don’t ask, don’t tell July 24, 2008
An excellent post by Hilzoy. Why can’t we just respect other people, leave them alone and let them do their jobs?
what a d-a-y we’ve had today July 23, 2008
Another day, another episode of righteous outrage from Sugar Ray Nagin. It seems that when WWL and a bunch of bloggers investigate bogus “house remediation” by the New Orleans Affordable Homeownership Corporation (NOAH), they are hindering our recovery. Well, they are hindering something, alright. I hope, like Jeffrey, that they provoke an FBI investigation.
Oh, and someone spilled 9,000 barrels of deisel fuel in the river. Poor John McCain had to cancel his trip down here to pose on an oil rig and tell us how great offshore oil exploration is. One of the geniuses in the nola.com comments points out that only a miniscule amount of oil is spilled during exploration and production, the rest is lost through transportation and other post-production activities. Well . . . yeah. We can’t all go out to the rig or the refinery and fill our tanks up, dumbass. Transporation of of the finished product is part of the package, as we all saw (and smelled) today.
I’ve been feeling like a bit of celebrity these days. OPDEC is about to have it’s endorsement meetings, where we listen to presentations by the candidates and then vote on which Democrats we will endorse. Several candidates have called me in advance of the meetings to ask if I had any questions or comments. I was surprised yesterday to answer my phone and hear the deep bass voice of city councilman James Carter. Unfortunately, I was busy at work and could not engage him on anything important. Besides, he is running for congress and my questions right now have to do with the city council. I hope to get in a few questions during OPDEC time rather than working hours.
I have a lot of anxiety about how these endorsements will go. As a member of the body, I only have one vote, and it may not be with the majority. I have some preferences right now, but I want to hear the presentations before I make up my mind. But what if OPDEC ends up endorsing people I can’t support? What if (gulp!) I am a member of a group that ends up endorsing William Jefferson? I won’t go quietly!
the intrepid karen gadbois July 22, 2008
WWL is now investigating the NOAH scam, thanks to Karen Gadbois. It will be a miracle if this city survives Ray Nagin’s administration.
bar exam: done. again. July 21, 2008
Today I re-took Code I and Code III of the bar exam again, so that’s over with. If I pass, it’s because of my intelligence and hard work. If I fail, it’s because they are just out to get me.
I saw a lot of the young people who were in the class behind me. I have a special love for them because they were all first-years when Hurricane Katrina chased us all to Houston. They had one week of classes under their belts when we evacuated. I felt so sorry for them, having to do their first semester of law school under all that stress and in a strange city to boot. I wish them all well on the exam this week, which is going to make our “Houstola” semester seem like a picnic!
hello, dolly! July 20, 2008
Nooooo! She’s still glowin’, crowin’ and goin’ strong in the Carribean, and headed northwest. I don’t think we have a rain date for the bar exam.
always know who you’re f–ing with July 17, 2008
Out of control NOPD cop on the rampage, curses and waves her gun around in front of a bunch of children. Adrastos alerts us to the Shreveport PD pepper-spraying Josh Brolin and tasering Jeffrey Wright. Cops need to cool it with the tasering. I mean Josh Brolin, I can see, but Jeffrey Wright? Seriously, tasering is a very violent and painful thing to do to another human being, and cops should never do it unless they sincerely believe they will be harmed and there is no alternative. It’s like cruel and unusual punishment without being charged, much less sentenced.
s&wb rollercoaster
Originally uploaded by dangerblond.
Here is a graph of my water bills over the last 21 months. Isn’t this crazy? Does anyone else get these nutty water bills? I live alone, I hardly ever water my yard and I run my dishwasher less than once a week. I occasionally do laundry, but not so you’d notice. Nevertheless, these people would have you think my sewer volume sporadically goes off the charts. And good luck getting anyone at the S&WB to explain this. For what it’s worth, my water meter has six inches of dirt on top of the dial and has never been read. Do they just throw dice or something?
I made this cool graph on a kids website put up by the National Center for Education Statistics. What fun the kiddies must have with this when they are not illegally downloading music!
common as pig tracks
I don’t know why but I have had several people call me in the past two days to enquire about their rights in a common law marriage. These phone calls don’t last long because the answer is, “Louisiana does not recognize common law marriage. There are no rights associated with cohabitation, no matter how long.”
A common law marriage is one without formalities such as a ceremony. A few states recognize common law marriages - Alabama, Colorado, Kansas, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Iowa, Montana, Oklahoma, and Texas, and also the District of Columbia. In Georgia, Idaho, Ohio, New Hampshire, Utah and Pennsylvania, common law marriages are recognized under certain circumstances. In these states, the couple has to live together and “hold themselves out” as a married couple to other people.
In Louisiana, there are three requirements for a valid marriage: Absence of legal impediments (bigamy, same-sex, or blood relations within the fourth degree), A marriage ceremony before a qualified celebrant with two competent witnesses, and the mutual consent of the parties expressed at the ceremony.
I’m kind of amazed that there are people my age who think common law marriage is valid in Louisiana. Some have been making house payments on the boyfriend’s house thinking they are acquiring an interest in the property. They ought to teach it in school. If people are living together, they need to do it with their eyes open.
went to work, July 16, 2008
Went home, studied for the bar, went to bed early… no wait! That’s not what I did. Tonight was book club. We read “Farewell, My Lovely” by Raymond Chandler. We met at Susan’s new boyfriend’s house and swam in the pool. Pics and comments coming soon to a blog near you.
cruel, cruel spammers July 15, 2008
Most of my spam involves penis enlargement, prescription drugs and get rich quick schemes, but lately they have taken a very cruel turn. The subject lines this week are morbidly sensational, like “Angelina Jolie dies in plane crash,” and “Eminem found dead in disco bathroom.” Who dreams up this stuff? Oh, for the good old days of “Do girls refuse to jazz it with you because of your small device?”
I haven’t been posting much lately because of boredom. Not mine, yours. It would be the same post every day - “went to work, studied for the bar, went to bed early.” The most exciting thing I’ve been doing is my weekly Sunday po-boy with Patrick Armstrong, when we get together for a sandwich at the Parkway and solve the problems of New Orleans and talk about how great things are going in Georgia.
After working in a divorce law firm, I am wondering why anyone gets married. It does wear me down a little to be in the middle of it, but I still find the whole thing fascinating. I guess you have to really love someone to turn around and hate them so much. It’s even more interesting to watch people spend a lot of money throwing bombs at each other and then reconcile. It’s the ah sweet mystery o’ life, I guess.
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