Blakely is at it again

Before, we were just buffoons...

... And now we need birth control.

I think Blakely is trying to get himself fired. He knows he's in a no-win situation and the only way he can salvage his ego and his reputation is by getting fired and blaming Nagin.

Let's force him to stick around and do his job instead of destroying what little respect this city has left.

Copper Thief!

Be on the lookout for this man:

in the Broadmoor neighborhood. Especially near Walmsley. He's a copper thief. Read the link for the details.

Elliot's

Gun store raided. This has been going on for YEARS! Elliots was notorious for stuff like this.

When I was 18, I purchased a Marlin 981T .22 Rifle from Elliots. The place was SO SHADY! There was an obvious straw sale of an AK-47 (semi-auto, I assumed, but you never know) going on right next to me. I resolved that day never to set foot in Elliot's again.

I hope these dealers get the book thrown at them, because they've been getting away with murder for years...

Statesmanship

Sample in Time from The Assault on Reason by Al Gore.

A must read. Excellent writing and, more importantly, a true demonstration of statesmanship.

Our Coast to Fix - or Lose

By John M. Barry, author of Rising Tide. Great article and a must-read. Forward it to as many out of towners as you can.

How bad is it?

Every New Orleanian has to endure countless hardships. It's hard to describe to out of towners all the little slings and arrows. It's sort of like death-by-a-thousand-cuts.

How bad is the blight problem? It's bad by Iraqi standards. Read the comments by an Iraqi blogger.

How bad is the crime? It's so bad, it's killing New Orleans. The murder rate is 10 times the national average.

What's worse than the crime? Incompetence in City Hall. UNO has been doing this survey since 1988 (!) and for the first time, they've found something WORSE than the thugs: Clarence R. Nagin and company (with special guest stars, "the Amazing Cynthias"). Out of every problem (crime, high cost of living, low quality of life) City Hall was the worse problem.

UPDATE- New Orleans drowning in Crime. He says a few unusual things, but it's mostly on-point.

THANKS, HOUSTON!

New Orleans: An endangered species?

Going the Way of the Condor

As scary as this sounds, this very thought crossed my mind. What if it's just our time to go? Our number has finally come up?

Depressing thought of the day.

:-(

Disasters

They don't just happen in New Orleans.

Looting happen after most disasters. NOPD aren't the only crooked cops.

Just a reminder.

Another Fest!

So, I was just sitting around thinking and I realized Cinco De Mayo is just around the corner. Given the ever-increasing Hispanic population of New Orleans, I bet it's going to get bigger and bigger as the years progress. Just imagine an unending stream of festivals from Mardi Gras to St Patty's Day to Spring Break to French Quarter Fest to Jazz Fest to Cinco De Mayo.

Now THAT would be in the spirit of New Orleans!

BTW- Where are the big Cinco De Mayo celebrations? The only place I've ever been is the Bruno's block party on Maple. Got any tips?

UPDATE- City's List of Recovery Priorities for the Legislative Session. Didn't want to write a new post for that one thing. It's an important thing to read. Don't worry; it's short.

McCain on The Daily Show

Part I
Part II

The most sensible debate on the Iraq War to date.

As an aside, I have enormous respect for McCain. I read his biography and it's a shame he's going to be collateral damage from Bush. I can't believe he still puts up with Bush after those "half-black love child" calls in South Carolina.

CODE Guardian

Part I:


Part II:


Cool.

Ed Renwick Poll

Great post about Ed Renwick's poll.

How are certain leaders doing?
Do you feel the following should get a POSITIVE rating?
Person/Group Tot. Jeff. NO Tam. White Black

Eddie Jordan 9 8 13 6 5 25

For the record, you could double Special Ed's approval rating and he'd still be more unpopular than Bush is nationally. Yeah, he's that bad.

Crime Mapping Update - 27 April

Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks since I last updated the crime map. It's going to get awfully bad once the summer rolls in, so if someone wants to give me a hand, let me know. All I need someone else to do is troll a couple of sources and email me digested crime reports.

Example:

Police: Couple's argument leads to shooting

01:41 PM CDT on Thursday, April 26, 2007

WWLTV.com

New Orleans Police said Thursday that an argument over drugs led to a shooting.

WWLTV.com

According to investigators, the incident happened at about 6:30 a.m. in the 4400 block of South Liberty Street.

Authorities said a man there pulled out a gun and shot a woman three times after the two got into a fight.

None of her injuries were to be life threatening.

http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl042607khcoupleshoot.ed82e93.html

Turn that into:

1400 South Liberty
Shooting - 26 April 2007

(TEXT)
(LINK)

Download KMZ file on Rapidshare of the latest crime map