Senatron Vitter and The Talking Points

I think my Senator might be an automaton.

This past summer, I emailed Sen. Vitter what I thought were two simple questions: "Could you please explain your reasons for voting NO on the nomination of Richard Cordray for Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?  Who do you think would have been a more appropriate choice for this position, someone you could have voted for?" 

A little over two weeks later, he responded:

Dear Friend,
 
Thank you for contacting me in opposition to Majority Leader Harry Reid's planed "nuclear option" to change procedures in the Senate. I appreciate hearing from you, and I completely agree with you. 
 
As you know, Senator Reid was advocating ending the 60-vote threshold currently needed to confirm Executive branch nominees. He was considering a "nuclear option" to lower the threshold to 51 votes, which would have drastically changed the rules and norms of the Senate. I am vehemently opposed to this hypocritical idea that would severely hamper a minority party's constitutional right to advise and consent. A last minute deal was reached to defuse this current crisis, but Democrats could still attempt this maneuver in the future. 
 
If Senate Democrats insist on changing how the Senate operates, it will not be because Senate Republicans have forced their hand. Of the 1,564 nominations President Obama has sent to the Senate over the past four and a half years, only four have been rejected. Also, according to the Congressional Research Service, President Obama's cabinet nominees are, on average, moving from announcement to confirmation faster than nominees from the last two previous Presidents. Majority Leader Reid's plan is based on false premises, not on facts. Democrats would do permanent damage to the Senate for immediate and temporary political gain. Rest assured that I will hard to oppose this "nuclear option." 
 

Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this important issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about other issues important to you and your family.

__________________________ 

OOOOOOK, Take 2.  Although I should have been pleased over the personalized comment tacked onto the end of his email in a totally different font, I ungratefully wrote back:

Senator Vitter,

I do appreciate your taking the time to respond to my message.  It appears, however, that you responded to questions different from the ones I asked.  My questions were:

Senator Vitter, Could you please explain your reasons for voting NO on the nomination of Richard Cordray for Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau? Who do you think would have been a more appropriate choice for this position, someone you could have voted for?

Could you please answer those questions?  Thank you.

_________________________

That was two months ago.  

Could the appropriate staffer please reboot the Senator in order to complete the installation of his most recent talking points?  It's not like y'all are doing anything else.  

Brown People Count -- and Other Election 2012 Lessons for Republicans

Early on during election night, even before President Obama was announced the winner, I watched a Fox News pundit soberly realize, as she put it, that Republicans need to realize they can no longer win many races without "brown people" and that they perhaps "overplayed" the whole Obama is a socialist thing.  Gee, you think? 

Grog's Gamut opened my eyes to a few other insightful take-home messages:  1) "All Obama lost from 2008 was Indiana and North Carolina which voted Republican even when Clinton was running in 1992 and 1996, let alone when George W won in 2000 and 2004. So it wasn’t a case of Romney making inroads, but more just getting back what the GOP used to take for granted"; 2) math and science rule; and 3) yes, the electoral map still looks like roadkill if you just look at land mass,

but the margins of victory at the county level may tell the more important story: 

 "Where Obama won big was in the big cities; where Mitt won big was in places that didn’t matter because they were never in play – such as Utah...

In Colorado for example Obama won big in and around Denver and Boulder. In Florida he won the Miami-Dade Country with 62% of the vote – that county had around 829,000 voters, next door in Broward County he won with 67%. It has around 719,000 voters. Together those 2 counties account for nearly 20% of the entire state’s vote.  In Ohio it’s the same story." [Grog's Gamut, 11-7-12]

Grog goes on to point out that radical Republican/Tea Party logic just will not win you votes in national and statewide elections in many states, nor will trying to appeal to (or trying not to piss off) that illogical segment of the population.  I think many Republicans fail to appreciate this. 

In a Facebook conversation I had with some local Republican friends hoopin' and hollin' about Scott Brown's loss to Elizabeth Warren, like they were born and raised in Massachusetts or something, I echoed that theory of flawed TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party logic.  Especially in the MA Senate race, I believe it boiled down to this:  Republicans  underestimated how much people are hurting. People want health care and to not be raped by their credit card companies more than they want tax cuts. Tax cuts aren't bad, but what the hell am I going to do with a tax credit I have to spend money up front to take advantage of if I don't have any money in the first place?

For Mitt Romney's Health Plan, Look to Gov. Jindal

Want to know how Mitt Romney would fix America's healthcare problem?  Just look to how Gov. Bobby Jindal is reforming healthcare in Louisiana: by eliminating it.  If you think I am kidding, look at the Governor's travel schedule.  Louisianians already know that Jindal spends more time with Romney and raising money for him than he does at the state capitol.  Who else would Romney look to for advice other than the Republican-proclaimed healthcare guru?

Every time Jindal and his band of suck-up, "whatever you say, boss" state healthcare administrators have reassured us they are only cutting healthcare costs without sacrificing services, it has turned out to be a boldface lie.  Each time, they and Jindal have known exactly what the plan was all along, then proceeded to tell the public the exact opposite.  

It all started with mental health. Three years ago, the state's Medical Director clearly stated their intent to eliminate inpatient psych services for youths.   Remember New Orleans Adolescent Hospital? Remember how all those beds in New Orleans were moved to the northshore?  Isn't it convenient how NOAH was sold earlier this year just before the state decided publicly announced that Southeast Louisiana Hospital was closing and that those "psych beds" would be relocated back to the southshore?  I put "psych beds" in quotes because even though the state has already moved the patients out of Southeast Louisiana Hospital, it has yet to even identify where those "beds" will ultimately physically exist, which means they don't exist. And they likely never will.  Just like those more abundant outpatient services to replace the shuttered hospital units don't exist -- and in many cases never did. 

Using the loss of federal Medicaid funding as an excuse for decimating the LSU system is, in my estimation, Jindal and Greenstein being less than totally honest, to put it charitably.  The trip down that road has been underway since last summer when Jindal single-handedly and against the will of the legislature, and therefore that of the people, CHOSE to eliminate about $24 million in federal healthcare funds when he CHOSE to veto the renewal of the 4-cent cigarette tax.  The trip continued with the privatization of Medicaid with his brainchild the Bayou Health Program and with giving control of mental health services to the private insurer Magellan which slashed reimbursement rates to providers 30-40% before Jindal even learned of the federal Medicaid funding cuts, which of course led to even deeper cuts.

The latest outcry, which will of course be ignored by Jindal, is against his cuts to the LSU system that stand to cripple the training of future doctors.  Even his handpicked henchmen on LSU's Board of Supervisors weren't aware of the extent of Jindal's destructive plans:

"The shortage came as a surprise to members of the LSU Board of Supervisors, who recently approved a plan to cut $150 million out of operations of seven LSU hospitals in south Louisiana." -The Advocate 10/29/2012

Oh wait. Except they were lying about not knowing.  An article from six days earlier titled, "Medical Plan Caught Up in Cuts to LSU," noted:

"...the LSU budget cuts could jeopardize training programs’ accreditations and standards, threatening medical education in Louisiana and chasing away medical students needed to treat patients in a state that already has issues about access to health care and doctor shortages in rural areas.  LSU leaders and the governor’s health secretary, Bruce Greenstein, say they’re keeping all of that in mind and have graduate medical education at the forefront of their planning." -The Advocate, 10/23/2012

How are you surprised to learn of something you promised a week ago to keep in the forefront of your mind?  Seems to me that Jindal and his yes-men are lying about saving medical education too.  Why would they if they're getting rid of the places those doctors would practice?  

So if you're down with that, then by all means, cast your vote for Romney and roll out the welcome mat for incoming Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services & new Cabinet member Gov. Bobby Jindal.

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.)

Santorum, Risky Parenting, Heresy, and the Quran

Rick Santorum thinks President Obama is a snob for wanting Americans to go to college.



Santorum wants to create jobs so that people can remake their children in their own image.  While you do want your children to adopt your positive characteristics, everyone knows that trying to make your children grow up to fit some ideal persona that you have in mind for them can be disastrous.  For all of Santorum's questioning of the President's theology, what he just said is heresy.  Our children are made in God's image, not our own.


As for the violence over the military's destruction of the Quran, were these rare collectors' special edition Qurans or something? We apologized.  They do have more copies left, right?  I'm going to need the Afghans to simmer. 

The Definition of Class Warfare

Nungesser Bathroom Graffiti

This was written on the wall above a urinal at Tracey's on Magazine St., where Nungesser spoke last week:

"Vote Billy Nungesser Lt. Gov. Oct 22. Thank you. [signed by what appears to be "Billy]

Now that's what I call a thorough ground game by Nungesser's campaign.

Dardenne or Nungesser?

Last week I went to EngageNOLA's Meet the Candidate event featuring Billy Nungesser, candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana. Mr. Nungesser's anti-immigration campaign ad "Sleepless in Louisiana" which criticizes his opponent for not protecting Louisianians from having their jobs stolen by illegal immigrants was brought up. A Latina woman born and raised right here in Louisiana explained to Mr. Nungesser that his ad features faces of men who look like her American father and other American relatives. The woman asked Nungesser if he approved that ad. After mentioning the irrelevant fact that a media company hired by his campaign produced the ad, Nungesser responded that, yes, he approved the ad. Nungesser added that running the ad is "just politics."

Mr. Nungesser sees nothing wrong with running an ad filled with ominous images of brown skinned people to convince people to vote for him. He sees nothing wrong with using optics and rhetoric that a hateful person can easily use to support their harassment, or God forbid, violent acts against Americans who look like the stereotypical brown skinned immigrants used in his ad. In fact, commercials and images like these are what make it difficult for us to accept people who look a certain way as "real" Americans.

That is a damn heavy price to pay to just play politics, not to mention very poor judgment on the part of someone who claims he will fight for all Louisianians. Really? Does that include brown Louisianians, Mr. Nungesser?

I truly was undecided going into the event. I left determined to cast my vote for Nungesser's opponent, Jay Dardenne.

Vitter's Balanced Budget Amendment and Other Stupid Ideas

I was pondering this Balanced Budget Amendment idea and kept coming to the conclusion that it would be a horrible way to run the country, and that was before I read The Pelican Institute's post stating: "Despite a balanced budget requirement, Louisiana has still managed to acquire $21 billion more in liabilities than it has assets to offset them."

It was also before I read that Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute said: "It is about the most irresponsible action imaginable. It would virtually ensure that an economic downturn would end up as a deep depression, by erasing any real ability of the government to pursue countercyclical fiscal policies and in fact demanding the opposite, at the worst possible time."

I think good ole Norm was getting at what I was thinking. I was thinking: where will Louisiana get federal disaster help the next time a levee or an oil well explodes? Given the state's Republican leaders' non-stop pleading for help cleaning up the oil and making the fisherman financially whole again, we'd be up shit bayou if we need those funds if while operating under a federal Balanced Budget Amendment we have a disaster at a point in the fiscal year when all federal disaster funds have already been allocated.

I emailed Senator Vitter and posed this very question to him when I learned of his refusal to vote for a debt ceiling bill unless it is tied to a Balanced Budget Amendment, but he didn't respond. Which brings me to the point of this post. Why does Senator Vitter keep wasting his time on stupid legislation that even other conservatives consider stupid? We all champion lost causes now and again, but Vitter seems to have made a career out of being on the wrong side of issues, being ineffective, and even worse, being consistently counterproductive.

Concept of the Day: DOUBLE STANDARD

Hey kids! Today's concept is: DOUBLE STANDARD. As in, "The Republicans seem to espouse a double standard when judging private sector and government sector finances."

The piece What's Good Enough for GE is Good Enough for the United States argues the point that S&P's downgrading of the U.S.'s credit rating was widely met with snorts and chuckling. Why?

Still, it’s true that federal debt held by the public has reached 60 percent of GDP, while tax revenues remain around 20 percent of GDP. 60 percent of GDP is a lot! And double, nearly triple, tax revenue! What would we call a company with outstanding debt double or even triple its revenues, and expected to keep the highest bond rating?

We would call it General Electric. As recently as 2007, GE had an S&P rating of AAA with outstanding debt at over three time revenues...

Even Transocean, which operated the Deepwater Horizon rig for BP, managed an A- rating prior to the spill, with a debt-revenue ratio similar to what the federal government has now. [J.W. Mason, New Deal 2.0]

We all know the conservative mantra, spouted ad nauseum from our Gret Stet of Looziana to the congressional halls of the Beltway: "Government should be run like a business!" As it turns out, the government is already run like a business. So thank you, Republicans. Your work here is done. You can all step down from your lives of public service now and go home.

Tracy Morgan Has Obama's Birth Certificate

See minute 1:00 of the clip.

The Daily Show - Tracy Morgan
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

AND GO SEE THAT BOY, DONALD!

Sen. Vitter Hopes to Retire Well on Earth Before It Turns Into Venus

In his Jan. 20, 2011 email update, Sen. David Vitter proudly proclaimed: "In 2009, I was the first member of Congress to challenge the radical environmentalists' attempt to regulate greenhouse gases by introducing a bill declaring that carbon dioxide, methane from agriculture and livestock, and water vapor are not air pollutants."

First of all, calling everyone who disagrees with you "radical" or "leftist" is not toning down political rhetoric. No need to overdo it, Senator. "Environmentalists" alone was enough for your supporters to open their pocketbooks.

Second of all, not wanting to breathe polluted air is not all that radical an agenda to espouse. Neither is the contention that too much of a good thing, even if it is a source of life, can be a bad thing. Just ask the gulf seafood you want us to eat, Senator. (Tip: you should pose your question before you consume them.) According to Dr. Jeff Masters, guru of wunderground.com who did his dissertation on carbon dioxide (CO2): "increased CO2 from burning fossil fuels has already harmed sea life."

Dr. Masters further explains:

the fossil fuel industry's slogan, "Carbon dioxide: they call it pollution, we call it life!" could just as truthfully be phrased, "Carbon dioxide. We call it pollution, and we call it death." One need only look at our sister planet, Venus, to see that too much "life" can be a bad thing. There, an atmosphere of 96% carbon dioxide has created a hellish greenhouse effect. The temperatures of 860 F at the surface are hot enough to melt lead. There's not too much life there! [Is Carbon Dioxide a Pollutant?]

Maybe the Senator's objection to cap-and-trade regulation of CO2 comes from a good place, say, a healthy skepticism of science. I don't know, but I'm going to maintain my own healthy skepticism of his motives. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, a.k.a. opensecrets.org, 70% of Senator Vitter's wealth comes from the Energy & Natural Resources sector of the economy. Too much carbon dioxide may be bad for your health, but too much regulation might be even worse for Sen. Vitter's checkbook.

Landrieu & Vitter Silent on Taxes and Unemployment Benefits

I couldn't help but notice that LA's Senators are strangely quiet about the two biggest Congressional issues plastered all over the news this week: extending tax cuts for the wealthy and extending unemployment benefits. Neither Sen. Landrieu nor Sen. Vitter have even so much as a one-sentence press release regarding these issues on their websites.

Olbermann Tired of News, Wants to Star on SNL

I was so disgusted when I saw this horseshit on a "news" network tonight. Following the clip is the email I had to write to MSNBC just to get this crap off my chest.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Maybe your skit of Keith being the voice speaking to Glenn Beck was supposed to be a lighthearted aside from the news, but it seemed like a new low to me. It's symptomatic of what's wrong with cable news. Correcting the lies on Fox & conservative radio is one thing, but do it like a respectable journalist would. And do it with actual NEWS, not childish skits. MSNBC has become a total joke.

Levine Admits Republicans Don't Know Much About Health Care

This is from today's Times-Picayune, page A-6:

"The shortest book in the world is, 'Republicans that I've known and met that know a lot about health care,' " Levine said. "And so there's been a lot of candidates for governor or state legislators from various states who reach out and call and ask, 'What are some of the basics? What are some of the real hot issues from a health policy standpoint?' " [T-P, 7-18-2010]

I guess that explains why Congressional Republicans weren't able to come up with sensible remedies to our nation's health care problems, and why the ones they keep insisting on proposing are often...well...shitty.

The T-P article also offered some insight as to why Levine has overseen the decimation of mental health care services in Louisiana. It seems he might not have known what the hell was going on down here because, like his bossman Bobby, he's been too busy traveling the country instead of doing the job we've paid him six figures to do here at home.

"LA Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine...has been busy doling out policy advice to Republican political candidates around the country,"

"In recent weeks he's written a health care "white paper" for the Republican Governors Association, addressed Republican U.S. House members about the effects of the new health care law on the states, and spent a day in California recently with policy advisers to Meg Whitman, the former eBay CEO who is running for chief executive of the Golden State." and said he hopes to continue doing so through the 2012 presidential cycle." [T-P, 7-18-2010]

So cut the guy some slack, y'all! He didn't KNOW that our children's psychological well-being was in the terlet. How was he to know? He wasn't even here! So lay off of him, people!

The upshot for Alan is that he has used all of these connections he's been busy cultivating to land a posh private sector job back home in Florida, now that he's done fucking the good people of Louisiana over. Way to go, Al! Best Wishes!

Why Is Jindal Taking Our Money?

I just read two news reports that share an interesting common thread. The first story involves the dissolution of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, formed after Katrina to guide the state in its expenditure of federal recovery dollars:

HB1173 would have required legislative approval of proposals and contracts for the use of more than $50,000 in recovery dollars while HB1175 would have allowed parishes to seek alternative uses for allocated recovery funds. Under opposition from the Jindal administration, neither bill won final passage.[Louisiana New Link].

With the dissolution of the LRA, the Jindal administration essentially is allowed to write a blank check on the remaining funds"[2theadvocate.com]

The second story is about how Jindal wants to hold on to the money the state has gotten from BP and prefers that the affected coastal parishes go obtain any money BP owes them on their own.:

Gov. Bobby Jindal unleashed his veto pen late Friday, nixing lawmakers’ attempt to direct $24.9 million to parishes and small towns affected by the oil leak...In his veto message, Jindal said BP should pay the municipalities directly for the impact of the April 20 rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

Left unnoted in Jindal’s veto message was the fact that the money legislators wanted to give to the municipalities comes from a fund fattened by a grant from BP. The Jindal administration wants state agencies to have use of the money. “If it’s acceptable use for state government, then why isn’t acceptable for local governments?” said state Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin, who co-sponsored the amendment that would have diverted much of the BP money in the state’s Oil Spill Contingency Fund to help 11 coastal parishes and the towns of Lafitte and Grand Isle. [2theadvocate.com]

Now Learn the Reverse Jindal Two-Step

In my previous post, I taught y'all how to do the Jindal Two-Step. Now I'm going to show you the Reverse Jindal Two-Step. You may recall that in the simple Jindal Two-Step you do something THEN you claim you're not doing that exact same thing. The Reverse Jindal Two-Step is merely the same thing except backwards:

1) DON'T do something (or say you're not going to do that thing):

Governor Jindal said: Unlike Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, and New Mexico, which all assumed in their budgets that FMAP aid would be extended for their states - this budget does not anticipate federal relief for FMAP, out of an abundance of caution. [nwlanews.com, 2/15/2010]

2) Then do that thing you told the world you would not do:

By relying on a federal bailout to solve the 2010-11 budget deficit, Jindal is courting potential opposition from legislators who might be leery of using that money until Congress has acted. [T-P, 4/17/2010]

As you can see, you'll add flair and pizazz to the first part of this dance move if you also criticize others for doing something that you'll turn right around and do yourself. Try out these moves at your next Fais Do Do. It'll be a hit! Let me know how it works out.

Learn the Jindal Two-Step

Here's how you do the Jindal Double-Talkin' Two-Step:
1) Do something:

[LA Education Superintendent Paul Pastorek said:] “While the governor’s proposed budget does not dedicate state funding to support teacher stipends... [2theadvocate.com, 3/7/2010]

2) Then claim you're not doing the very thing you're doing:

...our Nationally Board Certified Teachers will receive their annual $5,000 stipend through their local school districts.”[2theadvocate.com, 3/7/2010]

To sum up, Jindal and Pastorek would have us believe that even though the Governor hasn't included money for teachers' stipends in his budget like he did last time, he's not the one cutting teachers' stipends because the local school districts have these surpluses they can use to pay the bonus stipends. Unfortunately, the local school districts beg to disagree:

Local school board officials counter that without the traditional annual cost-of-living bump, Jindal’s proposed standstill MFP saddles them with increases in a variety of costs such as health care and retirement... John Dilworth [Superintendent of the East Baton Rouge Parish School System] wrote a letter to The Advocate’s editor Thursday challenging the validity of Pastorek’s numbers. He says declines in revenues, such as sales taxes from which the public schools receive much of their money, are being offset by the surplus. Dilworth does not commit to paying the stipends. [2theadvocate.com, 3/7/2010]

If this song-and-dance seem familiar to you, it may be because you remember that Gov. Jindal dispatched his minions to try and pass the same okee-doke routine over on us when they closed NOAH and cut inpatient psych services while claiming that they weren't cutting services at all.

A Message to the City of New Orleans

I found these tips on The Little Rules of Action on Zen Habits.net and have found them personally helpful to me. Thus, I would like to share the goodness, particularly with the incoming administration and the N.O. City Council. They can ignore the tip about not getting bogged down in perfectionism. They've long mastered that one. The following three, however, are relevant:

1. Meetings aren’t action . This is a common mistake in management. They hold meetings to get things done. Meetings, unfortunately, almost always get in the way of actual doing. Stop holding those meetings! [except for the ones required by law, of course].

2. Talking (usually) isn’t action. Well, unless the action you need to take is a presentation or speech or something. Or you’re a television broadcaster. But usually, talking is just talking. Communication is necessary, but don’t mistake it for actual action.

3. Planning isn’t action. Sure, you need to plan. Do it, so you’re clear about what you’re doing. Just do it quickly, and get to the actual action as quickly as you can.

Jindal, OMH Decimating Outpatient Psych Services Too

Remember back when Gov. Jindal, DHH Secretary Alan Levine, and top OMH officials assured us that by closing New Orleans Adolescent Hospital (NOAH) they were freeing up $14 million to "improve much-needed outpatient services"? I can't help but assume that money never made it down to the outpatient clinics I work at everyday because no one in Baton Rouge wants to even pay for us to have voicemail, and it's not because they're paying to lease clinic space after removing us from the space we had at NOAH. The lease at our cramped new digs is $0 where, incidentally, they have consolidated so many employees that the power goes out 3-5 times a day from the now overloaded circuits. Try faxing in a prescription authorization to pharmacies when the power goes out whenever you hit "Send," or when that telephone/fax line periodically goes dead. When I receive a call, I have to walk down the hall because we can't transfer calls to each other despite being in the same building; and while I'm on the phone, no one else can call. OK, actually that's not true. People can still call us but that call goes immediately to a voicemail system that no one from here to Baton Rouge can tell us how to access. All we can do is hope none of those are urgent, which is a fantasy since we serve very ill, troubled youths. Actual assistance or a simple acknowledgment of these problems from OMH are also fantasies much of the time.

We serve the same number of clients even though we have fewer therapists. They left because they were fed up with this sort of foolishness, but they won't be replaced because of Jindal's hiring freeze even though the state has already budgeted for those positions just like they budgeted for all that money closing NOAH was supposed to free up.

Working at a place where your co-workers, even some of the ones making close to six figures, openly discuss finding a new job and share job leads with one another can be nerve-racking. That sort of stress will complicate any job but especially when your job is helping others deal with their own constant psychological stress.

A story about continuing cuts to healthcare in Louisiana is, interestingly, posted to a web page titled Accidents & Disasters. I fear we'll being seeing more of those in the near future. Not just the spectacular, front-page headline kind, but also the excruciating, painful type of tragedy that slowly and quietly ruins families' lives. If you need an example, think of the economic and social ruin left in the wake of an Orleans Parish school system starved of basic necessities. Talk to anyone now in the position of trying to provide state-funded services within LA's Office of Mental Health(OMH). Ask them how employee morale is these days. I should know. I am one of them.