eli cocks a snook at nagin February 28, 2008
There are many times when I don’t write about issues that come up in New Orleans. Sometimes, I just can’t bear thinking for one more minute about Ray Nagin. Other times, it’s because another NOLA blogger has already said everything I might want to say. I really should link to other bloggers more, they are always on to something. Lately, I’ve had time issues, but I generally don’t like posts that are just lists of links. Resolved: I’m going to make an effort to link more.
This is all leading up to me saying “just read this post from We Could Be Famous.” Eli says everything I wanted to say. This way, I don’t have to get my fingers all tired out from typing.
exposed: the super-secret delegate selection process February 27, 2008
At the OPDEC meeting on Monday night, Felicia Kahn handed me a flyer and asked me to vote for her as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. The elections for delegates are being held this Saturday, March 1. I am a registered Democrat and a reasonably well-informed person and I had no idea this election was being held. I’ll bet you didn’t know about it either.
On the website for the Louisiana Democratic Party, there are cumbersome links which open Excel spreadsheets containing the names of the candidates for each district and the polling places. It looks like it only lists the candidates for Congressional District 1, but look at the bottom and you will see a tab for each district. To make it more cumbersome, there is a spreadsheet for Clinton and another for Obama.
I called Deborah Langhoff and said, “they could not have made this more confusing, nor kept it a bigger secret from the general public.”
Apparently, the reason everything seems so obscure to me is because it’s meant to be that way. The people who always win these elections do it by limiting the turn out. They get the number of voters they need to the polls, and that’s all they want to show up. That’s why it’s held during an off-week, instead of at the same time as the presidential primary. That’s why there is no general, public push for turn-out. Yet everyone sits around scratching their heads and wondering why voter apathy is such a problem.
Here is how this works. The candidates are either on the “Clinton ballot” or the “Obama ballot.” For some reason, each district elects a predetermined combination of male and female delegates. The number to elect seems to be different for each district, and different between the presidential candidates. The candidates for delegate are not all determined to vote for the person whose ballot they are on. Deborah, for instance, told me that she filed to run as a Clinton delegate, but now that she is vice-chair of OPDEC she believes she should cast her vote for the one with the most support among OPDEC members, if she is elected. Elsie Burkhalter from the northshore is the person who usually wins this seat. She is on the Clinton ballot, but I don’t know how devoted she is to Clinton.
District 1 is Bobby Jindal’s former congressional district. It includes much of New Orleans City Council District A, where I live, most of Jefferson parish and the northshore. The rest of New Orleans is in the second congressional district, William Jefferson’s domain. There are a lot of recognizable names on the 2nd district ballot, and they seem to get one more Obama delegate than Clinton. As I said, it’s confusing.
You have to first go to the Louisiana Democratic Party website and download the two spreadsheets. Click on the tab for your district. Look on there for names of people you know and the number you can vote for. If you don’t know anyone, you can base your vote on whether you are for Obama or Clinton and just hope the person will vote for who they have signed up for. At the bottom of the sheet is a list of the polling places in each district. They are not the usual places where we have been voting since Katrina. They are places like coffee shops and the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club. The polls are open from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 1.
So, then you decide which polling place you are going to, and you go over there and ask for a “Clinton ballot” or an “Obama ballot.” I was told that you can’t split your votes, but I don’t know if that’s true.
Of course, all that I have written here has nothing at all to do the with controversial “super delegates.” I still don’t know how or when they were chosen. That information is Super Duper Secret, at least from me. I will find out, but it’ll have to wait for another day. All I know is that Renee Gill-Pratt is one of them, and I think she is committed to Clinton.
I don’t know if anyone even cares about this delegate stuff. Many times it’s already been settled before the convention. It just rubs me the wrong way that people who support the Democratic Party and want to get involved don’t even know that there is an election going on. I feel like when more people get involved, there is more opportunity for good potential candidates for public office to surface from among them.
Don was over here last night and he asked me about what OPDEC does. I repeated what I have been told many times: “until now, not much.” One of my goals is get more people registered to vote. He asked me what I would do if I was working on a voter registration drive and a bunch of people wanted to register, but as Republicans. I told him that it would not present a dilemma for me at all. I’d rather have them registered as Republicans (or independents, or Greens, or whatever) than not registered at all. We have a mayoral race coming up in 2010, for one thing. Most of the time, political party preference plays less of a role in the selection of a Mayor than the personal qualities of the candidates. People will vote for the person whom they like for whatever reason, but they can’t vote at all if they are not registered. Sure, it bugs me when people I don’t like get elected, but it bugs me much more when they are elected by a tiny fraction of the people who are eligible to have their voices heard.
advances in science
My friend Heather sends me the absolute funniest jokes. Here is her latest:
A study conducted by UCLA’s department of psychiatry has revealed that the kind of face a woman finds attractive on a man can differ depending on where she is in her menstrual cycle. It was discovered that if the female is ovulating, she is attracted to males with rugged and masculine features. However, if she is menstruating, or menopausal, she tends to be more attracted to a man with duct tape over his mouth and a spear lodged in his chest while he is on fire. No further studies are expected.
Bwah ha ha ha ha!
my dawlin’ new awlins February 26, 2008
Tonight was our first meeting for the Orleans Parish Democratic Executive Committee. Karen Gadbois and I were loving it, being in a room full of people who like to talk politics. Heaven!
We elected officers tonight. James Gray, father of state senator Cheryl Gray and husband of Juvenile Court judge Ernestine Gray, was unanimously elected chair. He takes over from Stephanie Butler, William Jefferson’s local District Manager and OPDEC chair since around 1991. Butler apparently played a large part in the “Eddie Jordan fired all the white people” scandal. Deborah Langhoff was unanimously elected 1st vice chair. The new vice chair for administration is Julius Feltus, Jefferson’s local district aide, and the new vice chair for operations is Michon Copelin, Sherman Copelin’s daughter. Treasurer is Rev. Marc Napoleon from my district and secretary is Sabrina Montana, who I believe is related to Chief Tootie Montana. I was nominated for parliamentarian and beaten by Morris Reed, then nominated for sergeant at arms and beaten (narrowly) by Ambrose Pratt. I ended up being appointed to the Bylaws committee with Dana Henry and Maurice Ruffin.
I think this new leadership will invigorate the group. We need to start registering new voters and converting Republicans whenever we can, for their own good. Because of Katrina and the leadership disasters that followed, people are more involved in the community than ever before. The presidential race has inspired young people. We have a newly elected OPDEC member who is 20 years old, and another who is 22. In November, we will also have William Jefferson to contend with again. Wouldn’t it be great if someone beat him this time?
It was kind of weird being in the same room with a lot of politicians whom I have slammed on the blog. Cynthia Hedge-Morrell was there and her group was in our camp, at least for tonight. I have given her credit when it’s due, she’s better than the other Cynthia. She sent a gracious congratulatory letter to everyone who was elected. The Jefferson people are fragmented, and I hope their era is ending. Juana Lombard’s husband, Darren, is on the committee, from District C. I didn’t slam Lombard when she ran for judge, but I vocally supported Laurie White. Oh, well. The good thing about dealing with me is that if you want to know where I stand, you can just ask me.
Coincidentally, I received in today’s mail a very impressive-looking certificate, affixed with the gold seal of the Secretary of State, declaring that I was duly elected. Inside the mailing tube was a copy of the Code of Ethics for elected officials. I’ll let you know if I find anything interesting in there.
One of the long-time OPDEC members is an elderly black man named Rev. Skip Alexander. He is the unofficial chaplain, although it was carefully insisted that any prayers be inclusive because we are not all one religion. Talking to Rev. Alexander was so interesting. I hadn’t realized before that this had been basically an all-black group until this last election. Rev. Alexander said it was a major turning point for this group because we (the newly-elected white members) were “integrating” it. It’s true, but up until 1976, this same group was exclusively white and his predecessors were integrating it. I guess it’s generally good to have diversity, but I didn’t feel like race mattered. I certainly felt included. Everyone is such an individual that racial proportions are meaningless, and, living in New Orleans, we have more in common than not.
no oscars for old women February 25, 2008
My friend Jim Byrne is visiting from Cape Cod and we had dinner and watched the Oscars last night. Jim is a theater director and a fantastic actor who I have worked with many times. He may be coming back here soon to do children’s theater, and, believe me, that will be a treat for the children of New Orleans. I’ve done some great children’s plays with Jim where he has made magic with miniscule budgets. Children who saw my rendition of the Evil Queen in Snow White are still discussing it with their therapists.
A few years ago, I went to Boston and I saw a version of Stuart Little that he directed at Wheelock College. It was a major theater with many more resources than I had ever seen him work with before. I was absolutely blown away. The kid who played Stuart Little should have played him in the movie that came out later. He also works at Harwich Junior Theater on Cape Cod. Jim is the type of guy who will add 20 talking animals and plants to the script if a bunch of cute, expressive kids show up at the audition. For Snow White, a girl and a boy turned up who didn’t fit the prince or princess roles available, but they were both really talented. Overnight, Jim added two bumbling sidekicks as henchkids for the Evil Queen, and they stole the show (from me, after I stole it right out from under poor Snow White. Mwah ha ha ha HA!) One of those evil henchkids, Andy Vaught, is all grown up now and is one of the founders of Cripple Creek Players.
Watching the Oscars with Jim is such fun because he is as much of a movie nut as me. We both love a good performance. I had only seen No Country for Old Men, Michael Clayton, American Gangster, Away From Her, Gone Baby Gone, Eastern Promises and Charlie Wilson’s War. Jim had seen Michael Clayton, There Will Be Blood, Juno and nearly everything else nominated for anything. Neither of us has seen La Vie en Rose.
Jim disliked There Will Be Blood, and he thought Daniel Day-Lewis was doing John Huston doing Simon Legree. He was worried Day-Lewis would choke to death on the scenery. He thought Juno was OK, but didn’t like it as much as everyone else apparently does. He loved Michael Clayton as much as I did. We were jumping up and down on the couch when Tilda Swinton won. And then she was funny and normal on stage, so unlike all the roles she plays. I thought her dress was one of the few good enough for Project Runway. She looks like David Bowie’s twin.
Why do they have to torture the audience by performing every song? The song from “Once” was far and away better than the others, we could have done with that. Wasn’t that couple cute? Jim says it’s a great movie, but you need subtitles to understand the Irish accents. And Jim is Boston Irish, so it must be pretty thick. I thought the same thing when I saw The Wind that Shakes the Barley. I may have to watch “Once” on DVD and set it to closed-captioning.
Jim also joins me in worshipping the great Helen Mirren. She looked more beautiful than most of the women half her age, and her dress was the best of all. Jim and I loved Nicole Kidman’s dress and necklace that looked like a dismantled chandelier. Kidman always looks beautiful, but she is distorting her face with Botox or something. She has completely changed the shape of her lips. I realize she is pregnant, but pregnancy doesn’t make your lips puff up like that. I’ve always thought Kidman had great lips, it’s weird that she would want to mess with such a great feature of her well-known face.
It was such a relief to see Javier Bardem without that awful hairdo. Like Swinton, he came off as a nice, normal person in his thank-you speech, after playing the Antichrist in the movie. He came to the Oscars with his mother. Me: “He’s gay.” Jim: “Gotta be.” Gay guys always take their mothers to the Oscars, which is great because if Leicester is nominated I will be his date. Bardem did a good job, but I think Tom Wilkinson and Philip Seymour Hoffman were better. They have both won before, though, so it’s nice they gave it to a new guy.
It looks from the excerpts like Marion Cotilliard did a fantastic job as Edith Piaf, but I haven’t seen it. I really thought Julie Christie was going to win. Jim: “Ooooh, Julie Christie is PISSED!” Me: “The French! The French!” Julie Christie, unfortunately, had the worst dress. Didn’t stop her from being gorgeous at 67, though. Does anyone know why you can’t get her old movie Far From the Madding Crowd on Netflix? I’d like to see that.
Cate Blanchett did not win anything, and she is one of my favorites. She looked mortified when they showed her bellowing and screaming clip from “Elizabeth.” Hamming it up was very popular this year, judging from the clips they chose.
I’ll have to wait for There Will Be Blood on DVD, because I heard it was interminably long. From what I’ve seen, I can’t believe Day-Lewis is better than George Clooney in Michael Clayton. Clooney was robbed. Michael Clayton was repeatedly robbed, except for Tilda. I thought it was far superior to No Country for Old Men. The Coen Brothers sort of acted like they were running late for their dentist appointment. I loved Fargo and I was one of the few who loved The Man That Wasn’t There, but I thought No Country was kind of a blood-fest that didn’t go anywhere.
Although Jim and I thought Tony Gilroy should have won best script for Michael Clayton, Diablo Cody was the only winner of the evening who acknowledged her fellow nominees. In that regard, the former stripper was the only one who showed any class.
The Bourne Ultimatum won three awards. I had gotten tired of the Bourne movies after the second, but Jim says this one is better and it focuses more on Joan Allen’s character. I love Joan Allen, so I added it to my Netflix list.
The annual tribute to everyone who died was weird because it didn’t include Roy Schieder (who died after Feb. 1), and Brad Renfroe from The Client was left off altogether.
Viggo Mortenson had the best tuxedo. It had a really long, old-fashioned cut and Viggo had a full beard, so he looked like someone from another time. I felt so bad for him, he had no chance of winning, but he is still great in everything he does. Eastern Promises was just not my cup of tea. I liked A History of Violence, but I generally don’t think David Cronenberg’s movies adhere together like a movie should. I thought Dead Ringers was torture.
Jim had seen No End in Sight, but I haven’t seen any of the documentaries. Taxi to the Dark Side won, but I told Jim that I don’t really want to see that. I don’t need to be shown how evil they are, I already know.
it ain’t what ya know, it’s what phone numbers ya know February 23, 2008
Wow, isn’t this interesting? It seems there was a very hard question on the July, 2007, South Carolina bar exam and two young women failed it. The wrong two young women. Daddy made some phone calls, and pretty soon that whole section of the exam was thrown out. Yay! They passed.
I took the February bar exam with numerous people who had failed the July exam and had to take it over. One of the reasons they had failed was an unexpected 25-point curve ball question about spendthrift trusts on the Successions exam. Many of my compadres know people in high places. I don’t know if any of their daddies tried to have that section thrown out, but if they did they were unsuccessful. Every one of them sucked it up, worked their asses off and took the exam again. After all, spendthrift trusts are right there in the black letter law, and sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose.
The rest of us heard about it and, as a result, we all walked into the February Louisiana bar exam having become experts on trusts. Naturally, there wasn’t a single question about trusts on the February bar. Those wily, sneaky, split-personality bar examiners! What will they think of next? I could have been putting that time into the intricacies of timberlands jurisprudence!
Point is, everyone I talked to owned up to their own responsibility for not drilling on trusts enough. Sure, they wanted to throttle that examiner and have the whole damned thing thrown out. The problem was that too many of their fellow examinees got the question right. Those people drilled it. I know, for example, that there was nothing asked on the bar exam that I’m not responsible for knowing. I missed those things that I missed fair and square. In fact, I knew most of them, I just couldn’t remember them.
Reading about this kind of stuff renews my appreciation for all the newly-minted lawyers I know who don’t think the world owes them a living. I would feel comfortable with them representing me, even if I was on trial for my life. Sometimes situations come up where you need hard work instead of a phone call from daddy.
via Ann Bartow
michael clayton February 22, 2008
I was looking for a movie to rent the other night and I ended up watching Michael Clayton. At first, I wasn’t going to get it because the ads led me to believe it was about a lawyer going crazy. Too close to home. But I rented it anyway because I have a well-documented thing for George Clooney. Also, Tom Wilkinson is in it and I have never seen him give a performance that was boring for a second. Wilkinson’s character does go crazy, but at the same time he is the sanest one of all.
The first few scenes of the movie reinforce the idea that it’s going to indeed be a story about the inner workings of a New York law firm that has a stratospheric level of clients. It quickly leaves the realm of any reality, however, and then proves to be a story about much more than a law firm or Clooney’s sub-surface job there as a “fixer.” The performances are shockingly good. Clooney and Wilkinson are incredible, and Tilda Swinton is just sublime.
The greatest thing about this movie, though, is the writing. Tony Gilroy wrote and directed it, so he didn’t cut any of his own best lines. Gilroy wrote the Bourne movies with Matt Damon, but none of his previous work prepares you for how good this movie is. It has been so long since I saw a movie with writing like that, and it never wavers. At one point, I thought, “OK, here comes the chase and the shoot-out,” but it never happens. The masterful dialogue just keeps coming, all the way to the end.
I’m planning to watch the Oscars this year, just because Clooney is nominated. Wilkinson is nominated, too, but he’s up against Philip Seymour Hoffman, so I can’t possibly choose between the two of them. If Swinton doesn’t get best supporting actress, and Gilroy best script, then there is simply no justice in this world.
ray: it’s all about you, baby February 21, 2008
You’ve got to see this interview with Ray Nagin on WWL. He is so full of shit. He believes that when the media publishes stories and photos of his idiotic behavior, it puts him and his family in danger. Ray, as far as I know, no one wants to harm you. You are the one who is talking about “cold cocking” people. We are all just impatiently waiting until you leave office. We know that we are stuck with you for the duration, and you don’t give a damn what we think. I don’t know what you think you’ve accomplished with yet another incoherent emotional outburst. You are an incompetent buffoon, but you are a duly elected incompetent buffoon. You lie when telling the truth would be easier. We’ve got a major city with major problems, but don’t worry, baby. The spotlight’s still on you.
i have a dream. a bad dream. February 19, 2008
I have finally stopped having dreams about the bar exam. I think I’ve finally let go of the anxiety. I still haven’t recovered my appetite, though, so I am looking particularly svelte. I should have someone take my picture.
I had a dream the other night, however, that was so disturbing I wished I could zap my inner TV show back to The Bar Exam Channel. I dreamed that I was taking a train trip with a white male friend of mine. I think of this person as the exact opposite of a racist, and as someone who is willing to take a stand against it. In the dream, we had to get off the train for some reason and we were in a train station. There were two black men standing beside a post, minding their own business. Suddenly, my friend, to my complete horror, ran over to one of the black men and began choking him. He was completely silent, but in dream-logic I knew that he was choking the guy simply because he was black. As the police ran over to stop the attack, I ran the other way because I didn’t want to be associated with such a racist person.
They say that in dreams each character is actually the dreamer, representing parts of the self. So that means I was me, the choker and the chokee. I’m sure the train part and the violence were present because I recently watched the old Wim Wenders movie, The American Friend, with Dennis Hopper. There is a protracted, Hitchcockian train murder scene which must have stuck with me.
I think the racism part of the dream was a hangover from a conversation I had with B last week. We were discussing Barack Obama. We were both born in the early 60s in the south and grew up in the south. We were both exposed to a lot of racism from day one. I said that I have either heard a racist statement or seen a racist action almost every single day of my life, and he said it was true for him as well. It’s hard to express how “normal” racism was when we were children, and how “normal” it still is for some people today. I never saw anyone physically abuse a black person, but passive, “every day” racism was just simply how it was. Everything was separate, they were different from us, and you were considered a naive fool if you thought otherwise. I was 12 years old when I realized how very wrong this was, and I can remember the exact moment. Later, I was disabused of the idea that it’s only the south, but, let’s face it, we’ve always had more black people down here to discriminate against. I know white people from up north who never saw a black person in their lives, except on TV, until they came south.
Because of this background, neither B nor I ever expected to see an African American president in our life times. We just didn’t think our country, both northern and southern, had shaken it off, and we had little hope that it could. We are both just bowled over by the success Obama has enjoyed. He’s not president yet, but he is thisclose to being one of the two major contenders. Just the idea of it fills me with happiness, but I am obviously looking over my shoulder on his behalf, waiting for the other shoe to drop. There is a lot of ugly, ugly thinking out there. I wish I didn’t know it, but I do. My white skin makes people think I am member of the club and they can say what’s on their minds, although they usually only do it once. There are many people who will never let go of it, and that’s where I came from.
My fear is not that someone will try to choke Barack Obama, although I’m sure there are plenty of people who would like to. My fear is that he will end up losing the general election simply because of racism. I still believe there are more of “them” than there are of “us,” because that’s the way it’s always been. I just can’t let myself believe that this monster has been slain. I’m afraid that if I turn the light off, it will come busting out of the closet in the middle of the night. It might even get dressed up like something else, for example “he doesn’t have enough experience,” even though no one who is running has any experience at being the president. I dearly hope we are not in for that kind of let down. I hope I have a different dream, more along the lines of Martin Luther King’s. I have read King’s great speech several times. I have always found it very inspiring and it expresses my hope for this country. I have never thought, however, that I would live to see his dream become reality. I never realized it, but in my heart, when I read those words, I thought, “dream on.” Electing a black president will certainly not kill racism, but it would be the most serious blow that monster was ever dealt.
the bar exam: minimum contacts February 16, 2008
I’m not saying I passed. I don’t think I failed, but it’s not out of the question that I conditioned (meaning that you have to take the failed sections over if you fail three, including two Louisiana codes, or four total). I wish I was like my friend Machelle, who definitely drilled it, killed it, and knocked it out of the park.
I’m worried about Code I and today’s test on Federal Civil Procedure. It is so stupid, because Code I is basic stuff that I actually know, but I paid too much attention to the big picture while studying. Federal procedure in the US District Court is something that I am palpably familiar with, but rough at the edges. The exam asked for a lot of edges. If I fail, it will be by a matter of a few points, and I don’t want to even know how many.
I can fail those two exams and still pass, but what if I am delusional in thinking that I passed the the other seven? Machelle says I’m nuts, you only have to get 70 points and I surely got 70. These are the things that occupy my mind, but not for long. It’s over. Nothing I can do about it now. As I told Machelle, if I have to take it again, then I’ll take it again. Until then, I’ll have another crab cake.
As for the other two tests today, Criminal law and procedure was not too bad. On the “spot the crime” part, I spotted all kinds of crimes and remembered most of their elements. I may have mixed up 2nd degree murder and negligent homicide, but two people were killed, so I got a chance to explain them both. Next part, 4th Amendment: gotcha! I have a total peeve against unconstitutional searches and seizures, and I have no problem spotting them and going on for pages if necessary. I probably didn’t devote enough penmanship to the government’s side, but I am just like that when it comes to the freedom to be left alone. The procedure questions were basic evidence, which strikes me as common sense. I missed a couple, like getting someone deemed a hostile witness so you can ask leading questions.
Con Law was not tricky, but I was PMSing. I could not think of the word “vague,” so I said, “people will not realize it when they are breaking the law.” I hit on all the major clauses and banged on equal protection and due process, both your substantive and your procedural. I left out freedom of assembly and didn’t address Privileges and Immunities because I ran out of time. But, hey, I got both the Commerce Clause and the Dormant Commerce Clause. How much are freedom of assembly and privileges and immunities worth? Let’s hope it’s less than 30 points. Everyone was shocked that God was not on the Con Law exam in any way shape or form. We were all ready to explain how the government shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, and how we got your Lemon test right here. And, damn it, we did not get our chance.
Here is something from the Small World Department. At the demolition protest at City Hall, Karen Gadbois introduced me to a wonderful young man who had just graduated from Tulane Law School. I ran into him again at the Barbri course and we became buddies. He took the bar exam with me and was part of the gang. We all went out for drinks tonight after it was finally over. His younger brother came, along with his father. I suddenly realized I knew his father from years ago when my stepson was friends with the younger brother in kindergarten. All these kids are grown up now, and I am taking the bar exam with their cohort. It is kind of weird to realize that you are taking the bar exam with the children of your contemporaries. I had the same feeling when I was in my first year at law school and one of my classmates was a kid who was born in Covington on the same day as my son Laurence, and I remembered seeing his birth announcement in the paper with Laurence’s. It stings me with the thought of how old I am, but makes me feel young at the same time.
I am so tired of the bar exam and so tired of thinking about law. We are all so bedraggled from it, it’s pitiful. This day has been the ending point of all my future plans for so many months. Tomorrow will be a great day, my first in a long time without constantly thinking, “This is fun, but I should be studying right now.” I am so curious to see what that will be like.
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