Drinking Age Debate

Some college officials want to reopen this particular topic. Every year, colleges and college towns face ever increasing pressure to crack down on underage drinking, binge drinking, party atmosphere and the culture that comes from young people being away from mommy and daddy for the first time. Athens, Georgia goes through this almost yearly and though it inspires plenty of debate and name-calling, the problem never seems to go away.

For one example of how this is done, please see the 5th paragraph of the Wikipedia entry for "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party". Even though no behavior was changed, and the game is still played, and most fans still call it by the old moniker, the colleges, the SEC and the sports networks have made a cosmetic change purely as a response to interest groups.

Some of this can be traced to the overall philosophy of what college is really for, and of course, the wisdom of having a vibrant population of 18 - 22 year olds hanging around each other (half can buy alcohol, the other half cannot do so legally) in what amounts to a consequence-free zone.

It also comes down to issues involving the military, voting rights, marriage and the age at which someone can drive a car. To put a finer point on it, it is acceptable for us to send our 18 year old citizens off to experience the horror of war. It is acceptable for us to allow our 18 year old citizens the right to vote (since not many of them do it). It is legal in places for citizens younger than 18 to get married, however unacceptable it is to do so socially. The driving age keeps getting pushed higher and higher, but is still at 16 when this coming of age traditionally happens.

But the traditional drinking age is 21. Is it any wonder why folks between 18 and 21 flagrantly disregard such a law?

You also have to look at social ramifications of all of the above, and the factor colleges typically play in this debate. Citizens who join the military at 18 are, more often than not, going to bravely serve the US and make the choice to go to college later. These are the folks usually from lower economic backgrounds (that many leftist pundits point out for poltical purposes). Many of the middle to upper middle class citizens who go on to join the military do so by either going to college first or attending the ROTC program while in college.

Citizens who get married at earlier ages also tend to come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. This also holds true for those who need the right to drive a vehicle to work at 16. If you are in a lower socioeconomic class, your need for transportation in order to work is higher.

But these are all reasons, as I see it, that the adamant resistance to lowering the drinking age and the persuit of draconian penalties for 18 - 20 year olds drinking comes from members of and interest groups centered in the middle and upper middle class. This is the category most likely to be the "helicopter parents" who are the most uncomfortable and fearful about their children growing up, becoming responsible for themselves and facing the real world outside the home the parents have provided and worked so hard for.

But this comes mainly from fear, and it is the insidious fear that the parent feels when trying to talk to their sons and daughters about topics like drinking and sex. Why take responsibility for your own kids, and - Lord knows - your own personal history - when you can advocate that college administrations take this burden instead?

This is a good debate to have, though I expect a very shrill opposition to even speaking about this from the nanny-state brigades.

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Paying Back is Not Enough

The city workers, contractors and whoever was supposed to oversee the New Orleans Affordable Housing, Inc. (NOAH) should be brought up on state and federal charges for fraud, embezzlement, racketeering, by virtue of that - RICO, money laundering and obstruction of justice.. Luckily, investigations are ongoing from the FBI, HUD and the Inspector General's office, but "paying back the money" is not enough.

Not near enough. Punitive damages should be severe, and all New Orleanians - all taxpayers should demand it. Send them all the way to Leavenworth, and let them never have King Cake again.

Because this is far, far more damaging to the city of New Orleans, non-profit organizations, race relations here and nationwide, than a few hundred thousand dollars. This could be the smoking gun.

One of the few things that has worked in this city's recovery are the volunteers who have come from all over this nation to help rebuild this city. Another one of those things is how many citizens came back and spent all their free time rebuilding a life here. Now we learn that their efforts, their hard labor in the Gulf Coast heat, in the moldy houses, on the bombed out streets, was used by local "businesspeople" and "government" to line personal pockets with cash. Cash that is desperately needed for the recovery of this city, that people had to fight to convince the taxpayers to buy into.

They wanted to bulldoze this place. They wanted to bulldoze this place. They wanted to bulldoze this place. They wanted to take away everything New Orleanian about New Orleans. But people responded. People here and every volunteer that gave their time turned back that tide to prove the bulldozers wrong.

And now these despicable local contractors and folks inside our own City Hall have given the bulldozers, the right to stand up and say "we told you so, that's the New Orleans we were talking about."

A message must be sent. I want the money back, I want those responsible to go to prison, and I want a pound of flesh for every. single. dollar. And I want it done publicly, so the world can see it won't be tolerated anymore.


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Primer

This post is mainly for my readers who aren't in New Orleans. When it comes to news in New Orleans, you are generally served a heavy diet of mythology about the corruption in government down here and how the population tends to just let it slide. Though your own state and local governments are probably guilty with similar crimes, they generally don't fit into your civic conciousness as acutely as the corruption down here fits into ours.

It is difficult to work within a system of selective enforcement of laws, byzantine civil ordinances and a layered bureaucracy to prosecute corruption anywhere. That is the nature of the beast, and why corruption and ethics laws are always being talked about while little is done.

This happens in your hometowns, too. But you may not be facing problems on the scale that New Orleans is. Atlanta, Georgia isn't going to sink into the sea if someone is making a little money by overcharging for asphalt to repave 285. In New Orleans, making sure money is spent where it is supposed to be spent is, at this point, a matter of civic survival.

The latest scandal involves a city organization charged with the task of remediating homes damaged by flooding. This organization (called New Orleans Affordable Homeownership, Inc. or NOAH) allegedly took money from state and federal recovery funds, and paid contractors to gut many damaged homes in Orleans Parish. Problem is, investigation of the records indicates that several (if not many) of the properties had no work done, didn't qualify for this aid, and that the contracting invovled several layers of conflict-of-interest.

This has caused a firestorm of controversy in New Orleans, and many residents are up in arms. With the FBI and other investigative groups descending upon the government of New Orleans, I hope that this is the smoking gun that will bring down many of the city's current problems. Even now, I wait for the orders to go out for New Orleanians to march on City Hall demanding the Mayor's resignation.

What is also remarkable is how the whole story came into the public's view, albeit slowly. Internet users who wonder what the 'new media' will look like should use this one as a case study.

It all started with the bloggers over at Squandered Heritage and We Could Be Famous. They started the investigation by getting a list of homes remediated by NOAH on the taxpayer's dime, and going to the homes to verify the work. They published their findings online.

The story was picked up by a reporter at one of the local news stations. the Mayor responded forcefully, blaming media bias, which only increased interest in what was going on. As some City Coucil members tried to investigate, they faced intimidation from the audience, but in the end, werenot deterred from asking questions.

While this was going on, there was a tremendous reaction online to the bloggers and their investigations. The Gambit Weekly, the local alternative paper (like Creative Loafing in the Atlanta or the Flagpole in Athens) did not hide their opinions behind polite words this week. And, finally the New Orleans Times-Picayune decided to pick up this particular story.

The end result, so far, is that the organization has suspended ongoing business pending investigation, but even here, the city attorney is noted as criticizing the Inspector General for investigating the program without notifying her office. The bloggers and reporters were already admonished for conducting their own investigations. My hope is that this doesn't stop there. This is a another switcheroo by folks caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

So, take note. The big story is that citizens are fighting the powers that be to end corruption, forcing government oversight of an issue and wasted public funds that may have gone unnoticed. New Orleanians are fighting for this city tooth and nail and doing investigative jobs we count on paid watchdogs to do. The media has had to be bludgeoned into covering this story. Once the City Council got into it, they faced jeers and intimidation, and the city attorneys are criticizing the IG's office from doing their job. Getting lost is the fact that this whole thing started with concerned citizens and the power of information on the internet.

Also taken for granted is the ability of citizens to air their concerns and investigations publicly and online, but this remains exceptional. This is an example of the internet being used to hold the powers that be to account, and that is good news all around.

And I'm still waiting for the news that the citizens are marching an City Hall.

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A Woman Scorned

Don't exactly know what to think about this jilted bride getting awarded $150,000 because her fiancee left her, but I'm terrified at the precedent this sets.

So is this justice or bullshit? I'm torn, but my gut reaction is bullshit. I mean, yes it sucked that she left her high paying job, moved to another state and moved in with the toolbag she was going to marry, but that was her decision. She said yes. She decided that it was a good idea to trust that man.

How many other women (and to be completely fair, men) have been whalloped in such ways? At least three of my boys have been jammed up in similar ways by former girlfriends and fiancees, and they would have been laughed out of court had they sued for monetary and credit damages.

Does this mean they now have legal standing to persue action against these women?

In other thoughts, this is why a marriage license - issued and certified by the state governments - is so important. They are binding legal contracts backed up by the power of law. That's why divorces require lawyers. But up until that legally binding contract is signed...?


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Wrongs

Yeah, this little news item is not going to play well. There are plenty of places where stuff like this happens. But nowhere does it fit into the local narrative better than right here in New Orleans. No matter what you hear or where you live, behavior like this should not be acceptable to any professional organization.

Police work is hard enough without folks publicly undermining the instituion. My sympathy goes out to all the hard working law enforcement officers who do the right thing, act as professionals, work crappy shifts and have to deal with all the bad things society throws at them - and then have to deal with the public backlash and broken trust because of things like this.

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When White People Attack

I find this situation absolutely disgusting. These people are animals, nothing but animals. Videos are NSFW, and the profanity is extreme. Right now, my knuckles are white, my teeth are gnashing, and I'm considering supporting the right-wing plan to drill for oil off California's coast if they simply promise to wreck Malibu first. (But the last one will pass in a few minutes.)

Let me state a few things before you go and see what I'm talking about (reminder NSFW - language):

1. I don't like paparazzi, but there is no excuse to attack people who are doing nothing illegal on public property.

2. If these were black people attacking photographers, everyone would have heard about it ad nauseum on the evening news everywhere in this nation. Our reactions to this type of violence, which is nothing more than spoiled-brat thuggery - or wilding - as it has been called, should be outrage no matter what the race of the attacker. This should be all over the news, and the folks clearly identified in the video as attackers should be shown no mercy in the courts.

3. The woman in the second video blatantly assaults and batters a photographer, and informs the photographer that if he defends himself from this physical assault, that he will be the one in trouble. So much for equality.

4. The overwhelming number of surfers I know advocate a libertarian existence (do unto others etc) and are active in movements to keep beaches ecologically clean and open for enjoyment by the public. Most don't behave in such ways. It is a shame to have such a segment of the population painted by this, but again, it is more important that the criminals in this case be punished.

People who act in such ways, even against paparazzi, are nothing better than trash, trash, trash.


Update: 6/27/08 10:29pm CST Just saw the story run on Headline News. About damn time. I won't be happy until it runs in primetime.


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Nothing Better to Do?

I remember one day long ago when the Herb and Skills group got ticketed by the Athens-Clarke County police department outside either the 40 Watt Club or Tasty World. Their crime? Putting band advertisements on telephone poles.

While technically illegal - it is clearly against the rules to put fliers anywhere other than approved spaces in the ACC - if you've ever been to Athens, walked around Athens, played in a band in Athens or watched a band in Athens, you know that plenty folks put their band fliers all over everything you can touch with a staplegun and duct tape. Now, I'm not the "everybody else is doing something wrong, so why can't we" types, but I am one of those "if you're going to enforce the law against one person who violates it, you have to (at least) make the attempt to enforce the law against all people who violate it." What is good for the goose is good for the gander, is what I'm sayin'. You can't just pick and choose who to go after and expect to keep a whole lot of credibility.

Now, I haven't lived in Athens Town for quite some while, and if that particular night was the first prong of a band flier offensive by the ACCPD, then that's OK. I just remember at the time never having heard of any other group being ticketed for band fliers in the wrong places. I had been in Athens for seven years at that point, and had been pals with more than a few folks in bands. That seemed a little odd to me. I was thinking words like "selective" and "prosecution."

I also remember the innocuous "Copyright 1976" graffitti that popped up around Athens back in the day. Oh, to be young again, and not in my 30's.

Fast forward to today, and I'm down in New Orleans, and Dangerblond and Toulouse Street point me over to this crazy news in the art community. (That last link even quotes one of my past coworkers at the Burrito Stand...)

Long story short (though, you should take some time to go read that story and associated links), some guy with grey paint is going after some homegrown artist type and has the NOPD all up in the middle. In a total departure from rational reality, the guy with the grey paint gets to paint over graffitti wherever he sees it in town, and has now locked up the homegrown artist, who makes inspirational and removable pieces for residents of the town to display, with citations from the police that could total over $50,000.

My problem with this exists on many levels, including but not limited to:

-If we have a quality of life division of the city government anywhere, could we please work on the potholes a little more seriously?
-That a city government strapped for funds is actually covering some dude's grey paint budget for a pet project of any kind.
-That the police can apparently get all the paperwork done to cite an inspirational local artist while the same department is having an awful time enforcing the local 'do not murder' ordinance.
-That the police are spending time with something like this while National Guard are still patrolling neighborhoods.
-That volunteer groups are still helping paint our schools.
-That the city's streets are in serious need of lane markers.

In short, homeboy should not have time to go around worrying his head silly over some inspirational guy. This city has far bigger fish to fry

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Black Cat's Path: Part 1

What a weekend.

I don't usually have a lot of time these days, because I work hard for the money and all, but this week is a week at school without the kids around, so I've been able to do something I really haven't been able to do recently: enjoy living in the City of New Orleans.

That's right, I spent most of this weekend falling in love with New Orleans again, remembering how much fun it is to live in a city like this, eating spectacular food and partaking of tasty beverages.

As of 3:23pm CST on Friday afternoon, the last busload of beautiful children was leaving the school where I work, and 15 teachers were standing around, screaming and high-fiving like we had just won the Super Bowl.

(This does not bode well for whatever is going to happen on the last day of school in June, but I digress...)

Out of Gentilly and into downtown we wandered, many of us making our way to Mimi's in the Mariny at the corner of Royal and Franklin. This has become our usual Friday night haunt, and this Friday was no exception. Frosty beverages all around, some talk of the week gone by and of plans for the week ahead. Or plans for the weekend, and every song included a variation of the same refrain: drinking. Down the street (and really, only like 150 feet down Royal Street) we went for what has got to be some of the tastiest restaurant served fried catfish in the world (thrice have I partaken of this meal, as I eat only fish on Fridays, but I cannot, for the life of me, remember the name of this place). But it had been a long week, and while it was not late, it was far, far past my bedtime. And I had an early game to watch tomorrow Uptown, so I was away.

Back to Octavia Street, where I sleep, and where the SWAT team had my block cordoned off in a hunt for an armed suspect. They were gone by the time I got back, however, which was good. And I mean that in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of good kind of way. I got to get the tale from the neighbors in the street. The suspect was apprehended with superbly appropriate force, so the story goes. Because no night is complete in this town without a manhunt.

The next day, rising at the late hour of 6am (I slept in), I laid in bed for a while and hit the snooze button. This is one of life's great luxuries, and while obnoxious, can be catharsis for someone who usually cannot. I ran some errands, and ended up down at Carrolton Station. This is where the Georgia Alumni gather to watch the Bulldawgs play on the plasma screen televisions. Shockingly enough, not every bar in New Orleans is open 24 hours, and the door proclaimed that the Station would not be open until noon. Since the kickoff was at 11:30 CST, this was somewhat bothersome, but not too much, for the day was bright, the weather was a fine 75 degrees, and there is a coffee shop down the block.

Did I mention it was fine weather? What ends up being even better about this place is how nice the young ladies look in this kind of weather. Seriously. Beautiful day, about to watch football, coffee and chicory (caffeine on the black wings of death) in my cup cut proudly by deep spoonfuls of brown sugar, and wonderfully appointed specimens of New Orleans' fairer sex out for a morning stroll. It is a good thing I grew up on Island City and came of age in Athens, for less prepared men may have died just looking at the heavenly setting.

Oh, yeah, there's football back down the street. I guess, if the bar doesn't open till noon, I'll just go read the paper and wait.

The excellent owner of the fine establishment that is Carrolton Station saw me walking by in Georgia Red and bade me enter. He hadn't really opened the place yet, but the television was on, the kickoff was poised, and the roar of the Sanford Stadium crowd could be heard rumbling the long held "Goooooooooooooooo......"

"...Dawgs." I watched the kickoff and the migthy return.

Do days get any better than this?

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Methinks this one will get struck down shortly...

Especially once one of Tennessee's neighbor states files suit in federal court in a restriction of trade case. Congratulations, Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr, you've managed to make your state look dumber faster than Fat Phil Fulmer could if he started recruiting at Leavenworth.

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Jackass of the Year contender

JoAn Karkos! Come On Down!!! You're the next contestant on 'Hysterical Busybodies Who Police the Universe!'.

Seriously, lady, bring the books back, and get a hobby. Much as you might want to not believe it, kids do need a little more briefing on the change to adulthood beyond referring to everything as a 'no-no place'.

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Selective Prosecution

So, today, I'm thinking about selective prosecution and judicial inconsistency. You know what that is don't you? It is where the criminal justice system is eviscerated because some prosecutors don't do their jobs with consistency; because some judges don't do their jobs with consistency. Some people are subjected to the fullest extent of the law while others are given a pat on the back and a get out of jail free card.

It is a systemic problem, because if such differentiation exists in a state or locality, the criminal justice system as a whole loses the very necessary credibility they employ to keep society from descending in to anarchy. Justice comes up for sale.

The most difficult thing in combatting selective prosecution and judicial inconsistency is explaining that it exists, and showing folks where and how it happens.

Best Practices is linking to a news story that is more indicative of the justice system than it seems. If Barbie gets away with bank robbery by saying she's sorry and invoking The God CardTM, that will be a bright, shinging example of what I'm talking about.

(HT: Georgia Blog Carnival 17)

Extra: The Cobb County judge has put off sentencing until the other defendants' trials are concluded. I hope the result makes the news. I hope that Cobb County judge isn't part of the problem...

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When Keepin' It Real Goes Wrong

Ladies and gentlemen, the Duct Tape Bandit. I loved the end of the video, where the news reporters let us know that the liquor store that ended this particular winner's crime spree are now offering to wrap bottles in duct tape at customer request.

This will make a hilarious (and painful) Halloween costume, I'm sure.

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Ohhh, Snap

He ain't gotta sell nothing, 'cause this stuff here just sells itself. Ain't it funny how much some milquetoast convict starts talking, once they've gone from hand-in-the-cookie-jar to real-prison-time? The flash to bang time just works its magic.

This out of New Orleans: More shenanigans nipped in the bud.

Thank your men and women, and thank you Jim. Keep up the good work. Please.

(HT: Gentilly Girl)

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Quick Hits 3: Culture Shock

It is like taking crazy pills.

Back in Athens, the big news is that the city will begin enforcing more strigent outdoor watering restrictions so they can reserve their water for important things like drinking, and encorage folks not to wash cars or water lawns. The usual "Property Owner's Rights vs Public Drinking Water" debate begins yet again.

Meanwhile, New Orleans is having difficulty enforcing the local murder restriction and the Mayor is worried more about 'brand identity' than pulbic safety. This is perhaps the most inappropriate 'two-edged sword' metaphor evar. That's right, folks, if you thought the "chocolate city" quote was the end all be all, you ain't going to believe this train of thought. And it ain't like we can make stuff like this up.

The 'good' news? He's prolly runnin' for governor.

Some folks are obviously very unhappy with the man.

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More Trouble for the Falcons

Q: You ever seen anything like that?

A: Hell, I ain't never even heard of anything like that.

For the first time evar, PETA may find themselves on the same side of an issue as all the punditry of the right wing. Our new animal-rights/national-security threat? Mike Vick aka Ron Mexico.

In even stranger news, this lawsuit will actually be a litmus test for the new national security bill - this is a bill that was ushered through Congress by an independent and a Republican, almost scuttled by the Democrats, who then overwhelmingly supported and took credit for the whole thing. Lot of web chatter over this one, and it was passed just in time to become the law that will affect the Vick/Mexico litigation.

So, the plaintiff in the case gets to accuse the NFL star of conspiring with both Iran, Al-Quaeda and animal abusers. But because of the new law, the NFL star might not be able to countersue the plaintiff for legal fees or damages to whatever shreds of a reputation he has left, because the new national security bill prohibits lawsuits brought against those who report suspicious activity.

And the stealing of identity, making money off animal cruelty to buy weapons from a rouge state sponsor of terrorism sure sounds like "suspicious activity" to me.

We will have to watch the sports newswire to find out how the government responds to this mess landing on someone's docket. Hint: if Atlanta moves their training camp to Guantanamo Bay, you know the result....

I mean, how many posts include the following tags?

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Talk About Dropping The Ball

Yeah. Dante will love this link. All about taxes, baby, and not payin' 'em.

And, of course, it comes out of Louisiana.

(HT: Clicked, which is an exception aggregation. Includes links to this giant rubber duckie, Charlie Brown Manga (NOLA bloggers scroll down to the finish), and additional incidents of Americans and their cameras.)

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Down At the Bottom

Of this post over at NOLAdishu, we are reminded that the District Attorney's office down here did knowingly get rid of skilled personnel on the basis of race and age.

Just a reminder, in case anyone forgot. The folks downtown are trying the old "The-Buck-Don't-Stop-With-the-Guy-In-Charge Shuffle", but hopefully that won't work, and we can get rid of this guy.

Which is a further reminder of something: what in the Hell is wrong with prosecutors in the United States these days? Seriously, between Mike Nifong and the Duke Lacrosse Player-gate, the David McDade & Genarlow Wilson fustercluck in Georgia, and this ridiculous situation in New Orleans, the whole criminal justice system is looking like it is about to implode. Without prosecutors we can trust to 1) do their jobs correctly and 2) advocate the people's cases in the interests of justice, we will be reduced to anarchy, as any defense attorney will be able to get any defendant off anywhere because of prosecutorial misconduct.

Sprout, I hope you are paying attention. When you get that fancy law school degree, you'd better get to bein' a part of the solution, bub. I know where you stay at.

What we really need is every law school graduate to begin a summer internship with the Jim Letten School of Kicking Tail and Taking Names.

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In the News

Most of y'all are news junkies like me. Doubtless you have heard, through one medium or another, that Senator David Vitter (R-Louisiana) is in some rather high temperature water because he's one of the 'sanctity of marriage' conservatives who happens to enjoy visiting houses of ill repute.

But that ain't the real news out of Louisiana on this day, especially down here in New Orleans. Down here in this part of the world, The District Attorney is under fire because he continues to not prosecute murderers and seems incapable of doing his job.

To say folks have been unhappy with this situation for quite some time would not do justice to how livid the population is with the city's current crime situation. Calls for the District Attorney to resign or be fired are rippling across the airwaves, mail, phone lines and interwebs. If anyone needs a reminder, the folks who do not take crime in this city seriously were duly warned by about 5,000 New Orleanians that January 11th, 2007 was their last chance to deal with a rational population.

Today is 6 months + 1 day post-warning. And, historically speaking, you don't want to have an agitated, radicalized populaiton ready to move in the heat of the summer. It ain't worked out so well, historically speaking, for the powers that be.

Please join us for some real news, in the links section to your right entitled "Crescent City." I'm sure there will be more to this shortly.

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Gardening

If there were to be a caption contest for this nonsense, my entries would be as follows:

3. "F your produce, I'm Rick James (b*tch)."

2. "I'm in ur cornfield, makin' crop circles. Let me show you them."

1. "In the immortal words of Jean Paul Sartre, 'Au revoir, gopher'"

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It is Official

Rule of law no longer applies. We've suspected this for some time, with much evidence to build our case, but this is the end all be all of examples. Our own enforcement agencies, with a few notable exceptions, are now selectively enforcing the laws of the land, and calling press conferences about it. If you don't plan on incarcerating someone for a crime, why bring it up in sentencing? If you don't plan on enforcing a law, why have that law at all?

Paris is a worthless celebrity with no talent whatsoever. She is one of the worst examples of American upper class largesse. And now she is above the law in the State of California.

You and I would all still be in jail, and it would be real jail. Not, "I-get-to-see-my-own-psychiatrist" jail.

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