6PM SHARP! See you at the Second Line!

A party with a purpose. It ain't like you got anything better to do on a Monday.

Don't miss it. It should be a lot of fun.

Blowing Up

Lots of referring traffic today now that the AZ is out and about as the other JB.

Good times.

Signals

Today, the Department of Justice confirmed an ongoing federal probe targeting Greg Meffert. It has long been assumed that he was a primary target of what everyone can boost my ego by calling the e-maelstrom.

First, it's comforting to finally see this confirmed.

Second, let's speculate:

Though announced on a Friday, to see this come out on Katrina Anniversary weekend (also known as the Great National Media Flashback of 2009) would indicate to me that US Attorney Jim Letten is making a strong commitment in regard to pursuing this case and others closely related to it.

Keep in mind that with the closure of the Bill and Mose Jefferson trials (especially Mose, since he was tried locally), the local DOJ office's labor resources diverted to those cases are now available to be deployed to work on other investigations.

Thus, starting this weekend and over the next 4-6 weeks, I would advise keeping a close eye on the papers and the blogs.

Not that you don't already.

SELLOUT

I've gone mainstream.

My most recent installment of The Punchline can be found here at The Root, which is the black people version of Slate.com.

I bought a Jaguar, a house in Cape Cod, exclusively date heiresses, and am making a concerted effort not to remember the names of my friends.

Somebody stop this joker

How unfortunate:
Some interesting names on this list of self-described "Batt Girls."

Anybody but Batt, y'all.

Tough Loss

Everyone says that they don't make Senators like Ted Kennedy anymore.

I think they're right.

Joe Biden was reduced to tears. A little difficult to watch but you should anyway.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Here is precisely what we'll be missing. This is an awesome video of Ted Kennedy fighting on the floor of the Senate for a vote on an increase in the minimum wage.

DeBerry hits it on the head

This column by Jarvis DeBerry is required reading.

The issues of the poor often intersect with those who are racially oppressed, but not always. We see the conflicts between the two groups when black people with money wage campaigns against those who are without.

Eastern New Orleans has often been a battleground for this kind of intra-racial class warfare because that part of the city has included beautiful mansions and huge unsightly apartment complexes -- one of which I used to call home. Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis gave the impression soon after Hurricane Katrina that she spoke for the entire area when she trumpeted the phrase "right to return."

She's fought mightily for homeowners -- that is, those who have already acquired some semblance of wealth. However, she has shown herself to be indifferent -- if not outright opposed -- to the interests of low-wage residents who require affordable-housing options to return to the city.

In leading the opposition against a developer looking to build 36 affordable single-family houses near Lake Carmel at an average cost of $200,000, Willard-Lewis said the interests of current residents are her chief concern. So much for everybody else returning.

The City Planning Commission voted 6-2 to approve the legal subdivision developer Harold Foley needs to start his project. The New Orleans City Council, however, voted 5-2 against the project. The only two members to show Foley support were James Carter and Shelley Midura.

In voting against the project, the City Council isn't showing itself to be any different than the St. Bernard Parish Council, which has twice been scolded by a federal court judge for violating the Fair Housing Act.

The judge found that St. Bernard officials have withheld a routine re-subdivision request for a developer planning to build apartments because parish officials are trying to keep out black people.

See Judge Ginger Berrigan's order.

The City Council is employing the same strategy St. Bernard officials have used. It's difficult to imagine a judge looking any more kindly on the city's blockade of this project. The federal court would be unfairly punishing St. Bernard if it allowed New Orleans to do the same thing.

What a weekend

As bizarre it felt to me to be going to two conferences in two consecutive weekends, Rising Tide IV hardly feels like a conference. The schmoozing is anything but business-like.

A full tip of the hat and bow to all of the RT organizers who sacrificed their time and labor to pull this thing off.

I thought Harry Shearer delivered a great keynote and I hope he energized some of my favorite bloggers to start writing more regularly again. All hands on deck!

Good panels, good food, good people, good times.

It was great to see everyone in person again.

Also a hearty congratulations is due to our good friend the American Zombie, winner of this year's Ashley award for MVB (most valuable blogger).

Did anyone get photos of Bob Ellis and Daya Naef with their goon squad? What exactly did they expect to do? Shake down our blogger of the year in front of a room of 200 or more close friends?

It comes across as desperate, don't it?

--

I think we need to have another big event (Rising Tide 4 and a half?) before the citywide elections next February.

Hay Problemas

James Perry suing the Mayor doesn't make the paper edition.

Ouch.

From Worst To Worster

Wahmbulance.

Just to deprive President Obama of credit for a forward-thinking stimulus package that funds rail expansion, we get deprived of a no-brainer high speed rail project.

Maybe the feds should offer to name the railway the Jindal High Speed Line to smooth things over.

But that sounds like something that would be built to connect Jefferson Parish to Washington D.C. only to veer off about a fifth of the way there and crash into the ocean.

Thanks for effing over the whole state because Keith Olbermann said something true about you.

Bold Move

Slow Friday no more.

From a press release received just minutes ago:

New Orleans, LA – James Perry, as a taxpayer in good standing, filed a request for a preliminary injunction today against the Nagin Administration in Civil District Court.

James Perry, New Orleans Mayoral Candidate: “My hope with today’s filing of a request for preliminary injunction is that the court will act expeditiously to halt the abuse of power by the Nagin Administration by awarding contracts in violation of the City’s Home Rule Charter.”

“As a private citizen I have serious concerns when my government begins to operate outside of its governing charter and without regard or respect for the rule of law,” said Perry. “The City Charter expressly prohibits any city department or agency with the exception of the Sewerage & Water Board, Civil Service Department, the Public Belt Railroad Commission and the Board of Liquidation from the hiring of special counsel without the approval of two-thirds of the New Orleans City Council.”

“I say enough is enough with this use of semantics and creative interpretation by the Nagin Administration to justify the awarding of contracts in violation of the city charter.”

This, the latest lawsuit against the Mayor for abuse of power, comes as a result of the recent contracts totaling $660,000 given to outside law firms. The firms have been retained to help the Mayor fend off prior lawsuits against his administration.

If you've been paying attention to this unfolding drama, you may have noticed a little foreshadowing hidden not-so-subtly in David Hammer's Wednesday article in the T-P.

David Marcello, who served as executive counsel to Mayor Dutch Morial and who chaired a committee that revised the charter in 1995, said there are only two categories of city lawyers established in the charter: those in the City Attorney's Office and "special counsel." Those categories have not changed since the charter was adopted in 1954, he said.

"There's no functional difference between special counsel and outside counsel," Marcello said.

Sal Anzelmo, who served as city attorney under Dutch Morial, agreed.

"That's like saying 'and' and 'also' are different; it's ridiculous to make those kinds of statements," Anzelmo said. "I think when you read that charter, there's no question -- it's not even debatable -- that the council has to approve outside counsel."

City Council Vice President Jackie Clarkson, who signed a letter Tuesday calling on the council's lawyer to review the practice and consider legal remedies, is likewise skeptical.

"You can argue semantics all day long, but this is obviously a violation of the intent of the charter," she said.

Marcello said the clearest way to settle the question would be for a citizen to file a lawsuit in Civil District Court.

Mr. James Perry has stepped up to be that citizen in what is conveniently, also a pretty smart political move for a guy that hasn't even been able to get his name in the paper when his campaign HQ is just missed by stray bullets from a gun battle.

Not News: Gun Battle Outside Mayoral Campaign HQ

Yesterday afternoon, I was nearby enough to hear the machine gun fire that occurred right outside Mayoral candidate James Perry's new campaign headquarters.

He's just opened up shop there, right on the corner of Palmyra and S. Dorgenois and his building narrowly avoided getting sprayed with bullets yesterday evening at around 5:30ish.

Apparently, two cars came screaming down Palmyra St. before one opened fire on the other.

Luckily, nobody got hit or hurt.

Remember that this happened just a stone's throw away from Orleans Parish Prison, Orleans Parish Criminal Court, and thus, tons of police officers.

That demonstrates a depressingly bold disregard for consequences. Or, unfortunately, a fearlessness of consequences.

This is why DA Cannizzaro feels he needs to go all bullworth on his own office and the NOPD. We've got a broken criminal justice system...

-

Strangely, the venerable Times-Picayune doesn't think it's news when a mayoral contender has to hit the deck as some nutcase fires off a round right outside his office.

I don't just know about it because I saw him standing outside as the police arrived, James Perry released a statement about the attack within an hour or so of the gun battle.

There was nary a mention of it in today's paper.

What gives? Was the story about the guy masturbating in a parking lot really so important that it couldn't be bumped from B-2?

Perry's statement is here.

New Orleans, LA – James Perry, New Orleans Mayoral candidate, released the following statement on the gun battle that occurred moments ago just outside his campaign headquarters.

James Perry, New Orleans Mayoral Candidate: “The gun battle outside my campaign headquarters brings home a point many of us know all too well: we will not be able to move forward as a city until we solve our public safety crisis.”

“Our city’s future depends on our ability to confront violence in our communities today. Our public safety crisis puts our families needlessly in danger, keeps our city from moving forward and attracting more and better jobs. Confronting violence will not be easy, but as we proved many times before, we are resilient, we are strong, and together, we are capable of fixing our public safety crisis.”

“I thank God that no one was injured, and I ask him for continued strength in our campaign to bring safety to our city’s streets. But make no mistake, even a hail of gunfire on the sidewalk outside of my campaign headquarters will not discourage me from my mission to become Mayor and make our city safe. In fact, it strengthens my resolve to fight for this city and its future so that we can finally have the New Orleans we all deserve, not the New Orleans we have today.”

At 5:20pm a fierce gun battle occurred in front of the James Perry for Mayor Headquarters located at 2547 Palmyra Street in New Orleans, LA. Perry and his entire campaign were inside the office as approximately 20-30 shots rang out. No one was injured and the New Orleans Police Department is currently on the scene.

DA Cannizzaro on truth serum

Via AZ

You definitely gotta check this out.

It's video of our District Attorney getting all candid in an official capacity. He calls out the NOPD and his own office, tells the truth about how effed up our criminal justice system is right now.

Real World: Westwego

Last night I went to Congressman Joe Cao's town hall event in Westwego.

It was pretty uncomfortable.

Nobody flew off the handle and there were no gun shows. It certainly wasn't the worst of the worst. The small auditorium was probably 75% against. He took maybe ten questions but only one from someone in support of healthcare reform.

I'd never heard Congressman Cao talk off-the-cuff for such a long period of time. His explanations of the healthcare reform proposals were kind of disjointed. I'm not sure how much of that is related to his accent and how much of it is related to his lack of confidence about his knowledge about what's actually included in the HELP bill.

For instance, he then went on for awhile about how he was worried that illegal immigrants might be exempt from the individual mandate, which of course is a ridiculous argument because if you're worried about benefits going to undocumented workers, you certainly wouldn't want them in the mandate system, which would make them eligible for subsidies, the insurance exchange, or the public option.

Besides:

House Bill: "No Federal Payment for Undocumented Aliens." According to America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, Page 143, Line 3, Section 246: "No Federal Payment for Undocumented Aliens. Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States." [America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, accessed 7/22/09

Favorite question from audience member:

"I guess I understand that we need some kind of reform. But why does it have to be a bill."

Cao cracked a nice smile at that one. Because that's how laws are made, my dear.

A high percentage audience questions were phrased in terms of how wrong it is that "lazy" people would get health insurance on the backs of "hard-working" people.

One of the more disappointing moments came when a woman went on a long and inarticulate rant about how because the Obama administration is answering emails with questions about healthcare reform, their should be some sort of investigation. This is the latest Fox News fear-smear. Cao should have knocked it down but instead said he'd have to look into the woman's claims.

Cao's office also collects email addresses and answers questions via email.

After the event, I walked up to the stage to ask the Congressman if he was still "leaning" toward supporting the bill. If he said yes, I was going to thank him.

But instead he just hedged a whole bunch. He backed off. He wouldn't say he was leaning toward it.

At some point or another he's going to have to say what he believes. He's going to have to vote on this at some point very soon. We're all going to know about it.

So he might as well just come out now and say what it is he's going to do for his constituents on this.

Make a decision and live with the consequences.

Seriously.

--

After the event I stayed around for a little while and discussed my thoughts on the bill with some of the anti-reform folks that were there. It's amazing how people react when you start telling them the facts. When you explain that we have the highest costs in the world and the 37th best outcomes, when you explain how taxes already pay for people's healthcare except only at its most expensive point - the ER, when you inject a little reality into things... well, it just confounds people.

It made me feel bad. We're so far apart on what the basic facts are.

People are being taken advantage and they're being lied to. It's a shame.

Netroots and New Orleans

I had a fun time in Pittsburgh and found the Netroots conference to be, as I did last year, a great opportunity and experience. Getting to speak on two separate panels was exciting from a personal standpoint and gave me two chances to talk about our efforts at local progressive political reform and the contributions of this community to local investigative news gathering efforts. I went to several trainings, speeches, and panels. I approached people who I wouldn't ordinarily have opportunities to meet.

The feedback I got from folks that attended one of my panels and from people who I spoke to in lobbies, elevators, bathrooms, and bars was extremely positive and encouraging. When you have the opportunity to do some retail politics about the importance of New Orleans, when you can pose direct questions gauging people's thoughts on what obligation the Left and/or the Netroots has to address New Orleans, they pay attention. They get it.

--

I blog about two things really.

I blog about my local environment and I blog about national/ international politics.

That's pretty similar to what most Netroots bloggers do. The difference is other people's local environments don't include New Orleans. Or the South at-large, for that matter.

And unfortunately, New Orleans doesn't fit in to the national political picture for most people anymore except for once or twice a year. That's unfortunate and unfair.

Add it to the pile.

--

Upon thinking about my conference experience for the last few days and after reading through a pretty resentful local email thread about the perceived reception for the New Orleans panel, Netroots organizers, or what is perceived as Netroots leadership, I think there are two very bad but easily reversible things going on.

First, I think that the Netroots conference specifically and the Netroots in general face a real crisis about what they want to be. I asked a question similar to this within the blurb I wrote for the New Orleans panel.

Are Netroots progressives chiefly concerned with affecting chance in American communities or more concerned about achieving more electoral victories for Democratic politicians?

A lot of times, those concerns align quite nicely. But a lot of other times, they don't.

It was really an honor to see Bill Clinton speak. I like the Big Dog. It was exciting.

But is it the right thing to do for Netroots to invite President Clinton to keynote but not answer questions or address challenges from the audience?

I will probably try to go to Las Vegas next year. I understand it is fun for a weekend and Netroots is a useful place to exchange ideas with like-minded people.

But is it the right thing to do for Netroots to go to Las Vegas for the second time in five years while overlooking the nation's most challenged communities? Does going to Las Vegas again reflect the progressive principles that drove the 50-state strategy and the overall growth of what could be a larger, more diverse, national progressive movement?

I'm not the only one asking. There are a lot of Netroots attendees vexed by the challenge of what Netroots is and what it should do.

Certainly, it feels to me to be way too much like the Democratic National Convention Lite.

We talk about this stuff.

I... I'm finding it bizarre to type.... twittered... my displeasure with the announcement of Las Vegas as the site for next year. A few hours later, the Chairman of the Board of Netroots specifically sought me out at the bar to talk to me about it. So too, separately, did another Netroots bigwig. I don't like their explanations very much but I see where they're coming from.

They have a tough job. Not inviting Bill Clinton or other big names means less tickets sold and less people attending. They try to go to places with robust local progressive communities. They try to go places that are cheap and accessible via air and road. They try to go places where hotels will offer generous deals. They try to go places that work on attracting them. They go where it is convenient.

Should they challenge themselves to take Netroots to places like New Orleans and Detroit, places where it would matter?

I made the case. They didn't disagree. They know they need to come down South.

I'm going to continue to engage them in a dialogue about it. That's what I'd like to think we progressives try to do.

And that brings me to the 2nd bad but easily reversible trend: our own tendency toward bitterness and isolation.

When the NCAA chooses somewhere else instead of New Orleans to hold March Madness, I don't boycott college hoops.

I don't think it helps us, not just in terms of attracting more attention from national progressives, the Left, and/or Netroots, but in terms of obtaining attention from anybody to immediately go all Sinn Fein anytime anybody does something we don't really like.

I like the idea of ourselves alone. I like it as a local organizing principle and a rallying cry for our work to clean up what's in our own backyard. I wish many more communities would adopt a similar approach to local change. But our problems are bigger than that and are beyond our backyard.

We have problems with the front porch and the roof.

We have problems next door, down the street, and on the next block.

It really matters what the rest of the country does.

I don't see how New Orleans achieves medium-term sustainability, a reasonable quality of life for its residents, or any whiff of justice for what has happened here without federal attention. I don't see how we obtain federal attention without engaging people around the country about what the situation here is.

I don't really post very often to DKos or TPM Cafe or anywhere else that might reach a national audience. Most of us don't. It would be helpful if I and we did that more often.

I'm excited by the conversations I had with other folks that blog about social, racial, and economic justice issues in other parts of the South and other urban areas. I look forward to continuing those discussions over the course of the year about how to better aggregate information on issues of mutual concern and how to organize around policies that might address those issues. I look forward to figuring out ways we can help each other.

And, as I said before, I plan on continuing to engage with conference organizers about coming to New Orleans in 2011 or 2012 or about a smaller, mid-year "salon session."

I'd like to think that they would be welcomed.

I'm curious to see people's thoughts.

Big Dog

From Thursday:

Today's the day

You may or may not be able to tune in live to my panel, New Orleans on the brink, at 1:30 ET, 12:30 CT by going to http://www.netrootsnation.org/.

Video archives of panels are not yet available but I will post from the two on which I served as soon as possible.

Baratunde Thurston just asked Valerie Jarrett if the birthers are crazy, racist, or crazy and racist.

I want that same question posed about pretty much the entire Congressional GOP.

2 Panel Man

In addition to the big Big BIG New Orleans on the Brink panel tomorrow, I am serving on a different panel today about the role of local blogs in reporting on city government.

Local blogs provide a medium to delve into zoning issues, expose local corruption, challenge traditional informational gatekeepers, broaden the knowledge of local political processes and reshape local discussions on governance. While many eyes often focus on national politics, what goes on locally often has a huge impact on all of our quality of life. Take zoning for example: it determines where roads, buildings and mass transit are built and affects the length of time it takes to get to a business, school or home. Hear from bloggers who cover city and county government and discuss the challenges in covering local politics.

It starts at 1:30 ET.

Do you have any points about how the local blogosphere has functioned to improve access to information in New Orleans you think I should make?

Throw up a comment here or hit me up @eliackerman on the twitterz.

Orange Cone Pittsburgh

Coming here to Pittsburgh is a great reminder that most cities, in contrast to New Orleans, have tons of construction in their urban downtown.

I'll be here through Sunday trying to represent new media New Orleans progressives here at Netroots Nation 2009. Our New Orleans panel is Saturday afternoon from 1:30-2:45 ET and video will be available via archive shortly thereafter, if my understanding is accurate.

Check out the rest of the conference here. Bill Clinton will be speaking tonight, Howard Dean tomorrow morning, and Valerie Jarret Saturday morning. There are tons of other brilliant thinkers here - I can be your eyes and ears. Please check out some of the panel lineups and tell me what you'd like me to check out.

For our New Orleans panel, tell me what we should talk about. Leave me a comment here or get after me on twitter @eliackerman.

Questions for Congressman Cao

I'm in Pittsburgh and unfortunately will be missing Congressman Cao's event tonight in my Irish Channel neighborhood.

Thursday, August 13th
Neighborhood Association Meeting
Irish Channel Christian Fellowship
819 First Street
New Orleans, LA
7pm-8pm CST

Here is what I would ask him about healthcare if I could.

1. Does Congressman Cao support extending the opportunity to create living wills to medicare recipients?

2. Does Congressman Cao support an individual mandate that would require all Americans to carry health insurance?

3. Does Congressman Cao support expanding medicare eligibility and/or increasing subsidies to help poor people afford insurance?

4. Does Congressman Cao support requiring employers to contribute to the health insurance costs of their employees?

5. Does Congressman Cao support changing incentive systems to reward quality of care over quantity?

6. Does Congressman Cao support regulating the private insurance industry to prohibit companies from denying coverage for preexisting conditions?

7. Does Congressman Cao support health insurance exchanges where consumers could compare costs and benefits of different insurance plans?

8. Does Congressman Cao support establishing a public option insurance plan to compete with the private insurance industry?

9. Does Congressman Cao believe that the House is proposing the creation of 'death panels?'

Congressman Cao has developed the habit of not taking positions on issues (think stimulus) before he votes the reactionary position with his Party's leaders. It is important that meeting attendees make a real effort to force Mr. Cao to explain what he believes, how he plans to vote, and why.

Secondary Brawlout

Another NOPD officer fired for involvement in Beach Corner fight.

Interestingly enough, though Officer Keller was thought to have initiated the argument that lead to the incident, he was never among those disciplined or suspended.

More than 40 police officers were interviewed as part of the administrative investigation. Keller appeared to have only a minor role in the incident, according to the NOPD's own report. It is not alleged that he threw any punches or played any direct part in the arrest of the RTA employees.

Mr. Keller, for what it's worth, might be the only officer involved in this incident NOT represented by Frank DeSalvo.

A loaded gun on the table

Before I get into this, let me first say that I would agree with some reasonable conservative critiques of the legislative process related to healthcare, that people are not as informed as they need to be on the different proposals on the table. I agree that a sweeping overhaul of the systems that govern 17% of our GDP represents an immense undertaking that should be pursued very deliberately. I agree that President Obama overestimated the capacity of the American public to conceptualize the legislative process. I also agree that the President has done real harm to healthcare reform's chances at passing in a reasonable time frame because of a failure to get out in front of some of the more ridiculous lies and smears. That such a large percentage of Americans now view this bill as an imminent threat to their health instead of an imperfect and evolving improvement to our system is deeply troubling.

The problem is, unfortunately, that I'm not sure what I would have had the President do differently aside from getting out in front of the smears faster. In '93, when Clinton dictated a bill to Congress, they freaked. So this time, Obama decided to let Congress do it's constitutionally-authorized job, only to be criticized for not exercising leadership. So I think we're seeing some real structural problems with our civil society that can't really be reduced to "if only Obama had" or "if only Obama hadn't."

I wonder what is salvageable in the current hysterical climate. Can the President wait for comprehensive bills to reach the floors of the House and Senate before swooping in with his own plan - maybe one that incorporates some GOP standards like TORT reform? Will members of Congress just decide that these town hall mob scenes won't sway them from voting for something really critical for the short term health and long term wealth of the country?

I'm not sure.

I just know that I'm getting increasingly, well, frightened by the hysterical lying about the President's plan - and not just by the outer fringes of the right win - but by members of Congress and by veteran GOP talking heads.

It's not just Sarah Palin claiming the end of life counseling clause (an idea offered by Republican Rep. Charles Boustany of Lousiana, by the way) would result in death panels that would kill off her parents and child; it's also Newt Gingrich refusing to repudiate that remark on national television and instead highlighting by parsing together some obscure old speeches by Rahm Emmanuel's brother.

It's not just Glen Beck joking around about poisoning Nancy Pelosi, it's Representatives actually getting death threats at their offices. There have been fistfights at town halls and at least one instance of someone bringing a concealed gun to a meeting.

These people aren't angry because they don't think the bill being debated by the House Energy Committee doesn't quite strike the right balance between cost controls and extended coverage; it's because they've been heinously mislead to believe that the government is going to make it more difficult to receive coverage than it is now, cut medicare, or worse, send death panels out to kill old people.

A lot of these same people have also been lead to believe that President Obama is not a legitimate elected leader. There is an all-too casual invocation of Nazi Germany and Hitler.

Add it up.

We've had people going out in record numbers since election day to purchase weapons. We've had a growing movement to discredit the President's legitimacy as an elected leader. We have a shameless push to convince people that his moderate initiatives to stabilize the economy represent dictatorial socialism. We now have a transparent effort by GOP leaders - role models for some - to trick already frightened Americans into the belief that healthcare reform will literally bring about some form of medical genocide. And we are also witnessing seemingly unchallenged efforts to invoke the personification of evil (Hitler) in describing what this healthcare bill represents.

It is vile and sickening. It even makes me afraid.

We have really dark history of racism and violence in this country and it appears as though GOP leaders are ginning up unrest amongst the kinds of people who have been alienated because of their resistance to the progress we've made in our society.

And it doesn't seem like anybody in the Republican Party leadership cares about the tipping point.

Rachel Maddow had a really jarring segment on this last Friday that I think everyone should watch in entirety.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

If you can't spare the 15 minutes, skip ahead to 7:55 and watch Rachel talk to Frank Schaeffer, an original founder of the political evangelical movement who has since repudiated his past views.

I was really struck by Mr. Schaeffer's alarm and after sleeping on it for two nights to pass it through the hyperbole scan, well... he's got me quite on guard.

--

If the default position of 100% of the Republican Congress wasn't just to kill whatever healthcare reform proposed by the President or by Congressional Democrats, it would be a lot easier to have a civil discussion about the best way to achieve sustainable reform.

But most elected Republicans and the conservative base aren't at all interested in that.

The GOP is oriented to fight any healthcare reform bill 'by any means necessary.' But it's scarier than that. The GOP is oriented to fight any progress possible.

As Mr. Schaeffer puts it, the GOP strategy is to leave a loaded gun on the table, stop just short of calling it honorable to halt Obama's policies with violence, and walk away.

I'm not sure GOP leaders know how to stop the hideous monster they've reanimated.

This is the America the world fears; not the America the world respects.

--

Organizing For America has unenviable task of trying to cut through all this BS with actual information about the actual reforms being debated in Congress.

They have an office here in New Orleans and they really need our help.

842 Camp St. in the CBD.

There are phone banks every Tuesday and Thursday from 6:00PM to 8:30PM and they canvass on Saturdays.

Their number one priority is to reach individual voters and to attempt to disabuse them of the baseless lies being spread about healthcare reform.

If you want to get involved, e-mail BayasW@dnc.org or call the HQ at 504-302-0802.

Call the senior citizens in your life.

Go to www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck to arm yourself with tools you can use to debunk the lies.

The Hospitals and the Mayor's Race

Some stunning new poll results.

A city incapable of policing its own police

Given this and this (and so many more paper cut and mortal wound examples), is it yet the conventional wisdom that our NOPD has regressed to the low levels of public confidence and effectiveness that nearly brought about a consent decree receivership with the Department of Justice in the mid-1990's?

Is discourse going to be such that a mayoral campaign promise of a "national search" for a new police chief will be code for a recognition of the panacea of problems with the incumbent NOPD leadership? Or are candidates going to be challenged to make a more precise diagnosis?

Bullish

Comments on WCBF posts last week were awesome.

Chicken Soup

Pretty much everyone is going to post this column by WaPo's Steven Pearlstein but I don't care, I'm going to do it also.

I needed this.

The recent attacks by Republican leaders and their ideological fellow-travelers on the effort to reform the health-care system have been so misleading, so disingenuous, that they could only spring from a cynical effort to gain partisan political advantage. By poisoning the political well, they've given up any pretense of being the loyal opposition. They've become political terrorists, willing to say or do anything to prevent the country from reaching a consensus on one of its most serious domestic problems.

There are lots of valid criticisms that can be made against the health reform plans moving through Congress -- I've made a few myself. But there is no credible way to look at what has been proposed by the president or any congressional committee and conclude that these will result in a government takeover of the health-care system. That is a flat-out lie whose only purpose is to scare the public and stop political conversation.

More like this please.

Emboldened or Increasingly Marginal?

A few weeks ago, I added The New Majority to my feedreader. It was founded by former loyal Bushie David Frum, who has become a major pariah on the Right for telling the truth about the political perils of right wing extremism. His efforts advocating for the "modernization" of the GOP is, I think, a great service to our discourse.

At first, I thought his critiques of the right were just going to last the length of the post-election honeymoon, but he is committed to walking the GOP and the conservative movement back from the brink of crazy.

There are a number of conservatives who are frustrated with the ignorant extremism dominating discourse on the right that read this blog. I especially recommend The New Majority to them.

That's a lengthy way of introducing this interesting piece by TNM's Tim Mak that makes the case that the increasing craziness of right wing talk radio is fueled by rapidly declining revenues.

Conservative talk radio has never been more angry and extreme than today. You might think that’s a response to the Obama presidency. But even more, conservative talkers are responding to a collapse in advertising revenues.

According to Scott Fybush, the proprietor of North East Radio Watch, talk radio has lost 30-40% of its ad revenues over the past two years.

Further, in an interview with a talk radio trade publication, Talkers Magazine, late last year, Talk Radio Networks CEO Mark Masters said: “2008 will be known as the year that weak syndicated programs began dying off in droves,” adding that “it has only just begun.”

In this environment, radio hosts believe that anger is their only path to survival. “If you’re not the most extreme person on the radio or making the most outrageous headlines,” says Fybush, “there is going to be some portion of the base that is going to ignore you and move onto someone who is more extreme.”

Better Late Than Never

Justice creeping in on NOPD for Katrina brutality?

Link...

Minyard's office next?

Dude, Where's My Ordinance?

Updated

I listened live to Council testimony as DA Cannizzaro made the pitch for moving simple marijuana possession arrests out of the criminal court system. He was off-the-agenda a little bit so the matter will go before the criminal justice committee next week some time I think.

Councilman Carter asked Mr. Cannizzaro to advise him on the language necessary for a draft ordinance.

That sounds pretty damn promising if you ask me.

Why was this so impossible to do for so many years?

Update:

It look like the judges in criminal court might be stuck in the past in this one. I hope they won't obstruct this important reform.

I'm not sure what their logic is.

I would hope that a City Council ordinance mandating that possession cases be tried in municipal court could pass unanimously.

City Hall and the LSU/VA, A Comparative Study

Earlier this week I did a post at SaveCharityHospital.com that I'm particularly happy with. It illustrates how the law was followed when it came time to evaluate the potential purchase of the Chevron building but not when the Mayor signed over Lower Mid-City for demolition to make way for the proposed LSU/VA.

There was a total surrender of oversight authority that occurred when the Mayor signed over Lower Mid-City homes and businesses to make way for a proposed LSU/VA medical complex.

The "Memorandum of Understanding" between the City and the Department of Veterans Affairs is the document authorizing expropriation in the proposed medical center footprint, permitting street closures, and allowing for taxpayer-financed damages to be paid to the VA. The "MOU" was not announced as a proposal to the public, which would have seemingly triggered hearings and votes by the City Planning Commission and the City Council.

Instead, Mayor Nagin simply signed the city into the legally-binding MOU. Neither the City Council nor the City Planning Commission has held a public hearing. Neither the City Council nor the City Planning Commission has held a vote. Rather, both bodies have avoided executing their legally-mandated authority amidst vocal calls from New Orleans residents for the City Charter to be followed.

Instead, city officials locked into a plan for medical facilities that is now stuck in the weeds, soberingly low on funds but apparently high on the prospect of neighborhood demolition and land acquisition.

If you haven't seen it yet, please go read the whole thing.

$

I was certainly relieved when the conviction came down but make no mistake about it, this is a sad thing for our city.

Netroots Nation '09!!!

Netroots Nation is an annual conference of the nation's top progressive bloggers and leaders of the loose progressive movement partially responsible for the mini-resurgence of the Left since 2004.

You may be wondering: "How the hell did E get invited?"

Well, like an annoying neighbor or relative, it's because I invited myself.

I pitched a New Orleans-centric panel for this year's conference and it got accepted!

So I'm flying my ass up to the wrong side of Pennsylvania in - wow - just over a week and will do my best to rep our fair city.

Of course it's never too late for you to waste your vacation days in Pittsburgh.

Come on up!
It's August 13-16th!

The panel is called New Orleans on the Brink: Why Progressive America Can And Should Contribute To A Sustainable Recovery and the basic idea is to try to communicate where we're at, why we're here, and to discuss where we need to go.

This is how I billed it a few months ago when I submitted the proposal:

While statistical evidence has consistently identified the failed federal response to Katrina as the watershed event contributing to the decline of the Bush administration's approval ratings, progressives and the netroots have largely abandoned the cause of New Orleans as a political and moral issue. The Left has a responsibility to see to it that New Orleans survives and thrives, for the sustainable recovery of this city will be the primary measure used for determining whether the netroots indeed represent a substantive movement concerned with the betterment of American communities or just another vessel for cyclical change in partisan fortunes. As it stands, New Orleans is on the brink. Rates of crime, illiteracy, poverty, imprisonment and life expectancy too closely resemble those of developing nations. Political power remains ensconced in the hands of economic and tribal elites. Basic retention of the population that has been able to return is as pressing a challenge as bringing home the tens of thousands who remain displaced almost four years after the levees failed.

It's always tough trying to find that sweet spot when talking about New Orleans to a national audience. One has to disabuse people of two contradictory notions. Some folks inaccurately believe that New Orleans is a hopeless post-apocalyptic hell scape while others just as inaccurately believe that we've had 'excellence in recovery.'

Similarly there's a tough balancing act when you're talking to a national audience because of the generalizations one sometimes has to impart context to people that can't possibly understand the nuance that locals implicitly know. That's an inarticulate way of saying how tough it is to make honest and critical assessments and acknowledgments of what we need to get straight in our own backyard without undermining the all-important argument about ongoing federal indebtedness to New Orleans for decades of environmental costs associated with shipping, oil, and Mississippi River dams. And then there are the costs associated with the failed federal levees, of course.

So without further adieu, let me introduce you to the panelists.

James Perry: housing advocate, fighter of discrimination, mayoral candidate, and all-star twitterer

Karen Gadbois: news organization founder, 'gadfly,' champion of justice, and all-around superstar

Jacques Morial: renaissance man, world-straddler, and human encyclopedia of New Orleans politics and history

June Cross: professor at Columbia School of Journalism, documentary-slayer, and producer of one of the greatest stories of Post-Katrina resilience, the Old Man and the Storm

Last and certainly least, the conversation moderator:

Eli (Me!) Ackerman: increasingly annoying poser

My job, I think, will be to get coffee and keep time.

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So I think this is an incredibly balanced panel. Insiders and outsiders. Boys and girls. Black, white, and creole. A Mayoral candidate and a barely employable pimple-popper.

What about you all? What do you think about the lineup? Given that we have an hour and will almost certainly devote 40% of that time to audience Q&A, what should we talk about?

Are there any messages you'd like me to deliver to scheduled celebrity pol speakers Joe Sestak, Arlen Specter, Howard Dean, or Valerie Jarret?

What about for your favorite (or most detested) snarky voice from the blogosphere?

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Also looking for your suggestions on how to behave myself at another panel I've been invited to participate in, about the role of local blogs in investigative journalism or something.

--

Let 'er rip!

What a subpoena letter looks like

City Email Docs080409-1
The non-disclosure suggestion is worded so non-threateningly.

Cliff added a great comment to the last post that's worth repeating:

Here's a question I need someone to answer for me. Why don't the feds just get a subpoena to take the entire server and do their own data extraction? Is it normal for the feds to let someone they are building a case on hire private firms to retrieve information? To me this says they are still looking for a smoking gun to make a case with. In the meantime we keep spending city money for all of this.

Maybe just tacking on additional counts?

That would seem kind of like spinning the wheel when you've already solved the puzzle.

Sunburn

1. We know that all the work LTC did for the city technology office has been subpoenaed by the Feds.

2. We know that the city fired LTC and hired "SunBlock" to do the same work in a less public way.

Question: Aren't the Feds just going to immediately subpoena whatever it is that SunBlock produces?

Dude!

Rumor has it that this week there will be an announcement that simple marijuana possession cases will no longer be pursued in criminal court.

Update: It would have to be a decision from the DA. Chief Riley would still have the discretion to make arrests unless he volunteered to alter police policy to award summons. Nonetheless, moving these frivolous possession cases into the municipal courts is a great first step if in fact this pans out.

Conference and Panel Season is in Full Swing

Two of the greatest conferences in the entire world occur this month and I'm going to both of them.

One is the 4th annual Rising Tide.

Rising Tide is again going to be at the Zeitgeist on O.C. Haley.

See you on August 22nd, from 9:30 AM onward. I'll be wearing a custom black Valentino Garavani number for the runway and then will be changing into something more casual.

Click the button for registration details.

It'll be sweet!

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Also, I'm going to Netroots Nation in Pittsburgh from August 13th - 16th and have organized the New Orleans-related panel. Basically it's going to be about how the Hurricane destroyed the everything, the whole city is below sea-level, and how K-Ville should have never been canceled.

Sound good?

More details forthcoming in a post later on...

Deputy Mayors?

Ariella Cohen wrote a great piece for Next American City about Mayor Nagin's horizontal chain of command in comparison to the efficient recent reforms undertaken in places like . . . Philadelphia!

Check it out.

One issue that nobody really talks about is governance reform. "Transparency" and open data is one thing, but examining the effectiveness of institutions from a structural standpoint is something else entirely.

I think our next Mayor would be wise to examine some of these kinds of executive branch reforms because they can be implemented starting on day one.

Slightly related, I would also love to hear a discussion between candidates for Mayor and Council about whether it would be worthwhile to expand the number of district seats to make the body more representative.