Month: January 2006

As New Orleans officials strategize over just what the Big Easy will be in a post Katrina world, one wonders if they’re simply rearranging chairs on a Titanic.

This city is dreaming big as it puts together a blueprint for its rebirth in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, considering such audacious ideas as re-creating a long-gone jazz district, building a network of bike paths and commuter rail lines, and establishing a top-flight school system.

In the coming days, beginning Wednesday, a commission appointed by Mayor Ray Nagin will unveil a grab bag of ideas that could become part of the master plan for rebuilding this devastated city, a task unparalleled in American history.

Committees and subcommittees of the Bring New Orleans Back Commission were invited to think big, with little regard for the price tag. That will be dealt with later, when New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf Coast divvy up the $29 billion in federal aid designated for hurricane recovery and reconstruction.

And what a party that will be! State, city and national organizations and grass-roots groups have their own ideas for how to rebuild the city. Watch the personalities and personal agendas collide. Tickets are on sale now!

This is all well and good – dreaming dreams, throwing costs to the wind, communicating hopes and desires. One problem still exists though – the faulty levee system. Until this safety mechanism is completely rethought, redesigned and rebuilt, plans to install bike paths and a jazz district will be a complete waste of time and money. 

The rebuilding of New Orleans has to be taken seriously, but given the history of the state of Louisiana, it’s too easy to believe that the transformation of the Big Easy will end up being the big land grab of the century. 

UPDATE: The fight has begun.

If you’re in the market for a new car, GM’s woes might be your gain.

General Motors Corp., whose U.S. sales fell 4.3 percent last year, said it will cut the prices on about 80 percent of its cars and trucks.

Prices will reduced on all Buick, Chevrolet and GMC models and most Pontiac vehicles, said Mark LaNeve, GM’s head of North American marketing, in a statement today. The price cuts take effect tomorrow. Combined with reductions made on some models in August, the changes cover 90 percent of GM’s volume, LaNeve said.

The firesale isn’t just a ploy to gain sales in what is normally a lackluster season for car buying. GM’s CFO says he’s in crisis mode.

“You can’t panic. That is not crisis mode. Crisis mode means taking serious action, decisively, quickly and addressing your problems as urgently as you possibly can. So I think I understand crisis mode and I am in it and have been for a while,” Henderson said.

He’s right, and hopefully, for GM’s sake, their strategy will work.

More ‘Osama is Dead’ news, this time from Michael Ledeen.

“According to Iranians I trust, Osama bin Laden finally departed this world in mid-December. The al Qaeda leader died of kidney failure and was buried in Iran, where he had spent most of his time since the destruction of al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The Iranians who reported this note that this year’s message in conjunction with the Muslim Haj came from his number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, for the first time.”

Find the grave, exhume the body, positively identify and do an autopsy, THEN I might believe that Osama bin Laden is dead. 

Senator Ted (hiccup) Kennedy will write a children’s book. Parents, protect your kids from this one.

Meet the latest children’s author, Sen. Ted Kennedy, and his Portuguese Water Dog, Splash, his co-protagonist in “My Senator and Me: A Dogs-Eye View of Washington, D.C.”

Scholastic Inc. will release the book in May.

“I am very excited about the opportunity to create a book for young readers and their families that will deepen their understanding of how our American government works,” Kennedy said in a statement Monday issued by Scholastic.

According to Scholastic, Kennedy’s book “not only takes readers through a full day in the Senator’s life, but also explains how a bill becomes a law.” Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, was inspired to write the book from his work with a Washington-based reading program, “Everybody Wins!”

Heh, a day in the life of the senator.

“Well kiddies, first thing I do when I get up (hiccup) is grab a tablespoon of grandma’s recipe. OK (hiccup), maybe just a little more than a tablespoon. Uncle Teddy is a big man, and I need a little more than most grown-ups.”

Oh could I go a long way with this, but I won’t on this PG-13 rated blog.

Harry Belafonte calls Bush “the greatest terrorist in the world”. What a moron.

The American singer and activist Harry Belafonte called President Bush “the greatest terrorist in the world” on Sunday and said millions of Americans support the socialist revolution of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.

Belafonte led a delegation of Americans including the actor Danny Glover and the Princeton University scholar Cornel West that met the Venezuelan president for more than six hours late Saturday. Some in the group attended Chavez’s television and radio broadcast Sunday.

“No matter what the greatest tyrant in the world, the greatest terrorist in the world, George W. Bush says, we’re here to tell you: Not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of the American people … support your revolution,” Belafonte told Chavez during the broadcast.

Stay in Caracas Harry. Your DAY-O has come and gone in the United States.

UPDATE: Hillary Clinton will appear with Belafonte tomorrow. Of course, this will go unnoticed by the media.

I won’t be spending a lot of time on this story, aside from a snark here or there, unless something outrageous happens. Otherwise, there are plenty of lawyer bloggers out there who will comment on every utterance, jot and tittle (as they should).

One thing to say at the outset – why, why, why is this news?

Or so says the press.

Doctors started weaning Prime Minister Ariel Sharon off the sedatives keeping him in a coma Monday, and the stricken leader immediately began breathing on his own and reportedly moved his right hand.

Outside experts said that while independent breathing meant Sharon had better chances for survival, it gave no indication about his other physical or mental capacities in the wake of his massive stroke Wednesday. Doctors induced the coma Thursday to give Sharon’s brain time to heal from the stroke and subsequent surgeries.

Not to be overtly negative or anything, but isn’t this news just the kind of reporting we’d expect after a major world leader is incapacitated? It’s quite ironic if you think about it – the MSM spends every waking moment verbally assassinating political leaders, yet when they become sick, or when their life is at stake, the reporting turns around 180 degrees. Suddenly, the New York Times is the bedside attendant nursing them back to health. Weird.

I got home late last night, just as I thought I would, but I didn’t count on feeling like Mr. Death was knocking at my door. I slept most of the day today, and am now getting my head back in order. Must be some funky quick cold deal that kills you, albeit briefly, then exits your body with the speed only a demon would envy.

So, that explains my tardiness.

I’ll be back to full speed tomorrow.

Heading out of town today and won’t be back until late tonight, so, this will be a lonely place. Have a great weekend.

This has got to be the silliest thing I’ve read all day.