The Republican candidate for Congress in LA-06 this time around is a State Senator named Bill Cassidy ... who looks a little like George McFly. Anyway, he just released an ad that ignores what folks in the Baton Rouge metro region experienced during Hurricane Gustav:
This ad raises so MANY questions that I just have to list them all. First, questions that were triggered while watching the ad:
What day did he shoot this ad?
Did he have power when he shot the ad?
Was it actually raining or did he fake the rain?
If it was shot during Gustav, why doesn't he mention the challenges Louisianans are facing and the recovery ahead?
If it wasn't shot during Gustav, why is he pretending it was?
How did he find the time to film a partisan political campaign commercial while Baton Rouge was experiencing the worst storm in its history?
Now, the issue-oriented questions:
Why is he shaking his head "NO" when talking about drilling now? Is it because he doesn't think it's a good idea to drill for oil? Or is it because he knows he has no plan to hold oil companies accountable as they drill; no plan to ensure oil royalties go to rebuilding our state's coastline, or even rebuilding levees or improving drainage since his issues page at his website doesn't even mention any of the above?
If he's against earmarks, how does he plan to get the money to ensure Louisiana comes back better than ever after Ike, Gustav, Rita and Katrina?
I just wonder how the constituents in his State Senate district and the folks he hopes to represent in LA-06 are going to feel about his using the "hurricane" as a backdrop for an ad where he launches into generic political talking points ...
Prior to the Convention, I thought I'd have the opportunity to see Don and sit down for a quick video interview with him. Then I got there. He was nowhere to be found.
I believe the most important place for me to be in the last week of August is overseas with our troops. Traveling to Iraq and Afghanistan will not only give me a first-hand view of the situation on the ground, but also a chance to visit with and thank our service men and women who are so bravely and honorably serving our country. The trip will also help me in my position on the Veterans' Affairs Committee as I will have a broader understanding of the challenges that returning veterans face."
I especially love Michael Jackson's statement saying that Don would find the time to go to the border but not the Democratic Convention. Well, I think visiting the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan trumps going to a party in Denver, Mr. Jackson.
"Congress needs to understand the people of St. Bernard lost everything, including loved ones, due to the negligence and lack of responsiveness by the federal government and Army Corps of Engineers in the maintenance of that structure," Taffaro said.
But the port has an ally in U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans. In a statement issued last week, Jefferson signaled his support for keeping MR-GO open until the locks are completed.
"I will continue working with the Port of New Orleans and other interested parties so that New Orleans does not lose valuable business at the port," the statement said.
Pray tell, Congressman, whose business are you so worried about? Might it be Bollinger Gulf Repair, one of Bollinger Shipyards' many subsidiarys:
If the MR-GO closes without an alternative route opening first, Bollinger Vice President Robert Socha said the repair dock's 300 jobs could go, too.
"If one or the other isn't met, Bollinger Gulf Repair would probably cease to exist," he said.
I wish I could say that Hurricane Gustav refocused more national attention on Louisiana's issues including vanishing barrier reefs and wetlands as well as the following, which I learned about this morning from a fellow Kossack living in the NOLA area who had evacuated when Gustav was on the way. Maybe it did--for only a few minutes.
For to put it bluntly, even in the New Orleans area even though the MSM gave out of state observers the impression that the area had escaped unscathed or was only lightly damaged, residents still have a major mess to contend with--and FEMA still doesn't seem to have learned from Katrina and the flood. More below the fold....
So I made it back to New Orleans late last night, to find that all the grocery stores were closed - Whole Foods just because, and Winn-Dixie because they didn't have a damn thing left on the shelves last night that was non-perishable. I'm sticking to non-perishables until Hurricane Ike gets its ass far away from the shores of Louisiana.
Well folks, I've been without internet access the past few days while moving from New Orleans to a roach and ant infested Econolodge in northeastern Alabama to my grandmother in law's rental property in South Carolina to my aunt-in-law's home in North Carolina.
I know, I know ... but the options were limited. I could have stayed in Baton Rouge, but I didn't want to take a chance on a the foreclosed home of a friend of a friend, nor did I want to be separated from my little dog, so my wife and I took a chance on the Econolodge in Alabama. Then we went to stay with family.
Now I'm sitting here getting ready to watch Senator McSame speak.
and its survivors across the wide swath of Louisiana which has been tortured by the devastation he left behind. Saying in last night's speech that she stands behind our fellow citizens in the area would only have been right--especially were she to have called upon other Americans to donate to the Red Cross as has Obama. (Link below the fold).
Now for the "meat"--following is a poem I've written to commemorate the third anniversary of Katrina and the federal flood. It is in the voice of the mother of 8-year-old and 9-year-old boys who have a disabled grandmother. While it is fiction, it's based on things people actually went through during Katrina and flood and in the aftermath.
As duplicative, repetitive diaries keep being posted on other websites about Sarah Palin, the agonizing aftermath of Gustav in Louisiana is being ignored, if it hasn't been forgotten already.
Don't get me wrong--but there's plenty of time to go into Palin's issues between now and the election (though as Obama has said, we shouldn't go into Bristol's pregnancy because that's a family problem of the Palins.) And those having to do with her work as a leader are important. But we should not lose sight of what's going on in Louisiana as we focus on them. Because the disaster and anguish continue in Gustav's aftermath.
