Another Victim of Irresponsible Internet Behavior

We are living in a fascinating and confusing time. I’ve written about internet comments before. It’s one of my five favorite posts ever. I continue to be amazed at how many people end up in hot water because they just can’t control typing whatever is on their mind and posting it for the masses.

 Americans believe in free speech. The founding fathers believed in it so much it was covered in the first amendment to the constitution. As much as some of the things people say that get on my nerves, I’m still glad we can say or write what we want and not face a firing squad. At the same time as free speech is protected Americans also believe in the right to be quiet. We believe in it so much that the Fifth Amendment says you even if you are arrested for a crime you doesn’t have to say anything. You could be a serial killer and don’t have to tell how many people you killed or where the bodies are. Both the right to remain silent and the freedom to say what you want are a true test of free society because sometimes they clash with situations going on in the world.

Social networking has taken the clash between these two things to an entirely new level. I don’t think in the history of the world has so many people said things willingly to cause themselves problems. Mr. Mark Traina was a school psychologist for 20 years in Jefferson Parish. Part of his job was evaluating kids to see if they needed to be referred to alternative schools. He's had a few issues for making comments on NOLA.com and Twitter. One of his tweets mentioned how black thugs needed to be put down like animals because that’s what they are. When interviewed on the news he said he wasn’t racist. He’s just fed up with crime.

First of all Mr. Traina is an educated man. I’m assuming that because he’s been a school psychologist for 20 years. I’m sure he could have come up with a better way to express his frustration with crime. He has to understand how comments like the ones he made look in relation to the job he has. He’s evaluating troubled kids and many of them look like the same thugs he wants to put down like animals. If I was a veterinarian and posted all over the internet about how I couldn’t wait to kick dogs in the face, and any dog that wasn’t pure bred should be put to sleep would you send your pet to me? Even if I was qualified and claim to love animals, how could you ever feel comfortable leaving your pet in my care? You wouldn’t and now that his opinions on “black thugs” are public no parent is going to take his evaluation without question especially if their kid fits the description. His own words put his effectiveness in question.

Personally, I have no problem with Mr. Traina no longer having his job because of what he said but what I don’t understand is why he just didn’t share his opinions with his friends and family and keep it off of the internet? I guess people being exposed for their views by their own choice is a good thing but the logical side of me just can't make sense of it. The truth of the matter is that he’s not the only person who thinks the way he does. It’s just that most of those people are not sharing with the world, hiding their identity or not working for the school system evaluating troubled kids. The amount of people who are willing to put their careers in jeopardy to make comments never ceases to amaze me (Maybe it's all the random folks online too scared to use their real name and with nothing to lose cheering them on but that's a topic for another post. If you lose your job because someone name CajundudeXXX kept cosigning every ridiculous thing you said online and you just had to keep satisfying their lust for ignorance then you deserve to be unemployed.) We have freedom of speech but that doesn’t mean that there are no repercussions at all.

I’m definitely not always a happy guy. I get frustrated with a lot of people both public and private.  I have opinions about a lot of things but I try not to present them in a way to offend anyone. The reason is pretty simple. Babies need food and clothing. I like going to the store with my debit card and buying stuff. Unless there was something that would change the course of my community or make me so much money that I didn’t have to work it’s not worth it. Maybe that means I don’t have enough courage but at least I still have my career which is more than Mark Traina can say. He may not have a job anymore but he probably picked up some new Twitter followers. I hope that makes him feel good about the situation.

The Calling In Sick of Politics

Today was a long work day but I struggled and made it through. I didn’t really sleep at all last night. When I woke up this morning I thought long and hard about calling in to work but I didn’t. In my entire adult life I have only called into work without a good reason once. That was to go to a Saints game in 1996 so even my manager understood. I believe when you make a commitment to a job you stick to it. That’s why I fought through my day today and why it makes no sense to me that my city council person is not going to work right now.

I often wonder what makes political leaders take certain stands when they do. Out of all the things that have taken place in the city, could Councilwoman Hedge-Morrell and Councilman Johnson really be holding up city business because of the way we elect at-large council members? That should be something that can be worked out without a protest. They also voiced concerns over Councilwoman’s Head’s replacement for her District B seat. They feel he’s unqualified. My opinion is who cares who’s the councilperson is District B. If the people of that district are okay with an unqualified person to replace their former representative so be it. I’m concerned with having nice things in the area where I live.

 I believe in the phrase “to the victor go the spoils”. Ms. Head won her new at-large fair and square. Let her name who she wants to her old seat just like every other person has done. If they didn’t want her to have that much power they should have ran against her or helped her opponent Cynthia Willard-Lewis. None of that happened so just let it go and deal with it.

The other theory as to why they are holding out on going back is they are doing the mayor’s bidding so he can appoint his own foot soldier to the council. If that’s true then I have to ask what’s in it for Districts D and E if that happens. Are we getting extra police patrols? Will some of the projects that haven’t been completed in our area move up the list? Are we getting the second Costco store? What about a hospital? ….Wal Mart?......Anything? If all they are doing is helping the mayor gain more influence so he can turn over entire neighborhoods to the Hospitality Zone and spur development in other areas then they could have went back to work already. The least they can do is get something out of it for their districts so they won’t look like the pawns they are appearing to be right now

This is my third day of a week’s vacation and I am ready to go back to work. Being a tourist in your own city is overrated. I’ve seen all of this stuff hundreds of times already. Plus all my friends that I would hang out with are working. I guess I shouldn’t complain about that. At least they all have jobs. I’ve been taking this time to sleep late, clean up my yard and spend some time away from the constant download of people’s opinion on the information highway. I'm making a conscious effort not to pay attention to things from time to time.

I’m pretty sure that makes me an irresponsible adult.  I think a big problem is people aren’t paying enough attention to issues that are happening in their community.  That’s why we have so many people who either sound ignorant and clueless when they speak. Lucky for us we have platforms like Twitter and Facebook that allow them to showcase their ignorance to the rest of the world. I don’t want to sound like a hypocrite and pretend like I am not dialed into the grid but it’s different with some people. Some people just have a bold confidence to make the craziest statements ever. It gets to be a bit much sometimes.

The blogging struggle continues….

Rest in Peace Rest in Peace to Adam “MCA” Yauch

My Thoughts on the New Orleans Hospitality Zone

The city of New Orleans is preparing to have a hospitality zone to generate money for the tourist industry. The particulars are already broken down by LunaNola on the NOLAFemmes blog so I don’t have to do it. I am not anti tourism. I realize that a lot of people in this city including my closest friend depend on visitors to fuel their livelihood and I respect that. I don’t want people to stop visiting the city. I just don’t know why we have to create all the extra layers of government and taxes to feed the tourism industry. It seems to me the industry has been doing okay without a special tax zone.

Do we need the extra money for the Superbowl? New Orleans was hosting Superbowls before they had a Superdome. I think people know what they are going to see when they visit here. A lot of the money is set aside for advertising. Maybe advertising does make a difference in the number of visitors to the city and if it does there should be a hospitality zone in Baton Rouge and other areas around the state because New Orleans is barely seeing any of the money from tourism anyway.

I read this article in the Times Picayune last week about the amount of money the city gains from all the big tourism events. It included how much the city actually received from being the host.

“For the first three months of 2012, when the city played host to numerous headline-making events, Chief Financial Officer Norman Foster said, the city's revenue from hotel-motel taxes was up more than 30 percent from the same period in 2011. But that increase amounted to only $800,000, barely a drop in the bucket of the city's almost $500 million operating budget.”

“In fact, visitors paid far more than that in hotel taxes, a hefty 13 percent of their bills. But the city's share of that is only 1 percent. The other 12 percent goes to the state, the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, the Superdome Commission, the Orleans Parish School Board, the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau and others.”

The state and the tourism industry are already getting most of the money from the visitors we have now. Why do we need to section off entire portions of the city if the city itself won’t be seeing any increase in revenue? We are losing out on the current money and the potential extra money.

The other thing about this idea is that it creates yet another appointed board with control over public money. We have so many boards now that I have lost track. I don’t know who has control over which decisions anymore. Its bad enough we got about a dozen deputy mayors. You have to go through two consultants, three boards, and four deputy mayors before you can determine if the person you actually voted for is doing their job.  Now we are about to add the Hospitality Zone Board to the mix. That means when citizens want to write and complain about the extra ten dollars they spent in taxes on a steak at Ruth’s Chris downtown they’ll have to email twenty different people. In my opinion this is too much for the average person to keep up with and maybe that’s part of the plan.

Draft Day and We are Still Hostages of the Bounty Scandal

Tonight is the first round of the NFL draft. The Saints didn’t have a pick tonight before the bounty stuff started happening so it wasn’t going to be as exciting but I am thinking about not watching any of it. I already know that anytime my team name comes up there will be something negative attached to it.

I have accepted that the team was doing something it wasn’t supposed to. The coach is suspended for a year and I think that will cost the team a chance to play at home in the Superbowl. What Gregg Williams and the defense were doing was unnecessary and stupid. Even if it was just a motivational thing and they never really intended on hurting anyone they should have stopped it once the league told them too. Plus they broke one of the rules of doing something against the rules. You never let too many people in on what you are doing. Gregg Williams was making crazy speeches with all kinds of people in the room. As far as sports scandals go this is by far the dumbest one I have seen in my lifetime.

What is aggravating me is why it is taking so long to announce all of the punishments so we as fans can move on and start getting ready for our handicapped season.  The commissioner said he had 50,000 pages worth of documents in the investigation. There should have been more than enough information to suspend everyone involved and move on. At this rate we’ll have to listen to this over and over until minicamp starts. Why would the league continue to string this along and torture the fans if they already know what they are going to do? I have two theories.

The first one is that although no one has denied there was some kind of pay for performance system in place, there’s no actual video evidence that the players did anything on the field that warrants the suspensions that the commissioner has in mind. I think he’s been trying to get the players association to sign off on a heavy handed punishment like he gave to Sean Payton and they won’t do it without proof. Every news report has played the same two or three plays over and over.  They haven’t said if anyone got any money for those plays or not. It could be that they can’t prove anyone did so it’s hard to suspend a guy for half of the season for one hard hit that wasn’t even flagged on the field.

My other more irrational theory is that the commissioner is taking this long so the media can unleash an all out assault on Sean Payton and the organization. Until the bounty story started I had no idea just how much so many people in the media hated Sean Payton. No one is enjoying his suspension more than the guys that cover the team. A few days ago the reporter from Outside the Lines that broke the Loomis wiretapping story was on ESPN radio talking about it and he kept mentioning how Payton used to call and yell at reporters. I thought that was strange because Payton wasn’t the coach when the wiretapping supposedly happened. I think these last few weeks have been the media’s time to get back at the coach for being a jerk and the commissioner is letting it happen to take Sean Payton down a notch.

From a fan’s perspective, the longer this goes on the more I feel like the league is picking on the team and it makes me want to get back at them by running up the score on everyone we play and making it to the Superbowl anyway. I want to have another parade and let Sean Payton be the grand marshal leading the way holding the trophy.

In real life situations hate and bitterness can eat you alive. It’s debilitating. I wouldn’t recommend it. In sports it actually makes things more interesting. Years of bitterness and hate are what 2009 so sweet. The bitterness building towards the league is going to make 2012 a fun season because the team has nothing to lose after the bounty punishment. I just wish the commissioner makes his final ruling and get it over with it so we can get on with the task of building our villain dynasty. I can’t wait until September 9, 2012 when the Saints play their first home game of the season in which Sean Payton goes to the game in disguise, sits in the terrace and sends messages to the team using a coding system from the light shining off his Superbowl ring.  I know that won’t happen but I am sure a reporter will be up there looking for the next big Saints scandal.

Another Frustrating Voting Experience

Stacy Head is now the new Councilwoman at large in New Orleans after beating Cynthia Willard Lewis last night by 281 votes. Yesterday was the first time I ever walked in the voting booth and still hadn't made up my mind who to vote for. I almost stayed home. This election was really not an course changing event for the city. Both of the candidates have spent forever on the council already and if they had any ideas to really benefit everybody we would know about them. The only thing we would have gained with Cynthia Willard Lewis winning is more unnecessarily angry white residents and a lot more entertainment at council meetings.

I was surprised it was as close as it was. It’s hard to figure out if Councilwoman Head’s attitude rubs enough people the wrong way that more people went out and voted for Cynthia Willard Lewis. I was listening to her concession speech last night and even she seemed surprised to be so close. The next few years will be interesting because it’s possible that after living through a haze for a few years after Katrina the black community may be starting to pay attention to what’s going on around them. I think it’s been sparked by Chief Serpas, the NOPD, and the fact that there seems to be a lot of development going on downtown and none where we live. Of course, I could be wrong and the next election’s turnout will be 10%. That wouldn’t surprise me.

I remember when I first started voting and how excited I used to be. Now when I go it feels like a chore that I am required to do instead of something that’s going to bring about any change. I’m caught in a strange place because when I vote I think about all the vulnerable people in my community who have no power and worry that in the interest of a few could be shipped to the middle of the bayou to live while their neighborhoods become part of a devastation and poverty tour that tourists can pay 39.95 to visit. On the other hand, the same people that I worry about so much don’t vote or pay attention themselves. One day I’m going to crossover to the middle class frame of mind and worry about things like dog parks and how the city’s taxi cabs look. I’m not there yet and won’t be any time soon so I’ll continue to be frustrated until I see evidence that I shouldn't be.

Happy Easter

It’s Easter Sunday. I’m not the most religious guy in the world by far but I respect the holiday’s meaning. The best part about Easter growing up is that it was the first warm weather holiday. In New Orleans that means it’s time to sit outside with your family and have a good time. I remember getting up early to get dress and wait for my grandpa to come and pick me up to go get ice from the old ice house in the French Quarter. I was always fascinated that whenever I went somewhere with him everyone knew him by name. I didn’t know why we had to get up so early just for ice. I’m thinking it had to be because they might run out if we went to late. We didn’t need it that early because everyone had to go to church first before any festivities started.

Everybody would get Easter clothes for church and then a short set to change into afterwards. On Saturday night before we would dye eggs and my mama would make the greatest Easter baskets. I got an Easter basket every year of my life until that barge destroyed the levee (allegedly by me) and flooded the Lower Ninth Ward. I know we are not supposed to be thinking about these things anymore. We have to try and maintain tradition as much as we can so we need to dye eggs and take the kids to church. Every now and then there should be a story about the good old days in the neighborhood on Easter Sunday.

Sitting On My Porch Part Eighty

After a few weeks of little rest and hard work I intended on sleeping all day on Good Friday. I’ve been fatigued and wanted to recharge the batteries. Evidence of my fatigue is the fact that this is my third attempt at finishing this blog post since last weekend. Some of the things I wrote in the first two versions aren’t relevant anymore so I am starting from scratch. Even though I wanted to rest today I ended up doing roof repairs thanks to the monsoon we had Wednesday and took a ride through the city where they had to be at least 100 fish fries going on.

We have moved into the Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and New Black Panther Party phase of the Trayvon Martin case. That means that there are all kinds of foolish things being said about the case. Things have gotten way off course from the actual subject. I learned from 9/11 and Katrina that there is no topic that can’t be exploited or taking out of context in this country anymore. This story is no different.

I have to admit that I am a bit surprised at how many people are defending George Zimmerman despite everything that comes out. It just goes to show how everyone is so dedicated to a certain position that they will ignore obvious things. An unarmed kid was killed after an incident in which he was followed by a man that was told not to pursue. I feel like even if you believe in the right to carry arms or Stand Your Ground laws we could at least agree all of this wouldn’t be going on today if he just would have waited for the police to arrive. We can’t even come to that consensus. We also wouldn’t be following this story if the police in Sanford Florida just arrested Zimmerman when they had a chance.

The other thing that bugs me is the people who keep asking where the outrage from the black community is when one of our own has killed someone. I get even more aggravated when someone black agrees with them. People who do this make it seem like we are sitting at home giving one another high fives when the next story of violent crime come across the newswire. The question is what does some other guy’s crime has to do with George Zimmerman killing Trayvon Martin and not even being arrested to stand trial? If we are going to use the crimes of other people to validate everything we do then why are we even bothering sending our kids to school or getting up to go to work. We might as well just all go to the penitentiary right now. You don’t have to choose one thing over the other. None of those arguments are valid anyway unless there’s a bunch of young black guys calling 911 to announce they are about to go confront someone and none of them are being arrested.

After all of the rallies and protests George Zimmerman still hasn’t been arrested........

If I could go one year of my life without hearing, seeing or experiencing something that I thought had racist intent it would be the greatest year of my life. Whenever I hear white people trying to show that they are just as victimized as racism as black people are I think we have done a poor job of explaining what racism is and how it affects us. I don’t care what you hear on television or from a radio talk show host; we don’t like racism and really don’t want to deal with it. Stop trying to turn this into a discrimination contest.

The Saints bounty story keeps getting worst. Now we have a filmmaker taking advantage of Steve Gleason to get access to the defensive meeting room and taping Gregg Williams talking about hurting other players. I am not condoning anything Gregg Williams said. I love football on all levels and the worst thing you can see is a kid laying on the field hurt. However, I can’t believe Sean Pamphilon took advantage of Steve Gleason and pulled him into the bounty story when he didn’t have anything to do with it. He wasn’t there to expose bounties in the NFL. He was there to document Steve Gleason’s journey for his son.

I would like to give these thoughts to public school parents on the education reform being passed in the state of Louisiana right now.

1. If you think the governor and his Republican friends got that concerned about the education of your kids all of a sudden you are DELUSIONAL.
2. If you think teachers’ tenure had something to do with your kid not getting all the resources needed to provide them with a quality education you are DELUSIONAL.
3. If you think that these private schools whose tuition is designed to keep your poor kids away from the paying customer’s children are going to suddenly open their arms and treat your kids equally just because the state is giving them public money to turn a profit you are DELUSIONAL.

I'm going to have more to say about this later.

The Next Step After Justice for Trayvon

We live in a complicated world. Because it’s so complicated incidents can get lumped together under common issues when they don’t have to be. Sometimes no one is wrong in how they look at something but because we are trying to handle everything together it causes debate where there shouldn’t be any. With that in mind I just want to say that the crusade to bring Trayvon Martin’s killer to justice is a valid cause. There’s no gray area to me.

Even if there was a group of kids committing crimes in that neighborhood it wouldn’t matter because Trayvon Martin wasn’t one of them. As a matter of fact even if he was he still shouldn’t have died that night. That’s why we have law enforcement and a justice system. I know there are times when someone feels threatened or their life is in danger and they must take action but that’s not what happened here. There’s not one shred of evidence to suggest there’s even a doubt that this young man was killed for no other reason than being profiled by a man who was dying to be a vigilante. That is totally unacceptable because I don’t have time to be wondering what someone is looking at when they see me in their neighborhood. I don’t want to be visiting a friend and end up in the morgue because I decided to wear jeans and a hoodie that day.

That’s the reason why I’m 100% behind George Zimmerman being arrested and prosecuted. It’s personal to me because I was Trayvon at a point in my life. I’ve been followed in stores. I’ve been pulled over by law enforcement just to ask me where I was going. I’ve been stopped with my friends while we were just walking up the street. The part that makes it difficult is that even after I made good grades, went to school, and got a job I was still profiled the same way. Any of us could have been Trayvon. That’s why it upsets me so much.

I’m upset but I don’t have blinders on. I see what’s going on in my community and I know that black men have a serious problem with criminal activity and how we treat one another. I don’t think there is no way to justify what George Zimmerman did but it’s frustrating to know that some young men give his supporters the evidence to validate his crime. I know there are a lot of kids running for help and it’s not from anyone that looks like Zimmerman. They are running from young men that look just like them. That problem is our Achilles Heel because it gives people who hate us reasons to question our humanity.

That’s why I am hoping that once the initial goal of justice being served in Trayvon’s case we take that same energy, turn it inward and figure out how to save his peers from the cemetery and the penitentiary. I know it’s been difficult for us to deal with our own issues but if we can’t find the energy now after a situation like this I don’t know when the time will come. A young man is dead because of his appearance and I can’t think of a better way to honor his memory by doing all we can to make sure that many of his peers live as long and productive lives as possible.

There’s been a lot of talk about race lately. If brothers really want to strike fear in the hearts of real racists they need to see us showing each other love and respect. They need see us taking care of our kids and respecting our women. They need to see us as we educate ourselves and improve our community. I have no doubt we could do this if we just stay focused. After you march for Trayvon Martin, put those hoodies back on and let’s try to save these kids.

Be Cautious And Watch Out For Everything

My baby brother just turned 21 years old. I worry about that young man all the time. I have been worried about that kid every day since he turned 12 and went to middle school. He’s a good kid. He goes to Memphis University. He wants to be a writer and even has a blog for a class assignment. He’s one of the coolest, most laid back kids you will ever meet. I don’t remember a time I have ever seen him angry. He’s got a lot of potential and I hope he lives a long life and get to see it blossom. There’s nothing worse than seeing young men leave the Earth no knowing what could be. Young men like my brother can appear to be both predator and prey for different people and both views put them in danger. That’s why the last few weeks have been so disheartening.

My brother could have easily been Ricky Summers of New Orleans who was killed behind an abandoned building on his way to tutoring one Saturday morning. I don’t how many times young men are in the wrong place at the wrong time and get caught up in some altercation that they can’t avoid at that moment. That happened to be once or twice. I remember when I was 18 and caught a ride to work from a childhood friend who decided to “make a stop right quick” and handle some drug business while I’m sitting downstairs in his car. I never accepted another ride again but that one time could have been the last time I had the chance to learn.

My brother could be Wendell Allen of New Orleans who was killed by a New Orleans Police Department while standing unarmed at the top of the stairwell of his home. Some police officers are scared of young black men. You have to be careful not to show any aggression or you could get shot or hurt really bad. When you are a young man like Mr. Allen or my brother you have to try and not make any sudden moves that give them any reason to act against you. The goal is just make it through the experience safely.

My brother could have been Trayvon Martin too but I am not sure how to avoid what happened to that young man. I could show him how to watch out for thugs or guys that may be up to no good. I could teach him how to handle himself when pulled over by police officers. I’m not sure how to handle being stalked in your dad’s neighborhood walking home from the store by a crazy man looking for trouble. He can kill you and claim self defense even though he was the one with the gun following you down the street. I can’t imagine what his parents are thinking. For what happened to their son they could have just lived in the hood and not a gated community. I guess the lesson to be learned is that even if your lifestyle doesn’t fit the profile you still fit the profile. That’s depressing, disheartening, disappointing and a hard dose of reality in the President Obama era of post racial talk.

I guess the best advice I can give my brother and all the young men around his age is to watch out for everything and never assume things can’t happen to you.

Discussions I'm Not Ready For

I dropped the babies off this morning with their innocence still intact. I was hoping that when I picked them up today I wouldn’t be put in a position to have a conversation that may take that away. In this city it’s best to stay as naïve as you can to the issues going on around you. Kids have to deal with things around here that even the most mature adult finds difficult to deal with all the time.

A kid was killed behind an abandoned building in Central City Saturday. He was supposed to be headed to tutoring at KIPP Central City Academy. That school shares the building with KIPP Central City Primary. It’s really one big school community. I see those kids all the time. I watched the older kids as they got off the bus this morning. It was hard to tell if they were really upset because they always look aggravated early in the morning. I was hoping they were okay and I knew there was probably counselors in the building. It’s probably not a lot of those kids first experience with having to deal with death of someone so young.

I was having a conversation the other night with a friend and we were comparing our generation with our parents’. We were thinking about all the things they had seen in their lifetime and how even though history makes it seem like the generations before us had to deal with some serious things we’ve had some real issues to deal with too.

It’s hard to explain being a teenager, looking around at guys your age and wondering how many of them wouldn’t be around anymore. Between drugs, violence, and incarceration I feel like we lost some of those years just to have fun and not care about anything. I think there’s a value to being young and staying naïve as long as you can because once you lose that and the adult part kicks in you can’t go in reverse. I’m trying to keep the kids around me as young and innocent for as long as possible.

Thank goodness I didn’t have to start the clock moving forward today. No one mentioned it and I didn’t ask about it. There will be time to explain these things. Hopefully nothing happens to anyone they know to move the timeline up sooner than I expected. When that time comes I hope I don’t have to answer the question of why in the hell we live in a city this crazy to begin with. That’s one of the questions I don’t always have a logical answer for.

Rest in peace Ricky Summers

Blogging on a Breezy Saturday Night

After a week of what seemed like summertime weather today felt like colder than it probably was. I’m not going to complain about the weather because there are some people suffering after tornadoes yesterday. I always feel a connection to people who are victims of weather events. I want to send my condolences to those people and their families.

While I was out today I saw all the little girls selling those Girl Scout cookies. I didn’t realize how serious they took those cookies until I became a parent and had to come up with sales. The Girl Scouts don‘t play around with those cookies and you better not give your friend a box of thin mints without getting the money because they have every cookie counted to the exact penny.

I’m getting to the Saints bounty story in a minute………..

I am going to give Representative Austin Badon the benefit of the doubt and say I understand why he wants the National Guard to come in to police New Orleans. Everyone is tired of the crime rate and the police department has some challenges right now. I think his intentions are for the safety of the city. I’m sure there will be some people who feel safer if this happens but all I am going to feel is a sense of defeat. It will be like going back to January 2006 when I first came back. We might as well put X’s back on our houses and cut off all the lights past Franklin Avenue like the good old days. There’s no way Mayor Landrieu wants this to happen.

In many ways having the National Guard around would be fitting because I think the city is four years behind where it could have been now. Too many people blamed Ray Nagin for things that were far beyond his control to change. They refused to do anything because they had to make him look as bad as possible. Now Mayor Landrieu is in office and he has the same problems. Neither man could have fixed the problem by himself but we may be further along now if people were invested despite of Ray Nagin.

Rush Limbaugh learned a valuable lesson this week. You may get away with the comments about minorities because most companies don’t cater to us anyway. Child bearing women who want to have sex without getting pregnant spend a lot of money and there’s a problem when you talk about them. It shouldn’t have taken sponsors bailing out on his show for him to know he shouldn’t call that woman a slut.

Are we really at a point in our country where a 30 year old woman who likes to have sex can be seen as a negative for political gain? I can’t support any political group who thinks this is a negative.

I’m having a hard time coming to terms with the Saints bounty scandal. It’s not because I have an over romanticized view of the players on the team. It’s not because I am wondering if Tom Benson is going to fire everyone who didn’t stop it or the loss of draft picks. The thing I am having an issue with is that for how the Saints defense performed this entire scandal was a big waste of time. I would have had a real easy time accepting if the offense had a pool for how badly they could run up the score. That would have made sense to me. Maybe things were going on in the pile or off camera that I didn’t see but I can’t recall more than one or two times the Saints defense really delivered a serious hit on anyone.

The NFL picks on James Harrison from the Steelers but you can make a highlight reel of plays where he was trying to take someone out. I haven’t seen the visual evidence of the Saints doing anything yet. The media keeps bringing up the NFC Championship game against the Vikings because they lust behind Brett Favre and want to make it seem like dirty play cost the Vikings the game. If the Saints had collected the bounty that game he wouldn’t have been in the game late in the fourth quarter on the way down the field to win the game. Sacrificing the image of the franchise and being punished for a defense that played like the Saints did the last two years is like some fool getting 50 years for arm robbery when there was only 10 dollars in the register.

Fighting Back Indifference and Pessimism

There are two feelings that I always seem to be fighting away. I struggle with them and they slow my progress down to a crawl. It’s like my entire life gets stuck in cement and I just can’t move. Those two feelings are indifference and pessimism.

Indifference is more of a coping mechanism than a real feeling. At some point your mind decides that you have invested enough in whatever the issue is and decides to shut down the section that makes you care. Whatever happens is just going to happen and I am not worried. As long as I don’t have to be involved in the circumstances it doesn’t bother me. I have my own life to worry about. My indifference is spread across personal relationships and the community at large. I find myself not making calls to stay connected to certain people like I used to. It doesn’t bother me if my phone doesn’t ring that much. I don’t read every news story with as much attention as I should. Some things I don’t read at all. A smart man told me today that after Katrina we had no choice but to be overly involved and he was right. These days I have more of a choice and I choose to ignore a lot of things.

The best thing about indifference is that it’s very curable. No matter how much you think you don‘t care there’s always something that can snap you back into consciousness. I act like I am not really concerned about some of the people in my life but if they called right now with something serious they needed me to help them take care of I would spring into action. Some people ignore the problems in their community but if the right event happens they take notice and get involved.

Pessimism is an entirely different animal for me. I find pessimism much more difficult to get over than indifference because when I am pessimistic about something there’s concrete evidence and experiences to back up why I feel the way I do. I don’t have a positive outlook on the violence in my city because I am living through my second decade of it. It’s not like this behavior just came out of nowhere. I am pessimistic about getting involved with parent groups at the school because whenever I go it’s the same old people. I don’t have much confidence that anyone else is going to be there and get involved.

The biggest challenge I have with being pessimistic is that I have never been able to ignore what I see and replace it with a thought that I have no proof of. I really want to feel like things are going to be better than they have been but it’s difficult. Maybe if we went a month without any shootings I would feel better. Maybe if we had a parent meeting at the school and there was standing room only that would do it. Maybe if no one called me in crisis looking for assistance and if at my job we didn’t have any new client records because there were no new homeless people are families in crisis I might be able to beat back the pessimistic part of my attitude. I don’t think any of these things will happen anytime soon. I don’t know how to not pay attention enough to not realize that nothing is changing. Since I can’t ignore I guess I have to engage myself and try to make things better. I’m just saying……some positive reinforcement wouldn’t be bad every now and then.

Now that I have gotten that off my chest we can return to regularly scheduled blogging.

Sitting On My Porch Part Seventy Nine

It’s been 17 days since my last post. Life is once again winning over blogging. Since I love my readers why not come back on the day of love? I was in the store yesterday and saw all those teenage boys spending their money on teddy bears and candy. I thought that was nice. In the next aisle was a bunch of older cats looking at greeting cards and shaking their heads like they were being forced to have a root canal. I thought that was funny.

There’s a lot going on around New Orleans right now as we are right in the middle of Mardi Gras season. I don’t think I will be seeing too many parades this year. It will be a miracle if I make it to more than three. I’m not in the mood for standing up and being bothered with random people. Plus, for the first time ever I am concerned about what might happen out there. I don’t know why that is. Maybe the crime has finally gotten to me and is affecting my quality of life. I do find myself checking around me more than I ever did. I have also started to pay attention to how many police cars I see out on the street. I was talking with my neighbor and we were trying to figure out the last time we seen a patrol car pass up our block. I know the police office has a lot of issues right now. I just hope Chief Serpas can get it together.

It will be Chief Serpas running the show. All you people expecting Mayor Landrieu to go in another direction can forget it. The mayor and the chief are in it together until the end and they are going to try every idea they can to turn the crime problem around. Lately the police department can’t seem to get out of its own way. First they made a lot of people upset by releasing the arrest records of murder victims. Then, some officers wrote a letter to the citizens about how dysfunctional everything is. Now today I read an article saying police will put a sticker on your homes that have been searched for drugs. If they actually go through with doing this it’s going to end badly. I think the NOPD is worried too much about statistics. I can’t say anything negative about stats because I work with data all day. Every now and then you have to look at a situation and apply old school reasoning. I think we need officers on the street right now having a presence and making criminals uncomfortable.

New Orleans has the second highest homeless rate in America. Tampa Bay has the highest. No one would be surprised about New Orleans’ issue but I am willing to bet many people would have guessed Tampa had such an issue. The answer is marketing.

Thursday KIPP Central City School will be holding it's annual parade. It starts at 11:00 AM. If you make it out there you will definitely see me. I'll be the guy throwing rocks at all the dads that didn't show up Saturday to help build floats. I'm going to need a lot of rocks.

Seven years ago my governor was Blanco, my mayor was Nagin and my president was Bush. My main concerns were education, infrastructure, the long term future of my community, jobs and black on black crime. In 2012 my governor is Jindal. My mayor is Landrieu and my president is Obama. My main concerns now are education, infrastructure, the long term future of my community, jobs and black on black crime. I’m not saying it doesn't matter who I vote for. I just want to know how long one has to wait until they see some glimmer of change. I guess I need to wait a little longer.

I know there is supposed to be a difference in candidates and agendas but at this point the only person that really concerns me is Rick Santurom because I honestly think he would try to outlaw any fun activity that involved showing a body part above the knee.

Rest in peace to my kindergarten best friend Trevon McCoy. He was a good man with a good family.

In memory of Don Cornelius I wanted to post my favorite YouTube clip again.

Don't Get Distracted. Murder Is The Real Issue

I knew when the New Orleans Police Department started releasing the arrest records of murder victims it was a bad idea. The potential distraction was too great. It would be a different situation if every single murder was due to illegal activity like mafia hits but that’s not the case. Releasing the arrest records of the victims is an insult to their families. Unfortunately we now have a situation where a man was killed and he just so happened to have an arrest record. Now people are distracted talking about that instead of the real issue. Mike Ainsworth’s record has nothing to do with his death. He didn’t get killed in a drug deal gone bad. He was killed trying to stop his neighbor from being car jacked. We should be more concerned with the identity of his killer and the people who are hiding him.

Some people in the community are also questioning why the FBI offered help in this case and not with all the other murders. I can see how that would appear to be questionable. I look at the situation and realize that the attempted carjacking and murder was a random thing and there’s no connection to the victims and their assailant. There’s no one for the police to talk to on the block about beef that’s been going on or anything. It may actually take resources that the NOPD currently doesn’t have to find this person. You can’t look at every situation the same.

I notice that the NOPD has been identifying suspects for shootings faster than they use to. Kim and Alcee Perry were murdered at their home in October of last year by their next door neighbor who became upset when he Ms. Perry asked him to stop driving so fast because the kids were outside playing. You didn’t need an investigative team to find that fool. He was right next door. When one year old Kiera Holmes was murdered in December it didn’t take long to identify who did it because the shooters and the suspected target had already been feuding. If someone would have kidnapped that baby or shot her attempting to steal her mother’s car the FBI probably would have gotten involved. You don’t need the FBI to help with foolishness and ignorance that spills into the streets. The NOPD already knows who those guys are. They just can’t do anything to stop them before they kill someone.

Let’s not get distracted by spending too much time on issues that won’t solve anything. I don’t think the police should put the arrest records on victims out there the way they do. I think if the FBI was going to help out in the case of Mr. Ainsworth they should have just done it quietly so no one would feel like their family member who was killed was important enough to get that kind of help. I think it looks bad when after all the negative things that have happened within the police department and all the other crimes it took a man being killed in Algiers Point to get commanders reassigned and changes made.

The truth is that if the NOPD never released any information on the victims, the FBI had an entire team dedicated to nothing but solving every murder in New Orleans, and we had new leadership in the police department the people who were murdered in our city would still be dead. We have to figure out how to change the mind state of the killers. The man who killed the Perry’s is arrested. The men who shot Kiera Holmes have been arrested or murdered themselves. Hopefully soon law enforcement will catch the man who shot Mike Ainsworth and he’ll be brought to justice too. At the end of the day the one thing they’ll have in common is that they are not here anymore enjoying their lives just like the rest of the victims. We need to be united in trying to stop this from happening because if the police have to decide whether to issue arrest records or not and the FBI is involved we have already failed. I don’t want to have the conversation about releasing the arrest records because I don’t want anyone killed in the first place to even make the topic valid.

Let's All Be Careful Out There

Yesterday a man named Mike Ainsworth was murdered in New Orleans after trying to defend his neighbor from a carjacker. I would like to send my condolences to his family. I’m sure yesterday and every day after will be a tough day for them. His murder yesterday was another blow in a battle that right now the criminal element seems to be winning.

We should all appreciate a person that would put his life on the line for the safety of others. That’s real bravery. I’ sure Mr. Ainsworth had more courage than his killer but his killer had a gun and a gun to some of these fools gives them all the courage they need to do something senseless like trying to carjack someone and killing a good man for no reason.

There may come a time when any of us will defend ourselves or our family and neighborhoods from danger. I hope it never happens but if it does I hope it can be resolved without anyone getting hurt. I just want to tell the people in my city reading this to please be careful and try to avoid as much confrontation as possible. These fools don’t mind taking lives and unless you are ready to take their life too it may be better to not resist and call the police so they can handle it. We need to protect one another and be as safe as possible.

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.

Living the Dream in The Era of Self Destruction

Today is the day we celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr. I always take the time to recognize his sacrifice along with others to give us the opportunity to fully experience freedom and the American dream. He was gave his life for that cause and changed society so there’s no doubt in my mind that he deserves the proper recognition.

I think if Reverend King were alive today he would not attend any of the events planned to celebrate his work. The people who he fought and sacrificed so hard for are killing one another in the streets for nothing. Gun violence is widespread and it’s tearing our community apart. Year after year it seems we are mourning the loss of young men, women and children. If that wasn’t bad enough, there’s a code of silence that keeps killers on the streets and that only leads to more violence from them or someone feeling like they have to get justice themselves. We have kids who are so out of control that some parents have to stretch their finances to pay tuition at better schools just to keep their kids away from their own people so they can have a chance to learn.

These things are going on in full view of the rest of the world and our leadership and community doesn’t seem to be willing to concentrate 100% on this issue. What could anyone in a position of leadership and influence today say about living the dream when there’s a chance someone could kill me in cold blood because I stepped on his shoes by mistake? Today is a day to recognize a man who loved everyone enough to preach non violence but his own people hate themselves enough to embrace their own destruction.

I don’t mind listening to a few old speeches today from Reverend King himself but the folks here now should all be quiet and in meetings trying to figure out how to fix this situation we have. I don’t think we can consider anything accomplished until this violence goes away. I'm just hoping no one gets shot today at a MLK Day parade. That would be shameful if it did but at the same time no one would really be surprised.

Raising Our Kids to Change The Culture of Violence

Today was my grandpa’s birthday. He would have been 96 this year. My grandfather was a great family man. He was a World War II veteran in the U.S. Navy and had worked with his hands for so many years of his life that when he rubbed them together they sounded like to pieces of rough sandpaper. Despite his toughness and grit, he was also very caring and had a great sense of humor. I stole his custom of giving people nicknames as a term of endearment.

My grandfather and my dad used to talk to me about growing up and being a man even when I was real young. They used to talk to me about working hard and being responsible. They also used to like to tell stories about fights they had with other kids when they were young. Men take pride in being tough and not letting anyone push them around. That’s especially true around these parts because sometimes toughness and the willingness to fight is all some people have to identify with. The men who raised me had way more substance than that but when you grow up around some of these ignorant cats the fighting part comes in handy from time to time.

Like I said before, this is the land of misguided soldiers who look for any reason to have confrontation with other people. We literally grew up around people who wanted to fight because it made them feel like somebody. Bullies were everywhere. I was raised that the best way to deal with a bully is to beat him down as best as you can one time and hopefully you do it so well that he won’t bother you anymore. My grandmother used to say that if the person was too big to fight off with your hands find something on the ground and hit them with that. She used to give us that advice from her experiences of fighting her way home when she was in school. That’s how deep the culture is. I don’t think the elders worried too much about it because unless things got totally out of hand they all lived to tell stories about the battles they had.

Now there’s a new generation with the same basic approach but they have far less guidance and support from their family. They also have weapons that can wipe out entire groups of people at once. Their guns are status symbols in the circle of people they hang around. They want to show them off just like guys used to want to show off gold teeth, expensive tennis shoes and car rims. If they have the guns they are waiting for a reason to put it on display. What better reason than another dude talking shit? It’s the perfect recipe for shootings that seem to be happening for no real reason at all. The shooting is somewhat new. The fighting for no reason has been there for a long time. Last weekend a man and his teenage son were killed at their home in what seems to be an argument between some girls that started over rumors. Thirty years ago that argument would have led to a few fist flying and everyone waking up the next day to tell the story. Now two people aren't here anymore for nothing. An argument like that can breakout anywhere at anytime when anyone is around. That's frightening.

If I had a son right now I honestly don’t know what I would say to him in regards to how to carry himself. I don’t know if he would have much freedom to go anywhere without me bringing him. I would probably teach him the same principles my grandpa gave to my dad and they both passed to me but I think I would take out some of the tough bravado. I wouldn’t want him to be so soft that people ran all over him but I would be so scared of him ending up in a cemetery or a prison that I would want him to think violence was the worst way possible to deal with any issue. I would hope he could enjoy growing up in New Orleans without me having to take him away from here to escape this drama.

It’s not the New Orleans tradition to walk away from a fight but we need to do something different. We have to switch things up a little so the next generation isn’t caught in this cycle. I know Walter Harris would be okay with that because he wanted nothing more than his family to be okay and you can’t be okay if you are dead or incarcerated. It's time to apply this to all of our extended family and neighbors in the community.

Sitting On My Porch Part Seventy Seven

Today was the first real day back at school and work for most people in the new year. That means there was less sleep and more traffic. There was also all kinds of people coming back from vacation and trying to catch up on three weeks worth of emails and voice messages. When you add this consistent cough that I can't get rid of my day has been pretty aggravating. The worst part about today is that I am taking cold medicine so I can't have a birthday toast for my dad today. I'll make it up to him this weekend when I am back to full strength and watching the Saints game.

Not enough Saints fans seem to be concerned with playing Detroit as I am. I think they have enough offense to hang with ours and are young and crazy enough not to be effected by the crowd. I also think they are ignorant enough to do something like hitting Drew Brees early to knock him out of the game. They are too unpredictable to feel comfortable about. I don't like the Saints in a position as favorite anyway. I am not listening to any media that gives the team that kind of status. I watch Saints games in paranoia like we constantly have something to prove and the minute we lose that edge something bad is going to happen. For that reason I need to think that the Lions have a shot.

Last night Mitt Romney won the Iowa caucus by eight votes over Rick Santorum. Politics aside I think Rick Santorum is strange. I don't know if I would want him to be president even if I agreed with his agenda. Crazy as he is I also think he's authentic. If he was acting he would be trying to come across more normal. In a strange way I respect him for keeping it real. If he was elected my expectations would be exactly where they need to be. I would be prepared for his foolishness. Mitt Romney on the other hand scares me because he's like a used car salesman. I believe he would say anything or adopt any idea if he thought it would help him get elected. If wins the nomination and the presidency no one would quite know what the hell is going to do. That worries me especially since he thinks corporations are people. Wal Mart might be his Secretary of State.

The person who should really feel bitter is Michelle Bachmann. No one got out in front of the world and carried the ball for their party like she did the last few years. She was one of the main faces of the Tea Party and had no problem going after the president and his agenda anytime she could. She was a fresh face with the skills to energize her party and when she won the Iowa straw poll and showed she might actually be a real contender for the nomination the good ole boys in her party dissed and pushed her to the back. It was almost like she disappeared after that.

Rick Perry is still in the race. That means we need to look for our governor in New Hampshire.
If the murder rate in New Orleans went up 14% and Warren Riley was still the chief, how calm would everyone be right now? I miss the days when New Orleans bloggers would try to come up with ways to insult Chief Riley without sounding racist. The local blogosphere is much milder since Nagin and Riley are gone.

Yesterday a friend mentioned she went on a social media fast and how clear her mind was after not looking at Twitter and Facebook for awhile. I don't know if I can do that and still maintain a blog like this but I have decided to take at least two days a week and not log into any social media site. I'm also not reading any internet comments under news stories because those will make you lose faith in society.

My dad is 62 years old today. Since I am in New Orleans he's not I have been playing his kind of music all day in dedication. I was listening to the song on the clip below. My dad used to have an old reel to reel player be brought back from Vietnam and on weekends he used to pull it out and play B.B. King Live in Concert very loudly. He can't do that anymore since everything he brought back from the war was destroyed in the flood. This song is for him, his reel to reel player, and all the people who want to keep telling me New Orleans is so much better since Katrina. We have some nice new buildings and they only cost us lives and memories. Who wouldn't want that deal?

Certain things still trigger my anger.