On January 17th, 2006, after students were back, Scott Cowen held a meeting with the engineering students to explain the Renewal Plan.
The entire meeting, IMHO, was to blow smoke up our ass and not run away with our tuition dollars ($40K/year at that point). Tulane had already pissed off a lot of parents by keeping the Fall 2005 tuition money.
The meeting ticked off the engineering students quite a bit. Fortunately, some of us recorded it and caught a real gem from Cowen that pretty much sums up his fuckmookishness:
"Question: 20 years from now, 30 years from now you will remember you came to Tulane. You're not going to remember what you major was or ... [garbled] ... but you will remember Tulane University."
-Scott Cowen
January 17th 2006
Meeting with engineering students
That's the quote, word for word (23 minutes in on Side B). Told to a bunch of ENGINEERING students. It doesn't matter what, say a Civil engineer learns in school, it only matters that they went to Tulane.
Unfortunately, the quality on the tapes is terrible. Cowen's booming voice is the only thing that the mic picked up.
Side A:
Side B:
If anyone would like to give a stab at cleaning up the audio, that would be greatly appreciated.
NOTE: Some minor edits. Also, the noladishu.blogspot.com version of this post has embedded audio players that don't seem to show up in Google Reader.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Scott Cowen. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Scott Cowen. Sort by date Show all posts
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Dump Cowen, Not Engineering
Today the Times-Picayune gave their Loving Cup award to Scott Cowen. I'll grant that Cowen has done some good things with the Cowen Institute and New Orleans Public Schools and keeping the doors open at Tulane, one of the largest private employers in the city.
But, even the article mentions the shuttering of engineering at Newcomb. There's no getting around the fact that in the aftermath of the the Federal Flood, the largest engineering disaster in US history, Cowen axed the programs that could have made the most difference. In his own words, "If they don't fix the levees, everything we've done [with the Renewal Plan] is for naught."* What are we going to do Dr. Cowen? Sue our way to Category 5 Levees?
In early 2006, there was a huge student protest on campus. Hundreds (thousand plus?) of students marched around the administration building. They demanded Cowen's resignation over the Newcomb and engineering cuts. Not a single news organization covered it. I'm posting a couple of photos to prove that it did indeed exist.
__________
* Citation coming.
Update- More:
"Football players build great levees"**
____________
** Tulane's football program, despite as favorable accounting as they can possibly manage, runs a deficit of at least $2 million a year. It was not effected by the "Renewal Plan."
UPDATE 2- From Tulane's last E-Week battlebot competition:
"Cowen Bot: Destroying that which others have worked so hard to build"
But, even the article mentions the shuttering of engineering at Newcomb. There's no getting around the fact that in the aftermath of the the Federal Flood, the largest engineering disaster in US history, Cowen axed the programs that could have made the most difference. In his own words, "If they don't fix the levees, everything we've done [with the Renewal Plan] is for naught."* What are we going to do Dr. Cowen? Sue our way to Category 5 Levees?
In early 2006, there was a huge student protest on campus. Hundreds (thousand plus?) of students marched around the administration building. They demanded Cowen's resignation over the Newcomb and engineering cuts. Not a single news organization covered it. I'm posting a couple of photos to prove that it did indeed exist.
__________
* Citation coming.
Update- More:
"Football players build great levees"**
____________
** Tulane's football program, despite as favorable accounting as they can possibly manage, runs a deficit of at least $2 million a year. It was not effected by the "Renewal Plan."
UPDATE 2- From Tulane's last E-Week battlebot competition:
"Cowen Bot: Destroying that which others have worked so hard to build"
Friday, December 4, 2009
Ashley had a word for guys like this*
FM#1:
Sparks fly over New Orleans health aid. Darrell Issa opened his big fat trap and unleashed this gem:
First off, nice job throwing your boy, Bobby Jindal, under the bus. Trying to kill off all opposition to Sarah in 2012? Second, Kucinich put him in his place: "Our country is falling apart, and what's happening in New Orleans is a signal condition of where America's priorities are totally fouled up."
FM#2
Scott Cowen sent this email out to students, their parents, and alumni:
Good Morning:
Yesterday, City Council President Arnie Fielkow and I presented “Five Things You Should Know About New Orleans” to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. We wanted to send the national media a different kind of message regarding New Orleans.
Our main points were:
1. The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina will result in New Orleans being a better and stronger city in the future.
Katrina exposed flaws – crumbling federally-built levees (Gee, maybe you should have kept Civil Engineering around to do something about those crubling levees), a government unprepared, poverty and other signs of a community that had failed its youth. But this tragedy also awakened citizens to the need for change.
2. As a result of Katrina, New Orleans can serve as a demonstration lab for disaster recovery and transformation. (You mean like this?)
We now know how to plan for and respond to emergencies. We know the value of public/private partnerships that are revolutionizing our school system and establishing community health centers to provide medical care for the uninsured. We know how to recover our economy and even how to deal with FEMA.
3. Our recovery is a superb example of civic activism and resiliency.
Citizens voted out a wasteful system of seven tax assessors and multiple parish levee boards. They demanded funding for an inspector general to root out corruption and they banded together to demand effective and accountable government.
4. New Orleans is an iconoclastic city, which has retained its distinctiveness and charm despite the challenges and hardships it has and does face.
There are now more restaurants in New Orleans than before Katrina. We ranked first in more categories in Travel + Leisure Magazine’s 2009 “America’s Favorite Cities” survey than any other city. We are a hotbed of entrepreneurship and the quintessential sports town – hosting the Super Bowl in 2013 and the men's and women’s NCAA Final Four basketball championships in 2012 and 2013. Not to mention our undefeated Saints.
5. New Orleans has the potential to become a model city for the 21st century.
Great things are in store for New Orleans. We have gotten a taste of positive change. We want more and we aspire to be a model for the country.
I was honored to share our city’s message on a national stage. I hope you, too, will share these five things with everyone you encounter, especially out-of-town friends and family. Together, we can make the story of New Orleans known far and wide.
Have a great weekend,
Scott
As a sidenote, maybe not this year, but don't be too surprised if Cowen throws his hat into the ring for mayor sometime soon.
________________
* Title Reference
Cowen was also a favorite target of Ashley's
Sparks fly over New Orleans health aid. Darrell Issa opened his big fat trap and unleashed this gem:
"Is everyone so poor in Louisiana that the state cannot do more for you? Are you going to be a permanent ward of the federal government? "
First off, nice job throwing your boy, Bobby Jindal, under the bus. Trying to kill off all opposition to Sarah in 2012? Second, Kucinich put him in his place: "Our country is falling apart, and what's happening in New Orleans is a signal condition of where America's priorities are totally fouled up."
FM#2
Scott Cowen sent this email out to students, their parents, and alumni:
Good Morning:
Yesterday, City Council President Arnie Fielkow and I presented “Five Things You Should Know About New Orleans” to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. We wanted to send the national media a different kind of message regarding New Orleans.
Our main points were:
1. The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina will result in New Orleans being a better and stronger city in the future.
Katrina exposed flaws – crumbling federally-built levees (Gee, maybe you should have kept Civil Engineering around to do something about those crubling levees), a government unprepared, poverty and other signs of a community that had failed its youth. But this tragedy also awakened citizens to the need for change.
2. As a result of Katrina, New Orleans can serve as a demonstration lab for disaster recovery and transformation. (You mean like this?)
We now know how to plan for and respond to emergencies. We know the value of public/private partnerships that are revolutionizing our school system and establishing community health centers to provide medical care for the uninsured. We know how to recover our economy and even how to deal with FEMA.
3. Our recovery is a superb example of civic activism and resiliency.
Citizens voted out a wasteful system of seven tax assessors and multiple parish levee boards. They demanded funding for an inspector general to root out corruption and they banded together to demand effective and accountable government.
4. New Orleans is an iconoclastic city, which has retained its distinctiveness and charm despite the challenges and hardships it has and does face.
There are now more restaurants in New Orleans than before Katrina. We ranked first in more categories in Travel + Leisure Magazine’s 2009 “America’s Favorite Cities” survey than any other city. We are a hotbed of entrepreneurship and the quintessential sports town – hosting the Super Bowl in 2013 and the men's and women’s NCAA Final Four basketball championships in 2012 and 2013. Not to mention our undefeated Saints.
5. New Orleans has the potential to become a model city for the 21st century.
Great things are in store for New Orleans. We have gotten a taste of positive change. We want more and we aspire to be a model for the country.
I was honored to share our city’s message on a national stage. I hope you, too, will share these five things with everyone you encounter, especially out-of-town friends and family. Together, we can make the story of New Orleans known far and wide.
Have a great weekend,
Scott
As a sidenote, maybe not this year, but don't be too surprised if Cowen throws his hat into the ring for mayor sometime soon.
________________
* Title Reference
Cowen was also a favorite target of Ashley's
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Rising Tide 3: Education Panel
The education panel is underway. The discussion has hit some key points. A certain element of the "reform" movement is a right-wing movement to destroy teacher unions, privatize public education (for profit, of course), and destroy community spirit.
I don't know whether or not I'm going to get a chance to ask any questions, but I have a few thoughts on education in New Orleans that I'd like to throw out there.
First off, my mom has been a teacher for 30+ years. She is a union member. She hates the union, but she knows it'll be the only friend in her corner if her back is up against a wall. I've been trying to convince her to shift from Jefferson Parish to Orleans and teach at a school 4 blocks from her house (saving lots of money in gas in the process). She refuses to because there are NO protections on teachers. The union is busted. Even though her friend is the principal, a great teacher is scared away because of the cut-throatedness. Most teachers just want to teach and the best system is the one that puts the fewest impediments in the process.
My second thought is about a couple of incidents in charter schools I know personally about. After Hines and Ben Franklin were converted to charter schools, egregious criminal acts were committed. At Hines, a parent on the PTA was embezzling funds from PTA funds (I'm looking for the article and can't find it). At Ben Franklin High School, the principal turned the budget into her own little kitty to reward and punish teachers. The final straw was her giving her partner a 'performance bonus' of several thousand dollars. The teachers went to the board and got the principal, Carrol Christian*, fired. My point is this: if this is going on at schools that would be considered top-tier in ANY school system, can you imagine what's going on at other schools?
My final thought (at least for now): Orleans Parish School Board's failure was not 100% attributable to lack of funds. OPSB had a $600 million budget. Less than 25 cents out of every education dollar reached the class room. I talked to Maitri last night about corruption in India and she said that they have just as many problems with corruption as we do. My point to her was there are certain things that people don't fuck with. In some areas, societal values make it unthinkable to mess with a child's education. Maitri said, as fucked up as some of the Hindu/Muslim things in India get, there's no movement to force kids to learn intelligent design, etc.
Just a few things to throw out there.
UPDATE- Oh yeah, there are 2 candidates for Orleans Parish School Board I'll give a plug to. Amy LaFont is running for District 3. She was at the party at Buffa's last night. Percy Marchand is an occasional commenter on Ray's blog and showed up today.
UPDATE 2- Being a graduate of a program axed by Scott Cowen, I love it how someone pointed out that the backers of The Cowen Institute are the same backers of Nagin's "award."
UPDATE 3- This is the NY Times article blindly praising the charter schools that one panelist called "garbage."
*- I never saw any news report about the firing. I'm happy to name her name here. Maybe when she applies for a job somewhere, someone will Google her and learn the truth about her.
I don't know whether or not I'm going to get a chance to ask any questions, but I have a few thoughts on education in New Orleans that I'd like to throw out there.
First off, my mom has been a teacher for 30+ years. She is a union member. She hates the union, but she knows it'll be the only friend in her corner if her back is up against a wall. I've been trying to convince her to shift from Jefferson Parish to Orleans and teach at a school 4 blocks from her house (saving lots of money in gas in the process). She refuses to because there are NO protections on teachers. The union is busted. Even though her friend is the principal, a great teacher is scared away because of the cut-throatedness. Most teachers just want to teach and the best system is the one that puts the fewest impediments in the process.
My second thought is about a couple of incidents in charter schools I know personally about. After Hines and Ben Franklin were converted to charter schools, egregious criminal acts were committed. At Hines, a parent on the PTA was embezzling funds from PTA funds (I'm looking for the article and can't find it). At Ben Franklin High School, the principal turned the budget into her own little kitty to reward and punish teachers. The final straw was her giving her partner a 'performance bonus' of several thousand dollars. The teachers went to the board and got the principal, Carrol Christian*, fired. My point is this: if this is going on at schools that would be considered top-tier in ANY school system, can you imagine what's going on at other schools?
My final thought (at least for now): Orleans Parish School Board's failure was not 100% attributable to lack of funds. OPSB had a $600 million budget. Less than 25 cents out of every education dollar reached the class room. I talked to Maitri last night about corruption in India and she said that they have just as many problems with corruption as we do. My point to her was there are certain things that people don't fuck with. In some areas, societal values make it unthinkable to mess with a child's education. Maitri said, as fucked up as some of the Hindu/Muslim things in India get, there's no movement to force kids to learn intelligent design, etc.
Just a few things to throw out there.
UPDATE- Oh yeah, there are 2 candidates for Orleans Parish School Board I'll give a plug to. Amy LaFont is running for District 3. She was at the party at Buffa's last night. Percy Marchand is an occasional commenter on Ray's blog and showed up today.
UPDATE 2- Being a graduate of a program axed by Scott Cowen, I love it how someone pointed out that the backers of The Cowen Institute are the same backers of Nagin's "award."
UPDATE 3- This is the NY Times article blindly praising the charter schools that one panelist called "garbage."
*- I never saw any news report about the firing. I'm happy to name her name here. Maybe when she applies for a job somewhere, someone will Google her and learn the truth about her.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Tulane plowing millions into football?
Cowen Pledges Greater Football Funding - The Hullabaloo. Excellent Article.
This is a curious little announcement. I've asked around and what the administration is thinking is they've done research. Their surveys indicate that there's a strong correlation between football programs and alumni donations. Good foobtall programs have a high rate of alumni donorship, while bad football programs generally correlate with poor alumni donorship. That's what I've heard from a couple of different sources on the administration's thinking. The overall plan is to pump up the football program (which loses a couple million dollars a year) so that it at least stands on its own feet and the halo effect of a better football team would pump up alumni donations. At least, that's the plan.
I'll add a few bits of history. Tulane was a founding member of the SEC. They left because "the board thought they could make more money as an independent, like Notre Dame."
Tulane also had Sugar Bowl Stadium (seating 80,000+), which they tore down and shifted over to the Superdome. That one is actually fairly understandable at the time. They didn't have the money to do the extensive renovations the stadium needed and there was this big, shiny new stadium downtown. Unfortunately, the Superdome is the absolute worst venue possible for a small football program. 20,000 fans (a good Tulane attendance figure) are lost in the cavernous, freezing cold stadium. Note that Cowen mentions a fund-raising drive of $60 million to build an Uptown stadium. From what I'm told, it would be ~30,000 seats and be situated one of three locations: wedged into the practice field area (behind Riley Center; tight, but possible), Audubon Park, or Uptown Square, which Tulane acquired about 6 or 7 years ago. We'll see how the neighbors react if they get the money lined up and want to start construction.
I know that Cowen isn't exactly on my Christmas card list, but take a look at the track record. When Cowen arrived at campus we had a Bowden-led football team with offensive genius of Rich Rodriguez calling a potent offense, the oldest degree granting college for women (Newcomb), engineering programs so old, they dated to founding of ABET (in addition to other, smaller academic programs eliminated in the Renewal Plan), and the Princeton Review ranked Tulane #31 overall. Now, we're ranked #51 (Tulane has griped and moaned about using Katrina-tainted data for dropping it out of the top 50 {well, what about the other 19 spots...}) and we're the only top 50 {51} school without an ABET-accredited program in Computer Science (go ahead and look it up for yourself). Even LSU has (finally) gotten their CS program accredited!
I really want Tulane to do well, but we'll have to see where things are headed. I just can't help wondering if this is really the best way to spend this money.
******************************
Here's Cowen's email:
UPDATE- Changed capacity figure for Sugar Bowl Stadium.
This is a curious little announcement. I've asked around and what the administration is thinking is they've done research. Their surveys indicate that there's a strong correlation between football programs and alumni donations. Good foobtall programs have a high rate of alumni donorship, while bad football programs generally correlate with poor alumni donorship. That's what I've heard from a couple of different sources on the administration's thinking. The overall plan is to pump up the football program (which loses a couple million dollars a year) so that it at least stands on its own feet and the halo effect of a better football team would pump up alumni donations. At least, that's the plan.
I'll add a few bits of history. Tulane was a founding member of the SEC. They left because "the board thought they could make more money as an independent, like Notre Dame."
Tulane also had Sugar Bowl Stadium (seating 80,000+), which they tore down and shifted over to the Superdome. That one is actually fairly understandable at the time. They didn't have the money to do the extensive renovations the stadium needed and there was this big, shiny new stadium downtown. Unfortunately, the Superdome is the absolute worst venue possible for a small football program. 20,000 fans (a good Tulane attendance figure) are lost in the cavernous, freezing cold stadium. Note that Cowen mentions a fund-raising drive of $60 million to build an Uptown stadium. From what I'm told, it would be ~30,000 seats and be situated one of three locations: wedged into the practice field area (behind Riley Center; tight, but possible), Audubon Park, or Uptown Square, which Tulane acquired about 6 or 7 years ago. We'll see how the neighbors react if they get the money lined up and want to start construction.
I know that Cowen isn't exactly on my Christmas card list, but take a look at the track record. When Cowen arrived at campus we had a Bowden-led football team with offensive genius of Rich Rodriguez calling a potent offense, the oldest degree granting college for women (Newcomb), engineering programs so old, they dated to founding of ABET (in addition to other, smaller academic programs eliminated in the Renewal Plan), and the Princeton Review ranked Tulane #31 overall. Now, we're ranked #51 (Tulane has griped and moaned about using Katrina-tainted data for dropping it out of the top 50 {well, what about the other 19 spots...}) and we're the only top 50 {51} school without an ABET-accredited program in Computer Science (go ahead and look it up for yourself). Even LSU has (finally) gotten their CS program accredited!
I really want Tulane to do well, but we'll have to see where things are headed. I just can't help wondering if this is really the best way to spend this money.
******************************
Here's Cowen's email:
Good Morning:
It has been about six years since Katrina almost destroyed New Orleans and Tulane University. Since that time, Tulane has not only survived but has reimagined itself and become stronger academically and financially. This recovery has not been easy, but the Tulane community was determined to move forward. We have made substantial progress in achieving our academic and financial goals, which have been the primary focus of our efforts since August 29, 2005.
We are now in the stage of our renewal where we can and should continue to focus on the development and success of Tulane Athletics. Next year we will once again field 16 sports teams, fulfilling the NCAA's requirement for competing at the highest level of collegiate athletics.
We have made major commitments to our baseball, basketball and volleyball programs, with a new practice and training facility currently under construction for the latter programs and beautiful Greer Field at Turchin Stadium for our baseball team. These improvements were consistent with the university's recovering finances after Katrina and were made with our academic priorities always in mind. We are proud of what has been accomplished in athletics given all the unprecedented challenges we faced. But the task is not yet complete. Our next goal, which will be the most difficult one to accomplish, is to build a consistently successful football program.
Our vision for football is a program that opens every campaign with the talent and resources to win our division and conference and participate in post-season games - as opposed to one that has periodic winning seasons, which has been the experience at Tulane for the last five or six decades. We will not achieve this overnight, but we must begin the journey for success right now with clear and unambiguous progress made every year, starting with this coming season.
An overview of the evolving plan to accomplish this goal is outlined in The Playbook. In the months ahead we will refine our plans as we marshal the resources necessary to achieve our goals. We will build a successful football program while adhering to Tulane's philosophy of enrolling student-athletes who desire a first-rate education. Our student-athletes are committing their collegiate careers to achieve at high levels, on and off the field, and our coaches will dedicate every bit of their talent and experience to help them in their quest.
For us to be successful, it will require a true team effort -- an effort comparable to what we did after Katrina when many naysayers around the country counted us out. The journey now begins; we hope you will join us.
Have a great weekend,
Scott
UPDATE- Changed capacity figure for Sugar Bowl Stadium.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Links of the day - 16 April 2009
Google's Immigration Fixer. Google has a full-time employee just to handle visa snafus for their (large) H1B, etc. workforce.
The Case for Nuclear Winter. Not even Mr. Gloomy Pants can top this one.
Francois Genoud: Nazi Terrorist Banker. Links to the Nazi's (including Goebbels, Eichmann, Barbie), Ayatollah Khomeini, Carlos the Jackal, and, just for good measure, Bin Laden. My first thought: could this guy be the inspiration for S.P.E.C.T.R.E.? It's funny all those ex-Nazis that stuck around in Europe and had major influence in post-war Europe. Happy ending, though: he died in excruciating pain.
Governing by Chaos: A City In Shambles. Takedown of the Nagin regime.
2009 Budget in a picture. Wall chart of where your tax dollars go.
Saudi's to "regulate" child brides. 8 year olds, dude. 8 year olds.
Crucified nun dies in 'exorcism'. Should have called in Jindal...
Interactive map shows job losses.
Cao seeks heaping helping of pork. Guess he didn't get the memo at the tea parties.
Times-Pic editorial asking Mary Landrieu to push for Letten's reappointment. I like Letten, but there are still some concerns about him. The Canal Street Brothel case was shut down early because of pressure he got after rounding up too many Republican (and Democratic) donors... He's definitely not above politics.
Jeffery brings up a good point about the LSU/Charity mess. If Tulane did this, would they get 10% the flack that LSU is getting? Probably not. Here's proof:
Try not to punch your computer screen when Cowen's ugly head pops up to piss on Tulane Engineering's reputation. It still burns me up. Calvin Mackie was a native New Orleanian who was one of the first black PhD graduates from Georgia Tech, Tulane's first tenured black professor in the engineering school, featured on "When the Levees Broke," and a really great professor.
Cowen has injected himself into the LSU mess. Here's an email he recently sent out:
Dear Tulane Alumni,
I am writing today with a call to action as the Louisiana Legislature prepares to decide the fate of the new proposed public hospital for New Orleans, known as the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans, or MCLNO.
This new academic medical center, which will be built and operated with public funds, serves the needs of multiple community constituencies:
1. patients, especially the under or uninsured;
2. the academic institutions which rely on the new hospital to meet their clinical care, research and education missions, including Xavier, Dillard, LSU and Tulane;
3. the greater community of New Orleans.
The new public hospital must be governed by a Board of Trustees comprised of independent trustees who represent the various constituencies. No one group or constituency should, directly or indirectly, control the board seats. [Emphasis in original]
The city’s academic institutions that are critical to the staffing of the new hospital -- Tulane, LSU, Xavier and Dillard -- have been successful partners in providing healthcare to under-- or uninsured patients for centuries. It is a partnership that is equitable, effective and historic. It should not be changed.
Let your voice be heard, and help to preserve the legacy and ensure fair governance of the public hospital in New Orleans.
Sincerely,
Scott S. Cowen
President
He doesn't care what happens, so long as he's at least in partial control of what's built. It would be very interesting to see a battle-royale between Jindal and Cowen/Tulane. Two very powerful groups with tentacles all over the state going at it. Also, don't forget to check out the photos of Charity right after Katrina. LSU intentionally neglected Charity to get a new hospital.
And now to close on a high note- Steam powered iPod charger:
... so that you can still listen to your tunes after the Zombie Apocalypse hits. My grandfather actually gave me that exact same toy steam engine. It's one of the most dangerous toys imaginable. I loved it.
The Case for Nuclear Winter. Not even Mr. Gloomy Pants can top this one.
Francois Genoud: Nazi Terrorist Banker. Links to the Nazi's (including Goebbels, Eichmann, Barbie), Ayatollah Khomeini, Carlos the Jackal, and, just for good measure, Bin Laden. My first thought: could this guy be the inspiration for S.P.E.C.T.R.E.? It's funny all those ex-Nazis that stuck around in Europe and had major influence in post-war Europe. Happy ending, though: he died in excruciating pain.
Governing by Chaos: A City In Shambles. Takedown of the Nagin regime.
2009 Budget in a picture. Wall chart of where your tax dollars go.
Saudi's to "regulate" child brides. 8 year olds, dude. 8 year olds.
Crucified nun dies in 'exorcism'. Should have called in Jindal...
Interactive map shows job losses.
Cao seeks heaping helping of pork. Guess he didn't get the memo at the tea parties.
Times-Pic editorial asking Mary Landrieu to push for Letten's reappointment. I like Letten, but there are still some concerns about him. The Canal Street Brothel case was shut down early because of pressure he got after rounding up too many Republican (and Democratic) donors... He's definitely not above politics.
Jeffery brings up a good point about the LSU/Charity mess. If Tulane did this, would they get 10% the flack that LSU is getting? Probably not. Here's proof:
Try not to punch your computer screen when Cowen's ugly head pops up to piss on Tulane Engineering's reputation. It still burns me up. Calvin Mackie was a native New Orleanian who was one of the first black PhD graduates from Georgia Tech, Tulane's first tenured black professor in the engineering school, featured on "When the Levees Broke," and a really great professor.
Cowen has injected himself into the LSU mess. Here's an email he recently sent out:
Dear Tulane Alumni,
I am writing today with a call to action as the Louisiana Legislature prepares to decide the fate of the new proposed public hospital for New Orleans, known as the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans, or MCLNO.
This new academic medical center, which will be built and operated with public funds, serves the needs of multiple community constituencies:
1. patients, especially the under or uninsured;
2. the academic institutions which rely on the new hospital to meet their clinical care, research and education missions, including Xavier, Dillard, LSU and Tulane;
3. the greater community of New Orleans.
The new public hospital must be governed by a Board of Trustees comprised of independent trustees who represent the various constituencies. No one group or constituency should, directly or indirectly, control the board seats. [Emphasis in original]
The city’s academic institutions that are critical to the staffing of the new hospital -- Tulane, LSU, Xavier and Dillard -- have been successful partners in providing healthcare to under-- or uninsured patients for centuries. It is a partnership that is equitable, effective and historic. It should not be changed.
Let your voice be heard, and help to preserve the legacy and ensure fair governance of the public hospital in New Orleans.
Sincerely,
Scott S. Cowen
President
He doesn't care what happens, so long as he's at least in partial control of what's built. It would be very interesting to see a battle-royale between Jindal and Cowen/Tulane. Two very powerful groups with tentacles all over the state going at it. Also, don't forget to check out the photos of Charity right after Katrina. LSU intentionally neglected Charity to get a new hospital.
And now to close on a high note- Steam powered iPod charger:
... so that you can still listen to your tunes after the Zombie Apocalypse hits. My grandfather actually gave me that exact same toy steam engine. It's one of the most dangerous toys imaginable. I loved it.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Post-Apocalyptic New Orleans
As I drove out of New Orleans on the eve of Katrina, I surveyed the scene. Even though I’d grown up in New Orleans, everything looked a little different. Things just sort of glowed under the early morning sun.
I made it out. I was one of the lucky ones. Picture the tens of thousands at the Superdome or in their homes riding out the storm. They experienced the full fury of God. One friend of mine watched her ceiling fan spin on its anchor as though it were possessed. The walls of even the sturdiest buildings shook under the assault of a powerful hurricane. Just imagine what raced through the minds of those in the Superdome as power went out and part of the roof was ripped off. And then the levees broke…
To say Katrina was a traumatic experience is an understatement. Katrina, from the perspective of New Orleanians, might as well be the apocalypse. Present day New Orleans resembles a post-apocalyptic society.
A post-apocalyptic society is a civilization that experiences goes through a cataclysmic event that pushes its society to the brink of death, but the civilization survives and is changed by the experience. Japan, Dresden, and the Netherlands have all been at some point post-apocalyptic cultures. The key markers of a post-apocalyptic civilization are how the pre-disaster state of the civilization is forgotten or mythologized, the infrastructure bears physical scars of the disaster and the people suffer from mental scaring. However, there are some positive aspects of a post apocalyptic society that revolve around a unified society that is willing to confront problems it otherwise didn’t have the courage to.
New Orleans has always been a city steeped in tradition and that aspect has taken an unusual turn after Katrina. The city has blossomed fleur-de-lis (the symbol of the city) flags overnight just like the flag after 9/11. At Jazz Fest, musicians played new, New Orleans-inspired music. Bookstores have been filled with New Orleans books, most notably “Why New Orleans Matters” by Tom Piazza. Each one seeks to eulogize New Orleans. Many of the less savory aspects, such as crime, poverty, drugs, and racism are glossed over or completely left out, but the popularity of these books cannot be understated. New Orleans has been made out to be the very soul of America and it’s getting a lot more traction post-Katrina that it would have before the storm.
The public infrastructure has been devastated and there is absolutely no way not to notice. The St. Charles streetcar line, one of the most visible symbols of the city, has been knocked out of commission. Every day, New Orleanians drive by huge piles of debris. In the words of Chris Rose, “It looks like a war was fought here and we lost that war.” Many homes still bear water lines and spray paint marks. Many streetlights are out of commission. And yet, people carry on despite the conditions. Life goes on. People have continued their routines. People still go to their favorite bars to hang out. People commute to work and drive their kids to school while almost ignoring the debris piles.
New Orleanians have been through a lot lately. Unlike most American cities, most people in New Orleans grew up in New Orleans. Being forcibly divorced from New Orleans against their will has traumatized the populace. Abandonment is an issue everyone has had to deal with it in one way or another. Extreme anger towards FEMA, Michael Brown, W, Tom Benson, Scott Cowen, etc. has been evident in even the most reserved New Orleanian. The mental strain has manifested itself in several forms. Many New Orleanians have sought counseling and gone on anti-depressants. I personally have felt sluggish and had trouble sleeping for months. The most disturbing manifestation is the dramatic increase in suicides in New Orleans. The stress of dealing with post-Katrina life has just been too much for some New Orleanians. What is disturbing is not necessarily that the suicide rate is as high as Sweden, which has the highest suicide rate in the world, but that New Orleans has changed from a place that embraces life to one where suicide is even a topic of conversation.
“We need a common enemy to unite us,” Condoleeza Rice once remarked and she had a point. New Orleans has always been a fractious community. New Orleans once such a divided city, it filed for divorce and separated itself into 3 municipalities.
From the poorest resident of the Lower 9th Ward, to the richest resident of the Garden District to even the most insulated Tulane student, every New Orleanian has had to deal with Katrina-related issues. In that common suffering, every New Orleanian has a common touchstone. One of the best conversation starters in the city has been “So, where did you evacuate to?” The best symbol of the newfound unity is the slogans of the two mayoral candidates. Nagin’s signs say, “OUR Mayor” and “Reunite New Orleans.” Mitch Landrieau’s slogan is “One New Orleans.” Politicians always seek to capitalize on public sentiments during election campaigns and that is why these slogans are a useful tool in getting the pulse of the city.
Due in no small part to the newfound unity, the city is finally confronting old problems that have plagued the city. The patently unfair and corrupt system of assessors is being dealt with. Regional, professional levee boards have replaced the crooked, parish levee boards. The trashy look of the city is for the first time being effectively addressed. None of the changes have been top-down. Grassroots movements with broad public support affected each change. Citizens for One Greater New Orleans, the Katrina Krewe, and the IQ movement are leading the way.
So the question is now, where do we go from here? New Orleans has taken an awful blow and is in many ways a post-apocalyptic society, but what does that mean for the future of New Orleans? Dresden, Germany and Hiroshima, Japan have recovered from their trauma to become productive, vibrant cities. New Orleans may yet recover and prosper. In fact, because of the very factors that make New Orleans unique from the rest of America, namely the “live life to the fulest” attitude,” New Orleans has escaped most of the effects of the destructive nihilism that takes hold in most post-apocalyptic cultures. And that is something to be very hopeful for.
- Clay ______
May 2006
I made it out. I was one of the lucky ones. Picture the tens of thousands at the Superdome or in their homes riding out the storm. They experienced the full fury of God. One friend of mine watched her ceiling fan spin on its anchor as though it were possessed. The walls of even the sturdiest buildings shook under the assault of a powerful hurricane. Just imagine what raced through the minds of those in the Superdome as power went out and part of the roof was ripped off. And then the levees broke…
To say Katrina was a traumatic experience is an understatement. Katrina, from the perspective of New Orleanians, might as well be the apocalypse. Present day New Orleans resembles a post-apocalyptic society.
A post-apocalyptic society is a civilization that experiences goes through a cataclysmic event that pushes its society to the brink of death, but the civilization survives and is changed by the experience. Japan, Dresden, and the Netherlands have all been at some point post-apocalyptic cultures. The key markers of a post-apocalyptic civilization are how the pre-disaster state of the civilization is forgotten or mythologized, the infrastructure bears physical scars of the disaster and the people suffer from mental scaring. However, there are some positive aspects of a post apocalyptic society that revolve around a unified society that is willing to confront problems it otherwise didn’t have the courage to.
New Orleans has always been a city steeped in tradition and that aspect has taken an unusual turn after Katrina. The city has blossomed fleur-de-lis (the symbol of the city) flags overnight just like the flag after 9/11. At Jazz Fest, musicians played new, New Orleans-inspired music. Bookstores have been filled with New Orleans books, most notably “Why New Orleans Matters” by Tom Piazza. Each one seeks to eulogize New Orleans. Many of the less savory aspects, such as crime, poverty, drugs, and racism are glossed over or completely left out, but the popularity of these books cannot be understated. New Orleans has been made out to be the very soul of America and it’s getting a lot more traction post-Katrina that it would have before the storm.
The public infrastructure has been devastated and there is absolutely no way not to notice. The St. Charles streetcar line, one of the most visible symbols of the city, has been knocked out of commission. Every day, New Orleanians drive by huge piles of debris. In the words of Chris Rose, “It looks like a war was fought here and we lost that war.” Many homes still bear water lines and spray paint marks. Many streetlights are out of commission. And yet, people carry on despite the conditions. Life goes on. People have continued their routines. People still go to their favorite bars to hang out. People commute to work and drive their kids to school while almost ignoring the debris piles.
New Orleanians have been through a lot lately. Unlike most American cities, most people in New Orleans grew up in New Orleans. Being forcibly divorced from New Orleans against their will has traumatized the populace. Abandonment is an issue everyone has had to deal with it in one way or another. Extreme anger towards FEMA, Michael Brown, W, Tom Benson, Scott Cowen, etc. has been evident in even the most reserved New Orleanian. The mental strain has manifested itself in several forms. Many New Orleanians have sought counseling and gone on anti-depressants. I personally have felt sluggish and had trouble sleeping for months. The most disturbing manifestation is the dramatic increase in suicides in New Orleans. The stress of dealing with post-Katrina life has just been too much for some New Orleanians. What is disturbing is not necessarily that the suicide rate is as high as Sweden, which has the highest suicide rate in the world, but that New Orleans has changed from a place that embraces life to one where suicide is even a topic of conversation.
“We need a common enemy to unite us,” Condoleeza Rice once remarked and she had a point. New Orleans has always been a fractious community. New Orleans once such a divided city, it filed for divorce and separated itself into 3 municipalities.
From the poorest resident of the Lower 9th Ward, to the richest resident of the Garden District to even the most insulated Tulane student, every New Orleanian has had to deal with Katrina-related issues. In that common suffering, every New Orleanian has a common touchstone. One of the best conversation starters in the city has been “So, where did you evacuate to?” The best symbol of the newfound unity is the slogans of the two mayoral candidates. Nagin’s signs say, “OUR Mayor” and “Reunite New Orleans.” Mitch Landrieau’s slogan is “One New Orleans.” Politicians always seek to capitalize on public sentiments during election campaigns and that is why these slogans are a useful tool in getting the pulse of the city.
Due in no small part to the newfound unity, the city is finally confronting old problems that have plagued the city. The patently unfair and corrupt system of assessors is being dealt with. Regional, professional levee boards have replaced the crooked, parish levee boards. The trashy look of the city is for the first time being effectively addressed. None of the changes have been top-down. Grassroots movements with broad public support affected each change. Citizens for One Greater New Orleans, the Katrina Krewe, and the IQ movement are leading the way.
So the question is now, where do we go from here? New Orleans has taken an awful blow and is in many ways a post-apocalyptic society, but what does that mean for the future of New Orleans? Dresden, Germany and Hiroshima, Japan have recovered from their trauma to become productive, vibrant cities. New Orleans may yet recover and prosper. In fact, because of the very factors that make New Orleans unique from the rest of America, namely the “live life to the fulest” attitude,” New Orleans has escaped most of the effects of the destructive nihilism that takes hold in most post-apocalyptic cultures. And that is something to be very hopeful for.
- Clay ______
May 2006
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Local News Roundup
Beware the "Wrath of Khan"
Tulane's endowment looses 24% of its value. From over 1 billion dollars to $789 million. Scott Cowen running Tulane like a business (A.I.G.).
How's this for a local crime: Thibidoux woman fakes carjacking report to get boyfriend to give up offshore job. I guess she missed him too much.
Times-Pic calls Jefferson an "ineffective embarrasment." Hmmm. Will that standard still apply in 2 years with disgraced and ineffective Vitter? Speaking of the devil, Vitter thinks Cao will clean up Louisiana's image of a bunch of crooked, hooker-fucking politicians (like him).
H.M., famed psychology case, passes away. It's revealed he's a local Cajun boy.
My alma-mater, Ben Franklin High School, made the grade as one of the top high schools in the country. Go Falcons!
In Illinois, they're throwing fits over a $6 million tutoring center for jocks only. Scholarship students, work study students, etc. need not enter. Why do I bring this up? LSU's is $15 million. Speaking of Illinois, Is Chicago now officially more corrupt than New Orleans? (H/T Adam). UPDATE- It's official! We're now in a contest! Come on Nagin, get caught in bed with Veronica White and Vitty-Cent while texting Trashanova to get more blow from Bernardo! We know you can do it!
Keep this in mind as the City Council deliberates over the budget (especially if Nagin vetoes the budget): a list of political donations by the 3 sanitation firms.
UPDATE 2- I like Nate Silver's post about who Blogo tried to blackmail/extort/etc. What, no Oprah?
Tulane's endowment looses 24% of its value. From over 1 billion dollars to $789 million. Scott Cowen running Tulane like a business (A.I.G.).
How's this for a local crime: Thibidoux woman fakes carjacking report to get boyfriend to give up offshore job. I guess she missed him too much.
Times-Pic calls Jefferson an "ineffective embarrasment." Hmmm. Will that standard still apply in 2 years with disgraced and ineffective Vitter? Speaking of the devil, Vitter thinks Cao will clean up Louisiana's image of a bunch of crooked, hooker-fucking politicians (like him).
H.M., famed psychology case, passes away. It's revealed he's a local Cajun boy.
My alma-mater, Ben Franklin High School, made the grade as one of the top high schools in the country. Go Falcons!
In Illinois, they're throwing fits over a $6 million tutoring center for jocks only. Scholarship students, work study students, etc. need not enter. Why do I bring this up? LSU's is $15 million. Speaking of Illinois, Is Chicago now officially more corrupt than New Orleans? (H/T Adam). UPDATE- It's official! We're now in a contest! Come on Nagin, get caught in bed with Veronica White and Vitty-Cent while texting Trashanova to get more blow from Bernardo! We know you can do it!
Keep this in mind as the City Council deliberates over the budget (especially if Nagin vetoes the budget): a list of political donations by the 3 sanitation firms.
UPDATE 2- I like Nate Silver's post about who Blogo tried to blackmail/extort/etc. What, no Oprah?
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Can't Sleep. Clowns will eat me.
Up real early this morning (partly because of this), so I'll post a few links.
Wonkette reports on Draft Stormy movement. "VITTER MUST BE DESTROYED!" Related: David Vitter is a jackass (Iced Coffee and a Bagel).
The Politics of Health Reform. Fascinating to get an outside perspective. A sample from the BBC:
Map of New Orleans political donations. Fascinating to click through for a while. I find it especially interesting that a lot of the old St. Charles Ave./Pickwickian-types mainly donated to Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani. Now there's money well spent!
Stimulus Battle in Perspective: Of course, the last time we saw a vote like this one was probably the 1993 vote on Clinton's first budget -- every single Republican in the chamber voted against it, hoping to prove, once and for all, that they were right about economics and Democrats were wrong. If memory serves, that budget was the first step towards the longest economic expansion on record, the creation of 22 million jobs, and the total elimination of the federal budget deficit. Related: For Republicans, there wasn't much downside to voting no.
More extensions to housing aid in Louisiana? Those overly generous subsidies to landlords is part of what's keeping market rates up. You remove those payments, the market will fall (it already has fallen from it's post-Katrina highs). Probably won't return to pre-Katrina rents, but that's unreasonable to expect.
Gulfport Mayor indicted for Katrina fraud.
Taibbi + Blago. Need I say more?
Roger Clemens has always been batshit insane. Deadspin clarifies the level of insanity: "Then Donahue would rub the hottest possible liniment on his testicles. “He’d start snorting like a bull,” the trainer said. “That’s when he was ready to pitch.” "
State Farm completely pulling out of property insurance in Florida.
Here's a few companies that have never had mass layoffs. I can thing of a few to add to the list, too (Honda, for one).
When it comes to Israel, to revive or dump the two-state solution?
Bill Gates talks about education, especially high school, and what constitutes a successful school. Two most interesting points: a kid is better off with a good teacher in a "bad" school than he is with a bad teacher in a "good" school. Also, in extremely poor areas, the schools with the longest schooldays tend to do the best.
Sad to see Cerasoli go. Oyster rounds up the reacts. One little tidbit: “People were telling me he [Nagin] was saying they would regret getting the office up and running 10 years from now.
Old media, don't piss off new media. Remember that the "Symbiotic relationship between new and old media" isn't a one way street... Also, McCain-endorser's Pedo son gets out of jail early with barely a peep from local media.
So, after closing Our Lady of Good Cousel, et. al.*, the Nazi Pope decides to embrace a Holocaust-denier and a cleric who said Katrina was God's punishment for being too kind to the gays.
Want to see Scott Cowen foam at the mouth? Mention the letters AAUP and stand back.
And for your amusement:
The Thing, remade with G.I. Joe's.
*BTW- Great comic 2 weeks ago Greg. Can't link to your comic, though, because the archives are down.
Wonkette reports on Draft Stormy movement. "VITTER MUST BE DESTROYED!" Related: David Vitter is a jackass (Iced Coffee and a Bagel).
The Politics of Health Reform. Fascinating to get an outside perspective. A sample from the BBC:
Map of New Orleans political donations. Fascinating to click through for a while. I find it especially interesting that a lot of the old St. Charles Ave./Pickwickian-types mainly donated to Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani. Now there's money well spent!
Stimulus Battle in Perspective: Of course, the last time we saw a vote like this one was probably the 1993 vote on Clinton's first budget -- every single Republican in the chamber voted against it, hoping to prove, once and for all, that they were right about economics and Democrats were wrong. If memory serves, that budget was the first step towards the longest economic expansion on record, the creation of 22 million jobs, and the total elimination of the federal budget deficit. Related: For Republicans, there wasn't much downside to voting no.
More extensions to housing aid in Louisiana? Those overly generous subsidies to landlords is part of what's keeping market rates up. You remove those payments, the market will fall (it already has fallen from it's post-Katrina highs). Probably won't return to pre-Katrina rents, but that's unreasonable to expect.
Gulfport Mayor indicted for Katrina fraud.
Taibbi + Blago. Need I say more?
Roger Clemens has always been batshit insane. Deadspin clarifies the level of insanity: "Then Donahue would rub the hottest possible liniment on his testicles. “He’d start snorting like a bull,” the trainer said. “That’s when he was ready to pitch.” "
State Farm completely pulling out of property insurance in Florida.
Here's a few companies that have never had mass layoffs. I can thing of a few to add to the list, too (Honda, for one).
When it comes to Israel, to revive or dump the two-state solution?
Bill Gates talks about education, especially high school, and what constitutes a successful school. Two most interesting points: a kid is better off with a good teacher in a "bad" school than he is with a bad teacher in a "good" school. Also, in extremely poor areas, the schools with the longest schooldays tend to do the best.
Sad to see Cerasoli go. Oyster rounds up the reacts. One little tidbit: “People were telling me he [Nagin] was saying they would regret getting the office up and running 10 years from now.
Old media, don't piss off new media. Remember that the "Symbiotic relationship between new and old media" isn't a one way street... Also, McCain-endorser's Pedo son gets out of jail early with barely a peep from local media.
So, after closing Our Lady of Good Cousel, et. al.*, the Nazi Pope decides to embrace a Holocaust-denier and a cleric who said Katrina was God's punishment for being too kind to the gays.
Want to see Scott Cowen foam at the mouth? Mention the letters AAUP and stand back.
And for your amusement:
The Thing, remade with G.I. Joe's.
*BTW- Great comic 2 weeks ago Greg. Can't link to your comic, though, because the archives are down.
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