Sitting On My Porch Part Seventy Eight

It took a whole week but I am finally ready to accept that the Saints are not going to the Superbowl. It was a heartbreaking lost in San Francisco and I have been in denial ever since. I was in so much denial that I invited my co-workers to my tailgate party this weekend when we played the Giants. They suggested I go home. I’m still not ready to talk about the season so I will direct you to Grandmaster Wang who did a pretty good job at it.......I still can’t believe we gave up the exact same play to lose the lead twice. That was unbelievable.

Saturday was a beautiful day in New Orleans. We are not having much of a winter and I am not complaining. The weather was almost good enough to make you forget how bad this year has started for New Orleans. I almost did a spring time activity and bought some crawfish to go sit on the lake and eat. It’s a little too early for that. Days like this makes you wonder why we have so much violence in this city. It’s such a beautiful atmosphere that we make ugly with our behavior. I didn’t want to watch the news tonight because I didn’t want a double shooting to ruin my mood. I figure it will be there waiting for me in the morning and I can depressed over breakfast.

What I really need Mayor Landrieu and Chief Serpas to do is to stop having press conferences and talking their way into animosity for something everyone should be united against. This is especially true for the chief who seems to be using the past of the victims to explain why his department hasn’t been able to calm things down. Anybody who lives here and pays attention knows what’s going on. A lot of the victims have criminal past that put them in the environment where violence is likely. The problem is that you can’t use that to explain every victim and even if that was the case it’s the police department’s job to protect everyone even if they have been in trouble before. We don’t want to start picking and choosing what person’s death deserves proper attention. I don ‘t think Cheif Serpas means it that way when he’s talking but why give anyone the chance to misunderstand? Let the media give that kind of information and just keep working to stop it.

I’m watching Newt Gingrich celebrate his win in South Carolina tonight. I am not surprised by the results. I don ‘t know how well Mitt Romney’s going to play in the south. Newt Gingrich is from Georgia so he understands how to win votes down here. People in the south vote for the person they can recognize with the most. They will also rally behind their guy if they feel he’s being picked on and will cast their vote as a way to strike back. This is true for black, white, Republicans and Democrats in the south.

Once Juan Williams and CNN started asking Newt about cheating on his wives and his race baiting code words the election belonged to him because he responded in defiance instead of acting like both of those topic were valid to ask someone who wants to be president and lead the country. That means that the people who shout family values to the top of their lungs all the time gave Newt a pass for trying to turn his wife into a swinger just because he’s from the south and they hate all media outside of Fox News. It’s no wonder we ended up with eight years of George W. Bush, a ten year war in Iraq and almost had the second great depression. That’s not a good way to choose a candidate.

Just for the record, if anyone I know tells me they are voting for President Obama only because he sung two lines from an Al Green song at the Apollo Theatre I am going to tell them the same thing. That’s not a good way to choose a candidate.

I’m taking the kids to see Red Tails for several reasons. The first reason is they need to see their history and understand that they weren’t put here destined to be thugs and gangsters. Part of killing a destructive culture is changing the outlook of the kids that’s involved. The second reason is that George Lucas spent 58 million dollars of his own money to get the film made. I figure we at least need to go out and generate enough money for him to get that back. I respect him for putting up his Darth Vader money for the Tuskegee Airmen’s story. The third reason is that my grandpa fought in World War II and it always fascinated me that those men put their lives on the line for their country knowing when they came home they wouldn’t get to enjoy the full rights of the country. The older I get the more I am amazed by these men and the more the present situation in our community seems even more confusing. I’m hoping the movie confuses some of the young men who see it as well. The way we behave right now isn’t supposed to make sense.