Posts Tagged ‘Politics’

So today’s the Louisiana primary. We weren’t supposed to matter- we never matter. I’ve never actually lived in a state where, from a primary standpoint, the game wasn’t over by the time it was our turn.

We had a very civic-minded day, actually. First it was Alison’s mock-trial scrimmage at the big courthouse on Poydras. Since it’s essentially a big argument, she did all too well, natch.

It was from there to the polling place, where I had a little crisis of confidence. I really REALLY wanted to vote for Hillary. Months ago, anyway. You know…before.

Before all the sort of iffy, racial sounding comments. Before the nastiness. Before her husband went off the frigging rails, fer godsakes! Bill! Dude! Suck it up! Your wife managed to hold it together in public when you couldn’t button your fly- try looking like an ex-president and not like a petulant snot whydontcha?!

I considered going down to listen to him speak yesterday, cause, well, you know how it is. Every time I hear Bush speaking I sigh wistfully and think about what it was like when we had a president who was…oh…I don’t know…coherent, for a start. Seeing this new and not-so-improved Bill is just sad.

Plus, when I read the coverage of the event, it’s clear where this region’s vote is going anyway. Obama had a 500 person overflow at his event. Bill/Hill couldn’t fill the place. She didn’t even show up, just sent him, and he got kinda pissy. Said we ‘owed’ her, so we’d better pay up.

That was the nail in the coffin. I was about 95% sure I was pushing the Obama button, but that did it. Still feels a little like I broke up with the Clintons. Sorry, guys, I guess I just need some space.

The scarier thing was that there was a short column in the paper about how Huckabee could take the other side of the aisle. That man scares the bejabbers out of me.

Well, I’d thought I might go down and see the progress down at CJ Peete today, but there isn’t any.

First there was a stop-work order put in place until the City Council fully approved their demolition. Okay, fine- that should’ve been done previously, anyway. It’s the law, go for it.

But now there’s a letter on Bush’s desk to stop the work, and I could scream- largely because I’m pretty liberal overall, and these people give liberals a bad name.

I mean, really. Do these people look to you like they have day one experience in the realities of the most notorious public housing projects in the country?

(pic courtesy of the T-P)

No, these are not the displaced poor. They’re the children of affluent parents (Loyola students, y’all- $37k a year) who want to feel like they’re helping the world.

I get that, really, I do.

But when you look around at your protest, in your jammies and your Santa hats, don’t you wonder why the residents aren’t there with you? Don’t you look at the decay and wonder who in their right mind would want to live there? I guess your prof hasn’t shared the horrendous crime stats with you, or the even higher teen pregnancy rates within them.

Here are some facts. Read the rest of this entry »

It was a quiet week around here, blog-wise, because it was anything but quiet, life-wise. I’ll catch up on all that later, because it deserves its own entry, but the runoff election was on Saturday, and I’ve gotten really disgusted with the coverage, so I’m gonna rant about that first.

First off, I want to say that, generally speaking, the good guys won. These are people who are trying to reform, and seem genuinely interested in change. Just to clarify: this is why I consider them “good guys.”

So it’s infuriating that all the local media is focusing on is race. The whites have “taken control” of the City Council with a 4-3 majority. They’ve “seized” several positions around the city. It’s absurd.

The Council race pitted one (white) ex-council member against a current (black) council member who represents the East.

Honestly, I wasn’t thrilled with either candidate, but had to grimace and vote for the white chick. Despite what the media will tell you, it wasn’t because Cynthia’s black, but because she’s so busy trying to cover her own ass that I just can’t trust her judgement. Her constituency in the East is an obvious candidate for redistricting and she’s doing anything she can to keep her hand in the pot, including encouraging people to move into unsafe areas.

I also voted for the white chick for judge. No big mystery: the black chick simply had about 1/3 the experience.

There, that’s my little confession.

The thing that baffles me, though- and is driving Charlie bats, btw- is that there hasn’t been a big piece about Jalila Jefferson-Bullock’s defeat by Cheryl Grey. Maybe because they’re both black so it doesn’t fit the theme?

Jalila doesn’t seem a bad person, really. But she does come with a complete set of luggage, plus a refrigerator or two. She’s Dollar Bill’s daughter, and despite having his enormous political machine behind her she lost by a 2-1 margin.

This is huge. Nearly unimaginable- and yet there hasn’t been a single big story focusing on this, and it really is a ‘big picture’ issue.

Is it actually possible that the voters are getting beyond race- beyond legacy, even- and voting with their heads? Well, I don’t want to get my hopes too high, but there’s always hope, no?