Rising Tide 5 in the books...

Rising Tide - Mac McClelland Keynote
Originally uploaded by Maitri

Rising Tide 5 is in the books. I've been sick and Candice had work to do, so we weren't around all that much, but we both made an appearance Friday night and I made it for most of Saturday.

Mac McClelland signing my copy of Halliburton's Cementing Handbook. That's something special.

The venue was great. I liked the setup a lot. There were areas to mill around and talk away from the presentations. That I think is always one of the highlights of Rising Tide. Also, the air conditioning actually worked! Amazing! The lakefront is still my favorite of the Rising Tide venues, thus far.

I decided to not use my flash for my photography, so most of my photos didn't come out well. Oops. I got a couple that came out well.

A few of my takeaways from the Politics panel:
* The focus of the panel was on 2 races: 2nd Congressional (New Orleans) and senate (Vitter/Melancon)
* Crouere: "Bobby Jindal WILL NOT serve two full terms as governor."
* If public universities start shuttering their doors left, right, and center in Louisiana, it will destroy Jindal's reputation both in the state and nationally.
* 2nd Congressional will pit "ethically challenged" Richmond vs. Cao, with Cao having a decent shot at reelection. Note that at last year's Rising Tide, the entire panel thought he was toast.
* Vitter should cruise to reelection, despite nobody actually liking the guy (Republican or Democrat). Vitter is a hard worker, but he's also never faced a strong, well-organized opponent. Every single race he's run has been against pitiful competition. Melancon isn't covering himself in glory, thus far. Also, don't be surprised if more damaging revelations about Vitter's past are released right before the election...
* The LA Democratic Party is a mess. Mitch tried to get the previous head of the party sacked and, despite the backing of his sister, failed. There's major division between the "John Breaux Democrats" and the more liberal, more black democrats. Good leadership is needed to keep the two camps pulling in the same direction and that hasn't happened for a long, long time. As a side note, remember that EVERYONE in the state was a Democrat 20 or 30 years ago.

Tim gave a great presentation on "Why can't we get some dam safety?" Related: Dam Failure - Wiki. Note that dams are considered life safety systems, while levees are not and that's written into the law by Congress.

Congrats to Cliff on winning the AshMo Award for the year.

Canoing Home

Joe Cao had to take a canoe home due to storm surge flooding. He pleads with the feds for Category 5 levees:

Note that Venetian Isles is outside the levee system in New Orleans East.

Don't forget to check out some of the latest updates from Matt McBride at Fix the Pumps.

UPDATE- Hmm. So much for the WWL embed.

UPDATE 2- It works!

A survivor unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.

(Inspired by a comment from Clancy DuBos at today's Rising Tide)

Ash: You still don't understand what you're dealing with, do you? Perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility.
Lambert: You admire it.
Ash: I admire its purity. A survivor... unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.

Where's Ripley to shove this "thing" out an airlock?

UPDATE- A few more things to add:

Peripatetic Engineer notes the rare appearances by Louisiana congressmen.

The Times-Picayune runs a cover story about David Vitter's town halls. Too bad they were punked. Cenlamar (nice job on the politics panel, BTW) points out the panelist questions were prescreened and the only questions Vitter faced were softballs. This has caused the Dems to file an ethics complaint against David Vitter for misuse of taxpayer funds. David Vitter can hold his screeds against Obamacare all he wants, but he can't use taxpayer funds to attack Charlie Melancon.

I applaud Joseph Cao for being the only Louisiana congressman to at least look like he's interested in representing all his constituents.

UPDATE 2- General Honore to run against Vitter? "All he has to do is say, 'Stuck on Stupid' once and Vitter is toast," said one state GOP official.

Cao-ward?

Cao may be one of few to break Republican ranks on stimulus "Steve Scalise doesn't know kung fu. I know kung fu. He can't whip me." Hmmm...

In one particularly vivid demonstration, Joseph Cao, the new Republican congressman from New Orleans, told reporters he was "leaning yes." Then, as Politico reported, "the party's chief deputy whip . . . stood near Cao during the entire vote" -- until, in the final minutes, he voted no. This was, I suspect, bad for Cao, whose district is overwhelmingly Democratic, but good -- in the short term, anyway -- for his party.

I guess Kevin McCarthy must know jujitsu...

Local News Roundup

Beware the "Wrath of Khan"



Tulane's endowment looses 24% of its value. From over 1 billion dollars to $789 million. Scott Cowen running Tulane like a business (A.I.G.).

How's this for a local crime: Thibidoux woman fakes carjacking report to get boyfriend to give up offshore job. I guess she missed him too much.

Times-Pic calls Jefferson an "ineffective embarrasment." Hmmm. Will that standard still apply in 2 years with disgraced and ineffective Vitter? Speaking of the devil, Vitter thinks Cao will clean up Louisiana's image of a bunch of crooked, hooker-fucking politicians (like him).

H.M., famed psychology case, passes away. It's revealed he's a local Cajun boy.

My alma-mater, Ben Franklin High School, made the grade as one of the top high schools in the country. Go Falcons!

In Illinois, they're throwing fits over a $6 million tutoring center for jocks only. Scholarship students, work study students, etc. need not enter. Why do I bring this up? LSU's is $15 million. Speaking of Illinois, Is Chicago now officially more corrupt than New Orleans? (H/T Adam). UPDATE- It's official! We're now in a contest! Come on Nagin, get caught in bed with Veronica White and Vitty-Cent while texting Trashanova to get more blow from Bernardo! We know you can do it!

Keep this in mind as the City Council deliberates over the budget (especially if Nagin vetoes the budget): a list of political donations by the 3 sanitation firms.

UPDATE 2- I like Nate Silver's post about who Blogo tried to blackmail/extort/etc. What, no Oprah?

Holy Cao!

New Orleans has a new congressperson. This hasn't happened since I was 6 years old.

No more $Bill and his family sucking the lifeblood out of the city. I think this kills any chance of an acquittal. Nobody is going to donate to his legal defense fund now.

Note that Malik, while he had a pretty modest vote total, did tip the election for Cao.

Joseph Cao, congratulations and good luck. Try to do what's best for the city and not what some of your backers might tell you to do. I'd love to see you get reelected.

Between Ted Stevens and $Bill, Congress just got a little more honest.

UPDATE- Oyster beat me to Holy Cao first.