Mitt, Big Government, and the Deeply Confused Deep (Red) South

People living on the Gulf Coast, especially Louisianians, should be the last ones complaining about big government programs.  D-SNAP, FEMA, NFIP, USACE, National Guard, Road Home Program, etc.  Need I say more?

No I don't.  But I will.

Many local Republicans decry the amount of federal dollars spent on those no-income-tax-paying leeches living off the government dole, those same leeches who Mitt believes will never support him.  What many local Republicans seem unable to recognize, or at least admit, is that they are those leeches.

Source: http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/politics/nonpayers.banner.taxfound.jpg

Such folks are either misled, uninformed, or disingenuous.  Either way, if they want the rest of us to start taking them seriously, Republican politicians and their local supporters need to walk their talk.  The ones living in St. John the Baptist, Plaquemines, and St. Tammany need to vote for enough new taxes to cover the full cost of the levees they want.

(Well OK, they don't have to hold that vote now.  We can wait until after they get out of the disaster food stamp line.)

Louisiana: Where Progress Comes to Die

This is a map from the NY Times showing the shift in voting between 2004 & 2008. The redder the county, the greater the gain in Republican votes between 2004 & 2008. As usual, we here in LA insist on being 5 minutes and 500 years behind the rest of the nation. Here, things like progressive thought and a greater concern for making sure one's own kids graduate high school as opposed to worrying about whether Joe the Plumber and Joe Six Pack should be allowed to marry are viewed as tools of the liberal elites and Hollywood to destroy America. Funny, I was under the belief that it was the Republicans who slashed levee funding and who rendered FEMA ineffective by placing it within the bureaucratic black hole of the Department of Homeland Security who literally destroyed this part of America. And isn't it still the case that nearly a billion dollars of your Road Home money is going to the Bush administration buddies over at IFC, whilst you remain relegated to a life of toxic trailer trash? And isn't it true that the people most disgusted by "the gays" probably spend the most time thinking about disgusting gay sex? (Tip: If you don't think about it, it won't disgust you! Why ARE you thinking about it so much anyway?)

But I doth digresseth.

A few days ago, some local bloggers were bouncing around idears for turning LA more blue. Not to piss in anyone's cornflakes, but Louisianians haven't been progressive and open to change, even change that benefits us, since France ran this show. An educated populace would help, but that's not a short-term strategy unless you absolutely blitz them with media about particular issues in any given election (e.g., None of your broke asses will ever make $250,000 so chill out with the Obama will raise my taxes hysteria...[or something to that effect]). Judging from the map, it's not just LA. Most of the south, Appalachia, and the midwest are dying to remain about 20 years behind "big city coastal elites." The us-versus-them schema has been so drilled into people's psyche that cultural issues and fear tactics will drive regional politics for several years to come. Democrat strategists yearning for change would be trying to change the minds of people that still will not vote for a Landrieu because Moon hired blacks to work in N.O. City Hall in the 1970s and who have voted Republican (except for Clinton & Carter - two Southern white men) since LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act and forced them to integrate. Umm...yah, good luck with that one.

What the Hell Is Wrong with Senator Vitter?

I'm very displeased with Sen. David Vitter this morning, and not just because as one who is NOT a morning person, I'm normally displeased with everyone anyway at this hour (yes, even Mother Teresa). So you can imagine my ire as I read this, my first email of the day.

It seems Sen. Vitter is making excuses for not supporting our recovery. All the rest of our Congressional delegation, from both parties, have voted or will voted for the Gulf Coast Recovery Act of 2007, which among other things, allocates money to close the gap in the Road Home program. It's a fucking no-brainer. Even Bobby Jindal who is afraid to do or say ANYTHING that could cost him the election voted for it. Frickin' Jindal actually risked being seen in public where he could be asked why we should elect him governor {GASP!}to show up and vote for this thing!!

I don't know what kind of political save-face game Vitter is playing, or whether Giuliani or Bush or the Elephant Party is twisting his arm for some reason, but I'd like to remind him that he really doesn't have many "Oops, sorry y'all" credits left in his Constituent Trust Fund.

Look, we all get stressed out and let personal problems affect our work sometimes. So, I propose that anyone reading this take just a moment and contact the Senator [oh look, a sample letter!] to remind him what the hell he is supposed to be doing [i.e., covering OUR asses and not just his or one of the Wendy's], and reassure him this legislation will not help those dreaded whorehouses rebuild. Show the guy you understand his pain, and help him make the right decision on this one.

Contact Info:
Senator David Vitter
Email
Phone: 202.224.4623
Address: 516 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510

Show's Over, Folks! The Jig Is Up

Sunday's Times-Picayune top story, the "Long, Hard Road Home" (Jan. 28, 2007) was nearly an epic tome by newspaper standards (or maybe I just read slower than usual). The writer did an excellent and exhaustive job combining disparate sources of information into one coherent piece. So, I don't want to downplay his work when I ask: HOW MUCH LONGER ARE WE GOING TO LET THE STATE AND ICF FUCK US? (pardonnez mon francais).

Again we have the same list of state officials saying they have done all they can to prod ICF into acting more quickly, followed by another disgusting litany of ICF officials (especially that Michael Byrne) saying ICF had no idea they would need more staff. And his newest defense that he is just a poor public speaker? (The writer of the article did a nice job of letting the juxtaposition of Byrne's impeccable resume refute this sorry lame ass claim).

What I'd like to know is how long are we going to fall for this act? A June 30, 2006, ICF press release stated that the Road Home registry already "exceeded 90,000 applicants" and that they were expecting another 30,000 to apply. Another ICF press release from October 19, 2006, stated there were an estimated 123,000 eligible Road Home recipients.

Why is The Times-Picayune running around in circles with state officials and ICF when ICF's own website contains evidence that they are lying? Are things that bad for our esteemed institutions? Do we need a bake sale and a fish fry to raise money to buy internet access for Gov. Meemaw and the T-P so that they can say "BULLSHIT!" the next time ICF says they did not expect such a high demand of applicants? State officials like Suzie Elkins and Sam Jones should have called ICF on this a long time ago, which if you ask me, would have been much easier than trying to convince us they have done their jobs by sending strongly worded e-mails to ICF telling them to pick up the pace.

The only things I am left wondering are what do state officials have to gain by always stopping short of calling ICF to task and actually doing something to hold them accountable and when are we going to stop falling for this charade and tell our incompetent government leaders to take a hike?

Fuzzy Math?

OK, let me see if I got this straight. The LRA is giving $40 million to private schools to cover rebuilding costs...and the 188,251 households of N.O. get to split $116 million to rebuild? I can be a bit slow at times, but that seems a little lopsided.

Also, I wonder if the private schools have to submit rebuilding plans before they get this money.

And why is New Orleans only getting $116 million when there is over $445 million left to distribute? It still wouldn't be enough, but it'd be 4x as much as 116 mil.

Moreover, why are we getting $116 million to rebuild neighborhoods that are to last longer than our lifetime when ICF is get $750 million to fuck up for a year?

Louisiana Homeowners Give The Road Home Program High Marks

For a free trip to the Twilight Zone, click on the title above.