I'm moving, out of the state, out of the country, out of my mind.
As I sit here and type this there are so many good reasons to believe the previous statement.
In New Orleans, Louisiana it seems that some things will always remain the same as they were before Katrina, both good and bad.
Yes we'll still have the gumbo, the music, the people, the laissez-faire attitude towards work and life.
We'll still have the parades, the festivals, the celebrations and second lines.
As strong as the french quarter remains after Katrina, so too lies the power of corruption and scandal in our local government.

It took me a long time, and a big storm, to realize just what corruption actually is, what forms it takes, and how it hurts people.

Most often it comes in the form of an elected official giving out a "no bid contract" to someone they are connected to. In this case what happens is some politician assigns a particular task to a company, i.e. debris removal, selling fema trailers, or retrieving flooded cars. When this happens no other competing company has a chance to "bid" on the job. This is how politicians make the real money. They get a cut from the company they gaive the job to in return for the no bid contract.

It's gone on for decades with little or no adversity from other politicians, or even the citizens that these supposed "leaders" represent. Today I was listening to the inspector general for Louisiana on WWL radio, who is in charge of investigating these types of offenses. There was a case where a shop who sold motorcycles received $112million for selling fema trailers which it didn't even have a permit to do (they had a permit for selling old, used trailers but not the brand new trailers fema was sending). No permit? No problem! Just get your cousin/uncle whoever you have in the state legislature to pull some strings, you might have to pay a little fine of $40,000 but when you're making $112million you can afford such petty fines.

This stuff is still going on while Washington watches, looking for any reason whatsoever to no send more money. While the media is scrutinizing our "shit for brains mayor" Ray Wonka and Governor Blancstare.

Yet nothing happens.

Furthermore, seeing corruption on a local, close up level also educated me on how these things transpire on the national stage. The war in Iraq for instance, is another example of how corruption works. Many no bid contracts were given out to a lot of Pres. Bush's friends. Is this a sign of corruption in the white house? Of cronyism? You betcha. Is it the first time it's happened in the white house? Definitely not, and it won't be the last by far.

I just heard a clip from Rosie O'Donnell claiming that radical christianity is as dangerous as radical Islam. I found this very interesting coming from her point of view. I understand that her sexual orientation makes her a target of christianity and that she probably feels threatened. However there is no comparison between radical christianity and radical Islam. If she was living in Iran, Iraq, Syria or any other country with Islamic law she would be stoned, killed. She wouldn't have to worry about what Pat Robertson says, or people making fun of her, because she would be dead. I think the only way that she would truly understand this is if she was on a plane, about to be hijacked, or possibly about to get her head cut off. I wonder, if she was to be put in that situation, just what would lil ole Rosie say..."Dear God, help me..."???

Conspiracy Theories. Mostly about 9/11 Since 9/11 a lot of people have questioned whether what really happened is what was reported in the 9/11 commission report. I stayed up till 4am listening to people talk about their conspiracy theories. Anything from it being the world's largest insurance scam, to it being set up by the jews, to a new world government. There are somethings that don't fit however. Like the hole in the pentagon, was that really a 757? We may never know, or maybe just not in our lifetime. Look how long it took for JFK to get truly investigated.

This is my first post, I will use this blog to rant to rave, to post my thoughts on here that I do not want to post on myspace. I'm from New Orleans, living uptown. Occaisionally I will talk about how things are in New Orleans, how the recovery is going. Occaisionally I will talk about my band, Vedas. I may also mention things from time to time about the work I do, which is video. I video weddings and other events, as long as the pay is right. I also create videos personally on the side. New World Orleans is the video I made from the whole Katrina experience. Check my myspace webpage to see those videos. Till then, later.