YatPundit

yatpunditpodcast200810031.mp3

YatWiki is where I'm moving all the "static" content from CanalStreetCar (dot com) and CitiesOfTheDead (dot net).  I've long wanted to re-structure both sites, and now that I've bought a new server box for the office, it's time. 

I'd love to have others join me working on the YatWiki project.  I've already received some photo contributions for the cemetery portion, which is an excellent start.

What kinds of submissions are we looking for on YatWiki?  Here are the current projects/categories:

New Orleans History: From Bayou Mardi Gras in 1699 to the present.  I'd love to get some high school and uni students involved in this one.

Cemeteries: Moving my stuff from COTD here.  Inviting and welcoming anyone who shoots NOLA cemetery photos to contribute them. 

Streetcars: This is probably the one section that will have the most content, once I start moving it from CanalStreetCar (dot com).  Would love to have more help with it.

Food/Dining/Recipes: Got a cajun or creole recipe? Share it!  Want to write about cooking techniques?  Please do!

Neighborhoods: Welcoming and inviting folks from the various neighborhood associations to participate here.

Politics:  Structure of state and local governments, for starters.

You get the idea here.  It's ambitious, and more work than I can do in this lifetime.  That's why I'd love for y'all to join in.  If you're familiar with how wikis work, feel free to jump straight over there, register, and join in.  If you're not interested in working directly with the MediaWiki platform, you can still contribute!  Here's how.

1.  E-mail your submissions.  Write up your contributions and send them to wiki at ebranley dot com).  Word attachments OK, but would prefer you put the submission in the body of the message.

2.  Post your Wiki submissions to your blog.  Just e-mail (wiki at ebranley dot com) or Twitter me (@yatpundit) and I'll do the copy/paste thing. 

3.  Post here on YatBazaar.  All you have to do is to blog your YatWiki submissions here.  I can pick them up and move them, no problem, mon.

It's really that simple.  C'mon, let's get started!

We always hear from conservatives about how the Eebil Trial Lawyers are soooo bad for the system.  Of course, Eebil Trial Lawyers aren't so bad when they're YOUR Eebil Trial Lawyer:

The parents of a boy allegedly raped by an Abney Elementary School janitor have sued the St. Tammany Parish School Board, alleging that school officials were negligent in hiring the man and failed to properly supervise their students and staff.

What about "unnecessary litigation?"  Republic judicial candidates across the metro area go on and on about Trial Lawyers.  Will they decry this use of such an eebil group?

An excellent article on Palin in Salon this morning, from Rebecca Traister.  Traister has absolutely no sympathy for the disaster that has become Sarah Palin's candidacy for veep:

It was so predictable that we would get to a pity-poor-helpless-Sarah phase. The press was already warming up for it on the day McCain announced her as his running mate, when NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell speculated that McCain's choice was designed to declaw scrappy Joe Biden, whose aggressive style would come off as bullying next to the sweet hockey mom from Alaska. Now, of course, we know about the hockey moms and the pit bulls; the more-powerful-than-expected Palin juggernaut forestalled the pity/victim/mean boy/poor Sarah phase.

Traister also cites Kathleen Parker's latest column, in which she urges Palin to withdraw, but most of the all-too-predictable response from the wingnutosphere is to blame the media.  As NPR pointed out this morning, she's still a rockstar on the wingnut circuit, pulling in larger crowds than McCain ever would on his own.  Of course, her stump speech is pretty much the same thing she said at the RNC, with the blatant lies removed. 

Keep in mind, debate expectations are important.  It's critical that your candidate not lose a debate.  McCain accomplished not-losing last week by setting the bar so low, all he had to do was to show up.  This week, the pity-party sets the expectation that Palin will treat us to another Couric interview, giving Tina Fey fodder for SNL cold opens all the way through October.  If Palin can put together two coherent answers at the start of the debate, the MSM will lean over their computers and begin the storyline that she's not as dumb as Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric would have you think.

It's all about expectations.  Remember, the campaign is in the hands of Bush operatives.  They only know how to win at all costs.

National Public Radio has done a great job of embracing social networking, particularly Twitter.  Their presence with @nprpolitics has been excellent.  Their staff that work the account live-tweet events and participate with their followers.

NPR's expanded their Twitter presence with another account, @nprbackstory.  It's a "mashup" account that presents a mix of stories from the various network shows, Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Day to Day, even "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me!"  The subjects are equally broad--music, politics, art, television, lifestyle.

If you're on Twitter and you like NPR, you definitely want to follow @nprbackstory.  Even if you're not, follow the link to their twitter-page and catch the mashup there!

There's something about Judge Martha Sassone, who sits on the bench in Louisiana's 24th Judicial District (Jefferson Parish), that's always bugged me.  It's not the fact that she's well and truly an obnoxious person, who was suspended for 60 days without pay by the Louisiana State Supreme Court (PDF) for acting out against defendants from the bench.  In handing down the suspension, the Supremes all but called Sassone a liar for her explanations of her behavior.

No, it's not all of that that bugs me.  It's her role in Operation Wrinkled Robe, the federal criminal probe into the alleged relationships between judges in the 24th and bail bondsmen who wrote most of the bonds for that court's defendants.  The feds did bag two judges, Alan Green for campaign financial irregularities, and Ronald Bodenheimer for all sorts of stupidity.  In both cases, however, the convictions didn't directly stem from the reasons for the initial investigation.  The evidence against both of these men did come out of wiretaps placed in the Gretna courthouse building.

That's where Martha comes in.  She's standing for re-election to the 24th this fall, and makes a big deal out of her participation in Operation Wrinkled Robe.  According to Sassone, she cooperated with the feds from the get-go. 

Now, think for a moment about the normal flow of a federal criminal investigation.  It's all about working up the food chain.  Arrest a low-level criminal, get them to roll on their middle-management boss, and so on up the line.  Sure, the occasional crusading citizen gets involved, but most corruption cases are built on the testimony from the bottom up.  I remember when the FBI came to my house in Metairie, asking if they could establish a listening post in our driveway so they could monitor Carlos Marcello, who owned a big house at the end of the block.  My mom sent them packing so fast it wasn't funny. 

This is why I wonder about Martha.  Why would a sitting state judge allow the FBI to wiretap her chambers?  Out of the goodness of her heart?  Or did they have some leverage against her, and her full cooperation was a ticket out of whatever trouble she was in.  Her judicial record is not that of a very smart person, so I can't help but wonder...

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First, thanks for stopping by and checking out my Twitter stream and my blog. If you're curious about who the person behind the YatPundit tweets is, you've come to the right place. The YatPundit homepage is here, and you'll find a list of my other websites and blogs when you get there.

You're more than welcome to follow my Twitter stream, but please be aware that I don't follow everyone back automatically. That's because I've encountered a number of people who click the "follow" button for reasons other than to engage in social networking. As the number of people I follow on Twitter expands, it's difficult for me to keep up with everyone's thoughts here, so let me share with you some of the mental criteria I use for determining who to follow.

Are you social? If your twitter stream is one-way, I'll probably pass. Unless you're interesting (see below), I prefer two-way conversations. After all, if Rachel Maddow (@maddow) and Tavis Smiley (@tavissmiley), as well as the PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) and National Public Radio (@nprpolitics, @nprbackstory) can be two-way, why can't you?

Are you interesting? There are a number of one-way feeds on twitter that I find interesting to read, such as @engadget, and @nolanews, the feed for the local New Orleans newspaper. Following folks is a good way to "advertise" your feed to others on Twitter, so feel free to do so.

Are you a kindred spirit? Road warriors, foodies, wine geeks, computer geeks, UNIX enthusiasts, and folks from New Orleans, come on in!

Not to be negative, but there are a few things that will just about guarantee I'm not following you back:

Enraged Republicans. I gladly tweet with Republicans who are social and/or interesting (see above), but if all you're bringing to the conversation are Hannity's talking points and other foolishness from Fox News, please, please, please, go play somewhere else.

"non-partisan" Conservatives. If you expend a lot of twitter-energy posting attacks against Democrats, but then claim to be "non-partisan," because "both sides do bad things," I'll pass on following you. I'm not interested in intellectual dishonesty. Conservatives had control of all three branches of the federal government from January of 2001 to January of 2007. The Democrats' role in where we are now is NOT equal to what we saw from Republicans over those six years.

"non-partisan" Liberals. If you voted for Nader in 2000 or 2004, I'm not the kind of guy who's going to get along with your way of thinking. It's clear there really was a difference between Republicans and Democrats in 2000, and if you don't see it by now, I won't be the one helping you to find a clue.  I'm a "Daily Kos Democrat" who is committed to removing the Republican party from political control in this country.

Thumpers. I was raised Catholic in New Orleans. I've lived my life walking past street preachers damning me for my religious beliefs. If I can ignore you in real life, I'm certainly going to ignore you on Twitter. If religion dominates your tweets to an unhealthy degree, I'm going to take a pass. OH, and Apologetics class is down the hall, take a left, and it's the second door on your right. Keep walking right past here, please.

Fundamentalist Pagans. You lot are probably the one thing I have less patience with than Thumpers. I see a lot of value, virtue, and spirituality in Christianity, particularly in Catholicism. There are mountains of crap to go with that value, virtue, and spirituality, but wholesale, angry, bitter rejection of a religion is something for which I don't have time.  I'm actually more patient with "fluffy bunny" Wiccans than fundamentalists.  They may be clueless, but they're usually not so bloody angry at everything.

"Social Networking Experts." That snarky comment in my bio blurb isn't there just to be snarky. I have a job and a life. I have a blog or two as well. I'm not bad at this computer stuff, and I don't appreciate condescension from those who with newly-discovered computer expertise. My work is of a nature that I'm not likely to hire you, so you can scratch me off your potential client list. I may be in a position to refer you to folks I know, however, if you treat me with respect and you're social on here.

Yeah, a lot of this is judgmental, I know.  Feel free to discuss, or flame away in comments. 

even as post-season baseball begins in a Presidential election year, and one of them is simple.

Support. The. Troops.

Not the bullshit of putting a yellow ribbon magnet on your car and turning it sideways to look like an early Christian cryptogram, either. I'm talking about the people who really volunteer their time (and often put up their money) in support roles to military personnel.

Two organizations that fit this bill are Soldier's Angels and eMail Our Military. Both organizations work hard to help the men and women in the service and their families. Throwing a few coins to either organization is a much better way to spend money than on a made-in-China magnet for your car.

The ladies I know who work with these organizations are from military families, and consequentially, my liberal politics often run the risk of making their heads explode. We have an informal agreement that we don't get into it on politics. They tolerate my rants here on the blog and on Twitter, and I don't usually respond to their thoughts on their blogs.

Because what they do for military personnel is too important.

Let's face it, the American military looks a lot more like Barack Obama than John McCain. It's the nature of military men and women to be more conservative, though, and I'm OK with that. These folks are doing something I've never done in my almost half-century on this planet, sacrifice years of their lives for this country. I respect their sense of duty and want to do what I can to make the incredibly difficult experience of foreign deployments and combat better in some small ways. eMOM is doing that, getting e-mail and e-cards to the folks in Iraq an Afghanistan.

I also know that, no matter which political party is in power, the DoD is an incredibly arcane and complex bureaucracy, and sometimes military personnel and their families fall through the cracks. Soldier's Angels does what they can to help those families when they need it.

It doesn't matter that the folks running the show don't agree with my choice for President.

Don't get me wrong, I'll be the first to bust any of my conservative friends if they perpetuate incorrect information about Barack Obama or other Democrats. I'll also be on them wicked fast if they perpetuate the lies of Sean Hannity or the rest of the filth at Fox News Channel. But I know it's not personal, and they know I don't get in their face on matters of opinion, but to correct matters of fact.

Now, go click those links and help these gals out. Because some things are just that important.

Reading a HuffPo article on how the Team Country First formulated a response for their candidate on this week's financial fiascoes offered some interesting insight. Floating out the notion of criticizing BushCo for the mess is a strong step:

In private late Tuesday evening, the McCain campaign circulated a draft statement on the Wall Street crisis that attacked the Bush administration for a slow and "inconsistent" response, and charged that executives at several financial firms had made "misleading and false" statements.

Not surprising that this tactic was abandoned when donors in the financial industry got wind of it, but McPalin's inability to come to grips with what to do about Bush 43 is more telling. My first thought was, this is Gore 2000 all over again.

Most liberals and Democrats believe that the 2000 election was stolen by Bush and poor Al Gore should be President. While I agree that BushCo did indeed steal the show for the drunken frat-boy, we still must hold Gore accountable for allowing the election to get close enough for the steal to be possible. When a team loses a futbol match 1-0 over what they think is a bad last-minute call by a referee, they don't have much ground on which to complain if they blew 4-5 chances to score earlier in the match. Team Gore should have put one or two of their opportunities in the net, rendering Florida inconsequential.

One of the contributing factors in Gore's 2000 defeat was his decision not to stand strongly on the accomplishments of the Clinton-Gore administration. Team Gore went out of their way to argue that their guy had the chops to be prez, but didn't want to remind everyone of the Big Dog. "Clinton Fatigue," the media would sigh, and it scared Team Gore to death. Air Force One flying into town with one of the most popular presidents of the 20th century aboard would have been a powerful tool to nail down the electoral vote, but no, Gore listened to the same voices in the media that savaged him on so many points.

We're seeing the same thing now with Team Country First. George Walker Bush is pure political poison this fall. Nobody wants him anywhere near their state, district, county, or town. It's no surprise that McCain wants to put as much distance between himself and the toxic waste dump in the Oval Office, and Obama has hit him hard, forcing him to take ownership of BushCo. There's a very compelling argument to be made for McCain totally disavowing Bush. The MSM darlings would have renewed the "maverick" meme in full-force.

But it wasn't to be. They floated the idea, as you can see, and it sunk, probably taking the entire McCain campaign with it.

Allow me to brag on my youngest for a moment.



Kiddo is now a Life Scout. Life is the rank just below Eagle. I'm both very pleased and proud. Pleased because he's managed to work hard and come this far, leaving himself from now (he turned 14 in July) until his 18th birthday to make Eagle. It gets tougher and tougher for the older boys to keep up with Scouting as the additional activities and pressures of high school start in on them. Kiddo is in the marching band, has already started a successful run in Academic Games, and this year, is one of the school's "Ambassadors," kids that provide directions and assistance at big functions. When he was in 7th grade, he didn't have all these complications, so doing Scouts was one of his main activities. Now, he's talking about having to maybe miss the weekly Tuesday night troop meetings so he can catch up with homework.

This is very typical of the boys his age, so the sooner they reach Life, the penultimate hurdle, the better. He's done it, and his Scoutmasters (one of which is his dad) are very, very proud.