BP and the Evil Empire

Frankly, I'm not surprised that a corporation like BP is fighting, tooth and nail, every possible fine and payout they were ordered to make.  No culpability seems to be the multi-national conglomerate mantra these days.

This corporation did untold damage in the Gulf of Mexico by having a blow out at one of their deep water rigs, and now they are trying to find ways not to compensate gulf coast residents for their huge mistake. 

I've always thought pouring oil over the heads, bodies, families and homes of all BP executives; forcing them to live an oil saturated life for the next decade would be an excellent remedy and a cautionary example to avoid future catastrophes like this.  However, I like to live in a poetically just world, which is somewhat difficult on this plane of existence.

So, let's hit the ba$tards in the wallet and fine them appropriately; force them to make reparations for the extensive damage they've inflicted.  Unfortunately, this does little good to brown pelicans, who have trouble opening bank accounts without appropriate identification.  Shrimp, dolphins, sharks, red snappers and sea turtles suffer the same indignities.

Billion dollar corporations  like BP think they are above the law; they don't believe they owe anyone anything, (except, of course, themselves and their shareholders).  They actually do believe that the money they lost during the accidental pumping of 210 million gallons of crude into the gulf is punishment enough.

It's time Louisiana and the United States of America kicked British Petroleum, and other foreign corporations out of our coastal waters.  Exploitation is a crime and corporations like BP are just exploitative, fueled by insatiable greed.  Certainly we can do better, or at the very least, we can do less harm.  Maybe that's what our mantra should be.  "We won't hurt you as much".  Yes, it stinks, but it is still better than the arguments being put forth by BP in their weaseling attempts to renege on their compensation agreements. 

PooPooville and the Speed Trap

I live on the outskirts of Baton Rouge, so I have to drive a bit to get to the grocery store, or anywhere for that matter.  Baton Rouge, as I've said, is growing by leaps and bounds.  The traffic in the city is pretty horrendous during rush hours, and it's not all that much better any other time except Sunday morning, when everyone seems to be in church.  I spend quite a bit of time in my car taking in the sights while dodging the horrible drivers who have all moved to Baton Rouge.  On my way into town there is a fancy schmanzy subdivision where the speed limit drops to 30.  This is the only stretch of Baton Rouge on which I've ever seen a cop.  I guess it pays to have a big house with palm trees. 

The housing developers are straining to keep up with the demand for housing, and what was a soybean field yesterday is going to be the next subdivision tomorrow.  On this speed trap stretch, there is one such subdivision being engineered right now, close to the Albertson's where I do some shopping.  It's a large tract of land, and when I drive by it, it smells like crap.  My husband and I take turn naming this subdivision; PooPooville, Stinky Acres, Odoramaland, Gatorfartown, Pugh Palisades, Scratch, Sniff and Scream .... you get the idea. 

So I continue to think that the environmental issues here in Louisiana are a can of worms waiting for me to open them.  There's no reason soil that's been turned over should have the offensive stink it has in PooPooville unless someone was either dumping solid waste there, or spraying gray water.  I'm anxious to get to the Unitarian Church this Sunday and see what kind of environmental issues they're involved in.  I certainly hope someone's involved in environmental causes here.  I almost dread delving into this.

The bit of research I did so far has indicated that dumping treated sewage into a swamp and trying to sell the idea its healthy for the swamp is pretty much as bogus as building a subdivision on a mountain of $hit and calling it Sweet Blossom.

But I still like living here, I've just carefully avoided scratching the surface. 

I wonder what kind of death fills the rail cars that go by a couple of times a day from the chemical plants to the south.  A whole other mailbag of concern.

No place ideal.  All of this stuff is still 100% an improvement over living in Wisconsin with Scott Walker as governor.  That's a heaping pile of maniacal fan splitting $hit if there ever was one.  Of course, Jindal could well be his twin brother, so I look on the bright side....no shortage of things to rant about here.

Tea Party Plan to Keep America Stupid

It's easier to enslave people if they don't know you're doing it. 

I was going to avoid Louisiana politics as there's just too much fodder to fathom, but I cannot honestly believe that Bobby Jindal would actually oppose common core standards for Louisiana's public schools.  What is the point of educating young people if we don't have measurable standards? 

Tea party freaks like the "no common core standard" policy because it serves them.  They say they want smaller government and less regulatory interference, but that's just a deceptive cloak they stand behind.  Keeping the populace dumbed down has long been a plan by those who have it all.  An illiterate group of laborers can keep the machine cogs turning and the haves enjoy believing that these exploited workers are actually thankful to have some stinking, dangerous job that pays just enough to insure there will be no chance of any of them moving into the neighborhood.

Does anyone smell the strong odor of $hit Creek here? 

And speaking of $hit Creek, there is an article in the local paper today about pouring treated sewage into the swamps in southern Louisiana; such plan being touted as environmentally sound.  I don't know much about sewage treatment, and perhaps this is a viable idea.  I'll have to do more research on that.  Frankly, though, pouring anything into a natural swamp in the hope that the swamp will continue to clean the sewage as well as feed the swamp and keep it healthy sounds suspicious to me.  More on that when I've got a chance to study it. 

I don't have to worry about finding causes down here.  It's just so easy not to get involved though.  I've been enjoying being oblivious in this very summery climate!

Hold Your Tongue and Say It

Okay America, everybody hold their tongue and say "Killings at the ship yard".

Jesus H. Christ, when are we going to get a freakin' clue that this country has too many guns, too few controls, and has become a total shit yard?

All you gun toting fanatics out there, spare me your bull$hit comments about your right to bear arms - what the f*ck about my right not to get f*cking shot?

I despise these yahoos and their bullets, truly. 

My next super power wish would be the ability to turn everybody's firearm into a pop out flag that says "bang, oops, and I better run my cowardly a$$ on outta here".

What's It All About, Sammy?

It's actually comical to live in Louisiana and try to follow politics.

Every single day, there is a news story about some politician or other, from local to federal, being indicted for malfeasance in public office.  They steal.  They lie.  They cheat.  They slide on their bellies like reptiles.  They get released from prison and run for public office, again.

In reality, it would seem to me that our entire government is made up of incompetent thieves, intent on getting their's (whatever their's is) and making sure the rest of us pay for it. 

I suppose one must be a little reptilian in order to enter politics - having a prehistoric skin would be very helpful in Washington D.C.  or any state capital.  Politics as we know it is a dysfunctional process that does very little to better us, as a nation.  In fact, it seems to work against us at every turn.

So I Say:  LET'S TRY THE JURY DUTY PROCESS.  We pick our senators, congressman, governors, mayors, president, vice president, ad infinitum, the same way we send notices to people who have been picked for jury duty.  I believe that the first incarnation of a government picked that way would be 100% better than what we're all stuck with today.

Ugh - My First Altercation in New Orleans

My husband was drawing outside Café du Monde in New Orleans this weekend, while I walked around looking for certain items I wanted to buy at the various antique stores. 

Around 2 p.m., when the smells of the French Quarter restaurants were really whetting my appetite, I went back to collect him and drag him off to lunch.  That's when I encountered old drunk white lady, sitting next to my husband and complaining about how "nigger kids" had stolen her purse and shoes. 

The balloon man, who was the object of my husband's drawing, was busy making balloon animals for some kids, who just happened to be black, and old drunk white lady started to make comments about how much she hated "niggers".  Balloon man told her to shut up, but she belligerently stood her ground in racist comments.

Unfortunately, I had had enough and the black family standing, waiting for the balloons was very uncomfortable, but too polite to say anything.  So of course, I had to say something.  I simply told her that she had said enough, and that she needed to stop immediately.  When she continued, I again told her to stop, in a much louder voice, and asked her to take her hateful venom somewhere else because it wasn't welcome there.  Balloon man then flagged down an officer on a segue, and had him talk to the woman, who promptly left the area.

It was very unpleasant.  Obviously, old drunk white woman was also old drunk white mentally ill woman, and I try to abstain from conflicts with the mentally compromised.  You can never win because they're stuck in their emotionally charged loop of craziness and you just get taken for a ride that goes around and around.  But I'll never forget the blatant show of racist crap and the fact that I jumped into the fray, much to my husband's discomfort.  At any rate, it was an ugly little episode and I am a little sorry I got into it with this woman - maybe had I given her some money or a pair of shoes, she would have been better off, but I kind of doubt it.  In this day and age to see that display of ugliness shocked and saddened me.

Sheriff Clarke No Show at 9/11 Memorial Ceremony?

I don't know who is running the PR for the Sheriff's Department in Milwaukee County, but they have their hands full with Clarke at the helm.

Two years in a row, the Sheriff is a no-show for a 9/11 memorial ceremony?  He was at a doctor's appointment?  Hopefully, he was having his head examined.  Sheriff Clarke is a public relations catastrophe.

What possible reason could the Sheriff's Office come up with that not one person from that agency would attend and so obviously disrespect a memorial service?

I'm in Louisiana now, and the politics here are every bit as crazy as Wisconsin politics.  In Lafayette, there was vandalism of the 9/11 memorial by so called "truthers", who believe that the U.S. government engineered the attacks on New York City.  It's a scary thought to think that the radically right-headed Sheriff Clarke might share the beliefs of this group.  I can't think of a single other reason that he would show such sincere disrespect to a 9/11 memorial gathering.