About the Demolition

I was going to stay out of this argument considering I don't live in the area anymore and I have never lived in the projects. But with all the press, I wanted to chime in. I personally think they should refurbish the existing projects. I also think they should put very large fences around them with metal detectors and drug sniffers at the gates.

I used to work for an electrician who had a contract with the city to re-wire the units that were burnt out. See, after the people who live in these projects get tired of trashing a unit, they burn it out so that they get another, newer unit. Then they trash that one, rinse, repeat.

So, I would travel daily into these war zones to run wire and install new breaker boxes and smoke alarms. My boss had to ride shotgun. He wore a gun on his hip and I was not allowed outside the unit, to get parts for example, unless he was there. That was to protect my life. What a wonderful place to live.

In addition to making new rules that if you burn your unit out you have to leave the projects, I think they should build in tight security with armed guards, cameras, and police offices inside the projects. Bright lights too.

Anyway, I have noticed that this particular story has made worldwide headlines. This is really more bad press for New Orleans that was not needed. If the people who live in the projects WANT to live in them, why tear them down? Fix them, add real security, do real background checks, start arresting the hookers, drug dealers and gang bangers and just get on with life.

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K-ville Season 1, Episode 6

I've been busy and have been in and out of town so I am watching this episode online at fox.com. It's a bit slow getting started. I hope the performance is decent once it gets going.

It's going now. Very nice! Hi res and speedy!

Cobb chases a guy down and the guy recognizes him. The guy smacks Cobb in the face and gets away. glue Buy is jumped and has to shoot the guy.

Cobb tells Boulet the guy ran with a gang that Cobb also ran with.

I can't get over how good the video.

Glue Boy goes into an induced coma due to brain swelling. Cobb decides he needs to take out those bad boys. The drama queen!

Cobb is going undercover to take out the gang.

Best line so far: Boulet says, "There has to be another way." Cobb says, "There is." Boulet says, "I like it without even hearing it." After a pause, "Maybe I should hear it."

Turns out this is the gang that Cobb took the money from. Where I'm from, they'd just shoot him.

Boulet sees his wife and she's hugging another dude. Uhoh.

The dude is the daughter's teacher from Atlanta. Nothing physical. Uhoh. Emotional cheating. That's bad.

After 5 years of nothing, they decide to bring Cobb back in. They give him the info for the next job right away. It's got to be a set up.

Yep, it's a set up. No job planned. They wanted to see if anything got leaked. Which it did. Didn't see that coming.

Online only has 1 advertisement. It's nice not to have to sit through 10 minutes of commercials but that cingular commercial is getting old.

A young punk is keeping an eye out for cops. He spots the cops but not before Boulet spots him. He makes the kid call and say everything is ok.

And there's even a red-head hoodlette named wanda involved. Cobb diggs through a dresser and one of the hoods busts him (what did he think was going to happen) so the fight. Sissy slap fight.

Boulet watches his wife sleep.

Cobb makes time with wanda.

The head hood asks Cobb to get C4.

Boulet and Love Tap visit the guy's wife that got killed at the beginning of the show.

Boulet feeds the new property guy some nuclear corn mach choux. It's a test to see who's got the biggest. To bad Boulet rigged it. ;-)

Boulet gets the C4 while the other cop is puking. Boulet tells him to drink some milk to help the burn. He also tells him, "You might as well eat a banana because that's gonna burn twice."

Boulet gets home but no one is there. The wife left a message saying that she was staying at a friends house. I think she's with the boyfriend.

Boyfriend visits and drops off flowers at Boulet's house. The guy is a complete numb nut. He's got the balls to call Boulet out about not being in Atlanta with his wife after Katrina. Boulet let's him go but he should have popped him one.

Head hood popped hoodlette one. Cobb gonna get some of that.

Cobb hooks up with Boulet at a bar to discuss what's going on. Wanda sees them leave and see the light in the back of the car. Not good. She tells head hood.

Cobb is not in a good place right now.

Boulet gets the cops and they bust into the gang house. No one is home.

The hoods go to the house of the guy who got killed. They plan to use the C4 to blow the guy's safe.

Boulet makes a single call and finds out that the only person in New Orleans with that safe is the guy who got killed.

Cobb grabs the little girl and jumps out a window right as the NOPD shows up. Hood starts shooting.

They realize Cobb is a cop but Wanda doesn't believe it. Dumb hood decided he's going to rig the explosive himself.

Kerboom, house goes up in flames but not before head hood shoots hoodlette. Wanda is down. Permanent down.

Glue Boy makes it back.

Cobb lives in a pull trailer by the water. I didn't notice that before.

Boulet's wife comes home and he has dinner cooked and the wife's favorite flowers on the table.

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Panic In The Streets: 1950

Here's a New Orleans movie I ran across on the Internet Archive. It's Panic in the Streets from 1950.

Here's the text from IA:

One night in the New Orleans slums, vicious hoodlum Blackie (Jack Palance) and his friends kill an illegal immigrant who won too much in a card game. Next morning, Dr. Clint Reed (Richard Widmark-this time not seen pushing little old ladies in wheelchairs down the stairs) of the Public Health Service confirms the dead man had pneumonic plague. To prevent a catastrophic epidemic, Clint must find and inoculate the killers and their associates, with the reluctant aid of police captain Tom Warren (Paul Douglas), despite official skepticism, and in total secrecy, lest panic empty the city. Can a doctor turn detective? He has 48 hours to try. Spellbinding

This one won an Oscar, a Venice Film Festival Award and a WGA.

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Voodoo Fest on YouTube

Over 150,000 people at Voodoo Fest 2007. That's awesome!

Voodoo Fest has put some videos on the VoodooFest Web site.

Even better, you can find plenty of videos on YouTube. The videos on the VoodooFest page have better graphics and sound quality but you get a much better selection on YouTube.

It looks like there are a lot of Rage Against the Machine but there are plenty of videos of other bands too. Video quality varies as does the audio quality. Most have decent sound though if you don't mind hearing the crowds.

Smashing Pumpkins playing Born On The Bayou. Video is bad but sound is ok.




Rage Against the Machine, Testify



Check out this YouTube search for more videos.

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Wave Goodbye to the Hat!

A while back, I asked, "Does New Orleans Need a DA?". Turns out, New Orleans does need a DA, just not Eddie Jordan. According to WDSU, Eddie will have to step down if he wants the city to pay for his lawsuit: Sources: Eddie Jordan To Resign

Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan was unlikely to get a bailout on the $3.7 million payment from the city or state. Officials had said they wouldn't consider paying for the lawsuit unless Jordan stepped down.

Yeah! Yeehaw! Woohoo! If you wonder what my opinion is, you can read my entry, "Racism in New Orleans Takes a Hit".

See ya Eddie! Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

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K-Ville Season 1, Episode 5

I DVR'd last week's K-Ville and am just now watching it. Tonight is a rerun.

So, this episode starts off with a great image of Jackson Square from the air. Those images are my favorite part of this show.

Cobb tells Boulet to take off and meet his family, that he'll cover the shift. Dispatch calls (actually the Capt did but he was calling for dispatch). Shots fired at a church.

It just happens to be Boulet's family church. He knows the layout because he grew up going there. The cops hearing people singing hymns and enter the church. The priest denies anything happened and that there were no shots.

Cobb looks around and finds a body. A deacon. The people apparently know Boulet and don't seem to like him. Boulet's been holding a grudge about something and these might have a grudge of their own.

Flashback to Sept 1987.

Boulet and his bother are playing in the church. The little brother brought a water gun. Boulet tells him they will get in trouble. He gets squirted in the face and they run off. They end up running into the dead deacon.

I'm betting molestation at this point.

Back to the present. The cops are searching and interviewing all of the people in the church.

Best Line of the show: Boulet gets up in front of the congregation and says: "The ladies auxiliary bake sale has been postponed due to violent murder." And he smiles. ;-)

He tries to get people to say something but no one will. They decided to interrogate everyone one face to face with out the rest of the herd.

Turns out that there was a run in between the preacher, Boulet's little brother and I would bet, the deacon. Boulet's little brother, Troy, is now deceased.

It also turns out that the deacon got part of an earing before he died. They're now looking for a bloody ear. That should make it easier to find someone. No bloody ear found though. The culprit escaped out the back door. Who would have thought that a murderer might run out the back door?

A crazy old lady gives up the name of the perp. Not quite sure why. The perp is Shawn Rider a junior hoodlum.

Wow. After an argument with Cobb (about his grudge against the priest), Boulet says that the priest is responsible for Troy's death. I'm still betting on molestation.

Flashback June 1999. Troy is still alive. Maybe it wasn't molestation. Troy is doing crack. Boulet is talking to the priest about it. The priest asks Boulet to bring Troy in for an intervention. At first Boulet says no, he doesn't want to lie and trap his brother.

Back to the present. Cobb doesn't buy it.

There's an undercurrent that the deacon was trying to sell the church but the whole selling property thing is getting old. I hope that is not really what the issue is.

The cops raid Shawn's house. He's not there but there are some bloody rags in the garbage.

Boulet and Cobb confront the priest about the deacon trying to sell the church. They get nothing.

Cobb calls Boulet's wife. He asks her about Troy and how he died. Troy died, was shot, while robbing a convenience store.

Flashback July 1999. The intervention. Not much to describe but it is some good back story. It makes the characters in the show that much more real. I'm not so big on the flashbacks though.

Back to the present. Boulet remembers the priest taking the water gun and where he put it. He makes the priest open the same place. He finds the gun.

I missed something but Shawn's girlfriend was someone Boulet knew and she just recently died in a car wreck. The cop crew head's to the cemetery and find's Shawn at the grave. Of course, he runs. Of course, they catch him.

Boulet is still preaching to the choir. Bwahahahahaha. He was baptised in that church and was married in that church. He DESERVES TO KNOW! Just a tad preachy here.

Cobb gets a call. Shawn confesses to the killing but the priest claims that he killed the deacon. Jah!

Flashback October 1999. Troy is playing chess with the padre. Boulet walks in. It's good times.

Back to the present. Boulet doesn't believe the priest. The priest says that he and the deacon got into a fist fight. Shawn tried to break it up.

Shawn is confessing to the Capt.

The priest said that the gun fell out of Shawn's waist band. He picked it up and shot the deacon. The congregation agrees.

Instead of bringing the priest to the jail, they bring Shawn to the church. They want to verify the story. Shawn doesn't know the story though.

Flashback to the convenience store and Troy on the floor shot. Troy was using again and he confessed to the preach. The preach didn't share that info with Boulet so Boulet blamed him for his death.

Boulet thinks the same thing happened with Shania.

It was Shania's grandma! When the gun slid across the floor, the old lady picked it up and popped a cap in the deacon. Go granny!

Although, should a preacher give up people's confessions? I don't think so.

Shania killed herself because the deacon was raping her. I was right! It was molestation but the wrong person.

Flashforward one week. Boulet drops by to see the preacherman. Boulet is a criminal. His brother killed someone but he looked the other way. So Boulet blames himself. If he had arrested Troy, he wouldn't have robbed the store.

They play a game of chess while a couple of little boys go running down the hallway.

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Ignorant Comparisons of New Orleans and San Diego

The New York Times has a good article that responds to the ignorant comparisons between the fires in California and the flooding that Katrina caused in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast, A Firestorm, a Deluge and a Sharp Political Dig.

George Bush's asinine comment, “It makes a significant difference when you have somebody in the Statehouse willing to take the lead.” does nothing to help anyone or the situation. He just needs to shut up and leave office. Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe Blanco is an idiot and having a strong governor, like Texas' Rick Perry (not like baby bush Jeb Bush), could have improved the lot of many people. That does not excuse the COMPLETE lack of federal response nor the pathetic political mongering that the white house has done since. George Bush plays with people's lives.

Some facts:

But people on the Gulf Coast say that even if the state and local response had been perfect, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina might not have looked much different. So far, there have been roughly 1,875 homes destroyed by the California wildfires; a White House report says 300,000 homes were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable by the storm. In California, fires consumed roughly 475,000 acres; more than 52 million acres were affected in the Gulf Coast, said Senator Mary L. Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat.

“I think you’re comparing a paper cut to an amputation,” said Sally Forman, the former press secretary to Mayor C. Ray Nagin of New Orleans and author of a new book, “Eye of the Storm: Inside City Hall During Katrina.” “We had no communication capability, we could not drive on our roads, we had 80 percent of our city under water, we had no power.”

1,875 homes versus 300,000. 475,000 acres versus 52,000,000 acres. Transportation was nearly unavailable in New Orleans due to flooded roads. Transportation was nearly unavailable in the rest of the Gulf Coast due to downed bridges, houses in the streets and no power.

Here's a personal message to George Bush: Shut up.

LewisC

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