More Guns in the Classroom?

From TP:

BATON ROUGE -- All college students 21 or older who have qualified for concealed handgun permits would be able to carry firearms to class and other parts of campus under a bill approved 11-3 by a House committee Thursday.

The Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice sent to the House floor House Bill 199 by Rep. Ernest Wooton, R-Belle Chasse, its chairman. Wooton said he expects lengthy debate on the bill's merits when it hits the floor.

The bill drew support from college students who say they feel unsafe and inadequately protected when leaving campus late at night. Student leaders from several campuses teamed with Joseph Savoie, commissioner of higher education for the State Board of Regents, the agency that coordinates higher education funding, policy and curriculum, in asking the panel to reject the measure

Where to begin?

1) Weapons are currently prohibited on college and university campuses. I mean "prohibited" in that (on my campus) there are old, rusty signs suggesting such, but we all know that there is nothing else prohibiting students from bringing guns to campus, whether they have concealed firearms permits or not. That is already the case. The legislation proposed above encourages students to bring firearms to campus by reinforcing idea that they need firearms on campus.

2) Those college students who "feel unsafe and inadequately protected when leaving classes late at night" should be lobbying for heightened campus security. Under Bobby Jindal's current hiring freeze, however, there will not be more campus security on state college and university campuses anytime soon.

3) As usual, unsavory Louisiana legislators have aimed for a solution that costs the state nothing (except, potentially, lives) and essentially outsources campus security to those who will do the job for free, presumably students and faculty.

4) I may often sound grumpy when I talk about my students, but let me tell you, I take my responsibility to them very seriously. I care about every one of them, even those few who try my nerves to extreme levels. The vast majority are nice people. That said, I do not want them carrying guns. I do not want them to become the target of propaganda suggesting that it's their responsibility to themselves or others to do so. More guns on college campuses will not make college campuses safer but rather more dangerous.

5) In the event of a Virginia-Tech episode, crossfire is not the answer. But in the event that the state legislature encourages students to arm themselves, Virginia-Tech episodes are more likely. Of the two students in my long career whose potential capacity for violent outbursts concerned me tremendously, both would have probably qualified for concealed weapons permits and both possessed a mindset which would have led them to apply.

I'm contacting my representative about HB 199. Please join me.

Flooding on Westbank

While we were reveling about fun in the rain at Jazz Fest, it seems that a lot of the Westbank was floating away. Check out these photos over at EJ's blog.

Jazz Fest Sunday

(Photo credit: M Styborski)

On the walk from LSU Dental School to Jazz Fest, I experienced some of the happiest moments of my return to New Orleans. I love it here, and just walking toward the Fest, my step was lighter, my spine straighter, and my spirits higher than usual. The first thing I wanted was the food, which I'd been looking forward to for days, and I got a combo: crawfish beignets, puffy oyster pies, and something else I can't remember the name of but which is a pasty combination of crawfish stuffing, crafted to look like an apple. You know that the second I turned around with my plate to walk away from the food stand, though, the sky opened before I had my first bite and the rest of the meal, that which was not splashed right off the plate, was...diluted. But, hey, that's okay.

After an hour standing under a very small green tent beside some beer, it was off to The Gospel tent and a too-brief visit to the Mardi Gras Indians before Al Green. Al sounded the same as ever, though he did let the audience do a lot of the singing, which I thought was kind of funny. He threw roses and would begin, for instance, "I'm so tired of being alone..." at which time he'd turn the mike over to the audience to finish up. He interjected a high, masterful, extended trademark "Ooooooooooooeeeeeeee!" from time to time. That was a great show.

I danced a lot even though my back has been in spasm for about a week, so you know it was a great show.

I was quite excited about downloading my photos here, but 1) I knew them to be out of focus and 2) it now turns out that the camera was in fact adversely affected by water. Hmmf. Pay no mind to those clear, sharp, skillful photos over at Bark, Bugs, Leaves, and Lizards.

Jindal Watch

The story of the youth correctional facility in need of a direct care provider has the happiest possible ending: the position and candidate were approved by Bobby Jindal and Angele Davis, and the candidate is still available.

I think it's important to remember, however, that the job would have been filled in January if not for the beaurocratic nightmare that ensued after it was advertised. Perhaps some taxpayers can feel good about the fact that two months' salary for this provider has been saved thanks to Jindal's vigilant supervision of the state hiring process. I cannot.

Since this case is closed, please feel free to inform me of any similar situations that come to your attention. I'll be more than happy to offer whatever effect the Funk Bump may have in resolving them :)

Viva...

Has John McCain Rejected the Support of This Man?

(Photo Credits: 1. Old Shoe Woman 2. Raford2)



From Huffington Post:

Hagee on Hurricane Katrina
"All hurricanes are acts of God because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that." [NPR Fresh Air, 9/18/06]

Hagee on Islamic Beliefs
Fresh Air host Terry Gross asked if Hagee believed that "all Muslims have a mandate to kill Christians and Jews," to which Hagee replied, "Well, the Quran teaches that. Yes, it teaches that very clearly." [NPR Fresh Air, 9/18/06]

Hagee on African-Americans
The San Antonio Express-News reported that Hagee was going to "meet with black religious leaders privately at an unspecified future date to discuss comments he made in his newsletter about a 'slave sale,' an East Side minister said Wednesday." The Express-News reported:

"Hagee, pastor of the 16,000-member Cornerstone Church, last week had announced a 'slave sale' to raise funds for high school seniors in his church bulletin, 'The Cluster.'

"The item was introduced with the sentence 'Slavery in America is returning to Cornerstone" and ended with "Make plans to come and go home with a slave." [San Antonio Express-News 3/7/96]

Hagee on Catholicism
"Most readers will be shocked by the clear record of history linking Adolf Hitler and the Roman Catholic Church in a conspiracy to exterminate the Jews." [Jerusalem Countdown by John Hagee]

Hagee on Women
"Do you know the difference between a woman with PMS and a snarling Doberman pinscher? The answer is lipstick. Do you know the difference between a terrorist and a woman with PMS? You can negotiate with a terrorist." [God's Profits: Faith, Fraud and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters, Sarah Posner]

"[T]he feminist movement today is throwing off authority in rebellion against God's pattern for the family." ["Bible Positions on Political Issues," John Hagee]

Hagee on LGBT Americans
"The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know that there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment." [NPR Fresh Air, 9/18/06]

Hagee on Iran
"The coming nuclear showdown with Iran is a certainty," Hagee wrote [in 2006] in the Pentecostal magazine Charisma. "Israel and America must confront Iran's nuclear ability and willingness to destroy Israel with nuclear weapons. For Israel to wait is to risk committing national suicide." [The Nation, 8/8/2006]

Comment of the Day

From bdogg, on Bobby Jindal's hiring freeze:

This centralized micro-managing harbors the moral authority of fascism and the efficiency of communism. Jin-“dull” has created a bureaucracy to judge the merits of bureaucracy! At the job position level, how will his appointed turtle-soup brained minions better determine if its worth the money than the local administrator? “Boobie”seems to federalist big government pumpkin-head of the 1st order.

Whoo-hoo!

Let's keep up the rippin' on that Reagan-Baby Jindal.

Update: Just to further clarify: Hiring freezes are not usually concurrent with news like this:

State's surplus expected to double
Posted by The Times-Picayune December 10, 2007 9:19PM
Categories: Breaking News
By Jan Moller
Capital bureau

BATON ROUGE -- Boosted by strong income-tax collections and high energy prices, Louisiana's rosy revenue picture continued to improve Monday, when a forecasting panel added $1.1 billion to the state's budget projections for the next 18 months.

Amorphous Post

1. See Bark, Bugs, Leaves and Lizards' excellent post on one New Orleans woman's "road home."

2. Bobby Jindal's "ethics reform" is about as convincing as John McCain's. Knowing that McCain has no chance against Obama, I wish that McCain would beknight Jindal as his losing mate, thereby forcing Jindal out of his office more often and giving him less time to deprive Louisiana of state services, at least for awhile.

3. Bill on Hillary: "Her fate should be decided in Texas." I agree. But if Mr. Funk had uttered such a statement about me, I'd get a restraining order.

4. Will somebody please serve Ralph Nader some Obama-aid?

State Ethics Reform

Photo Credit: Miley and JonasBrothers

From TP, 2/16/08:

State officials take freebies on eve of ethics session
by Robert Travis Scott,
Friday February 15, 2008, 8:05 PM
BATON ROUGE -- As the Hannah Montana hit song says, "Nobody's Perfect."

That might be one assessment this week after revelations that Gov. Bobby Jindal's top aide and several legislators used free tickets from the governor's New Orleans Arena suite to treat their daughters and other relatives to the teen idol's recent live concert, at the same time the administration is pushing a bill to prohibit free entertainment tickets to lawmakers.

Jindal Chief of Staff Timmy Teepell gave tickets to his brother's family to attend the sold-out Jan. 26 performance of Miley Cyrus, the 15-year-old sensation known by her TV-show rock star name, Hannah Montana. Although Teepell was doing what many other state officials have done for years in using the governor's complimentary suite tickets for the show, the freebie struck some as a poorly timed contradiction given the standards the governor is trying to set during the current legislative session on ethics.

Mardi Gras, Ups and Downs

Photo Credit: G.J. Charlet

Though Lundi Gras and the build-up to Fat Tuesday were fun and exciting, and I'm so glad to be in New Orleans, I was gripped by an unexpected and deep-seated funk on the big day. Made it to Zulu, which was wonderful, but afterward somehow didn't feel like doing much of anything for the rest of the day.

BUT, many links to great Mardi Gras photos from N.O. bloggers posted by Sophmom at DotCalm!

From Times-Pic, 2/5/2007, "Mardi Gras Uplifts a Beleaguered City":

"Things are pretty hard around here," Handy said. "People didn't have much before the storm and a lot less now. So a nice day with the kids having fun is a good thing."

As a more somber tone dominated on Ash Wednesday, it was clear Mardi Gras had delivered a much-needed tonic.

Hotels reported occupancy rates near 95 percent — an encouraging achievement considering Mardi Gras' early date kept away the spring break crowd.

With slightly smaller crowds and the attention of the national news media focused on the Super Tuesday elections, local residents found Carnival 2008 a time to relax and reconnect with neighborhood traditions.

Still, the fatigue of the storm — which flooded 80 percent of New Orleans and killed 1,300 in the area — could be felt.

Carnival provides a respite, but it also creates problems, said Dr. Mark Townsend, vice chairman at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center.

"From a psychiatric standpoint it lifts people's moods," Townsend said. "But it also stressed the psychiatric system that we have. We can't take care of many people now and this morning we have more than a dozen people here awaiting emergency beds."

Since Katrina, New Orleans has been gripped by a shortage of psychiatric services, with fewer than 100 beds available for acute treatment, Townsend said. Health groups have reported a surge in mental care needs attributable to the storm.

That's on top of the emotional free-for-all that accompanies the excesses of Carnival.

"Mardi Gras often causes an uptick in psychiatric problems because people are using alcohol or drugs or can't get their medications," Townsend said. "It's not a good time to have a psychiatric problem here."

And I have it from reliable local sources that though the hiring freeze was "lifted" for many state direct-care providers, it still creates myriad problems in filling a lot of direct-care and support positions quickly in state hospitals. And that is a huge sign of a big "psychiatric problem" in our state government.

Also, some must-reads: Maitri's in-depth post on "rebuilding below sea level." And Gentilly Girl's killer rant against corporatizing Mardi Gras.

And Thanks Again.

Photo Credit: Eric Hand

From Salon, Jan. 29, 2008 | Last summer, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was publicly shamed when lawmakers revealed the agency, to avoid lawsuits, put off testing trailers used to house Hurricane Katrina victims for formaldehyde, a toxic chemical. Now, documents obtained by Salon show that FEMA also pressured scientists to water down a report on the health risks of formaldehyde. FEMA officials instructed the scientists to omit any references to cancer or other long-term health risks from exposure to formaldehyde in FEMA trailers.

In a scathing letter sent today to Dr. Howard Frumkin, chief of the National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Reps. Brad Miller, chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee's Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, and Nick Lampson, chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, wrote, "you appear to have been complicit in giving FEMA precisely what they wanted ... However what FEMA wanted and what you approved giving them was not the whole truth regarding formaldehyde. It was not based on 'best science,' nor did it provide 'trusted health information' to the Katrina survivors." FEMA and ATSDR officials are expected to testify Tuesday before the House Committee on Homeland Security, which is also investigating the matter.

After Hurricane Katrina, FEMA placed tens of thousands of displaced families in travel trailers, more than 40,000 of which are still in use. Almost immediately, hundreds of families called FEMA to complain of illnesses, from breathing difficulties, bloody noses and rashes to more serious problems, and even deaths, possibly connected to high levels of formaldehyde gas permeating the trailers. Formaldehyde is a nearly colorless gas with a pungent, irritating odor even at low levels. It is used in many products and manufacturing procedures, notably as an adhesive in plywood used to make trailers. Health reports reveal that exposure to formaldehyde can impact fertility and the developing fetus, leading to spontaneous abortion or physical malformations.

In May 2006, FEMA asked ATSDR to compose a "health consultation" on the FEMA trailers. Dr. Christopher De Rosa, chief of toxicology for ATSDR, told FEMA that any report on health risks of exposure to formaldehyde would have to include information on the risk of cancer and other potential long-term problems. At that point, De Rosa was cut out of the loop. Records show that FEMA contacted two of De Rosa's staffers, who then prepared the misleading consultation. When, nine months later, De Rosa learned ATSDR had omitted the key health information in its advisory, he drafted a letter to FEMA trial attorney Patrick Edward Preston.

"I am concerned that this health consultation is incomplete and perhaps misleading," De Rosa wrote. "Formaldehyde is classified as 'reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.' As such, there is no recognized 'safe level' of exposure. Thus, any level of exposure to formaldehyde may pose a cancer risk, regardless of duration. Failure to communicate this issue is possibly misleading, and a threat to public health."

De Rosa also wrote to Frumkin, noting "FEMA's initial contact came directly to me nine months ago on this issue." "I reviewed the proposed statement and specified that they had neglected to address longer term risk including cancer." After eight months of tense negotiations, a revised report included references to the potentially harmful effects of formaldehyde. But other health information, including the likelihood of other toxic gases, such as toluene, being present, was omitted, as was De Rosa's insistence that ATSDR call for the government to take immediate action to end formaldehyde exposure to trailer residents and monitor them for long-term harmful effects. Records show that following his protests, De Rosa in October 2007 was "reassigned" out of his long-term post as director of ATSDR's divison of toxicology and environmental medicine. De Rosa was not available for comment.

In their letter to Frumkin, the lawmakers wrote, "Yet, even after you were specifically told about the scientifically flawed and potentially misleading information in this report and apparently agreed that it should be amended, your agency did not revise this Health Consultation until seven months later in October 2007. Your lack of urgency in this matter is remarkable." A call to Frumkin's office was not returned. More from Salon's "Fema Covered Up Cancer Risks"

Gee, Thanks

Photo credit: Rob Sheridan

Times Picayune, 1/28/08:

In a nod to the hurricane recovery along the Gulf Coast, President Bush is expected to announce tonight that New Orleans will host the annual summit of North American leaders in April.

A senior White House official said Bush chose New Orleans to honor the "resilience" of Gulf Coast residents and the outpouring of volunteerism that has flowered in the areas hardest hit by the 2005 hurricanes...

Falling more than two and a half years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the region, the summit is likely to refocus international attention on the slow pace of the recovery and also serve as an economic boost [?]for the city. Bush called Gov. Bobby Jindal and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin today to let them know.

The decision by the White House to host the summit in New Orleans comes just months after the Presidential Debate Commission passed up the city's application raising questions about whether the city had recovered sufficiently. More

Addendum: In case you are subjecting yourself to the State of the Union address (I am not), here's kind of a fun game. In years past, a friend and I would turn on our instant messengers and send a * each time Bush said the opposite of what is true (e.g., "we're fighting for democracy"), a # each time he projected his own character or actions onto others (e.g., "_____ is an evil tyrant"), and a ? each time he mangled the English language. There's no real scoring system here, but the game is guaranteed to keep your fingers moving faster than you'd even imagine and provides a little mechanism for venting stress/frustration/outrage.--A.F.

Thanks, Ya'll!

Photo and more info about Krewe of Pan and Cult of Lafcadio: http://adrastos.blog-city.com/

About AF: The Third Return, Part I (continued)

Photo Credits: DSM, www.bonkersinstitute.org Flood, www.katrina.noaa.gov

As lucky as I would again like to emphasize that I was in returning to New Orleans, I would also like to point out lingering symptoms associated with all described in the last post. I'm doing that in the spirit of understanding that if these symptoms existed for me, I can scarcely guess how severe they must have been, or how many more there must have been, for others:

• a newfound sense of tremendous vulnerability, wrought not only, as one may expect, by experiencing a disaster (notice I didn't say "natural disaster") but at the hands of those who attempted to exploit or otherwise profit from those most affected and, in the situation as it was, could get away with doing so.


• insomnia, inability to concentrate, fatigue, and nagging physical symptoms never experienced before.


• a certain cognitive dissonance associated with the realization that what was being reported nationally was not what was actually happening. Everyone realizes this on an abstract level, but living it, often to the extreme, means experiencing that sense of betrayal in a visceral way.


• a sense of living in survival mode, at the bottom of Maslov's hierachy, whatever you want to call it, for well over a year after. Just because there's food and safety, a place to live, a job and some cash in the account, etc, doesn't mean that a person's whole psyche accepts any of that right away, if those basic elements are there, which for a lot of people here, they still aren't.

Having left the city for a year, I can attest to the fact that a change in locale does not alleviate these symptoms. Most of those I know who have started lives elsewhere report them, too, to varying degrees.

My hat really goes off to those who did not contibute to Post-Katrina-Stress-Disorder for those who remained here: reporters and bloggers and documentary makers who told/exposed the truth; a few politicians who really want(ed) to help; landlords who did not hike their rent to levels far out of step with increases in insurance coverage and property tax just because the market would temporarily allow; contractors who made good on their promises; all the people and organizations who have fought and fought and fought to do the right thing. Please feel free to help me list them here.

About AF: The Third Return, Part I

Man, I am SO glad to be back in New Orleans. I've considered it home for a decade. It's the only place in the U.S. that I want to be.

I left the first time in 2002 for New York City and came back in 2003. It wasn't a cliched return because I couldn't make it there--I had a good though infuriating job, a nice apartment in Brooklyn, and the connections I needed to make things work. I came back because I was lonely for New Orleans. I kept dreaming about Magazine Street and potholes and people being themselves and many of the things I'd complained about when I lived here. And then there was this crystallized moment when I'd fallen asleep with the tv on and woke up to Louis Armstrong's "Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans." I started crying. I had to come back even if it meant being in between jobs for awhile, living without health insurance, running up credit cards. I realized it was the only place I'd ever lived that was real, the only place where anything was going on. I drove the 28 hours straight.

I left the second time on August 28, 2005--wearing the t-shirt and sweats I'd slept in, with my dog, two books, one cd, and one change of clothes--for my home town, 600 miles away, a 20-hour drive that day. This second departure was made possible by several lucky breaks, including but not limited to the following: I had a relative outside the projected path of the storm, a 200-something mile swath; as a "middle-class" person, I had a car that would idle long enough, without overheating, to get to Meridian, MS, where traffic finally became traffic rather than a parking lot; because of a meager income, twice that of the median income for New Orleans residents, I had $132 in my bank account (despite it being the end of the month) and a credit card with a little space on it; and I had a full tank of gas. I include these details for anyone who may wonder why everyone didn't get out of the city.

I returned five weeks later, the first day people in my zip were allowed back into the city. I drove in from the west, down Claiborne, through a city on fire, literally, through a scene resembling a Bosch painting, but one that can only really be understood by anybody else who saw it.

I was lucky. My apartment did not flood. It had been "looted" (and I don't think by the much- hyped "looters" on CNN et al, either). The street I lived on was barely passable. A tree was on my roof. My block was litttered with the hot, decomposing corpses of dogs and cats. Severed power and cable lines hung limp. Flies, rats and mice were everywhere, inside and out. The fridge was full of maggots even though the only things in there had been condiments and frozen brocoli. Yet somehow my apt was one of the only ones in the city with running water, electricty, and cable. I still had a regular paycheck and a job for awhile, one that I could do from home. I had some FEMA money left, only because I happened to be the only one who lived at my address. Any complaints of mine in this regard are nothing but whining, comparatively.

This is the thing: I didn't lose my stuff or my dwelling, and I can't speak for the people who did at all. But I thought for a good month that I had, and that wasn't what was primarily important to me. What really gets a person is this and this and this and this. What really gets a person is seeing their own government let its people literally die. There's something about that that nobody gets over, even if there is some kind of reparation or apology later, which in this case there obviously hasn't been.

This post doesn't stop here, I bit off more than I could chew, and I may or may not come back to it. If you're from here, you know all these stories and you know what I mean. I don't want this blog in general to be narrative or autobiographical or any of that. This is just a little of what's up with A.F. in N.O.