Check this out...

Here's a great little piece filmmaker and artist, Nick Busciglio, put together on small Axe Urban Farms. He even let the kids take the camera and do their own interviews...KUDOS Nick!!! It's good stuff....

Shit....this is a heavy one. Help me out here, mates...

Aim....

Steady.....

flucht nach vorne...can we stop it???

I first read this incredible post by Billimom at Whiskey Bar last year. It is more pertinent now than ever.

While Americans are consumed with the NFL playoffs, the dogs of war have become rabid and they're very close to breaking the chains which have held them at bay and kept the Middle East war contained to Iraq.

If you thought Iraq was a debacle...you ain't seen nothing yet.

I offer you a compilation of omens which signal an inevitable preemptive strike against Iran.

1. The House Foreign Affairs Cmte. recently held a hearing on Iraq with former Sec. of State, Madeline Albright, as the cheif witness. I watched the whole thing on C-span (isn't that sad...I watch C-Span) and it scared the hell out of me. The questioning quickly turned away from Iraq to Iran. Albright's general opinion was that Congress had better pull out all the stops and attack this administration as quickly as possible, before Bush pushes us into a nightmare with Iran.

2. The ensuing result of that hearing: yesterday a bipartisan group of House members proposed a bill that would ban the executive branch from launching a pre-emptive attack against Iran without the permission of Congress. That's scary...Congress is being forced to rush legislation in order to stop our President from catapulting us into another war. This is indicative of how divisive our government has become.

3. We're increasingly taunting them in order to invoke a retaliatory strike. We are giving them every opportunity to attack us. From the raid on Iran's Iraqi consulate in Irbil, to the escalation of carriers in the Persian Gulf, to increased drone flights into Iranian airspace. We are begging them to attack us.

This is the same method we used to justify entering WWII when FDR purposely ran American cargo ships through German patrolled waters in the Atlantic and possibly allowed the attack on Pearl Habor among claims that he had prior knowledge that the attack was planned. This is exactly how LBJ justified our entry into Vietnam when the USS Maddox was supposedly attacked by North Vietnamese forces in the Gulf of Tonkin.

As the House steps up it's pressure to launch preemptive measures to stop Bush from launching his preemptive measures...the American public's sentiment and awareness becomes increasingly important. While Bush's approval ratings are so low, he would have a hard time justifying a preemptive attack aganst Iran. However, if it appears that we were the victims of an unprovoked attack by Iran, the public would become enraged and possibly support the attack.

4. Israel. Read this post from independent reporter, William Thomas. If this is true...it's the scariest thing I've read since Britney Spears was thinking about moving back to Louisiana. Israel was attempting a preemptive NUCLEAR strike on Iran, and we stopped it?!? Each plane was carrying a 20 kiloton Nuke?!? "Little Boy" the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was a 13 kiloton device.

Oh, how I hope this isn't true.

Is Bush in "Flight Forward"? Is he pushing us even further down the rabbit hole? Can Congress stop him, even if they pass legislation? If he attacks...will he nuke? Will Israel attack them unilaterally, hence pulling us into the conflict and bypassing any move Congress could make to halt the attack?

Don't mean to ruin the game for you this weekend....but there's a much bigger game playing itself out which may warrant some attention.

Vitty Cent's afraid of bloggers?

Oil and gas royalties, insurance accountability, wetlands restoration, a failing education system, record breaking violence.....so many problems to tackle in our challenged state.

So what has our own U.S. Senator David Vitter, aka. Vitty Cent, been up to? He's been busy proposing legislation to root out the real threat to this country. No, it's not radical Muslim terrorists....try bloggers.

On Jan. 9th Vitter tacked on a rather outrageous amendment to the lobbying reform bill being brought before Congress. The amendment would treat political bloggers who have a readership of 500 people or more as lobbyists, which would require them to "register" as such and report quarterly to Congress. Vitter's amendment suggested that the penalty for failing to do this would be 1 year in the clink.

He has apparently rethought the proposal and has since withdrawn the amendment.

Maybe he went down to the National Archives and read the 1st amendment. But being a "Giant among Pygmies" I suspect Vitty doesn't pay much attention to those Lilliputian laws our country was founded on....like freedom of speech.

I'd like to suggest that he tack on an amendment which would treat prostitutes who service politicians as lobbyists. After all, they are the most special of special interest groups. They should be required to report their clientele directly to Congress and include all the kinks and fetishes the Congressman requested of them. Let's start right here in Nawlins.

As a matter of fact, I know one named Wendy Cortez who would be happy to participate.

A casting call...

My recent foray into visual, citizen journalism has somewhat inspired me...and believe me, inspiration is an anomaly to the walking dead.

Being true to my nature, I've decided to tell a horror story...I thought about making a gory, brain-eating, zombie flick, but that story has already been told.

So I decided to focus on Vampires...ruthless, cunning, bloodsucking creatures who feed off the living. They are afraid of solar energy, as it will inevitably destroy them. They hold a mysterious, hypnotic power which forces people to bend to their will. Some people, are even inclined to feel sorry for them.

But not me, I'm a creature of the night as well. I can see them for what they are, as I have zombie-vision...in the corporeal form of a digital video camera.

"ENTERGY....the true Vampires of New Orleans" has already begun production. If you have an Entergy horror story you would like to tell the Zombie or know someone who does, please contact me on the comment section or at my email address. But be warned...you will be expected to appear on camera and tell your story...if you haven't the backbone...save my time. The angrier you are, the better.

As my fellow Orisha and futre contributor to AZ, Oludamare, recently commented...."The Zombie has claws." Indeed...indeed.

Get a good look at 'em....

I'm taking bets on which one of these two guys will be dead first. One would think Castro is the likely candidate, but his death will most likely be of natural causes.

Chavez...well...read this:

Venezuela to nationalize 'absolutely all' energy sector

yeah...ok...I think he'll be dead within 6 months.

At Da March....

Editor B. kicks ass! Nagin don't want no part of the wrath of B. The CNN interview was great too....they nailed his ass. Congratulations and a big thank you to B!

So here's a vid I put together of the march....I tried to track down as many bloggers as I could, but I obviously didn't do a very good job. Although I accidentally ran in to Schroeder, but I didn't use his interview as I don't want to blow his alias as opposed to his superhero identity :) This blogging business is top secret for some of us.

Unfortunately you may have to wait a few minutes on the QT video for download...I forgot to set it as a progressive file...and I'm too lazy to fix it....sorry

The front runner for biggest Asshole of 2007

John Derbyshire...NRO Columnist...wrote this:

Big Easy

The couple also ran a feed-the-homeless enterprise named Food Not Bombs. You get the picture. These were not Republican voters.

What happened to this young couple was unspeakably horrible, and there is of course no excusing such barbarism. It is hard, though, not to shake your head at the couple’s unworldly naivety. What kind of people did they think they were going to encounter when they got down and dirty with “the community”? The Times-Picayune story quoted a neighbor of the couple saying this: “They would never do it, but they should have answered the door with a gun.” Hard to disagree with that — either part of it.

What an ass. What a royal ass.

I don't even know how to respond to that.


UPDATE: The peckerwood has published a response to what I suspect was a barrage of angry readers.

Battle of New Orleans

What a dicksmack. I read some of his archived articles....he's a horrible writer. It's mostly pretentious hyperbole.

though I thought I'd made it clear that my impressions were very fleeting ones, not to be taken too seriously.

Bro...nothing you've written should be taken seriously. How do buffoons like this get published?

Slightly more readers agreed with my impressions.

I doubt that....I seriously doubt that. But we'll never know that as National Review doesn't publish the reader's comments.

Here we go again....

Revealed: Israel plans nuclear strike on Iran

Man, I hope this is propaganda....but I know it ain't.

The words keep ringing in my ears....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070106/ap_on_re_us/new_orleans_killings

"We've got one chance."

That was Mitch Landrieu's mayoral campaign diatribe. I keep thinking about that.

He was right. We had one chance.

We fucked it up.

NEW ORLEANS - With at least eight slayings in the city in the first week of the new year, officials are considering a curfew to help stem the violence, the police superintendent said Saturday.

"It's something we're just sort of talking about, to see if that will make a difference," police Superintendent Warren Riley said.

Damn that's reassuring,"we're just sort of talking about...". That pretty much spells it out doesn't it? They have no fucking idea what to do. They're as lost as easter eggs.

Mayor Ray Nagin, meanwhile, urged residents not to leave the city, still rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina, because of the recent killings. He said the slayings could be a tipping point that "galvanizes our community" to find solutions.

Ray....you fucking idiot....that's what you're being paid to do! If you can't "find solutions" then LEAVE.....JUST FUCKING LEAVE!!!!!!!!!!

That's the first part of the galvanized solution I have......FIRE YOU AND RILEY.

A War against Tourism??

I obviously wrote the previous post as satire....but it got me thinking.

I don't know about the rest of you....but I feel incredibly frustrated with our city's leadership and their utter failure on so many fronts, violent crime being the most obvious.

The question becomes....what can we do about it.

The blog community is obviously outraged, as is I supsect, the community in general. In the same week Nagin and Riley are publicly stating that we're making progress....we have almost twice as many New Orleanians murdered than American soldiers in Iraq. (ht/Loki)

It's not enough that we're being lied to by our national leader...Nagin's empty rhetoric on our battle against crime echoes Bush's empty rhetoric on our war against terrorism.

I think I may have come up with a way to get Nagin's attention and force him to answer to this. I think we should start an online campaign to warn tourists "DO NOT COME TO NEW ORLEANS: YOU MAY BE KILLED". If we could get some national press with the effort, it would send a clear message to the country how dangerous our city is and possibly force Nagin to answer to the problem.

With carnival coming up...the last thing Nagin needs is bad press. I want to force him to take responsibilty for this nightmare.

Whaddya think?

Looking for a Vacation Getaway....like permanently??

Are you the kind of traveler that's looking for that out of the ordinary experience? Climbing Mt. Everest, diving the Mariana Trench, swimming with Great White's off the South African coast, inner tubing with Piranahs down the Amazon.....boooorrriiinng!

Have I got the travel package for you!

For the low, low price of $5,000 U.S., Nowhere Nagin Adventures a subsidiary of AFO investments, will send you on a 14 day tour of the most violent cities on the planet!



You'll start by being smuggled into Mogadishu, Somalia along with a shipment of AK-47's. You'll have 4 days of pure machete dodging thrills. If you make it to your pick up point, you're on to your next adventure....










Lovely Downtown Beirut!! That's right, spend your lovely Mediterranean nights laying in a bombed out hospital watching Katushyas light up the Lebanese sky.






Still Kicking? Let's take it up a notch...You're on the fast track to downtown Baghdad! That's right...you'll spend the next four days with U.S. troops travelling the IED laced highways and byways of Iraq....with no body armor! For an extra 1000 dollars, we'll even slap a Halliburton helmet on you and send you on solo door to door raids!!!

I can't believe it....you're still alive?!?! Well.....get ready for the final and most intense leg of your trip....that's right...you're headed to New Orleans!!!!



Mayor Ray Nagin will personally greet you upon arrival to the "City that crime never forgot" (*not responsible for no-show by Nagin) along with Police Cheif Warren Riley, where they'll brief you on the safest parts of the city and assure you you'll be perfectly safe on your visit....HA...don't worry adreneline junkies, they say that to all the tourists...silly rabbits.








You'll experience the unbridled, random violence that can only be found in a leaderless, dying city like New Orleans!!











We'll house you in a FEMA trailer deep in the 9th Ward, right below that trusty levee wall America's own Army Corp. of Engineers just rebuilt.....and guess what?? It's hurricane season!!!

And that's not all....if you're one of the first 100 to apply, AllState will even sell you a million dollar life insurance policy for the first three legs of the trip! (*Sorry...AllState refuses to insure the New Orleans leg, *Travellers will insure the New Olreans leg...but only 30% or one of the three days of the trip).

The Madness of Canute

The legend states that King Canute, ruler of an empire which included modern day England, Denmark, Norway, and part of Sweden, was exalted by his sycophantic courtiers in the most absurd manner. They went so far as to convince him he was not just a king, but a demi-god. He came to believe that he could hold back the motion of the great sea, itself.

Canute was pious, he knew he was merely a man, but he became deluded by his subjects. So much so that he decided to put the claim to the test. He had his throne carried to the seashore where he majestically commanded the tide to halt.

His majesty soon found himself, his throne, and his subjects, engulfed in the briny.

I've been thinking about that legend a lot lately. I've been thinking about my city a lot lately.

I've always felt like I was closely tied to the pulse of this city. I don't know why, but the moment I landed in New Orleans I was injected into it's circulatory system like the contents of a syringe being plunged into a vein.

I can say with a certain degree of confidence that I "know" it.

I don't fully know it...no one ever will. It's a city whose mystery is labyrinth. But through strange twists of fate, I have floated through myriad cultural circles in this city from elite uptown cliques to the seedy underside of the Quarter. There isn't much that could shock me. I've seen the depths of depravity and the heights of ecstasy...the passion play which is New Orleans, acted out by a cast of characters more eccentric than any casting agent in L.A. could fathom.

This thing...New Orleans...I am her friend.

I am worried about my friend. I think she may be dying...I think she is dying....she's dying but she refuses to acknowledge it.

It reminds me of the old man I would serve vodka sodas to at 6 in the morning when I worked at a hole in the wall in the Quarter. He would wake up, come in the bar, and start drinking. He would make it to about 11 a.m....5 drinks...then stumble back to his apartment on St. Philip and pass out. He'd wake up again at around 6 p.m., come back in and start all over until around 1 a.m. It was a endless cycle of destruction.

Sometimes he would go over his limit and start raising billy hell...upon which I would kick him out of the bar and send him home early. I watched this pattern for about 8 months.

I tried to talk to him about it one morning. I asked him if he realized he was killing himself. He told me I should mind my own fucking business. To that extent he was right. I was being paid to sell alcohol and he was one of the bar's best customers.

The guy died from liver failure within the year.

Maybe he had already resigned his life away and was just staying drunk until it ended. Who knows? Regardless, he refused to confront the condition he was in. He blindly spiraled down the same old path....straight to hell.

We've been called "The Isle of Denial". I've been calling it strategic delusion.

Denial...delusion....semantics aside, there are some cold hard facts upon which this city I love is going to have to come to Jesus. The main one being...we cannot hold back the sea.

We talk about levees, we talk about barrier islands, we talk about wetlands restoration....and we talk about the oil and gas royalties we need to conduct the largest terraforming project ever attempted by mankind. The one thing we're not talking about, is rising ocean levels and global warming. Maybe because some people don't believe it's real, maybe because some people think it's a bi-partisan political issue...and not something that will actually affect them, or maybe because it's just one big question mark in people's minds...an unknown.

Well, I've been dealing with nothing but question marks since Katrina, so I guess they don't bother me so much any more...I want to know what's gonna happen and what it means to us.

I'm not sure if anyone else noticed it, but In Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth", Louisiana was conspicuously absent in the map projections of what will happen as ocean level's rise. Katrina and New Orleans were all over the place, until they started showing the maps.

I suspected it was a political move...the filmmakers didn't want to show the maps in fear that it would adversely affect our efforts to get federal funding....it could have been used as a tool to justify conservative pundit's arugments not to rebuild the city.

I walked out of the film thinking only about the effect a melting planet was going to have on us....I wanted to see the maps and the reality.

______________________


No one knows for sure, the acceleration rate of global, glacial decay. The two big flashpoints are the Greenland and Antarctic ice shelves. If they go, it would mean sea levels will rise at least 20 feet...about 7 meters.

We know that the Greenland shelf is deteriorating at a much faster rate of acceleration than we previously thought. A Nasa study of the Greenland shelf estimated that it was currently melting at rate of 51 cubic kilometers per year which will raise ocean levels by .005 inches per year. While that doesn't seem like a lot, we're not sure how fast the acceleration is accelerating.

It's reasonable to guess that within a half century, ocean levels could rise by one to two meters, possibly more.

What will that mean to New Orleans and South Louisiana?

Check this out....these are projections from the University of Arizona Department of Geosciences Environmental Studies Laboratory. They have a really great map app. which shows the global effects of rising ocean levels.

We'll start at 1 meter...a conservative projection, you can click the image to make it larger:












That's three feet...and we're fucked. Build a bigger levee wall? then we'll be an island mudhole on the edge of the gulf.

Here's 3 meters:










Oceanfront property in Baton Rouge...damn....

Heres the 20 feet/6 meter scenario:











So long Lafayette.

The important thing to understand: this shit is real. At the most conservative scenario....1 meter....we're going under. This isn't centuries away....it could happen within our lifetime and most certainly our children's lifetime.

Maybe I'm oversimplifying the scenario, or not taking all the factors into account....I welcome any input.

I'm bringing this up, because I haven't seen anyone else talking about it. I just want to know the reality....and just how delusional we really are.

Nola-Dishu takes on the thugs

Clay from Nola-dishu has been tinkering with Google Earth (rembember that....it's the satellite imagery you were searching for during Katrina to find out if your house was in the drink) and the City's un-official crime stats.

It's actually pretty cool....check it out:

http://noladishu.blogspot.com/2007/01/nola-crime-mapping-update-1.html

MeeMaw looks for some divine inspiration; Louisiana re-BUBBA-cans respond..."Hey...democrats can't consult with our God!!"

What is it with Yaweh...he's jonesing for headlines in 2007.

The TP has an article quoting Gov. Blanco as receiving revelations from God which tell her "Get up, Kathleen, and go to work because there's a lot of work to be done."

That's interesting...although it would seem like God would have a full plate, also. Why is he/she wasting his/her time being Blanco's personal alarm clock? Aren't there bigger fish to fry?

Emily Metzgar takes issue with the state Democratic party who sent out a press release ridiculing Bobby Jindal for announcing that he prayed for guidance in his decision to run for governor, then asks why they aren't taking Kathleen to task for this comment. She says the party "better come to a decision" on wether or not they are going to embrace or ridicule people who speak publicly about their faith.

Why must they come to a decsion on this matter? Because Emily demands it, dammit! By mandate of Emily...you democrats must admit that you're all abominations to the lord and you drink pig's blood!

"Whose Side is God on?" I've got a better question....why does an omnipotent, omniscient being need to choose sides? Although I'm sure he'll choose your side, Emily, 'cause you're just right as rain...and everyone knows Jesus is a Republican...he just hates poor people.

If forced to answer Metzgar's dictate, I hope the Dems opt for ridicule...aren't Christians supposed to be ridiculed and persecuted? Isn't that part of their whole self-image? When you're taught to view the world as a dichotomy, someone has to be on the "other" side right? Good vs. Evil.....you've got to put someone on the evil side or the whole Christian formula breaks down.

I'm sure in Emily's mind those snarky democrats are the blasphemers for "making a mockery of religious faith". Personally, I think pointing out the stupidity of mixing theocracy with politics and government should be a non-paritsan effort...anyone invoking supernatural influence to guide them in political decisions should be taken to task.

Unless of course it's Voodoo....then I would find it absolutely acceptable :).

Besides, there's so much to ridicule in Louisiana...like back in 2001 when Baton Rouge State Rep. Sharon Broome, a democrat, tried to ban evolution from being taught in public schools because she claimed Darwin and his ideologies were racist. She deserves all the zingers a rational mind can zing out.

As does Blanco if she's hearing voices in the morning telling her to go to work. If God tells her to go to work in the morning, does she look for the boogeyman under her bed before she goes to sleep at night?

Oh...and BTW, MeeMaw....are you praying to the same God that sent Renee Gill Pratt the Dodge Durango? Cause I'm not sure that was God, Renee got God mixed up with Dollar Bill....maybe you should pray to him too as he can apparently perform miracles at the polls and I think you're gonna need that. So from now on, just wake up and call BJ every morning...I think he can do a lot more for you than God.