water to hydrate myself. i must recover soon, i have a tour tonight.

i am praying for rain. sweet rain, like a cool compress on feverish skin. rain and air conditioning and maybe an ice cold beer if i can ever get hydrated. see you in the inferno.

Friday, June 19, 2009

as smart as mold

in japan at the hokkaido university, scientists have discovered that a particular type of mold(that has no nervous system) is actually capable of negotiating its way through a maze in order to reach food located at the end. this begs the question of why our mayor, city council, and chief of police can't be at least as bright as mold? it really is worth pondering.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

something to make you laugh.

a university creative writing class was once asked to write a succinct essay incorporating the following things: 1)religion 2) royalty 3) sex 4) mystery.
the winning essay read:
"My god," said the queen, "I'm pregnant. I wonder who did it?"
beautiful!

Monday, June 1, 2009

6 things to get off my chest

1.)why would SUNO appoint gill pratt to sit on their cabinet of advisers when she has been indicted on federal racketeering charges? really? i don't know why it amazes me that this type of thing goes on here but it still does.

2.) i am a pacifist by nature but peace loving nature has a limit. i am over north korea's saber rattling. let's just go in and blast their fucking nuclear plants and missiles to hell. look, there's a missile waiting on the launch pad...bombs away! no more missile. problem solved. next.

3.) the first day of storm season is upon us and still we do not have the proper funding to restore our disappearing coast line, which is our best defense against storms. hey, obama! you made some promises to the gulf states devastated by katrina and it is time that those promises were fulfilled. remember? yes we can but not without money!

4.) can we please stop giving labruzzo air time? he is a fucking nazi in disguise as a good upstanding christian fucking family man, who needs to get his ass kicked out of office. news flash: being poor is not a crime so let's not treat the poor as criminals by forcing drug tests on them.

5.) the plan to raise the minimum academic standards for athletes was defeated in the house. wow! the proposed bill would have raised the gpa from 1.5 to 2.0 in order to be eligible to play sports. really? they defeated that? we honestly do not expect more of our children than a 1.5 grade point average? my god! no wonder we are graduating functionally illiterate children. our priorities are screwed.

6.)california, you have let the country down with your failure to provide gays with the right to marry. since when do we allow the desires of the many to rump the civil liberties of the few? oh, wait, i was being an idealist again. it is a sad turn of events when the california supreme court upheld proposition 8, thus denying tax paying american citizens of their right to marriage. then again, i guess i really don't expect much from a state that elected arnold as governor.

i'm going to bed now.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

in response to cal thomas

i was reading cal thomas' article in the times picayune today with clenched fists and vein popping anger. he was basically writing in defense of "enhanced interrogation" techniques, as if this orwellian turn of phrase might somehow hide the fact that the bush administration sanctioned torture. we, the united states; ever mindful of other countries' human rights abuses, hypocritically engaged in the very same activities that we have criticized others over. in the article, he takes obama to task for wanting to alter these barbaric practices. he cites that the president stated that enemy troops surrendered because they knew they would be treated fairly but makes the point that they raised the white flag out of fear instead. i find fault with that logic. in world war two, u.s soldiers were brutal when it came to the treatment of japanese soldiers. they often tortured and killed those japanese that surrendered. the response was not more mass surrenders, it was the birth of the kamakazi. faced with insufficient fuel to return home, japanese pilots crashed their planes into american ships, rather than risk falling into american hands, where death would most likely come slowly.
we claim to be fighting terrorists for our way of life. well, our way of life should not condone barbaric acts of torture, where men are forced into contorted positions for hours on end or deprived of sleep for days at a time. they are left to freeze, starved, beaten, and sensory deprived. some of these people are united states' citizens that have never been charged with a crime. i shudder to think of what agonizing hell their lives have become. and what of the american soldiers that carry out these so called enhanced interrogation techniques? how can you ask of them to shed their humanity and engage in brutal acts of torture, only to send them home again, where they are expected to miraculously integrate back into society. torture does not just hurt the victim, it slowly destroys the abuser. how can you ever lift a child up with tender hands after beating a man half to death. how can you ever be whole again? if there is evil in the world that threatens us, is it right to do evil to combat it? and if we defeat it, who then protects the world from us, when we have become the very thing we feared and hated. america, we are the bully.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

if we can't get money from a democrat...

i voted for obama. i happily voted for obama. i utilized my powers of democracy, in part because i fully expected that louisiana would get money for coastal restoration. i was wrong.
the louisiana coastline is the fastest disappearing land mass in the world. we are losing the land more rapidly than the amazon rain forest. every ten months, an area the size of manhattan slips away.
without coastal restoration, new orleans is doomed. it will not matter how high they build the levees, if we are sitting in the middle of the gulf of mexico.
i love this city and the bush administration nearly finished what the failed levees started, with their inept response and failure to appropriate proper funding for coastal restoration. i looked to obama. i am still looking.
state officials were looking to the obama administration for money to begin 10 major coastal restoration projects at a cost of 1.2 to 1.9 billion. the obama administration is only allocating 25 million for the plan.
hurricane season begins june 1st and once again, we find ourselves in the most precarious of positions. our levees still are not up to par and the miles and miles of wetlands that once lay between new orleans and hurricanes has all but slipped into the ocean. we need action. we need money, not empty promises. the clock is ticking and if we can't get money from a democrat, who the hell can we get it from?

Thursday, May 14, 2009

looking for the peace time

in my mind i am picturing 5,000 people marching on city hall in protest of our crime problem. above the fray, i can see a white banner flying with the letters "sos" written in splattered red, like so much blood washing the new orleans' streets. in one week, more people were killed here than died in iraq. this is a war zone. i do not remember ever joining the army or signing up to fight and yet i have been on a 14 year long tour of duty and my god, but the things i have seen. there was a man i watched be beaten to death. the sixteen year old with his brains splattered all over frenchmen street and his pregnant sister bleeding in the car nearby. there were two guys that crashed into charity hospital as a result of gunshot wounds that i saw on my way to work one fine spring day. the boy shot in the leg. the little girl shot in the ankle. the kid blown of his motorcycle. and damn but if the list does not go on and on. after the storm, i stood looking at all the destruction and for the first time the city looked like the war zone it had so long been. there was an eerie quiet after the storm. no gunshots. no screaming mothers. i thought, maybe the peace will hold and we can go on without the war. then the drug dealers came back, lured by the prospect of hungry contractors with fast cash burning holes in their pockets. i don't remember when i heard my first gunshot after katrina, only that it startled me in a way i think no noise ever had or will again. the peace was broken. the war was back on and the names of victims started to grow. i don't know all of them. i don't know all of their faces. there have been so many. but i did know helen hill and wendy byrnes. i did know others. it seems that nothing changes here. people shoot and kill and if someone witnesses the murder, they are either intimidated(blown up vehicles and such) into silence or murdered. the latest casualties appear to be an elderly couple, shot to death in their lower ninth ward home in an apparent attempt to silence their nephew who was scheduled to testify in an upcoming trial. the wife was found in the bedroom clutching a knife and i can only imagine the fear and horror she must have felt, hearing her husband killed in the next room, knowing what was coming for her. and for what? for fucking what? all because her nephew was trying to do the right thing. we so rarely do the right thing here. gunshots? oh well, roll over and go back to sleep. drug dealers? what drug dealers? i didn't see anything. and if you do go to the police, nine times out of ten, they fuck it up anyway. so you want to do the right thing and testify? good luck. it might just get you or someone you love killed. that's how it goes down in new orleans. meanwhile our mayor is trying to remember if his first class trip to jamaica was paid by someone else and our city council has disintegrated into a damn day care center with bickering and back biting. riley...fucking riley never seems to take responsibility for anything. you know what guys? the ship is sinking. it's fucking sinking and i'm not sure we can bail the damn water out fast enough to save us.

Friday, May 8, 2009

looking for katrina tattoos

i am working on a book featuring katrina tattoos so if you or someone you know has that kind of a tattoo and also a story about their katrina or post-katrina experiences, then please contact me. you can either post a comment here or reach me at faolnua@gmail.com. i am looking for what it is about the city of new orleans that makes people love it so that they would tattoo their bodies over it. so, let me know!! spread the word. thanks.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

more on swine flu

swine flu fear generates big money for pharmaceutical companies. the associated press reported that at least one financial analyst estimates that Tamiflu sales will jump to $388 million in the near future. Tamiflu, you might remember took a hit in sales because it caused many of the same symptoms as the flu itself. already, companies like gilead sciences have seen a rise in their shares of stocks in only one day! they are making money off of a mild case of the flu because they and the news media are over inflating our cause for concern. this is not the first time the public has been alerted to swine flu. it happened in 1976. their was a panic in this country and talks of forcing people to get vaccinated were bantered about. the swine flu pandemic never materialized but the flu vaccine killed more people then than the flu.

malaria kills about 3,000 people every day but is little more than a foot note on the nightly news, if it gets any press coverage at all. put things into perspective and relax. it is very difficult for a virus to mutate into a strain that is both deadly and easily transmissible. it rarely happens. this really is just another attempt for an elite few to make a lot of money in these hard economic times but they can only do so, if we buy into the fear.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

calming the fear

there is a lot of fear being spread in the media over this so called swine flu. many people like to look back to the 1918 flu pandemic that had death tolls soaring and use it to dredge up new fears. scientists researching that strain of flu have now come out and said that the high death rate was not because of the flu itself but rather as a result of strep infections. it is easy to pick up strep infections in hospitals, which are known breeding grounds for bacteria or in areas where sanitation is not up to par. this may be why mexico is faced with a higher death toll from swine flu than elsewhere. i believe this fear is being spread not just because it makes a good news story but also so that money can be made off future flu vaccines. flu vaccines have not been shown to effectively reduce the risk of contracting the flu and they come with risks of their own, such as paralysis or even death. so, sit back and relax. get plenty of rest and up your vitamin c intake. we will all be just fine.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

late posting on beaten artist

"On the morning of April 10th there was a horrible tragedy in Jackson Square.
One of the artists there, Gang Hu (known to all as Kenny) was attacked and
beaten badly as he was setting up for a day of work.
Many of you know him, a really sweet, talented portrait and caricature
artist that is always ready with a smile and well wishes. The front and
back of his head were beaten in and he was rushed to the hospital where he
has had surgery. The last I heard he was in ICU. He is not conscious and
they won’t be able to tell much for a few days until the swelling goes down.

The police who were called to the scene made ridiculous comments about the
character of the victim, stating he was drunk and probably his fault. This
is an outrage. They did not conduct any sort of investigation as far as I
heard they did not even classify it as a crime scene. When another local
artist insisted that he did not drink and that they should investigate, he
was told he would be arrested if he said anything else!

This artist is a dutiful husband with two small children at home, a dear man
who gives everything he can to help those in need even when he has so little
himself. Jackson Square artists are considered a huge draw for New Orleans
tourists and they should have more support and protection from NOPD. We pay
taxes to the city as well as license and permit fees to set up there. We
should have the right to protection as citizens and as workers at one of the
city’s top tourist attractions.

We are organizing to raise funds to help pay for his medical costs and to
get NOPD to provide patrol for artists in the morning. Please support this
cause, run a story, tell your friends, post to your social networks and do
all you can to help this wonderful person and his family recover from this
tragedy."
thanks to the chicory for originally covering this and helping to get the word out.

hey nagin, the sharks are circling

it looks as though nagin is coming under more and more scrutiny over his all expenses paid vacations. the latest allegation is a trip to chicago that was paid for by a city vendor, netmethods.
well, mr. mayor i hope you are enjoying your time in office because i sincerely hope it is drawing to a close and if there is a higher power, it will end with you doing some jail time. we all know you are corrupt as hell and let's hope the sharks get you!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

what the fuck is going on??

there have been two shootings in the span of two days so that my neighborhood is sounding more and more like iraq with the rat-a-tat-tat of automatic weapons fire. last night's shoot out at the ok corral woke me up and had me rolling off the bed with my dog in tow so as not to be hit by stray bullets. once the dust settled and the police arrived, i went out to investigate and found two bullet holes in my truck. my truck! this, mind you is the new to me truck that i just bought and i bought it to replace the mad max vehicle that i was sporting. does anyone else find this ironic? because now, with two bullet holes, i actually have a damn mad max vehicle. seriously? maybe i should just get a mohawk and everything pierced, dress in black leather, horde water and decorate in bones. i mean really, this has to be the set of some bad movie, right? right? on top of it all, i drove my truck to the french quarter today to show the girl the bullet holes and i parked on esplanade, never thinking that it was tuesday, street cleaning day.street cleaning day!! they tow on those days. they towed my damn truck! seriously? so i had to walk all the way to the lot of shame on claiborne, where they are oh so friendly and pay $125 to get it out of impound. i was like, "it's the bullet riddled silver ford f-150." i need a drink but i have to work tonight. damn!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

what is going on with amazon books.

amazon books has pulled the sales rankings on all gay, lesbian, and transgendered books, as well as some erotica. not all of these books fall into the category of so called "erotica", since a college guide for LGBT students also lost its ranking. something reeks of homophobia at amazon. are these books really to suffer the label of "adult" just because they deal with LGBT issues and yet "playboy" has no such label and has yet to lose its coveted sales ranking. if you are having a hard time swallowing such a distinction, i urge you to contact amazon at their express customer service number:1-866-216-1072. thanks to "queersunited.blogspot.com

bargain hunting

i am all for finding a good bargain but not when it comes the the levee system surrounding new orleans. the army corps of engineers is up to its old tricks again, fretting over dollar signs rather than concerning themselves with the safety of the levee system. their proposed plan relies on miles of faulty levee systems that have already proven themselves failures rather than spend the extra money to replace these structures, which would save more money in the long run. they are cutting cost in the short term but ensuring that billions will be spent after yet another catastrophic flood event. this is the most short sighted plan and it is nothing less than criminal. it is appalling to put the lives and property of new orleanians at risk, not to mention the very real possibility of this city not being able to recover a second time. i believe it is time for the corps to be disbanded. we clearly need an agency that puts the lives of american citizens first and we need it before the next storm.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

the high cost of sin

i grew up in a religious household and thus am intimately aware of the harsh cycle of sin and guilt. i am proud to say that the experience cured me of organized religion. i find it appalling that there are those people who profess that their god is a loving god and yet engage in acts of hate and violence. i guess i'm wondering if christ would really show up to the funeral services of fallen american soldiers to wave anti-gay signs and trivialize the grief of their families. i am horrified when i watch the video of a young man being flogged by the taliban in pakistan because he had homosexual relations. why do these people care? does it really get you into heaven with your horde of happy virgins? my god! it sickens me to watch a young girl being held down while the taliban beats her. i am disgusted by the so called religious rights' signs that god hates fags. i can't even write this. there is no evolution, at least not with man. from all that i have seen of our behavior, we have done nothing but devolve. from the moment we learned to walk upright to the present, we have waged war. we have gorged ourselves on a steady diet of hypocrisy and hate. sure, we have more advanced technology but is it really more advanced to fine tune the art of killing? someone was once asked what they would not take from earth if they were going to another planet and they replied, "humans." i think that would be a fucking safe bet.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

crime alert

i don't know how many of you signed up for the crime alerts text message system but i would like to encourage everyone to do so. we have to protect ourselves. an alert was posted earlier of 3 young men kicking in doors in the marigny, so be on the look out. stay safe and watch out for each other. it is a war zone kids!

john labruzzo is at it again

clearly john labruzzo takes his cues from nagin, in that he seems incapable of self-censorship. his latest antics have him calling for the drug testing of welfare recipients. i think labruzzo needs a refresher course in constitutional law. this is an illegal body search without a warrant and lacking in probable cause. it, in fact, criminalizes poverty. if you are poor, you must be of the criminal element and therefor in abdication of your civil rights. yes, i agree that the welfare system needs to be over hauled but this is not the way to go about doing that. perhaps, we might start by paying people a decent living wage in this country, because it is impossible to live of minimum wage. you certainly cannot raise a family on it but then again, labruzzo would like to stop that from happening as well via forced sterilization of women on welfare. i guess only the wealthy deserve to breed and they never ever sink into the depths of criminality. i mean i cannot think of any wealthy ceo's that have looted tax payers of their hard earned cash, can you?? john labruzzo, you were elected in part to uphold the constitution not try to subvert it based on your own prejudices. since you seem unwilling to take that aspect of your civil duty seriously, then i think it is time you stepped down. we, the tax payers no longer require your services. thank you and hopefully you will not have to go on welfare once you lose your job because then we would have to drug test you and sterilize your wife. thanks for playing along, we have some nice parting gifts.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

my birthday

i sat in the bar last night, sometime after midnight and so officially my birthday. i watched a man carry feathered pillows down decatur street. he was homeless and it was cold out. i was suddenly grateful for the things i have. it was not a bar that i would normally frequent but i was lured down there with the promise of a kiss from the bartender. i was caught up in the moment and forgot that it was also troy's birthday and the first drink on our birthday is always to him. troy died of aids when we were barely 21. 21, my god! can you imagine ever having been so young? there was nothing that we could not do. everything lay before us. i was caught up in the moment, kissing the bartender and i forgot to toast troy. i feel guilty for forgetting him. well, here is to you my brother. we are 38 and that is a long ways away from 21. i'm living in new orleans just like we always talked of doing but i still think back to all those days at the river park, swinging as high as we could go. every time i think about you plowing your car through the church and all the way to the pulpit just before easter sunrise services, i laugh. damn but you would love it here. new orleans has the same fucked up luck that we always seemed too. the things we could get into together. i miss you troy and i really wish you were here to celebrate our birthday together.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

upping the butch factor

i just bought a new truck...well, new to me. it is a 2007 ford f150 xl and considerably bigger than my last truck, making it a decidedly butcher buy. it would catapult me into a whole new butch bracket so to speak, were it not for the fear that i will in no way, shape, or form be able to park the thing. they take your toaster away for less than that. it is a great truck though. the ride is incredibly smooth and it handles like a dream. there is no carpet, making it dog hair proof and i am happily spoiled with air condition, a rear view mirror, a front bumper, and windshield wipers that work! plus, there is a lot more room and it comforts me as being far more reliable during storm season. so wave, if you see me taking 30 plus minutes to park the beast but don't help me...it just makes me nervous.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

just wondering...

does anyone else find it strange that the auto zone has all the de-icing fluid you could want but no rain-x? i mean, it actually rains here. hell, it is raining right now.

Friday, March 20, 2009

my date

things went quite well right up to the point that she told me she is bi-polar, off her medication, feeling fine, but is starting to experience some anxiety. basically, she is a skyline that is about to start burning. it is one thing when you are already invested in someone, in love as it were but to plunge into that without the attatchment is nothing short of suicide. oh well, there are other prospects and we shall see. to be continued...

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

creepy

sometimes you can just tell when there is something off about the area in which you live. i came home tonight post-tour and there was no one on the street. it was eerily quiet and deserted. when i got out of the car, i remember thinking i should hurry inside because something didn't feel right. when i entered my house, my roommate asked me if i had said hello. i replied no. he swore he heard me say that as if i was already in the house. later there was strange whistling to be heard. we settled in to watch a movie and at some point we heard what sounded like gun shots, loud enough to make me think they were right outside the house. it is always hard to tell if what you are hearing is actually gunshots or firecrackers or a car back firing...etc. so, we waited and what we waited for was the reaction of others, because nothing draws a crowd like a shooting. the odd thing was, no one came out. the street stayed silent. we decided to go outside to investigate. a couple of people were on the street. my roommate thought he heard them say that some white people were riding around shooting and to get off the street, only i did not hear a car with the shots. i thought he said something about us being the white people and they should get off the street because we would call the police. i don't know but there is just an air of something strange and it is not yet dissipating. it may prove to have an interesting impact on my dreams.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

aig bonuses

n a comment aired this afternoon on WMT, an Iowa radio station, Grassley (R-Iowa) said: “The first thing that would make me feel a little bit better towards them if they’d follow the Japanese model and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say I’m sorry, and then either do one of two things — resign, or go commit suicide.”

well, i think that says it all folks!

Monday, March 16, 2009

birthday

i turn 38 at the end of this month and that is enough to get me re-evaluating my life. i am a reasonably happy person. i love my city and for the most part, my jobs but i can't help feeling like something is missing. perhaps i should be farther along in my life, a famous writer or successful artist. maybe i am just spinning my wheels. i know that i have been wasting a lot of time and energy on relationships that don't work and maybe that is a self-created distraction that prevents me from focusing on the goals i wish to attain. i fail in relationships so i don't have to fail at other things. how is that for a little pop psychological self analysis? turning 38 will do that for you. over all, my thirties have been good to me. i felt more confident in myself and more sure of who i wanted to be even if i have yet to totally become that person. i studied and got my tour guide's license and bought a house. i'm proud of those achievements. i regret the string of failed relationships that are behind me like so many train wrecks. oh, the carnage. i regret not standing up for myself more in my most recent relationship. i am not sure why i endured the abuse and constant teasing. one wonders these things. well, here is to growing up and learning life's many lessons along the way. i have begun feverishly preparing for a new series of paintings and am currently putting together a writing portfolio. here is to hoping that 38 is the year i make my mark on the literary and artistic worlds. and here is to evolution, may we all continue to evolve. damn, i hope i do!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

i think maybe i need a vacation

perhaps some time away might be restorative. i could stroll the beach, deeply inhale the salt air, and feel the tension melt away. i need to do something because tonight, i threatened to "break" a man's "motherfucking legs" if he did not leave my tour guests alone. now in all fairness to me, this man has constantly harassed my tours even after i threatened to call the police so he fucking had it coming. i might also point out that i was brandishing my umbrella at the time. hmm, that sounds a bit cracked doesn't it? yes, a little get away would be nice. i'm sure i could regain some composure along the gulf of mexico.

Friday, March 13, 2009

the trials and tribulations of being a tour guide

i spoke with another friend of mine who is a tour guide and his wednesday night tour was terrible. the majority of the group was excessively intoxicated, to the point that many of them repeatedly referred to him as "tour boy." Again, i must ask the question of why would you pay for a tour that you are too drunk to appreciate and then be derogatory towards the poor bastard that got stuck dragging your ass around the french quarter? i will take a sour old woman any day over that kind of bullshit!! still, as i said before, there are worse jobs to have. i cannot imagine dragging myself day in and day out to some cramped cubicle, cut off from sunlight and lit by harsh fluorescent lights, where i must toil at a computer screen all day long. so, despite the madness that sometimes accompanies a tour, i am grateful to have such a job.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

on being a tour guide

i am always stunned and left to ponder why on earth you would spend 20$ to take a tour and then be damn determined not to have fun. i had a woman on my tour tonight who got bent out of shape over the fact that the tour price had risen by a whole two dollars and thus she remained sour for the remainder of the tour, refusing to even crack a smile or remotely entertain the idea of actually having fun. hello, you are in new orleans and while it is true that my tour contains a lot of history, it is hardly a walk to the gallows. i don't really think people realize what goes into making a successful tour. not only do i have to remember the dates and facts and somehow weave them into a palatable campfire story while having to have a firm grasp of new orleans' history and its place within the larger historical picture in order to answer random questions but i also have to deal with the madness of the french quarter streets. there is the noise factor of trash trucks, motorcycles, screaming drunken tourists,cars blasting music, and the ever original folks that say boo. there are also the approaching drunks, homeless people begging for money, freaks that try to physically touch my tour guests, and the odd person who threatens to beat my ass down in the street. this is all going on as my guests are talking amongst themselves and over me, talking on the phone or texting, drunk and falling down, drunk and suddenly thinking they are terribly witty, or adopting the i am oh so bored and can't wait to get off this tour posture. i must be a body guard, historian, story teller, ghost hunter extraordinaire, and babysitter all rolled into one. now, don't get me wrong, i love my job. i'm out in the open air, getting paid to walk and talk. it is more than some and that is saying a lot but sometimes it can be difficult and that is without the added onus of a dower old woman who refuses to have fun.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

jindal takes on DUI

first, let me state that i do not advocate drunk driving. it is a risk to the driver and everyone else on the road. having said that, i do not think that trying to circumnavigate the constitution in order to deal with drunk driving is the answer. as it stands right now, you have the right to refuse to take a breathalizer(how the hell is that spelled anyway) test and though that refusal will cost you a suspension of your license, the penalty is still less severe than if found guilty of drunk driving. i realize there are many people out there that think, if you are sober, why would you refuse. in other words, this law only impacts you if you have done something wrong. i might disagree. these types of constitutional check points were written into our legal system as a means of protecting citizens. a lawyer on the news put it this way, it would be like the police showing up to search your house without a warrant and your refusal being seen as an admission of guilt. no, this is not the way to go. it should always be your constitutional right to refuse to take an alcohol test. besides, studies indicate that many officers ask drivers to blow twice which artificially elevates the alcohol percentage, thus pushing sober drivers over the limit. the breathalizer test is not as accurate as we would like to believe and that is yet another reason for us to keep our constitutional protections in place. if you are stopped for a DUI, it is always a safer bet to demand a blood test. blood test are far more accurate at determining the percentage of alcohol in the blood stream.
yes, drunk driving is a problem on american roads and i agree that something needs to be done but the erosion of constitutional guaruntees is the wrong way to go about it. i have some suggestions but i think i will save them for another blog.

Saturday, February 28, 2009

insomnia

i have been up since 4 o'clock this morning, listening to the rooster mafia intimidate the neighborhood. i am still recovering from this strange new orleans' sickness and am wondering why my body will not let me rest via much needed sleep. and the rooster crows. the rooster crows.
There came a rooster screaming,
Eyes a gleaming
Beating, beating down my chamber door.
how poe might have written the poem had he lived here. i still have not replaced the batteries in my bedside clock and it's been over a month. that is ridiculous. perhaps it was all the excitement on the street yesterday that has me up and incredibly restless. damn, i'm really tired though but i just can't sleep. my dog is up now and that does not bode well for tomorrow morning. i'm ignoring her. yes, i'm up typing on my computer but this in no way shape or form means that we will be getting up this early tomorrow, so put away your dreams of being my furry alarm clock at 5 something in the morning. ugh. i don't think she's listening. sweet dreams all.

Friday, February 27, 2009

it always sounds like fire crackers

it always sounds like fire crackers when they start shooting and so it takes me a few minutes to realize that some maniac is firing a gun into a crowd of people and someone is going to bleed. it was high times on frenchmen street today with people fighting, crying and yelling. at one point it looked like a riot, that was about an hour before someone decided to take things to the next level and open fire into the crowd, shooting my neighbor in the leg. and you cannot help but think but for the grace of god go i...just being in the wrong place at the wrong time and you get a ride to the hospital or worse yet, the morgue. it looks like new orleans is well on its way to yet again leading the nation in murders. the sad thing about today is that the ones involved in the fighting are all cousins. cousins. can you imagine shooting at your family? the culture of violence is so pervasive here that it rips families apart. and sadder still was watching the kids walk by the scene and not even look fazed. someone getting shot is the most normal thing in the world. i can't even imagine growing up like that. when i was a kid, i never once saw anyone shot. i didn't see that until i moved here and now i have seen too many. god help us, there must be a way out of this but damn if i know what it is.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

capitalism at its finest

for those of you that worship capitalism and long for better trade between the united states and mexico, there is reason to celebrate. as many people know, the drug cartels have all but taken over mexico in one long murderous coup and they are getting wealthy by selling drugs to the good ole u.s.a. see there is fair trade going on. supply and demand. we want drugs and mexico gives them to us. but the capitalist feeding frenzy does not end there, lest you thing america is getting the short end of the stick. no, indeed not, america is supplying mexico with all the weapons needed to gun down police officers and innocents alike. guns equal power and the drug cartels are out gunning and over powering the mexican police and military alike, thanks to america. quid pro quo. everyone gets a little bit of the pie and capitalism continues to thrive. they really should teach this in high school.
disclaimer:
spoke is still sick, so if passages of this blog make no sense, it is because i do not know any better at this time.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

sick as a dog



spoke the cat is sick as a dog and therefore missed all the mardi gras festivities. alas. i hope everyone is having a safe and wonderful time of it. and here is to no more shootings!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

jindal gets new orleans jilted

jindal signed the science education act in 2008. this allows more freedom in the class rooms for so called alternative interpretations of evolution, cloning, and global warming. the act further gives local school boards enormous power when it comes to rejecting class room materials as well as approving them. this allows for non scientific theories such as intelligent design to seed the curriculum. it is nothing more than a way for the christian right to infiltrate the public school system. it violates the separation of church and state. jindal refused to veto the act, signing it into law instead. that decision has come back to haunt new orleans. the society for integrative and comparative biology informed the jindal administration that they would not be holding their convention in new orleans, in large part because of the this act. i have said this before, i have no problem with a politician holding certain religious beliefs as long as they keep them out of the public arena. jindal is something of a rabid religious man and he allowed his own personal beliefs in intelligent design to cloud his judgment. this is a travesty. your beliefs should not usurp my own especially when my tax dollars are helping to fund the public school system. and now, those beliefs are costing new orleans an untold infusion of cash, at a critical time in our recovery. i am angered and appalled over this situation. make some noise my fellow louisianians. make sure jindal hears your protests. nothing gets accomplished by passively observing.

Monday, February 16, 2009

it is a new day.

it is almost spring and that means it is time for some emotional house cleaning. i swear there is something wrong with me that makes people think that i will just take heaps of steaming shit dumped all on me, smile and ask for more. it is going to stop or i will start cutting away at the cancerous growths in my life. so, attention for all those in my life that demand more than they give, you are now on notice!! i am soon to be 38 and i will do whatever the fuck i want to do. i will fuck who i choose and if i do not choose you, then it is none of your business. i will go where i want. i will set this fucking town on fire and have a great time doing it. so, you can either pull out the matches and have fun with me or go to fucking hell. your choice. i don't care what you decide but i will no longer be brought low by childish bullshit. i am smart. i'm funny. i'm talented. and i can accomplish anything i fucking want to accomplish. so get mad at me if i'm not that into you and do not want to date you. fuck off for rubbing it in my face that you are going to europe. trust me, you will see me there!! screw you for bringing your strung out meth addicted ass to my house. fuck off dumb frat boys that interrupt my tours. go to hell stupid fucking drama addicted women who lie about their husbands and wreak havoc where ever they go. it is a new day and a new me. you can either like it or fucking leave. spoke the cat has just quit caring.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Thursday, February 12, 2009

addiction

i believe one of the most painful things to experience is watching someone you love destroy themselves through addiction. today, a good friend of mine stopped by my house and i had to turn him away because he refuses to get sober. i stood on my porch; looking at him, at his rotting teeth and jaundiced skin and i thought, he is going to die soon and there is not a damn thing i can do about it. the only thing i have any control over are my actions and i choose; painful though it may be, not to watch him slowly kill himself. i have to protect myself. he has put us all through enough already and the only thing he can see is his next fix waiting. he does not care that i broke into his house once; after he had gone missing, fully expecting to find him over-dosed and dead inside. i think the hardest part is the death of such potential...to be able to look back and say, i knew him when. i knew him when he was painting, writing and making music. i knew him when he was beautiful. i no longer know the man i just saw on my porch. i do not recognize his thinness, the way the skin hangs from bone. all the creativity has left him. he is not the man i once loved and the hardest part is coming to terms with that. he looked jaundiced and if in fact he was, he is dying. he is physically dying but my old friend is already dead and has been for a very long time.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

pot smokers' call for action

apparently there is a pot lobby and it is calling for the boycott of the kellogg company in protest over their decision to drop michael phelps after he was photographed taking a bong hit. this makes me giggle. i'm giggling right now. first of all, who knew that pot smokers were motivated enough to form a lobby, much less organize a boycott? of course this means that many of the kellogg munchies will be missing from the couches of stoners everywhere. my god, what will they eat? in all fairness to my fine toking brothers and sisters, kellogg is being insufferably hypocritical. they did not drop phelps in the wake of his drunk driving conviction and drinking while behind the wheel is a far worse example to set than relaxing with a joint. at least we know that with pot smokers the only thing in danger is the package of twinkies. let's cut the poor guy a break. he was not for busted using steroids. pot is no performance enhancing drug. personally, i think the kellogg company should roll with it. go ahead and put the picture of phelps taking the bong hit on their cereal boxes with the caption, "when the munchies hit, we have you covered." their sales would go through the roof. and after all, money is the american way of life.

Friday, February 6, 2009

meditations on poetry that will not improve my mood

Desert Places
by: Robert Frost

Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast
In a field I looked into going past,
And the ground almost covered smooth in snow,
But a few weeds and stubble showing last.

The woods around it have it--it is theirs.
All animals are smothered in their lairs.
I am too absent-spirited to count;
The loneliness includes me unawares.

And lonely as it is that loneliness
Will be more lonely ere it will be less--
A blanker whiteness of benighted snow
With no expression, nothing to express.

They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars--on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.

you ever have one of those nights?

Thursday, February 5, 2009

in fear of the police

it is enough to be afraid of the drug dealers and freaky psychopaths wandering the new orleans' streets but it is unbearable to also fear the cops. i remember once, before the storm when the very well armed drug dealers were sitting on my porch and the police threatened to arrest me, going so far as to push me into the wall of my house. whose job was it to get armed thugs off my porch, mine or theirs? when i visited the station to report drug activity, the police responded by letting the very ones i called about know that it was me that ratted them out. that was potentially two slugs with my morning cup of coffee. in the post-katrina landscape, we have police officers brandishing guns at schools and roughing up second line brass band members. the police wonder why the community won't cooperate with them. at the very least, they seem lazy and inept to protect us and at the worst, they are the bete noire of the city. now we have a 22 year old man shot 14 times in the back during the early morning hours of new years' eve by a gang of plain clothes cops. the young man had no criminal record and was in possession of a legal gun. i don't know what went on in the dark hours of that night but i do know that if several men in plain clothes were approaching me, i would be very afraid. i do know that getting shot in the chest can spin a person, causing bullets to penetrate the back but 14 of them seems excessive. riley called it a gun battle, saying the man opened fire on the police first. well, i will agree with him that 14 bullets constitutes a gun battle. maybe he fired on them first and maybe he did not. it was new years' eve. perhaps the sound of firecrackers startled the police into thinking he shot at them. maybe the firecrackers made him think he was being shot at and he returned fire. we live in a war zone and the mounting fear makes us all trigger happy. did these plain clothes officers identify themselves as police? could he hear them or did he think he was under siege from a gang of thugs? we may never know what happened that night but the thing i keep going back to is 14 bullets in the back. 14. did they retrieve any bullets from his gun? was there powder residue on his hands? can you prove he fired? it is this type of occurrence that spooks us even further here in little mogadishu. because when they are shooting people in the back in the french quarter, you desperately want to believe that the police are not doing the very same thing in another part of town.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

the crow

i saw a crow perched upon the railing of my neighbor's house and if i recall correctly, that is a harbinger of ill tidings. edgar allen poe was thrown into a fit of fear once the raven came a rapping, gently tapping at his chamber door. all ravens are crows but not all crows are ravens. they can be magpies and rooks as well. a gathering of crows is called a murder and that should give something away as to the place they hold in our collective psyche. i did not stop to ask the one perched upon the railing of my neighbor's house if it had plans to leave anytime soon. i was afraid it might quote, nevermore.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

safety tips

many of these are common sense but it never hurts to revisit the basics.
1) do not walk at night alone, especially while intoxicated. there is safety in numbers.
2)walk in the middle of the street. you are more visible to passing cars and less likely to get cornered in the dark.
3)walk quickly and with purpose.
4)pay attention to your surroundings. do not talk on the cell phone as this can be a distraction.
4)listen to your gut. if you feel something is not right, then it most likely is not right.
if you should find yourself alone, drunk in a bar, and without cash but afraid to walk home, there are options. i am not a huge fan of the guardian angels because i believe they are not properly trained to function in the capacity they they are attempting to function in and that is scary but they will escort you home. the number for the guardian angels is:347-582-4777. another option is united cab. you can create an account with them that you pay once a month. if you are without cash but need a ride home, you give the driver your account number and settle up at the end of the month. the number for united cab is 504-522-9771. i think this is a great option and it ensures that you will never be caught somewhere without a ride.

be safe.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

crime information

i just returned from the anti-crime meeting at skull club and have some information to pass on.
to report police misconduct:fixnopd@gmail.com
to contact new orleans against crime:skull-club@cox.net
the text alert website:http:www.nolacrimealerts.com

distric attorney leon cannizzarro 504-822-2414
public integrity bureau 504-658-6100
nopd internal affairs 504-658-6800
state police 800-434-9232

i will have more to say on the meeting shortly. some very good ideas were put forth on how we can protect ourselves.

things i have learned from being stupid

1) do not startle a man peeing in public. it may seem like a good idea but trust me, it's not.
2) never introduce your current girlfriend to your ex. there is never a good reason for this and it will never not end badly. either they will hook up, compare your sexual prowess in bed, or become best friends long after they have cut all ties with you and there really is no lonelier feeling than that.
3)do not, under any circumstances go to your friendly neighborhood bar after your girlfriend has dumped you. you know too many people there and they will buy you too many shots. you will make an ass of yourself, fall down, get hurt, wake up hungover and twice as miserable as the day before.
4)do not tell any secret that you value as staying a secret. it will never stay a secret, even if you entrust it to the one that has your heart. you will be lucky if it is not on the 6 o'clock news.
5)do not try to pop a wheelie on your bicycle while riding down royal street. i don't care if you could do it effortlessly when you were twelve. you are in your thirties now and you will wreck your bike in front of a large crowd of people, including a gaggle of pretty girls. this brings me to number 6.
6)know your limitations. Icarus, the wings won't hold that close to the sun!!
7)do not spit into the wind.
8)don't pull the mask off the ole lone ranger.
9)don't tug on superman's cape
10)and don't mess around with jim.
these helpful tips have been brought to you by darwin's top ten, helping stupid people exit the world before they breed for as long as man has been devolving.

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