Mardi Gras

The weather for Mardi Gras was a stark contrast to that that brought the world's media to New Orleans this year. The whole final weekend through Mardi Gras day itself was beautiful with blue skies and weather in the 70s and 80s. The crowds Uptown on Saturday afternoon were healthy but a little light. Our 11-month old daughter cleaned up; she collected at least 10 cuddly toys from Iris alone. By all accounts it was a different story in the CBD and on Canal Street--the poorer people and tourists usually watch parades here--where crowds were sparse.
Perhaps the only hint that things weren't really the same Uptown was that you didn't have to buy a pass to go to the bathroom at the Superior Grill. Few people were eating inside too.

The threat of rain Saturday night, coupled with the attention of the media, led to the unheard of cancelling of the Super Krewe Endymion's Parade in the evening. Parades do get cancelled in active heavy rain, but Endymion pulled the trigger early for fear of weather related accidents with the world watching. The result of the first ever cancelling of Endymion? The biggest parade day in New Orleans Mardi Gras history!

Endymion rolled after Bacchus and a full set of day parades. It seemed everyone who had come back to New Orleans plus the population of Jefferson Parish was camped on the neutral ground Uptown. We certainly had never seen crowds quite so dense (perhaps there were fewer down in the CBD). The parades were rolling by for about 10 hours. Our daughter wouldn't let us stay for Endymion but it was a spectacular day.

Monday night was also spectacular with lighter (more normal crowds), and we must thank the rider in Orpheus who gave our daughter 4 plushy monkeys, and the one that gave her a Leviathan.

There were a few disappointments in all of these parades that we should mention:

1. The first was the small number of marching bands. This of course is to be expected, only 20 of 120 schools in New Orleans are open. One of the high points of the week was the Lower 9th Ward Marching Band which consisted of middle age men and women marching in Proteus as a high school band, complete with cheerleaders and uniforms.
2. Tucks didn't seem to be throwing its trademark toilets.
3. King Kong and Queen Kong were missing from Bacchus. This appeared to be due to a lack of tractors (tractors pull the floats) caused by Endymion rolling on the same night. Ironically, a float in Bacchus broke down causing a major delay to Endymion's kick off.

The small Krewe of Mid City perhaps stole the show. Their Den was flooded during Katrina ruining many of the floats. They paraded nevertheless with a series of floats featuring biting satirical signs.

All in all, the Mardi Gras parades this year were fantastic.

Things Aren't Quite The Same For Mardi Gras

To the Dunce in Chief who did his drinking in New Orleans some 20 years ago I don't doubt that New Orleans looks like the same place today. However, for those who live in New Orleans or visit regularly we know the truth.

I flew into New Orleans last night from Newark. I was 3 hours late coming in. Ostensibly this was due to weather (high winds). But it is the reduced Mardi Gras attendance that caused the delay and the melodrama that followed. You see, Continental Airlines scheduled one of those tiny Embraer Jets for their scheduled flight from Newark to New Orleans. Usually this would have been a 737 that wouldn't have come in 2 hours late from Grand Rapids, Iowa because it was windy (these little jets don't handle well in the wind).

Of course the crowd on the plane was small. But they also weren't as raucous as the Friday night flight before Mardi Gras. Though this may have been due to the delay. The good news was that most of these people were coming down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, either to show support for the city they love, or just because they wanted to spend a week in oblivion as if nothing had happened here.

The next sign that things in New Orleans were still a bit different was the lone taxi at the airport (though again it was pretty late). I got in the taxi with 6 frat boys and after some bartering we agreed to pay $15/person, realising that there were likely no more taxis tonight.

Dropping people off on St Charles you couldn't help but notice the people who were clearly spending Mardi Gras sleeping in tents on the neutral ground. Were these people there every year, or is the only way they could afford Mardi Gras this year.

As our Odyssey proceeded through the CBD to the JW Marriott our taxi driver blew through some red lights, clearly giving the idea that there was some degree of lawlessness in this town.

It was encouraging to learn that the frat boys were going out drinking in the French Quarter as soon as they checked in.

The taxi died at the corner of Rampart and Esplanade. I left the cabbie there on the corner trying to restart his living and walked the rest of the way. Which is where I found the next 2 signs that things were different here. The neutral ground on Esplanade was now a car park. I speculate that this is because some of the parking lots are closed, and at least one of the traditional Mardi Gras lots is now a FEMA trailer park. The second sign was that the Port of Call was closed at 2am! Say no more.

The final sign that things are different here was when I went out for my run to pick up beignets from Cafe du Monde for breakfast. There was nary a one passed out drunken frat boy sleeping it off or staggering on the Moon Walk.

Yes, there are encouraging signs that New Orleans is coming back. People have come down for Mardi Gras, and they will have fun. But there are tell tale signs that things are not quite the same. Only time will tell if the city's businesses will get the Mardi Gras boost they so desparately need.

Pearlington--6 months post Katrina

The following is posted on behalf of Angela Cole and the people of Pearlington, MS

Greetings once more from Pearlington, Mississippi, the tiny hamlet that was virtually wiped off the map on August 29, 2005. Approximately 700 of the 1,700 residents that called Pearlington home prior to Hurricane Katrina have returned to try and scratch-out an existence in the thick, black, toxic muck. My choice of words is deliberate. They are not "rebuilding" for the government responsible for these citizens has revealed no plan for restoring the infrastructure - the framework - around which their community and their lives were built before. No childrens' hurried footsteps reverberate throughout the moldy, buckled hallways of the little school as they try to make-it to class on time. Instead, there is the sound of the big, yellow bus as it pulls from the yard of the ruined school every day to take the children an hour from their homes to school in Kiln, MS. When they return late in the afternoon, they can not run to the corner grocery store to buy a Coke or a bag of M&Ms; their parents can not stock their tiny FEMA trailer refrigerators with milk or eggs. Where the two general stores once stood are still two piles of moldly debris. In Pearlington, MS - some 6 months after Hurricane Katrina made her presence known for eternity - not one store, school, bank, or gas station is in the process of returning. And, so, the people of Pearlington live their lives in limbo, not knowing when - or even if - their tiny community will return.

While they wait, the seasons come and go and the colors of the day shift. The putrid, standing water of 6 months ago has turned from a murkish brown to an almost fluorescent green. The piles of debris have turned from a soggy grey to a hardened black; and the hard, grey dirt has deepened into a thick, slick, oily black-ice. And, the smell of raw sewage permiates the outside air and the inside water flowing from many of the faucets. Old, ruined homes almost lean against tiny FEMA trailers - the plots too small to handle both the old house and the new travel trailer. So, the view from all sides is destruction and decay. Four, five, sometimes more people exist in these trailers. While the government is glaringly absent, the volunteers are not. Due to recent media attention, many have found their way to Pearlington. Each group, religious or secular, has its specific mission. One builds wooden storage sheds so people can store their clothing and other belongings (there is no closet or storage space in a FEMA trailer); another builds 1-bedroom bungalow cottages; another bull-dozes ruined houses. It sounds great and the dedication of these volunteers is real. However, there is no coordination among the hundreds of well-meaning, but un-guided worker bees buzzing around Pearlington. The 1-bedroom bungalows are barely bigger than the FEMA trailers and are not a solution for families. They are yet another temporary stop-over on the way to a destination as yet unknown. The bulldozers lumbering down the narrow, 2-lane roads are imposing and the mountains of wood and metal they leave behind are impressive; yet, they do not have the capacity to move those very mountains beyond the edge of the yard. And, so, they litter the landscape with remnants of former shelter - of former hope.

Hope is hard to come-by these days in Pearlington, MS. That's not to say that folks have stopped functioning. It's worse than that. They have started accepting this way of life as all they can expect - as all they deserve. A quiet resolution has set-in. Those with little wooden storage sheds have begun to fill them with donated clothes and even donated washers and dryers. They have taken the tents that housed them for 3 months or more and converted them into dining and family rooms as though this is just how normal families live. The dancing flames of bonfires dot the landscape each evening as families and neighbors gather for company and warmth - outside, for the FEMA trailers are too tiny for a family dinner or gathering. People talk about the necessity of staying outside as much as possible to avoid the "walls closing-in." The Red Cross is gone now; no more meals are served. The "Distribution Center" is about to close. Corrupt though it was, it was a symbol of something tangible in terms of relief. When the Red Cross was pulling-out, the representative was asked why they were leaving. His response was, as follows: "Well, pretty much everyone has their FEMA trailers now, so they can cook for themselves." There are very, very few jobs in Hancock County at all. The heat and stove in the FEMA trailers are powered by propane tanks. It costs approximately $22 to re-fill a tank. Families are running-through 2-4 tanks per week to feed their children and keep them warm. Conservatively, that's almost $200/month for propane alone. That does not even factor-in electricity or food or other basic supplies. Yes, there is a stove in each and every FEMA trailer; but, you must be able to afford the propane to power it and food to put in it. Many of the elderly just go without.

While no longer "forgotten" by the outside world, the people of Pearlington remain completely abandoned by anyone in authority who could make a plan or give them answers. And so, I and CNN press-on. The questions that hang over every day are quite simply: Why is Pearlington, MS being ignored? Why is there no plan in place for these people? If there is not going to be a plan, why are they not being told this and re-located appropriately? CNN is beginning to ask some hard questions and is committed to doing so until answers emerge. Please watch the 2nd CNN segment about Pearlington, MS on "American Morning" with Soledad O'Brien on Tuesday, Feb. 28th. The show runs from 6:00 AM to 10:00 AM EST. I do not yet know the timeframe for the segment, but the last one ran in the 8:00 hour. For this one, Soledad O'Brien herself came to Pearlington. True to her word at the end of the Christmas piece, she came to do the follow-up.
Yesterday, wonderful volunteers from Cincinnati drove down with a van loaded with food for the people of Pearlington. I went around to some of the FEMA trailers and asked folks what they needed. One woman looked at me and said, somewhat perplexed, "We don't need anything. You know, we can make do. Things aren't so dire anymore." Her moldy, ruined house is practically leaning-against her cramped FEMA "travel trailer;" her grandchildren play outside in the green, contaminated standing water; her donated washer and dryer can only be accessed by going outside and into a leaky, wooden shed; and she has to go 20 miles in any direction to even buy a carton of milk. She has lived, worked, and paid taxes in Pearlington for over 40 years; and yet, only 6 months after the worst disaster to hit the United States, she has resigned herself to a new normal of squalor and deprivation. On August 29th of 2005, her world shrank along with her expectations. And, that is why we must persist. We must hold those in authority accountable for their inaction; and, we must persist until we have answers on behalf of those who can not ask the questions for themselves. Those of us "out in the world" can not allow our expectations to shrink. We must hold the hope for those who are too weary to do so for themselves. We must and I know we will.

Thank you for your continued interest in the people of Pearlington, MS. Photos will follow in the next couple of days; and, of course, you can see much of the conditions on CNN February 28th.
Continuing in Peace and Justice,
Angela J. Cole, MPH, RN

Bush can't have it both ways on security

The Port of New Orleans is one of 6 ports at the center of the controversy over the sale of port operations to the UAE government. The reality of this deal is that who owns the operation probably doesn't impact security. But in the post 9/11 world of the Dunce in Chief we can't take the risk. If our security is at such risk that the President has to monitor the communications of US citizens without a warrant we need to err on the side of caution. Bush can't have it both ways.

Chertoff the Jerk Off said that we have to balance National Security with the need for global commerce and investment. How can the Secretary of Homeland Security make such a value judgement? His role is to focus on Homeland Security, not global commerce. If Homeland Security could come up with a way to secure our ports this would be a non-issue. However, the ports are regarded as the weakest part of our borders. That given, we can't take the risk of allowing terrorists to gain access via an arabic government, however trustworthy that government maybe. If Ted Kennedy and various infants are on a no-fly list because of our security needs, we need to err on the side of caution. Chertoff the Jerk Off can't have it both ways.

What if Katrina was Due to Global Warming?

It's almost 6 months since Katrina and there has been only peripheral discussion about global warming. It is obviously impossible to ascribe one specific hurricane (or any other event) to a phenomenon such as global warming. However, there is increasing evidence that global warming is causing an increase in ocean water temperatures. Warmer temperatures lead to more frequent and--more importantly--more intense, hurricanes. Katrina Rita and Wilma were three of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded (forget the bizare statistics you may have seen about hurricanes hitting the US). Coincidence?

We are told that the current increase in hurricane activity is due to a natural cycle. But an analysis of hurricane activity since record keeping began in the 1880s shows that there has been a real increase in hurricane and tropical storm frequency over the past 10 years. The figure shows a 10-year rolling average of hurricane and tropical storm activity. While additional research is needed, it is evident that something other than a natural cycle in activity is at work here.




The relationship of hurricanes and global warming is perhaps best left to the scientists who have spent careers researching this. The area that has not been explored by either the scientists or the politicians is the impact that global warming has on the economy. The policy of the Dunce in Chief is that to curb emissions of greenhouse gases would have a crippling effect on the US economy and business. The true cost of Katrina has yet to be realised, but $85 billion and rising has already been appropriated by the government. This doesn't include the real cost to the economy of the Gulf Coast and the as yet unrealised impact on defaulted mortgages etc etc. And don't forget the hurricanes of 2004 which repeatedly hit Florida.

How many disasters like Katrina can US policymakers stand before realising that we are already directly paying the price of global warming? Perhaps the irony here is that while other industrialsed countries signed on to Kyoto in a futile attempt to address global warming, it is the US that is paying the economic price for refusing to recognise the dangers.

A bill on the hill

It seems McCain and Feingold are trying to help straighten out the Army Corp of Engineers with the Water Resources Planning and Modernization Act of 2006 .

The bill would specifically address the following:
* Require that Corps projects focus on national priorities for navigation, flood damage reduction, and ecosystem restoration.

* Require the Corps’ to modernize its playbook. The Corps project planning guidelines are more than 20 years out of date and have been consistently criticized by water experts and the National Academies of Science as needing overhaul to incorporate modern economic and environmental principles.

* Require independent expert review of proposed projects that cost more than $25 million or are controversial, to ensure that the Corps’ plans are based on sound economics and science.

* Require the Corps to comply with the same mitigation requirements that must be met by all other government or private entities when unavoidable impacts to rivers or wetlands occur in project implementation.

It sounds like a good idea to me - hope it works better than campaign finance reform, which still seems to be a mess. It will be interesting to see if this bill goes anywhere.

Chertoff the Jerk Off

Is anyone else surprised that Chertoff the Jerk Off still has a job? How can someone who took the level of criticism that he did in the House GOP Report on Katrina possibly survive. I even wonder if Cheney shot the 78 year old Texan lawyer in the face deliberately to divert attention away from the real news of the week. Trivial news that doesn't affect the American people always trumps news that impacts the safety of every American in every corner of the USA. If anyone actually discussed and read the Katrina report the Bush administration would likely implode.

It's not too late to get rid of Chertoff the Jerk Off. There will be a White House report--this of course will end with Chertoff getting the Medal of Freedom. However, there is hope that the bipartisan Senate committee will publish their report in a week Cheney doesn't shoot some one.

I haven't finished reading the report yet, but I hope to be able to pull out some good tid bits from it over the next couple of weeks.

It's All About the Oil

On Wednesday the Dunce in Chief's Katrina czar announced a $4.2 billion package for housing relief for property owners. Does anyone else see the government's agenda in the timeline leading up to this?

Last week the White House rejected the Baker Bill (for some reason effectively killing it). In response Governer Blanco threatened to block the upcoming sale of oil leases off the Louisiana coast. With amazing speed the administration came up with this alternative to the Baker Bill. Coincidence? I think not.

Of course no one will ever admit to it. So Blanco just needs to hold the oil issue over Bush to get whatever she wants.

White House Plays Defense

The White House spent most of Monday trying to play down the conclusions of the Republican House report that was initially reported in Sunday's Washington Post. The report concluded that the Dunce in Chief was woefully disconnected from the realities on the ground in New Orleans and failed to respond to the Katrina crisis.

Frances Fragos Townsend went before the Press to say that Bush was engaged and that even if they had paid attention it wouldn't have really changed their plans. As usual, we are asked to trust them. This is where the wheels fall off for the White House. They refused to cooperate with the House or Senate committees investigating Katrina, claiming Executive privilege. Putting aside the fact that this secrecy is surely unwarranted in something that falls squarely in the area of the national interest, if you claim Executive privilege and refuse to cooperate you have to accept the consequences. It is natural for investigating committees to place an excess of blame on those who do not cooperate. Nagin cooperated, Blanco cooperated, even Chertoff--who drew most of the blame--cooperated.

If you don't cooperate you can't question the outcome.

The White House asserts that it is focusing on the future not the past. This crass kind of statement is perhaps symptomatic of all Bush's problems. The academic discipline of history of course is all about analysing the past in order to understand the present and not make the same mistakes in the future. Attending to history would maybe have prevented many of the Dunce in Chiefs blunders, like the invasion of Iraq.

No doubt the President's own report will squarely lay blame anywhere other than the White House (my bet is with Blanco) while providing little if any new information. We cannot let Bush dodge his incompetency and the future security of America by allowing him to deflect his culpability in Katrina.

Kids need schools

This is awful - Salon is reporting that kids are being turned away from schools in New Orleans, that there is no school bus system, no special education accomodations, and with the charter schools, no more "neighborhood school". I had wondered how that was working - now that the schools are charters you have to apply to get in and if every school is full - too bad. You have no "default school". This is crazy. Not every kid can go to private school. We have an obligation as a society to provide schools for children to attend.

I can't wait for Mardi Gras

Hey, I figured out you can go on iTunes and download ($0.99/song) quite a few Mardi Gras songs. I guess thats kind of obvious but I never thought of doing it before and although I have a few CDs of Mardi Gras compliations they always seem to be missing some of the good ones.

I was trying to remember the name of a song and ran into this list of Mardi Gras classics that's a real help for someone who was never really sure who sang those songs.

So are we any closer now to getting rid of that pompous Chertoff? I was hoping Brownie could be our unlikely hero but I dont think he said anything damaging enough. Although confirmation that the White House knew of the dire situation and still did nothing was helpful. I just dont know what people expected from the "my pet goat" dunce in chief. Really Brownie updating the White House and thinking that would make something happen was one of his biggest mistakes. How about Cheney blowing away a hunting buddy over the weekend - oops! That's a little comic relief amid the scandals. We can still dream of the impeachment of Bush, I hope the Congress has enough cojones to get it done. Still - none of that in itself is going to protect us come next hurricane season. I hope the Corps of Engineers gets it done and that the winds blow elsewhere. We really need Congress to step up to the plate and fund the long term protection or we are toast.

I switched this year to shrimp etouffee from crawfish for my Mardi Gras party this past weekend and it just wasnt the same. I need to work on a new recipe, it was just lacking something. I figure with the crawfish shortage I may be making the shrimp version again for a while.

Anyway, I cant wait for Mardi Gras. This will be my first year attending with a baby - should be a bead magnet, but I am worried about "nap time" being incompatible with the grueling schedule we have planned. Hopefully she'll come thru for us - who needs a nap when there are beads to catch? It better not rain.

Blue Dog Masks Up

Theres a couple of good Blue Dog prints at Blue Dog Relief, including a new one where the Blue Dog goes to Mardi Gras and begs for some throws from FEMA. Pretty funny.