of course he does

Nagin rejects banning felons from winning contracts

Mid week rundown

In the middle of my mid-life meltdown.

Yeah, I've been slacking. Sorry, but I'm just losing steam.

So I'm gonna run down everything I've been neglecting in a single post:

Item 1: Business as usual

What was that law we just passed (or was it just proposed?) about government entities not doing business with convicted felons? Well, technically this wouldn't qualify anyway because Mark St. Pierre, owner of Netmethods, hasn't been convicted he's just been indicted for multiple felony offenses. Still, one would think Mayor Kip Holden in Big Bad Baton Rouge would be more discerning in his contract bidding process as it appears Netmethods just landed another cool 460k in 2010 for crime camera maintenance.

From the Baton Rouge Professional and Operating Services Contracts report:


Notice that's "budgeted". I wonder if Kip is going to take a page from the Harrison Boyd playbook....just get the needle in the vein then bleed it dry when no one is looking, i.e., TDC, MSF, MWH.

But hey it's Baton Rouge so who gives a poop? I'm running out of energy trying to keep up with our own beloved burg, let's leave Red Stick to its own devices.

2. Bait and no switch?

One of the prescient matters I've been neglecting to report is the state of our city IT services. To oversimplify a very complicated story, our city's portal and many other city services were running on a proprietary CMS (content management system) owned by the MAS group up until December of 09. Harrison Boyd had originally hired MSF, back in July, to pick up where MAS left off but he and MSF were not-so-pleasantly surprised to find out that the MAS CMS was not owned by the city and would be leaving along with the MAS contract.

A pissing match ensued, but the MAS contract clearly stated they owned the CMS....panic time. Somehow the city negotiated a deal with MAS to extend the use of the CMS through December until they could figure out what to do.

At some point Boyd decided to hire a Washington, D.C. based technology firm, Telecommunications Development Corp. (TDC), to come in and save the day as apparently MSF wasn't prepared to handle the problem. At least that's what the original TDC contract stated...the contract seemed to suggest that TDC would implement an off the shelf service called Lagan.

Don't ask me what happened next but I can tell you that TDC didn't save the day and when the MAS CMS was pulled in December the lights went out on the city portal, or at least the ability to manage it. Even worse, many city IT services including the police records dept. were affected. Police reports couldn't be filed electronically for weeks and the paper reports began to back up in the office....sounds like a recipe for disaster, huh?

Somehow MSF came back into the picture to save the day by implementing yet another CMS solution called "SiteCore" of which MSF is an authorized reseller (convenient). The cost of this software is reported to be 11k. MSF and the city claims to have successfully migrated the city portal over to SiteCore....good news!

Hold on there skippy....not so fast. Without going into super high-tech parlance, I have been told by some super high-tech peeps of mine, that claim seems to be impossible after an extensive review of the city portal. So this begs the question....are we using the 11k schnizzel-wizzel service we just purchased? Are we still using the MAS CMS? Did we kidnap a monkey from Tampa Bay to beat on a keyboard until he types out "Methinks it is like a weasel" ? (Anyone else a Richard Dawkins fan?)

I'm just curious because there are a lot of really silly experiments I would love to conduct with 11k...the automated dog paw cleaner door mat, the laser toilet seat cleaner, the psychic lock which keeps 5 year old daughters from digging around in their father's offices....you know...stuff like that.

I'm still really fond of the idea of going back to the pre-Nagin, stone age, Flintstones city hall days. Yabba-Dabba-Do it without a computer.

3. Death to MWH! Long live MWH!

In recent weeks, the city's highest paid "consulting" firm, MWH, has become the MSM's proxy target of the Nagin administration for all things dagger throwing...culminating with this editorial by James Gill.

A couple of things I want to add to the conversation which you may not be aware of.

I have been told, by zombie peeps, that this company is not just consulting but practically running the city. Why? Because somebody has to.

From most accounts of folks I've talked to in the know, MWH has actually performed beyond the call of duty for the city. Did they overbill? Probably. Did they play the Nawlins' palm-greasing game? More than probably. Have they done a good job for the city? Seems to be another probably.

I just point this out because after years of examining graft in this city, my expectations have been greatly diminished and I'm certainly not as naive as I once was. Corruption is like the influenza virus, it's always going to be with us it just mutates every year and all we can do is try not to get sneezed on.

What matters more to me now is job performance....I can actually deal with the lagniappe factor of the city if the players lagniappin' are actually performing their jobs. I didn't say I could overlook the lagniappe factor, but I can deal with it mo' better if the players are actually performing on the field.

I'm not exactly coming to MWH's defense, but as always, I think there's a much bigger picture here that we're not seeing and that the MSM isn't painting for us.

Oh, and did I mention that MWH reportedly hasn't been paid for over 6 months? Yeah, there's that little factoid as well.

Health Care Bill Passes

Let the Big Dog explain:

In case you were feeling exceptionally important today

Here's a gratuitous existential moment to destroy your ego:

Understanding the Revolver

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Oh boy":

What I want to know is... who agreed to allow the City to use the revolver fund for non-reimbursable projects? Did the State agree to this use of the revolver fund? Did the City Council agree to this?

What I find odd is there was no mentioning or out cry when the rules governing the use of the revolver was changed. Did the City act alone?

From what I understand the protocol pretty much gave the mayor autonomy over projects to apply towards the fund. The only stipulation enforced by FEMA is that almost all of the funding must be used to repair existing infrastructure back to the level of functionality that it was before the storm.

In other words, we couldn't build a new wing on the Zoo, then try to get reimbursed by FEMA via the revolver. Or....we can't try to create an 80 million dollar...whatever it is...in the municipal auditorium which was vacant before the storm and expect the revolver fund to compensate us for that new development.

Now there is a small amount which can be allocated towards new development, but only a small amount.

City Council didn't have discretionary control over what was assigned to the revolver...so we can't really blame them. To her credit, Stacy Head has been ringing the alarm since last summer that we need to get a handle on the revolver before...well....exactly what Chrisman is claiming has happened.

So the issue is that Nagin really has autonomous control over what is assigned to the fund. He is not breaking any laws by assigning funds to whatever he chooses...we are just in danger of not being compensated for projects which he chooses if he is not meeting the requirements set forth by FEMA.

The other real issue is that FEMA wipes their hands clean of the money once it is dispensed.

For example, Nagin spent down 38 million in city funds to restore the Mahalia Jackson Theater...he ascribed 28 million of that expenditure towards the revolver. I doubt FEMA will compensate that amount because there's no question it was new development, but for the sake of our scenario let's say they do.

FEMA cuts the check for 28 million and after that....they walk away, they wipe their hands clean of what happens to that money. So if Nagin chooses not to replenish the city coffers with that 28 million....he could turn around and spend that money down on whatever he chooses and there really isn't a lot we could do to stop it.

The danger here is that Nagin could spend down a whole lot of money...I estimate up to 250 million (but that's just my amateur assessment) on the city dime and leave us on the hook for millions, maybe hundreds of millions.

If I've made any mistakes in my assessment here...please correct me.

The other thing I'm really worried about is if he's tapping the operating budget. I can't believe that is the case but I'd really like to know for sure.

Two readers have confirmed that he has not spent any revolver money on the Municipal Aud. deal as of yet, other than to pay MWH for consulting fees. It sucks that MWH got paid for that considering there really wasn't anything to consult on an inside deal, but at least we haven't actually payed Juneau anything from what I can tell.

breaking

I'm channeling the Dutch

So it is said, so it shall be:

Dutch plan to let healthy elderly people commit suicide

Jeez...that really freaks me out. I agree that a human being should have sovereign rights over their life, but once this is accepted and it starts to become a "trend"...I guarantee you the insurance companies are going to start marketing it.

Damn, I thought I was imagining a future 10 to 20 years down the road.

Oh boy

Chrisman did mean the entire 200 million would be depleted:

Recovery oversight contract allowed overbilling, poor performance, inspector general says

Quatrevaux, for instance, confirmed Chrisman's concerns about the state loan fund. The inspector general said agreement governing how the roughly $200 million can be spent initially limited use of the loan fund to projects that qualified for federal reimbursement. However, it was changed around the time City Hall was negotiating the MWH contract to allow city officials to tap the fund to pay for management fees that may not be covered by FEMA, allowing the fund "to be permanently depleted" Quatrevaux said.

Of about $115 million paid out of the fund through January, MWH received about $22 million, the report states, adding that the possibility of recouping that money from FEMA has been "jeopardized ... by prohibited compensation terms in the contract."

Fucking eh...115 million paid out...excuse me while I go rip what's left of the hair out of my head. What did we spend 115 million on? Please show me a goddamn line item expenditure sheet. Is that too much for a citizen to ask?

Chrisman cited as "perhaps the best example" fees that MWH has charged the city for its oversight of repairs to the Municipal Auditorium. Chrisman wrote that MWH has billed the city more than $5.2 million for the project -- 6.5 percent of its projected $80 million value -- even though the Nagin administration late last year, in a controversial move, hand-picked a developer to convert the structure into a mixed-use facility.

No actual repairs have been done yet.

BUT....BUT.....Has an 80 million dollar check been cut to the developer? Remember the approx. 35 million dollar tally I just made? Well if you bring the MWH total up to 22 million, that brings the total to about 52 million. I'm betting the remainder was written to Juneau for the Municipal Auditorium development.

Jesus @#!* ing Christ on a frucking crutch.

If he paid that money out....I hope Nagin and Juneau's houses catch on fire and the NOFD refuses to go put the goddamn fires out. We've got fire stations that have had to beg and borrow to rebuild and this dickwad may have just cut his punk ass buddy an 80 million dollar check with money that was supposed to be used for recovery efforts. Recovery efforts....like....oh....I don' t know...rebuilding our fucking fire departments!

If he cut that check, I swear to Buddha I'm gonna go hang Juneau upside down out of his penthouse window in the Ritz Carlton until he agrees to return every fucking cent.

Somebody, please tell me he didn't already pay Juneau. Anyone...please? Just tell me I'm getting myself all worked up over nothing.

UPDATE: Someone did tell me I was getting myself all worked up over nothing....thank god.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Oh boy":

No contract was ever signed to manage the Auditorium. The final verson and the destinct possiilty that i would be cancelled killed the deal. What Chrismn as referring to was that the City was going to pay Juneau 5% to manage the wrk while MWH was trying to charge the City 6.5% not to. Evidenty thre wa a big fight because Boyd wanted to pay MWH for pojects that the City or others were managing- Boyd won

Sliding to Senilicide

Defaulted Loans May Haunt Seniors

This is really amazing to me. Our society is undergoing a fundamental ethical shift....no wait...our government and corporate business interests are orchestrating a fundamental shift in our country's ethical fiber.

The corporate manipulation of our current health care debate is not going to end with Obama, even if he manages to pass his bill. I'm starting to envision a future where assisted suicide will become a corporate tactic to lower insurance rates. I can see the incentive in the insurance contract, "If you agree to "planned passing" we can decrease your current insurance rates by 20%." I can see the "planned passing" industry becoming a lucrative emerging market.

The practice of senilicide is commonly associated with the Inuit (FYI, Eskimo is actually a derogatory term). The Arctic landscape is a cruel and unforgiving environment, in order to survive in such a harsh climate the Inuit incorporated a number of social practices which seem unconscionable or "uncivilized" by our current social mores. It's important to try and look at cultural practices from the point of view of the culture which incorporates them, and the Inuit's use of senilicide can't possibly be understood unless you look at the physical challenges and spiritual beliefs they held at the time it was practiced (it isn't practiced any longer). The need for self preservation, as a group, dictated some hard realities on the indvidual.

While some of their past practices may seem cruel by modern standards, I had the pleasure of spending a couple of weeks with an Inuit tribe from Point Barrow, Alaska while working at the Smithsonian and I can tell you their social bonds and sense of altruism left me envious. I often think I would have rather lived 50 good years in such a rich cultural and social environment like theirs than 90 years in the often isolated existence known as "civilized society".

Point being, the practice of senilicide with the Inuit was incorporated out of pure necessity. If an effort unfolds to incorporate a watered down version of senilicide in modern society the impetus would have to be "it's necessary and the best thing for our society as a whole". You may think the notion is ludicrous but a society bound by the single teleologic goal of increasing capital can eventually justify anything, especially when the select few who reap the benefit of any capital gain control the media and attention of the general populous within the society.

Yeah...I'm making a huge jump from government decisions to garnish social security checks to putting a gun to Granma'ma's head, but I'm only following the logical, "ethos-evolutionary" path our society is currently on. It's not hard to imagine a future where children are so financially strapped that they can't afford to care for their elderly parents so they look to "planned passing" as an option....especially if there has been a media push by corporate entities to convince people it's "necessary" and socially acceptable.

If I live to be 90 (2050), the world's population is estimated to be 5 times larger than what it is now. In order for societies, domestically and globally, to function, something is going to have to give. In my opinion, unbridled capitalism is a recipe for disaster, but that appears to be the strategy this country has chosen.

I suppose an argument could be made that the inevitable increased warfare spawned by lack of planetary natural resources could lead to nuclear exchanges and hence lower global population. Combine that with a systemic, domestic culling of the non-productive population (the elderly), and you have a nifty blueprint to increase capital through destruction and selective death. I'm just saying the formula makes sense when capital output is your only goal.

You may think I'm crazy for suggesting that could happen, but once again, I'm just following the logical path on which we seem to be headed.

Putting a Platitude in the Grave

I am officially declaring the phrase, "politics of the past" dead as a doornail. The politics of the past are no longer a part of our present, so stop using the term...it's gone....it has no future...I'm tired of hearing it....stop it...that means you too, Mrs. Guidry.

I would say that phrase officially died with Jay Batt's political career...write that date on the mausoleum headstone:

Here lies "Politics of the Past" - We saturated the political landscape with your anti-nostalgic notions of corruption, nepotism, and ineptitude. We milked you like a Kleinpeter heifer. We tapped you like a keg of Turbodog at a Jazzfest crawfish boil. We paraded you more than Drew Brees, and like him, you flawlessly performed your duties. Go gently into the night dear adage, but do go.

RIP - birth date unknown - March 6, 2010

Now that doesn't mean we can't zombiefy it one day....

Bad to Worse?

I'm hearing that HUD may be looking into misappropriated D-CDBG monies. Which means they may be asking for money back that we've already spent. That's not good....not good at all when combined with the revolver fund issues.

I'm actually getting a little scared of how bad this financial situation may be. I guess I'm more scared that no one seems to know just how bad it really is, and I've asked a lot of people.

Can I find an honest bartender...

...to give me the tab?

I'm trying to create a running tab of what Nagin may have spent the entire 200 million dollar revolver fund on. Here's what I have so far:

Mahalia Jackson: 18 million
Chevron Building Purchase: 8 to 10 million?
MWH: 4.75 million
Hagerty: 950k
TDC: 925k

That's about 35 million. Can anyone out there help me fill in the remaining 165 million?

A couple of possible expenditure candidates:

Municipal Auditorium - I hate to think Nagin would have moved forward on this project without the consent of City Council, but it's possible he already stroked a check to Juneau and posse. If so, that could be 10, 20, 30 million or more. I don't think it's likely but you never know with this administration.

Ciber - they got an unexplained 6 million dollar check before their contract was permanently terminated in December. I'm wondering if Nagin ascribed that money to the revolver fund.

Nagin put the revolver to our head

Fox 8 obtains city hall documents that reveal a fight between top Nagin administrators

In regard to the revolver fund, Chrisman wrote Hatfield, "currently sufficient funding exists for project construction until September." However, he goes on to say, "the dollar value of some contracts will dramatically impact the remaining dollars.. and the fund will now be depleted by mid March."

Depleted by mid-March? Holy Shite! He spent down $200 million? All of it?

And if I understand this story correctly, Boyd was paying TDC with revolver funds? There's no way we'll get compensated for that. I had no idea he had increased the contract to 4.5 million.

Don't vote for Batt

I'll defer the reasons why to the Yellow Blog. I don't have the energy right now to bash the Battster.

Spring Cleaning

My apologies to Edtilla for not previously linking the New Orleans Ladder from AZ. I'm not the most efficient blog manager. I need to clean up my blog. If anyone wants to be linked, please let me know.

Also please note my first sponsor >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Click on the image to go to the Forest Retreat website. It's under two hours from Nawlin's and it's great for romantic getaways, Lent inspired reflection time, and my favorite.....South American hallucinogenic, pscyhonautic, tribal rituals complete with drums, campfire and little green elves.

Just make sure you have an experienced shaman/psychonaut on hand to keep your ass on the earth while your head is in the aether. Oh....and don't believe everything those little green bastards tell you, they may take you inside the giant chrysanthemum but don't believe them when they ask you if you want to talk to God...it's a trick question.

UPDATE: HAH! 2:45 A.M and after putting a total of about 14 hours into it....I figured out the proper AS3 script in Flash to embed the URL in the ad. Wocka....wocka...wocka! In case you're wondering what the script is...which I know you're not....here it is:

this.Logo.addEventListener (MouseEvent.CLICK, buttonClickHandler);

function buttonClickHandler (event:MouseEvent):void {

navigateToURL(new URLRequest("http://www.forestretreat.com"));

}

Man....is it possible to make Flash more difficult? I kept waiting for the HAL 9000 voice to take over my computer, "I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that, Dave."

Fuck Latter & Blum

Fuck them very much.

Latter & Blum terminates President Arthur Sterbcow

I hope they go out of business in 6 months. I hope Sterbcow starts his own realty company and takes all L & B's employees.

I suppose they won't be contacting me for an ad will they?

Shoutback: To the guys at Slabbed. I've only been following them for about a week and this blog is something to behold. They have the 411 on Jeff. Parish, fo' true.

Hang tight on Chehardy, this guy has pissed me off...time to do some digging.

Selling my soul

I've decided to try an experiment. If anyone is interested in buying ad space on the right hand side of the blog, I'm game. I'm thinking $200/month for the spot at the top of the page, I'm negotiable on remaining spots.

I'm averaging about 20,000 unique visits monthly so that comes out to a penny per impression...sounds like a deal to me.

If you're interested, hit me up at ashedambala@gmail.com. I can provide you with the blog stats and extraneous info.

Ask for the criminal defense lawyer special....:)

Careful What You Wish For

For the past few months I've had numerous conversations with folks about the potential of a Ray Nagin indictment and the repercussions it would have for New Orleans. Will it happen? What would the charges be? When would it happen? What effect would it have on the city? There are lots of thing to consider, and I would like to speculate on some those things with this post.

Will it happen?

Yes, I believe Nagin will eventually be indicted. That is pure opinion, I do not have any inside knowledge which confirms that, but from the information I've gleaned about Nagin's administration over the past four years I find it hard to believe that he would not have to face the music for at least one of the possible transgressions which took place during his tenure....unless pleading ignorance has suddenly become a justifiable defense.

What would the charges be?

Most of you are aware of his recent Essence interview where he made the following comment:

"There was no corruption under my watch. I’ve only had one instance where there was a mention about anything corrupt, and that was an indictment, not a conviction, where a former employee may have improperly used a credit card. But if you’re talking about the previous administration’s indictments, that happened before I got here."

Maybe he's going to pursue stand-up comedy after office. But seriously, let's take a look at the possible transgressions he could be brought down on:

Known:

1. Kickbacks - As he admitted, the Netmethods' credit card provided traceable proof of illegal activity. There is no getting around the fact that he accepted gifts in the form of paid trips (Hawaii, Chicago, Las Vegas, Jamaica). There is also the possibility that St. Pierre and Netmethods paid for renovations to Nagin's house.

2. Destruction of Public Record - While it is still not known who erased the mayor's email database from City Hall Exchange servers, Mark Lewis and the LTC confirmed that of all the city employees on the Exhcange servers, only the mayor's email account was erased and this had to be done with deliberate intent. The Nagin administration refuted the LTC findings and subsequently hired a new contractor, Sunblock, to investigate the matter. We're approaching a year and we still haven't received a report from Sunblock. I know that local journalists have made numerous requests to Sunblock and the administration for the findings of that investigation but so far they have not provided anything substantive which contradicts the LTC's original assessment.

If the database was purposely erased, the issue becomes whether or not Nagin authorized the deletion or if he was aware of it.

Speculative:

1. NOAH - While there was a clear abuse of recovery funds surrounding NOAH, I think it will be difficult to find an indictable offense on Nagin's part in this scandal...just my two cents.

2. HSOA/Benetech - This speculation comes almost entirely from me and this blog. Having said that, there are many possible scenarios which could involve kickbacks and racketeering when it comes to these two companies.

Most notably, Stone Age, the company which Nagin started with his sons after the storm. The question is where was Stone Age getting their product from and at what rate. It's worth noting that an HSOA subsidiary was a Texas based company called Cornerstone Marble and Granite, which supplied many smaller shops, just like Stone Age, with their product.

Another interesting situation is the contract given to Benetech to remove the flooded cars from the city after Katrina. I received many reports that these vehicles were "re-purposed" and then sold through a broker in Memphis, Dennis Churchwell. According to Memphis sources, Churchwell (who is currently in prison), bragged about his dealings with Nagin and claimed that he had offered the mayor two condos in downtown Memphis and actually gave him a Cadillac Escalade as a gift.

What is known is that Nagin and Meffert, flew to the 2007 Bears/Saints playoff game in Chicago on Fireline's (an HSOA subsidiary) private jet with Frank Fradella (then HSOA CEO) and Aaron Bennet (CEO of Benetech). After being questioned about the trip, Nagin (the city) was then sent an invoice by HSOA for the price of a first class plane ticket.

My personal belief with HSOA/Benetech....where there's smoke there's fire. I think there may have been multiple gifts received by Nagin from these companies.

3. Perjury - Nagin has denied, under oath, any knowledge of the Meffert/Netmethod credit card kickback....that could come back to haunt him.

Remember that while under oath in the crime camera case, Meffert was asked how he came up with the idea to use a Netmethods credit card while serving as CTO. He answered, "The idea was presented to me." Who presented him with that idea? If Nagin suggested this kickback scheme then he certainly had prior knowledge of Meffert's actions and that constitutes conspiracy under RICO.

I could throw my 2006 election fraud conspiracy theory in, I will refrain because I simply don't have the evidence to remotely substantiate it....but I still think it happened.

When will it happen?

If it does happen, I can't possibly imagine it coming down while he is still in office. For a while I thought it would certainly come down before April, but now I've done a 180. I'm not pretending I know what the intent of Letten's office is, but from observation alone, I believe that they are certainly sensitive to timing issues and the court of public opinion...even if they pretend not to be. I think the proof of that is in the recent Danziger bomb which was conveniently dropped after Mardi Gras and the Super Bowl.

At this point I am betting on May or June if it does indeed happen.

What effect would it have?

Ok....this is where it gets complicated. I think the aggregate effect of a Nagin indictment is going to have some very severe repercussions on not just the city, but on the national partisan political landscape in general. Let's think about this.

The Effect to the City:

From a myopic view, we all know that Jim Letten has executed a furious cull since Katrina. While the current notches in his saddle, the Jeffersons, Eddie Price, Bill Hubbard, etc., are impressive enough, the fact that his office is now taking on the entire Jefferson Parish political machine is even more impressive. Clearly, the gig is up, brah....the "politics of the past" are finally being eradicated from the present.

We who dats understand our city's culture of corruption well enough to know that it transcends political parties and racial identity. Race and partisanship is often tactfully used to deflect scrutiny or invoke hostility, but most of us, at least those of us who pay attention, know the prime mover is good ole' greed. I think New Orleanian's are seasoned veterans, PhD's if you will, in the science of government graft and political corruption.

We have learned how to read between the lines and call bullshit.

The rest of the country...not so much.

And this becomes a very real issue in the potential indictment of Ray Nagin...one of the most well-known and emotionally charged politicians in the country. While I think the majority of New Orleanians, black/white, republican/democrat, may rejoice in a Nagin indictment, the resonate echoes which run through the country as a whole could prove devastating to the city's recovery.

Having grown up in the heart of Red State America, I think I can already project how this is going to play once FOX reports, "New Olreans' Mayor Nagin indicted for misusing Katrina funds". Never mind if that statement is true, that's how they are going to report it...."the black, democrat mayor in the corrupt, liberal African-American city of New Orleans took your tax dollars and lined his friend's pockets...and now Obama wants to send them more of your money for some global warming crap (wetlands restoration)!"

Since Obama took office, there's been a groundswell of xenophobic paranoia in this country which has been masked under the semantic construct of "socialism". This contingent has become increasingly frustrated because they can't come right out and express all that pent up racism against Obama. At least they've progressed to the point where they understand racism isn't socially acceptable.

You see, Obama hasn't broken any laws (unless you believe the birthers), so the only area they can attack him on is policy and ideology (socialism...a concept they don't even understand). It's been incredibly frustrating for them not to be able to come right out and express their inner racist.

If they are told by FOX news that Ray Nagin, the black man who yelled "get off your ass and do something!" to the honorable G.W. Bush, has stolen their tax dollars and funneled them to his peeps (which they will assume are all black, never mind they were mostly white republicans)....Katy bar the door. Ray Nagin and New Orleans could become a very real target for all that pent up anger and hate in the rebubbakin nation. Any effort by the Obama administration to increase the aid to our area is going to be met with howls of protest in the wake of a Nagin indictment.

An indicted Ray Nagin could put a very real face on the Red State America's notion of the corrupt, socialist government living on the taxpayer's tit.

That animosity could be used tactfully by the RNC, nationally and on a state level. Maybe I'm giving it too much gravity, but I really think Nagin's fate will have a much larger effect than what we may imagine. Then again, it may be the flavor of the week on the national stage...it's hard to tell.

Regardless, I think it's something to ponder and possibly prepare for.

1:1 Odds

Retired officer's guilty plea in Danziger Bridge case a blow to a struggling NOPD

"What I can say is that Michael Lohman deserves to go to jail. and any other officers who participated in this cover-up should also go to prison and be given the maximum sentence allowed," Riley said.

So I'm assuming Riley will willingly plead guilty when implicated in the cover up? Because I'm betting he will be. Anyone want to bet?