BROKEN WINDOWS

Friday, November 14, 2003

Since the insurance industry is the biggest money maker in Louisiana, the insurance commissioner elected-position is rather important. The last three commissioners are in prison. Really. I heard about it on a local cable access show with "Hippo" Katz, a political analyst. He was picking his winners for this Saturday's state-wide election for a number of offices, most importantly governor and insurance commissioner. The past commissioners have given so many kick backs and breaks to the insurance companies that it's nearly impossible to get renter's insurance and I'd expect homeowner insurance is outrageous. They already rob you blind, but imagine the liabilities down here: termites, floods, crime. And mormon vampires, of course. Not a chance you'd get coverage for the damage they'd cause I'm sure.

7:07:54 PM |

We just had to follow that link.

Yesterday a referer came to Broken Windows after searching for "vampires mormons myth." I'm happy to report there are a couple of mormon vampires. Well, vampire slayers. As far as I know they have no association with New Orleans, but who knows. Both are actors on Buffy: Larry Bagby III and Eliza Dushku are mormons. I don't watch the show so I have no idea if they are "evil" or not. They are mormons, though, for whatever that's worth.

Speaking of mormons. Our neighborhood mormons have been scarce since Holloween. No idea why. Perhaps it was the vampires who came out en masse to honor Anne Rice. I'm keeping a look-out for pasty-faced bicycle-helmeted mormons with fangs. Get out the garlic!

6:31:14 PM |

Okay, the shooting has got to stop.

There seems to be a gang or drug war going on in our neighborhood. For the past seven nights we've been woken up by gunshots. Last night it went on for two hours. Yikes! They're probably a quarter of a mile away, perhaps farther. It's hard to tell. Loud enough to wake us up, which is disturbing.

The most puzzling thing is we never hear sirens. Never. A friend suggested that the police are already involved in the shooting. Perhaps. The other, more troubling possibility is that there are so few police in NO and they're so underpaid that they don't bother to follow the sounds of a gunfight.

Some of my students assured me it's normal to be awakened by gunshots in NOLA. One said he gets nervous when he doesn't hear them. It's particularly common in the lower garden district, our neighborhood, they tell me. One student asked if there were "bad people" living near us. I asked her what a "bad person" looked like -- I'd love to know. I pointed out that the man recently arrested for the murder of a young Japanese tourist was a middle-aged "normal" looking white guy. Did he look "bad"? Our neighborhood seems like any other NOLA neighborhood to me: a handful of rich folks, a number of handfuls of poor folks, and a spattering of folks like us in the middle. None look particularly "bad."

Unlike Chicago, there are no distinct gangs in New Orleans. Apparently some Chicago gangs infiltrated the city a decade ago, including the Latin Kings (I hear this from my student who works for the city -- no idea if it's true), but that otherwise there are only loose-knit gangs from specific apartment buildings/sub-neighborhoods, and small gangs of criminals who commit crimes together. There's a gang of three young men working along Carrollton, apparently, who've carjacked a number of people over the past two weeks. One of my student's sisters was carjacked there on Monday. Fun. She wasn't hurt, thank goodness. Just lost her car.

I'd really like to get a good night's sleep. The dog freaks out with every shot, stands over us in bed and pants in our faces, or jumps off the bed and back up again (again and again). Welcome to New Orleans!

6:06:50 PM |

The Cult of Personality: We've Fallen for it Again	7/17/05
Ignorance Leading to Fear Leading to Descrimination in NYC	7/17/05
How the cycle begins, how it is perpetuated	7/16/05
Speak truth to power? You must be out of your mind...	7/16/05
Preach it, Sister Vowell	7/16/05
A few links to follow up on the Christian Fascism thing....	7/16/05
"Not in the Name of Islam"	7/16/05
Doc's thoughtful question and a couple of other reads	7/16/05
Friday Baja Blogging	7/15/05
The rise of Christian Fascism: the Blue Voice on Pat Robertson's anti-semitism	7/15/05
Operation Truth needs our help	7/14/05
"Am I Next?": The endless tragedy of a futile mission	7/14/05
Hey France: Happy Independence Day, Y'all	7/14/05
The compounded tragedy of a young man's murder	7/14/05
Seven more...	7/14/05
Word of the Day for Wednesday July 13, 2005	7/13/05
Will someone please get Tom Friedman a dictionary?	7/13/05
Jeremy's rant on Op Truth	7/12/05
Karl Rove has got to go	7/12/05
Beauty and the injection of violence	7/11/05
Excellent Sunday Reading	7/10/05
"The Stain of Torture"	7/9/05
Swerve Left on how to stop terrorism	7/9/05
Where they came from, who they killed	7/9/05
A love of violence and a fear of death	7/9/05
A few worth your time today	7/8/05
Friday Baja Blogging	7/8/05
From the vault	7/8/05
I can't believe it	7/8/05
The sudden rupture of nostalgia	7/7/05
"What is truth?"	7/7/05
What a dark day	7/7/05
Yep.	7/7/05
Morgan Spurlock's "30 Days" Is Genius	7/6/05
And then we jail the journalists...	7/6/05
Eric Alterman goes off on Stingy America	7/6/05
Sarah Vowell in the New York Times	7/6/05
Exvotos and Giving Thanks	7/5/05
Thank our Liberal Ancestors Today	7/4/05
It's hard for me to celebrate independence this year	7/4/05
The warped use of rhetoric to defend the indefensible	7/4/05
"Remember Petey"	7/3/05
The Bush Administration: Balancing Facts with Fiction since 2001	7/3/05
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The casualties of war	7/2/05
"Criminal suspects are treated better..."	7/1/05
Friday Baja Blogging	7/1/05
My short-lived fantasy	6/30/05
Rieckhoff on Bush	6/30/05
Our war against an "abstract noun" and our glorification of warriorship	6/30/05
"I can't forget the dead."	6/30/05
Coincidence?	6/30/05
"The Live Bait Approach to National Security"	6/29/05
Onward, Armchair Soldiers! May God Bless You All!	6/29/05
The Tragedy of Bush's flawed argument	6/29/05
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Thank you, mom. I needed that reminder.	6/28/05
Too much worry	6/28/05
Paul Rieckoff on Bush's Ft. Bragg Speech	6/28/05
"Amid the Turmoil, Iraqis...Turn to Books"	6/28/05
China's cyber wall	6/28/05
Sam Hamill on Poetry, War, and Protest	6/28/05
Afghanistan, still broken	6/28/05
Thank you, Washington Post, for keeping on the DSMs	6/28/05
The Nightmare	6/27/05
Deconstructing Michael: Ignatieff on the Butcher's Block	6/27/05
It's about trust	6/27/05
Michael Smith on Downing Street, from the LA TImes	6/24/05
Tom Friedman, the Left's David Brooks	6/24/05
Fighting Myself	6/24/05
Our new reality of the absurd	6/23/05
Quagmire? There's no quagmire!!	6/23/05
Photos from S: Asadabad	6/23/05
Karl Rove on the Downing Street documents	6/23/05
"I only feel bitter disappointment"	6/23/05
In the swing of things	6/23/05
Sorry...light posts for another couple of days	6/20/05
Knock, knock. There's still a war on.	6/20/05
"God Save Our President"	6/18/05
Granta's "What we think of America" and Mishra's article on jihadists	6/17/05
The Chicago Tribune is pathetic	6/17/05
Joe Conason on the press's coverage of the Downing Street Memos	6/17/05
Chalk another one up for our good neighbors, KBR	6/16/05
Operation Truth's Jeremy Lewis on the Downing Street Memo	6/16/05
Email from S	6/16/05
Downing Street Live Chat: Read it, Please!	6/16/05
The "Colombiazacion" of Mexico, the "Mexicanization" of the US	6/16/05
Downing Street Memo Live Chat -- Right Now	6/16/05
Check it out! Sgt. Zach in the news!	6/15/05
"...the purpose of regime change 'has no basis under international law'"	6/15/05
HanniBolton Lecter at Zen Comix	6/15/05
Trying to keep it together	6/15/05
Fanning the flame of hatred	6/15/05
And speaking of no WMDs in Iraq...	6/15/05
A few funny searches	6/14/05
Why the Downing Street Memo is important	6/14/05
Praying at the graves of al qaeda "martyrs"	6/14/05
Howard Dean in Chicago	6/13/05
"What is life worth?"	6/13/05
The NY Times: on the road to obsolescence	6/13/05
Back in J-Bad	6/13/05
The most important story of our time	6/12/05
The reality on the ground: training ANA and Iraqi troops	6/11/05
"Yellow is not our color"	6/11/05
The ever-growing disconnect	6/11/05
What I Miss	6/10/05
Why I hate Colin Powell	6/9/05
Photos from Afghanistan -- Around Jalalabad	6/9/05
It's too much to ask	6/9/05
Thank you John Conyers	6/9/05
This has got to stop.	6/9/05
Photos from Iraq on Operation Truth's website	6/8/05
Reality Check, Please	6/8/05
The Ideological Battle of our Time	6/8/05
Making Waves, Not Ripples: Thank you, Sgt. Zach	6/6/05
Who I am -- an attempt to keep me in the blogosphere	5/31/05
Too much bitter in that pie.	5/28/05
Maybe more funds for PTSD; meanwhile, "part-timers" get no coverage.	5/27/05
Inventor of Freedom Fries Chokes on His Own Creation	5/25/05
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Watch today's edition of Democracy Now!	5/23/05
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"Maybe lying's not a big deal anymore"	5/23/05
Civil War?	5/19/05
"let's remember what it means to send people to war"	5/18/05
The only thing I can offer	5/17/05
"a democracy can die of too many lies"	5/17/05
That heartbreaking photo...	5/15/05
Oops	5/15/05
Our Excellent Support...	5/15/05
Complete and utter insanity...	5/15/05
"Identity Crisis" Indeed	5/15/05
The Stop-Loss: What it really means to soldiers	5/14/05
Help vets with PTSD: contribute to Operation Truth	5/14/05
What the hell is going on?!!	5/14/05
News from the war America forgot	5/12/05
Comments are back!	5/11/05
A Soldier's Thoughts...brilliant Iraq soldier blog	5/10/05
Our out-to-lunch press...	5/10/05
"A Deadly Guessing Game"	5/10/05
Cindy Sheehan's Mother's Day Letter	5/9/05
"The Marines' Flawed Body Armor"	5/9/05
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Forty-eight soldiers dead	4/30/05
Photos from Afghanistan	4/30/05
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The Worry	4/27/05
Our Lady of the Kennedy Underpass, Chicago	4/24/05
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"Think About How Crazy All of This Is"	4/22/05
A Litany of Bad News	4/20/05
Thank you, Rhye	4/19/05
Heil Papa	4/19/05
No news to report...right?	4/19/05
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Thank you!	4/18/05
Radio, Radio	4/17/05
A sea of white crosses	4/17/05
An absence of numbers	4/17/05
Eliminate! Eliminate! Eliminate!	4/16/05
Farewell, Gelertner. Thanks for the outrage.	4/15/05
Afghanistan in Pictures	4/15/05
Afghanistan in Pictures	4/15/05
Please don't speak about the wars in the past tense	4/14/05
Go to Iraq, Lose Your Job: Courtesy the US Government	4/13/05
Our Psychotic Big Brother: The Corporation	4/13/05
How many have gone to war? Over 1,000,000 and counting...	4/12/05
Oh New Orleans	4/11/05
Our Culture of Death: Viva Muerte!	4/10/05
Bouphonia	4/9/05
Study cancelled; shocking that it was ever considered	4/9/05
What can we do?	4/9/05
Wagner's "The Ring of Nibelung"	4/8/05
"Are we better off with a foreign policy that promotes regime change while justifying war with false information?"	4/8/05
Newsflash: Iraq Missing from Newspapers Nationwide	4/5/05
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill	4/4/05
Chicago Feminist in Burkha Opens Refrigerator Door	4/1/05
Afghanistan, from S	4/1/05
From France, with Love	4/1/05
What Else Is Going On in the World, You Wonder?	3/31/05
Belgian Store Windows	3/31/05
LA	3/31/05
Cork, Ireland	3/31/05
The Overwhelming Desire for a Narrative	3/31/05
Greetings from Europe	3/19/05
Escape from Reality	3/13/05
America the Red	3/13/05
Gunner Palace: War Without End	3/13/05
Private Contractors and Their Wads of Cash	3/12/05
Becoming the Army Wife	3/12/05
Orwell, Irony, and the Two-Year Anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom	3/11/05
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