I cried when I had no shoes…

until I met a man who had no feet…

So…

i had a customer/friend call the other night asking if i could help him set his margins in the software he is using to write his book. no problem. we set it up for me to come to his place at 7 that evening, but when i got there he wasn’t there. seeing as i was just doors from the place i used to rent on Chartres, and still had a filing cabinet and a couple of boxes of things to get out of there, i went down there to get those loaded on the hand-cart that i had there. it was a struggle, as the filing cabinet was horrendously heavy, but i got it all loaded and headed back to my apartment about 8 blocks away.

so, off i go, dumping the load twice on the way and having to reload it and redistribute the weight. i finally get it home and lifted into the lobby. i was pretty wiped-out, so decided to leave it all for unloading the next day and headed up the stairs, when i fell and messed up my hip. i lived with it for a couple of days until Thursday night i couldn’t put weight on it at all and decided to go to university hospital’s emergency the next day. It was way out of alignment and made a crunching sound when it moved. i was certain it was broken. I went into the emergency room friday morning and 17 hours later they see me and do an x-ray. sprained, not broken. they give me some Motrin and some muscle relaxers and send me home last night.

this morning the hospital called and told me that the radiologist viewed the x-rays [apparently they be short-staffed and x-rays stack up until they can be read], and that it was dislocated, so they sent a car and i went in to have it put back in place. i just got home. needless to say, i don’t get to have jaden over this weekend, but there is no way i could deal with him at the moment.

i spoke with social services while i was there because my health problems are such that i’ve not been able to work and bring in any income. i’ve only been able to pay 500$ towards the rent since i moved in on january 20, which leaves me owing about 2800$ including april. there is no way of course, so the landlord has told me that i will have to make other arrangements as soon as possible. social services are no help at all, as about all they could do is give me a sheet of paper outlining what food banks are available – a list i already have and just this past tuesday hooked up with a food bank up on rampart to get a box of groceries once a month. it’s a help.

with the stroke last november my brain has not exactly worked right, the recent heart attack and now this latest, the doctors have told me and i pretty much determined anyhow that i am going to have to live somewhere where i have some kind of assisted living environment. so, i’ve been trying to figure out what friends i have that might be in a position to take me in for awhile. at least until i can fend for myself and make an income again. wherever i end up i will apply for food stamps and i’ll start the process of applying for ssi. so, we’ll see.

sooner or later i’m going to have to do something about this depression. it’s dogged me since The Thing, and it’s pulled me down to where i can hardly function through a day anymore.

I don’t feel great about posting this. It’s private, but i feel my friends are entitled to know what’s going on in my life.

Just who the hell does New Orleans Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell think she is?

Pulled over by State Police after barreling down the shoulder of Interstate 10 at close to 100 miles per hour with a blue light flashing, New Orleans Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell yelled at a state trooper: “Do you know who I am? … What the hell are you stopping me for?”

Just who the hell does she think she is?

Personally, I wouldn’t know her if she came up to me and bit me on the ass, and secondly, I could care less.

With all of the problems this city and its residents are grappling with, we have a city councilwoman who is showing us exactly what she is – a self-righteous, ignorant AND stupid BITCH, who has represented herself and our city more than badly.

This is sickening for so many reasons, not the least of which is that she feels entitled to do what she has done [and not for the first time, mind you]; that she has blue flashing lights – emergency lights which are restricted to law enforcement vehicles, on her taxpayer supplied vehicle; and that she [usually] has a law-enforcement driver to tote her to where she needs to be, among other things. This latter is an appalling reality of a waste of law-enfocement resources in a city with the nation’s highest murder rate, don’t you think?

In this case she was ‘late for a meeting’. OMG! Big deal. This does not give her the right to violate the laws and/or to put others lives in danger. If she wants to commit suicide, more power to her, but to use that multi-ton SUV as a weapon is criminal. Yet, SHE DID NOT EVEN RECEIVE A TICKET!

This disgusts us all, as it should.

Although state law prohibits anyone but law enforcement officers from speeding and using flashing lights, State Police did not issue Hedge-Morrell a citation. According to State Police, a trooper has discretion over writing tickets. On Wednesday, Morrell said she still believes troopers should not have detained her.

“I was trying to get to the meeting, and he [the state trooper] couldn’t explain to me why he was detaining me any further,” she said. “To this day, I don’t know why he gave me the warning. I was late for a meeting.”

Awww… stupid, poor little city councilwoman. Bite me… Get the hell out of our city. We don’t need you and we don’t want you.

I expect far better from our elected officials. You should, too.

Coolest pics you’ll see this week…

Click on the thumbnails to see the larger images.

    

    

         

         

Click on the thumbnails to see the larger images.

These ‘animated’ images below are NOT animated images… Look closely…

    

         

 

Sometimes…

I wonder if god will ever forgive us for what we do to each other.

Then other times I take a good look around, and realize that god left this place a long time ago.

- paraphrased from Blood Diamond.

CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!

Top experts predict heavier activity this hurricane season…

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/tech/news/4685984.html

CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!

Raped by the Army Corps

BASTARDS!

Corps caused disaster, report says
State inquiry finds decades of blunders
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
By Bob Marshall
Decades of incompetence and neglect by the Army Corps of Engineers allowed Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge to devastate New Orleans, according to a long-awaited report being released today, the state’s only official investigation into the causes of the disaster.

In a sweeping indictment of corps stewardship, the report alleges that agency supervisors ignored increases in the threat level for their project, knowingly built levees and floodwalls lower than congressionally mandated, failed to detect or ignored glaring errors during the review process, underestimated the impact of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet on the city’s defenses, and failed to properly maintain the system.

The report, conducted by Team Louisiana at the request of the Department of Transportation and Development, echoes many points made in other probes last year, including that of the Independent Levee Investigation Team, led by the University of California-Berkeley, and the interim report from the corps’ own Independent Performance and Evaluation Team. But while those efforts focused largely on technical aspects of the structural failures, the LSU-based Team Louisiana sought to pinpoint the decisions that caused those failures.

Story continued here:

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1174456253193610.xml&coll=1&thispage=1

Estimated weekly cost of war in Iraq: $2 billion
Estimated cost to build Cat 5 levees in NOLA: $2.5 billion

I guess we know our government’s priorities… BASTARDS!

Death has been on my mind a lot lately…

One in five people is set to die a “shameful death” new research has claimed.

A book by sociology professor Allan Kellehear, claims that 20% of the population will die alone, ravaged by dementia and without dignity.

In “A Social History of Dying”, Professor Kellehear argues this kind of death would be co5nsidered “shameful” by previous generations.

In a bleak portrait of death in the 21st century, the professor from the University of Bath, claims the act of dying is becoming increasingly “tragic and antisocial”.

He argues that medical advances are enabling us to live longer but society is at a loss with how to treat this large ageing population. He said: “Most people think only fleetingly about how they will die and usually it surrounds some romantic notion dying in our sleep at home. This couldn't be further from the truth – we are significantly more likely to die a prolonged death in a nursing home or hospital, preceded by multiple organ failure, pneumonia or dementia.

“As we live longer, there is every chance that we will outlive those friends and family who have traditionally seen us through our last years. It is also likely that we will have exhausted the financial means by which we would pay professionals to look after us instead.”

He argues that the act of dying may have actually been handled better by earlier generations with “good” peasant deaths surrounded by friends and family.

He claims that the rise in “shameful deaths” is leading an increasing number of elderly people to consider suicide in order to take control and manage their own death.

Kellehear urges governments worldwide to re-assess how the act of dying is treated before it becomes a major crisis. He said: “Whether it is introducing more liberal policies that enable people to better manage how they die, a closer examination of medical ethics, better training for nursing homes or support for people who care for the elderly- something needs to happen.

“We need to tackle the subject of dying head on. Talk about dying, let alone our own death, is not a popular theme for politicians or public debate. But there is no escape from the tragedy that will befall many of us when we die.”

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pressass/20070404/tuk-one-in-five-face-shameful-death-6323e80.html

Royal Grocery will be sorely missed…

 Robert Buras & Royal Grocery, we are so sorry to see you close.

Royal Grocery was an institution in New Orleans’ French Quarter [the Vieux Carre]. Robert’s Grandfather opened the store like 60 years ago, and it has now so sadly joined the scores of French Quarter shops that have been forced to close as a result of The Thing [Katrina, Army Corps, FEMA, George Bush, Ray Nagin, Governor Blanco, et al.]; Now over 100 are closed and gone…

This is another devastating blow to the soul of New Orleans and our French Quarter. We are forever changed.

Thank you, Robert. You will be missed.

Chris Rose

For so many reasons, we admire this man:

Chris Rose goes bald for kids with cancer…

Go Chris! You Rock!