The Rising Tide Conference

Again many, many thanks to the organizers of the conference -- it was well presented and superbly organized.

Here are some squibs about what I took away from the conference:

Loudest and most applause:
Shane Landry was applauded more than once for his opinion that Louisiana should secede from the Union. "We have food and we can turn on the lights. That's all you need for a civilization."

Most emotional moment:Peggy Wilson's lengthy attack on Mitch Landrieu for vaguely defined offenses which she had heard about but couldn't go into detail on. She was very exercised on the subject, her voice was raised, and there was an obvious emotional animus. One conference organizer walked out on her when she would not clarify her accusations.


Most ill considered remark:Someone who should have known better said "I am not interested in hearing a blogger's opinion of Bush. I want to hear about that person's daily life and struggles." (my paraphrase from memory) The arrogance of the Washington press corps touches down in N.O.

Most divisive neologism:"Carpet-blogger" I suppose I fit in that category, since I am not living in New Orleans. It makes me feel unwelcome.

Best categorization of Louisiana politicians:"Corruption aside, they're entertainers and clowns. So when there is something serious for them to do, they are completely incompetant." Greg Peters (my very poor paraphrase.) This struck me at the truest thing I heard that day.
We elect our politicians for their entertainment value, not for their ability. I think maybe that's because we're really a colony of the US, and extractive economy, so our politicians are not really in charge of things here. The owners are, and they live out of state.

Disaster for fun and (especially!) profit.

Guardian Unlimited | Comment is free | Disaster capitalism: how to make money out of misery:

"It's all going to be private enterprise before it's over,' Billy Wagner, emergency management chief for the Florida Keys, currently under hurricane watch for tropical storm Ernesto, said in April. 'They've got the expertise. They've got the resources.' But before this new consensus goes any further, perhaps it's time to take a look at where the privatisation of disaster began, and where it will inevitably lead.

The first step was the government's abdication of its core responsibility to protect the population from disasters. Under the Bush administration, whole sectors of the government, most notably the Department of Homeland Security, have been turned into glorified temp agencies, with essential functions contracted out to private companies. The theory is that entrepreneurs, driven by the profit motive, are always more efficient (please suspend hysterical laughter).

We saw the results in New Orleans one year ago: Washington was frighteningly weak and inept, in part because its emergency management experts had fled to the private sector and its technology and infrastructure had become positively retro. At least by comparison, the private sector looked modern and competent."

University presidents continue to delay meeting with AAUP

New Orleans CityBusiness -- The Business Newspaper of Metropolitan New Orleans:

"An investigation into the layoffs of nearly 300 New Orleans-area professors was stonewalled this week when none of the university presidents would meet with the association conducting the probe.

“We hoped to interview the president of the institutions by the end of August,” said Jordan E. Kurland, associate general secretary for the Washington, D.C.-based American Association of University Professors. “But they questioned the way we wanted to proceed and proposed different procedures. They were not able to meet under our system that we’ve used for the last 80 years — and used pretty well. So we’ll likely work out something that meets both of our needs.”

The AAUP’s mission is to advance academic freedom and shared governance at colleges and universities. About 45,000 members are in the AAUP, which consists of faculty, librarians and academic professionals at two- and four-year accredited schools."

Sunk!

The images below were all made in August 2006 in New Orleans. I may be able to post more later, but these show some part of what New Orleans looks like today. The two on top were taken at the Yacht Club during the Rising Tide conference last weekend. (Thanks to the organizers of that, BTW#. Great job!)

Now THIS could make a difference.

New Orleans CityBusiness -- The Business Newspaper of Metropolitan New Orleans:

"BATON ROUGE — 'The Road Home' pilot program began in earnest Friday as 42 applicants qualified to receive financial assistance for losses from

Hurricane Katrina totaling almost $1.5 million.

“We are off to a great start, and thousands more homeowners will be served

in the coming weeks,” said Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco. “The Road Home program launched the day the state of Louisiana received federal dollars for compensation. We opened 10 Housing Assistance Centers statewide this week and are closing on the first disbursement accounts in record time."

This is great news. I don't understand why it hasn't gotten more play in the media.

Chalmette Rockey and his Potemkin trailer.

Attytood: "Rockey I": If it sounds too good to be true...:

"Now comes Rockey, a plain-talking character who lost it all in Katrina, who nearly died in the hurricane, forced to hang onto a rope for four hours (some of that was captured on film), and now wants to government to do more for Katrina victims. And what a difference a year makes -- not only did Bush, not in Crawford but hard at work in the White House, meet with this 'average American,' but check out the glowing praise our president received in return."
. . . .

This guy is a symbol of the misery that so many people in Louisiana and Mississippi? If we didn't know any better, this couldn't have been more of home run for Bush if the whole thing had been set up by Karl Rove.

Hmmmmm...

In fact, we had a hunch -- that maybe, just maybe, Rockey Vaccarella had a background himself in GOP politics.

And, whaddya know? Turns out that the earthy Vaccarella -- a highly successful businessman in the fast-food industry -- is indeed a Republican pol, having run unsuccessfully under the GOP banner for a seat on the St. Bernard Parish commission back in 1999.

Ugly rumor out of Houston.

I'm hearing rumors about a very bad situation in Houston, involving elderly Katrina evacuees. Charges include negligence, fraud, embezzlement. Some elderly people, helpless and weak, are being exploited by FEMA sub-contractors. Some have died.

And this only took a year. Imagine that.

CNN.com - Gonzales vows federal aid to fight New Orleans crime - Aug 22, 2006: "Gonzales said he will immediately send 10 federal prosecutors from other locations to New Orleans to help prosecute federal firearms-, drug- and immigration-related violations.

The temporary assignment of prosecutors from the Justice Department in Washington and other locations is designed to provide needed assistance until nine assistant U.S. attorneys can be hired, trained and placed in the New Orleans office, he said Monday."

More FEMA crap.

Mayor: B.R. is doormat for feds: "Holden told the Press Club of Baton Rouge that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has not fully reimbursed the city for expenses it incurred last year in housing up to 15,000 Katrina evacuees, about 5,000 alone in the RiverCenter, a downtown Baton Rouge convention and performance facility. Aides said the city has sought more than $27 million in federal money and has received $23.9 million so far."

The Cajundome in Lafayette hasn't been paid yet either.

What?! We have to understand WHAT?!! It was a huge storm? No shit!

Bush repeats pledge to aid recovery: "'I also want the people down there to understand that it's going to take a while to recover. This was a huge storm,' Bush said at a Washington news conference, where he also asked for patience in dealing with the escalating violence in Iraq."