Quote-O'-The-Day: Former FEMA Fool edition

By GottaLaff

Heckuva quote, Mary:

"He was a fool when he stepped off the plane in Louisiana 4½ years ago, and unfortunately for him, he apparently still is."

-- Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), quoted by Politico, on the attempted comeback of former FEMA Director Michael Brown.

Many of us are still trying to figure out why he was allowed back on the Tee Vee Machine in the first place.

Coast Guard: BP caps 1 of 3 leaks at Gulf well

It's a start.

NEW ORLEANS – The Coast Guard says BP PLC has managed to cap one of three leaks at a deepwater oil well, but the work is not expected to reduce the overall flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class David Mosley says the work Tuesday night should reduce the number of leak points that need to be fixed on the ocean floor. BP officials have said that fewer leaks will make it easier to drop a containment box on the breach.

First oil containment box almost completed

Wow, everything I heard made it sound like it would be at least a month or so before this would be ready. Good work.

PORT FOURCHON, La. — The company BP PLC hired to build concrete and steel containment boxes says the first one will be completed within 48 hours.

Spokesman John Curry said Monday that BP hopes to have the 98-ton box in the water by week's end to cover the main leak at the well site. A second backup box, also topped with a metal dome, is under construction.

(snip)

Jason Holvey, a marine engineer working for Wild Well Control, says smaller, similar containment devices have been used in the Gulf, but in shallow waters. He says they were used after Hurricane Katrina to channel oil to the surface that had spilled from platforms.

Videos- President Obama visits Gulf Coast

Video- President Obama speaks from Louisiana on oil spill, Times Square

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Video- White House Says No New Offshore Drilling Until Investigation is Complete

Bzzz, wrong answer. The answer should be all offshore drilling is stopped until they figure out what went wrong.

Porn star won't challenge Vitter

By GottaLaff

Money talks, and the Vitter Pill has a mighty big mouth:

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Louisiana-born porn star Stormy Daniels has ended her year-long flirtation with politics with an announcement that whe won't run against Sen. David Vitter.

What a shame. Think of the debates they could have had. Louisiana would have had a spike in local TV ratings, at the very least.

But alas:

"The simple fact that David Vitter has $5 million in his bank account pretty much says it all. Against that shear accumulation of special interest dollars, I have no legitimate means of winning a race for the United States Senate under these circumstances. As a businesswoman, I know that better than anyone,” Daniels says in a statement.

$5 million buys an awful lot of Vitter Pillitude. Let's not forget that this would be the same Vitter Pill who favors corporations over sexual assault victims. The very same Vitter Pill who wants to defund Planned Parenthood. The one and only D.V. who was subpoenaed by the D.C. Madam. That same wacky zany guy who has a diaper fetish.

It's not easy to compete with that. Oh, or compete with his monetary stash, either.

Seriously, how can the GOP justify keeping him around? At least Democrats know when to call it a day.

Previous Stormy posts here.

H/t: JamieHarbor

Bobby Jindal: I won't run for president

By GottaLaff

From February 2009:

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Shorter Ba-Ba-Ba-Bobby Jindal: There is no way in hell I can win.

Why? There are any number of reasons, the least of which is how he's destroying access to mental health care in his own state.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal told a hometown crowd Friday that he will not make a bid for the White House.

"I am not running for president of the United States,"Jindal said at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. "I've got the job I want."

And the job he wants is privatizing health care and destroying lives in the process.

Rachel's initial reaction to Ba-ba-Bobby back in 2009 still works today:

New Orleans has mental health care problem. Bobby Jindal makes it worse... again.

By GottaLaff

State Representative Neil Abramson (D) New Orleans and Bobby Jindal

I post as often as I can about Rep. Neil Abramson's valiant efforts to maintain, at a minimum, decent (mental) health care for Katrina victims, and of course other patients, in New Orleans. It's been an ongoing struggle with that stellar speaker and compassionate Louisiana governor, Ba-Ba-Ba-Bobby Jindal.

Jindal has recently cut mental health care in Mandeville, which was supposed to replace the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital (NOAH).

Last year, Jindal and Levine wanted to close NOAH and move everything over to a hospital in Mandeville. Neil blocked the move by amending the state budget bill, but Jindal line-item vetoed it, meaning NOAH would indeed be closed.

Back in 1981, a deal was made that said the property would used for "general health care" services for 30 years, until the end of 2011. Before Hurricane Katrina, it primarily housed inpatient care for mentally ill kids and teens.

Here's the latest:

After losing his fight last year to keep New Orleans Adolescent Hospital open as an inpatient mental health facility, Rep. Neil Abramson has returned this year trying to ensure that the Uptown campus at least continues to house some kind of health-care operations.

This time, Abramson, D-New Orleans, and state Health Secretary Alan Levine, the architect of closing NOAH, are on the same side, agreeing on a compromise bill that would accomplish Abramson's aim while satisfying the state's effort to aid Children's Hospital expansion. [...]

The bill would block the state from selling the NOAH campus [...] for at least a year. Thereafter, any buyer would have to provide health care or health-care education on the campus. If the buyer failed to meet that burden, Abramson said, the state would reclaim the property. The state would be free to lease the property immediately, as long as a tenant honored the health-care use requirement.

Neil Abramson continues to fight for those in dire need, who have nowhere to go, who see their options dwindling to nothing.

Bobby Jindal, on the other hand, has other priorities (read: privatization) which apparently don't include access to mental health care. So much for Returning to America's Core Values.

Jindal the Swindle

By GottaLaff

Here is Jindal turning down a stimulus check. Oh wait.

I have posted a lot about what GOP Governor Ba-Ba-Ba-Bobby Jindal is doing to health care in his state. You can find all of those posts here and here, including my exclusives with State Representative Neil Abramson (D) New Orleans.

Now Jindal wants to end the statewide Charity Hospital System, which has been around for a very, very, long, long time time.

And if that's not bad enough, he's cutting mental health care in Mandeville, which was supposed to replace the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital (NOAH).

His forthcoming book, On Solid Ground: Returning to America's Core Values, has a rather misleading title, under the circumstances.

Privatize, privatize, privatize:

[...] Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration is seeking to put its stamp on state government this spring by privatizing a broad range of state services.

The changes, many of which will be up for debate in the three-month legislative session that starts Monday, would affect everything from insurance claims processing and prison pharmacies to the way Louisiana cares for its mentally ill and people with developmental disabilities. They would shift hundreds of state jobs to the private sector.

And while some of the changes are relatively minor -- such as a plan to save $1.3 million by outsourcing lab services at the Department of Environmental Quality -- others are likely to impact the state for years to come. [...]

In mental health, for example, the administration is proposing what officials say are the biggest changes to the state's mental health system in generations.

There is a lot more at the links to this article and to my earlier posts. He has cut health care for so many in need, so many Katrina victims, and now he's compounding the damage.

And to think this man has presidential aspirations...

H/t: NolaTalk

Video- Countdown’s free clinic in New Orleans

Got to give Keith credit for putting his money where his mouth is. Another clinic in Arkansas this weekend.

Live Streaming Video- President Obama's Town Hall In New Orleans

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Supposed to start at 2:15p EST.

Louisiana senator Vitter blocks nominee to lead FEMA

What a total twatwaffle.

WASHINGTON — A Louisiana senator is stalling Florida emergency management director Craig Fugate's nomination as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Fugate had sailed through his nomination hearing and Monday cleared the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee by a unanimous voice vote. Republican Sen. David Vitter said, however, that he'd blocked Fugate because of concerns he has with FEMA.

"I have a hold on the FEMA nomination because I sent a list of hurricane recovery questions and projects to FEMA, many of which have not been adequately addressed," Vitter said in a statement. "I'm eager to get full responses and meet with the nominee immediately."

The hold — which comes a month before the start of hurricane season — was reported in CQ Today, a Capitol Hill newspaper, which noted that Vitter's home state "bore the brunt of the botched agency response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005."

Louisiana to seek New Orleans-Baton Rouge passenger rail line from federal stimulus pot that Jindal called wasteful

No clue what they're doing, just lashing out.

BATON ROUGE - Louisiana's transportation department plans to request federal dollars for a New Orleans to Baton Rouge passenger rail service from the same pot of railroad money in the president's economic stimulus package that Gov. Bobby Jindal criticized as unnecessary pork on national television Tuesday night.

The high-speed rail line, a topic of discussion for years, would require $110 million to upgrade existing freight lines and terminals to handle a passenger train operation, said Mark Lambert, spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.

Jindal on Tuesday delivered the official Republican Party response to President Barack Obama's address to Congress. He criticized the stimulus package passed by the Democratic-majority in Congress and the president and noted examples of projects that he found objectionable.

"While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending," Jindal said. "It includes ... $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a 'magnetic levitation' line from Las Vegas to Disneyland."

Bobby Jindal Draws Same "Secret Muslim" Allegations That Haunted Obama

Okay, there is no love lost here for Lil' Bobby, but this crap has got to stop. Note that it's the Palinites who are revving up this particular slur. Hell, I don't know why they bother, most fundies don't consider Catholicism good enough.

I'm surprised that a few comments on my post about Bobby Jindal as the new face of Christian conservatism allege that he's got ancestral Muslim roots, in addition to the acknowledged Hinduism of his Indian born parents. Remind you of any other recent rumor campaigns against promising young minority politicians?

What's surprising is that some of the comments appear to be from pro-Sarah Palin conservatives. They're a likely preview of what a Jindal primary faceoff with Palin or another Christian conservative might look like, with both vying for conservative Christian support.

I haven't read any credible profiles of Jindal claiming Muslim roots. I've read several pieces that track the extraordinary depth of his early conversion from Hinduism to Catholicism, including his own account of participating in a Christian exorcism.

Meet the Press: Bobby Jindal Doesn't Want Unemployment Assistance from Stimulus Bill

Gregory was actually pretty confrontational for a change (at least with an R) Thanks to Heather at C&L for the clip, and she has more here.

Bobby Jindal Tapped to Give GOP Response

Mmmm, gots to love Mr Charismatic Catholic, Exorcism Performing, Faith Healing Jindal-

Republican leaders announced that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) will give the Republican response to President Obama's first address to Congress on February 24, 2009, WAFB-TV reports.

Jindal will speak to the nation from Baton Rouge.

New York Times: "The Louisiana governor has become one to watch among those in the next generation of leaders."

Now, I went to a Catholic college in the late 70's, early 80's and I can attest from personal experience that the Charismatics are the last people you want with their fingers on the trigger, possibly even worse than End O' Timers.

Behind Vitter's Votes

Oh, so Diaper Dave is really planning to run again? That will make for some fine election watching. Via Taegan.

The Fix explains the real reason Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) voted against Hillary Clinton's nomination as President Obama's secretary of state:

"The freshman Senator is preparing to run for re-election in 2010 despite revelations last year that his name turned up in the records of the D.C. Madam. Given those problems and talk of a primary challenge from his ideological right, Vitter's vote against Clinton is a clear signal to conservatives in the state: 'I am still one of you.'"

Rep William Jefferson Loses His Seat

Glad to see him go.

Nine-term. scandal-plagued Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) appeared headed to defeat Saturday night as voters in Louisiana cast the final ballots of the 2008 campaign.

With 79 percent of precincts reporting, attorney and activist Anh "Joseph" Cao led Jefferson by a 53 percent to 43.3 percent margin. The Associated Press has called the race for Cao.

Happy Halloween!!

Hey McCain, BOO!!!

WWL Poll: Obama-McCain in virtual tie in Louisiana

Video: Watch the Story NEW ORLEANS - An exclusive new WWL-TV statewide poll shows the contest for president may be closer than many had predicted among Louisiana voters.

In the telephone survey of 500 registered voters, conducted by pollster Ed Renwick, Republican Senator John McCain earns 43 percent of the vote, while Democrat Senator Barack Obama receives 40 percent. Renwick said that amounts to a statistical tie, since the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 points.

“It's closer than I thought it would be,” said Renwick, adding that the higher the turnout, the worse it might be for McCain.