Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Greenwood Cemetery Memorial Day 2016

I've been unable to find anything in local media noting the Memorial Day ceremony at Greenwood Cemetery yesterday, so I thought it worthwhile to make note of it here.

Each year the Disabled American Veterans, Chapter No. 30, host the ceremony on traditional Memorial Day: May 30.  Most years this is not actually on that three-day-weekend Monday, but this year as it happens, May 30 fell on Monday.  Steve and I were a little worried that attendance would be down because the Hillcrest ceremony was at 9:00, the Keithville cemetery ceremony at noon, then the American Legion ceremony at 2:00.  The ceremony at the Greenwood Cemetery was at 1:00 so attending them all would take a superhuman feat of accomplishment.

Happily, attendance was about on par with past years though perhaps a little low - certainly understandable with so much going on this year.

A new addition to the organization line-up this year was the United Daughters of the Confederacy.



As in past years, the Parkway High School JROTC did a lovely job first posting the colors, then the National Anthem which was played on the violin.

The JROTC also did a flag folding demonstration, noting the relevance of each fold of the flag...



... and the cadets escorted various organizations to the flagpole for wreath laying.



Guest speaker this year was Jim Adams of the Northwest Louisiana War Veterans Home. He spoke of the importance of remembering the fallen, noting that it's certainly okay to watch a ballgame and light the grill on Memorial Day, but to take a moment and remember the sacrifices of those who made it possible.



The placing of the wreaths came next: The United Daughters of the Confederacy ...



...and other organizations made the procession.


Each group was escorted by the Parkway JROTC:


Also in attendance, as in past years, were the Sons of the Confederacy with their three-shot rifle volley that is always impressive!


This is truly one of my favorite Memorial Day services each year and I wish it was better attended.



Greenwood Cemetery is full of incredible history and is a fascinating place to visit.  It is beautifully maintained and well kept.  You may recall the Kelley brothers are buried there that I've written so often about, but there are so many other stories as well.

Memorial Day was a quiet one for us; after the service we went home, ate some watermelon and called it a day!  Still recovering from our trip, we didn't have much energy for anything else yesterday.

At any rate, local media may have been there, but I didn't see anything posted about the event and wanted to be sure the ceremony was noted. It is one that we never miss.

The SIGIS Take a Trip Series:
Take a Trip to the 2012 Defenders of Liberty Air Show at BAFB
Take a Springtime Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden, LA
Take a Trip to Logansport, Louisiana
Take a Trip to the Lock and Dam on Red River
Take a Trip to the 2012 Barkus and Meoux Parade
Take a Christmas Shopping Trip to Second Hand Rose in Minden
Take a Trip to the Fourth Annual Barksdale AFB Oktoberfest 
Take a Trip to Grand Cane's Fifth Annual Pioneer Trade Day
Take a Trip to the 2011 Highland Jazz & Blues Festival
Take an Autumn Trip to Jefferson, Texas
Take a Fall Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to the 8th Air Force Museum at Barksdale Air Force Base
Take a Summertime Trip to Grand Cane
Take a Trip to Desoto Parish
Take a Summer Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Melrose Plantation 
Take a Trip to Ed Lester Farms and a Random Antique Stop
Take a Trip to the Norton Art Gallery and the Masters of Cuban Art Exhibit
Take a Trip to Natchitoches to See the Christmas Lights
Take a Trip to the Third Annual BAFB Oktoberfest 
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Oakland Plantation

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Monday, May 30, 2016

Home Again

I've been on vacation for the past week and thus the longer-than-usual dry spell between posts.  We spent a lovely week in Iowa visiting family and rushed back sooner than we may have liked in order to participate in several Memorial Day events today.  If you read this in time, be sure to get over to the Greenwood Cemetery at Centenary and Stoner for their annual Memorial Day ceremony at 1:00.

I'll share some vacation photos later -- I attended my first livestock auction, which was pretty neat, and we ate everything on our Iowa Food Bucket List like Maid Rite sandwiches and breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches, among other things.  It was heavenly.

I love being in the Midwest for those patriotic holidays - Memorial Day or Independence Day.  It's truly the heart of America.

Take a moment today to remember the fallen.

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Thursday, May 19, 2016

Caddo Parish Confederate Monument Under Attack


The youthful soldier stands at rest, facing north; his face is "handsome and sensitive, with a slight trace of bewilderment in it."  Perhaps his confusion centers on the conflict swirling around him, on the animosity and anger, or maybe he is attempting to understand how 150-years later, we are still such a divided country.

At issue throughout the South is the manufactured outrage over decades old Confederate monuments.This brouhaha has been roiling New Orleans under the mayoral term of Mitch Landrieu; it has erupted in Memphis,  in Louisville, and let's not even begin the discussion about the battle flag.  Now it has come, once again, to Caddo Parish.

The Confederate monument that stands in front of the north side of the Caddo Parish Courthouse has been challenged  this time by Caddo Commission member Ken Epperson.  The NAACP called for removal of the monument in the past and the issue dissolved into limbo when it was (once again) determined that the 400 square foot parcel of land the monument stands on belongs to the Shreveport Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, given to them for use in perpetuity back in June, 1903. The Caddo Parish Police Jury (the forerunner of the Caddo Commission) donated not only the land but $1,000, or ten percent of the funds needed to pay for the monument, to the UDC.

Portion of 1903 minutes with regard to Confederate monument.

After the end of the Civil War, it fell to the women across the South to bury their fallen sons, brothers, and husbands and to commemorate those who were buried in unmarked graves in places unknown.  Across the South, women banded together in memorial associations, such as the United Daughters of the Confederacy (founded in 1894), for they had a common purpose. By the time our Caddo Parish monument came into consideration in 1903, the second phase of Civil War commemoration was underway and monument building was prevalent.

Despite what the NAACP might tell you, the original intent was not to perpetuate division and celebrate conflict. The primary purpose of these monuments constructed during this second phase (1883-1907) was to not only memorialize the fallen but to educate those in the future who may not have the same "emotional and personal ties" to the war.  The figures on these monuments had no overt political message or content -- something the NAACP and the uneducated liberals might be interested to know.

Because public citizens donated money for the construction of these memorials, it was then believed that these memorials should be a subject of civic pride "to be displayed in conspicuous places" like courthouses, public parks, and cemeteries.  Local historian Eric Brock wrote in the Forum Magazine in 2006:

For many [Confederate soldiers] in unmarked graves around America's battlefields, it is a symbolic tombstone, a sacred place that should forever stand and be respected. Those who forget their history, it has been said, are doomed to repeat it. Worse yet are those who deny history, for they doom civilization itself.

Attempting to erase, or sanitize, or revise, history by dumping hundreds of thousands of dollars to move hundreds of monuments into warehouses or dry museums is cowardice. It is to deny the sacrifices of men who sacrificed and fought for what they believed was their sacred honor -- their homes, families, and their state's rights.  The issues that divided the nation then divide us still only because there are those hate mongers and poverty pushers like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson who make their living and line their pockets off our being divided.

In July 2015, David French wrote:

Many thousands of the men who risked their lives and spilled blood to defeat the Confederacy would be appalled. Abraham Lincoln would see the malice toward all, the charity toward none. Ulysses S. Grant would be shocked at the notion, for example, that Pickett’s Charge represented “false valor,” and the great warrior-abolitionist, Joshua Chamberlain, would be disgusted at the thought of digging up Confederate bones to make a political statement. But why take any guidance from Union heroes when determining how to remember the past? After all, tweeters and Facebookers know so much more about right and wrong, about justice and injustice. After all, they’ve spilled their own online blood, and they have the hate-tweets to prove it. 

It would take a dim mind indeed to believe that once the Confederate monuments are all gone that our roads will smooth out, the paint will stop peeling off the walls in our crumbling schools, criminals will put down their guns, and drugs will only be used for healing.

Perhaps Ken Epperson and Lloyd Thompson, and their ilk, should take some art history classes, step back and admire the artistic masterpiece that Texas artist Frank Teich created for us.  Not only does
our monument have the young, bewildered soldier, but there are four busts of Confederate generals carved from Texas granite.  And most unusual, and not seen on other Confederate monuments, is the full sized figure of a woman, the Roman goddess of history, Clio, who is writing the names of the Confederate dead in a book of history.  She is lovely.

Our monument is one of the most beautiful Confederate monuments in existence. It was installed in 1906 with thousands of people from Shreveport and Caddo Parish in attendance. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013, the application for which can be found here and from which I have consulted for some of this background.

As it stands now, discussion about the future of the monument has been scheduled for June 9 when it will move before committee chaired by Mario Chavez who said yesterday:
"We have removed it from the agenda tomorrow and it has moved into my long range planning committee. We will have open discussion on June 9th at 1300 in regards to this topic. You better believe I plan on keeping it exactly where it is."
If you feel so inclined, you are welcome to attend the meeting, fill out a speaker card, and have your three minutes to speak before the Commission on the matter.

Local attorney Henry Walker was at the meeting this week and he expressed his concerns that the monument "could possibly affect a trial because of its "implied subject matter."  What would that implication be, Mr. Walker?  What exactly is implied by this monument of Confederate generals, military men of respect and honor, men of value and integrity?  Men of courage.  Men who stood up for their families.  What is implied by a lone woman writing in a book of history?  What is implied by a non-confrontational, bewildered young man?  Mr. Walker told the Commission that the monument is just a bunch of concrete.

That might be the most revealing quote yet.  What exactly is threatening about a bunch of concrete, Mr. Walker?

Just a bunch of concrete?!  Now I'm bewildered.

In past attempts to remove the monument, the NAACP suggested replacing it with a monument for law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty -- even though we have one of those three blocks away. Now the suggestion is that we erect a monument to the USS Golet -- a submarine lost at sea during WWII which was financed with War Bonds, some of which were purchased in Caddo Parish and there was one Caddo resident aboard.

Liberal logic.

Here is the KTBS story of the meeting this week.  Here are the minutes of the Work Session this week.

It seems to me that in the end, preserving our past is the only way to protect our future.  Just as we can't wrap our children in bubble wrap and expect them to negotiate the travails of this world unscathed, we can not sanitize or revise history.  Sometimes that takes resolve and sometimes it is painful, but always it takes courage.  These times of division that we now find ourselves in, more so than ever before, will take courage and all of us pulling together to overcome the closed minded people who want to perpetuate division and discord among us for their own gain.

Hold strong.

Related:
Joseph Welsh Texada's Life Mattered Too
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Sunday, May 15, 2016

Full of Promise, Bossier Bearkats Receive Their Tickets to the Future

Bossier Bearkats Graduation 2016
Yesterday was graduation day for most Bossier Parish schools at the Century Link Center which sits at the end of the Arthur Ray Teague Parkway along the Red River.  School and city officials have this day down to a well organized machine as the parish high schools seamlessly run through the building all day long. As purple robed Benton High School graduates march across the stage, Bossier High School is lining up backstage. As the new Bossier High graduates are dashing out, gowns flapping behind them, Haughton High School moves in.  It's a pretty good system.

At the end of the day we have hundreds of new graduates.

As a teacher at Bossier High, it's my favorite event. The kids are excited, emotional, nervous, and proud.  And the families!  Oh the families!

Our senior class sponsor organizes our graduation and oversees the most minute details most people never think about like providing ties for boys who don't have them or white dress shirts. A large number of staff members show up to help on the big day. My job, along with the speech/drama teacher, is usually working to line up the actual diploma envelopes on a long table backstage.  After the ceremony, the new graduates pick up crisp white envelopes in which they will find their diploma, a souvenir copy of the program, and each senior also receives at least one personal, handwritten note from a teacher.  Some kids get three or four notes, but everyone gets at least one.  This is one of the unique traditions at Bossier High School that set us apart from bigger schools.

There were so many moments yesterday that made me misty eyed and that helped strengthen that fabric of family that defines Bossier High School:

That image of our librarian/senior class sponsor, papers in her hand, directing volunteer staff members to various positions: check the right side of the line, be sure everyone is lined up correctly!  Check the left side, be sure everyone is in the right place!  She is cool and collected and always smiling.  Reassurance defined.

The kids are all in line, waiting.  One teacher walks along the line collecting gum.  You do NOT go out there chewing gum. The senior counselor collects a nose ring and tucks it in her pocket.  Guys with earrings?  We'll take those until after the ceremony.  Everyone complies.  

One senior tunes out the noisy din, standing quietly in line with his earbuds in, hands in pockets, watching and waiting.  As time gets closer, he removes his headphones, unprompted, and slips them under his robe, into his pockets.

In the last few moments before the long walk down the hallway toward the auditorium, the principal has the kids link hands one last time and calls them to attention. There is utter silence. Pinkies are linked, hand are clasped. Silence. Then he speaks in familiar tones of their time at Bossier, of the love we share for them, and offers good wishes for whatever journeys are ahead.

In comes one late arrival, cap tucked under her arm and robe flapping behind her as she runs on perilously high heels to take her spot in line just as it is ready to move into the auditorium.  A staff member calms her down, pins the cap neatly, and slides her smoothly in line, ready to go.

The speeches are moving.  They are brief, about three to five minutes, but powerful. I stood with the speech/drama teacher in the wings, listening.  I was doing pretty well until the salutatorian, staggeringly tall, blond, and sweet as she can be, approached the microphone and began her speech with a tiny gasp of a sob in her voice.  "Come on," I whispered.  "You can do this!"  Urging her on with silent support.  The speech teacher next to me smiled confidently, peacefully, with the knowledge that this student would muscle through this. The crowd encouraged her with applause. She got through it.  Her speech was fabulous and caught every tiny memory that had occurred over the past four years in a five minute speech: chicken day on Wednesdays, the long run from the second floor of one building to the third floor of the other, football games, surviving multiple AP classes, and what got me was when she called out the support of her teachers that she will never forget, catching the essence of each one.  "Oh, that's great...," she quoted her English teacher's support and just nailed that teacher's voice in the impression.  Everyone laughed and clapped.

One of our two valedictorians gave part of her speech in Spanish to her parents who have sacrificed immeasurably to support their daughter's education.  It was a stunningly beautiful moment and filled with emotion.  Not many dry eyes in the house at that point.  I had to take that moment to slip back to my table of envelopes and find my tissues.

The kids are all so filled with promise and hope.  

I looked at the envelopes standing up alphabetically in the box, waiting for me to lay them out in rows on the table.  Each one of those envelopes represented twelve years of work.  Twelve years of relationships, love, support, and promise.  Each envelope represented a different person, a unique personality, a life wide open with promise. A ticket to the future.

As the new graduates marched down the hall after the ceremony, led by their class leaders, they were chanting "Bossier! Bossier!" It's the last time they will march together as a group, the last time they will all be together as a group, and the last time we will see some of them, although many of them will continue to return to Bossier just to visit, to be sure they've not been forgotten, to remember.

Those kids will now scatter far and wide, making new lives and new memories. As teachers, administrators, and staff, and as a Bearkat family, we have given them all we possibly could. We have taught lessons, both life lessons and academic ones, we have guided them, watched them grow, tried to keep them on the right, straight and true path, and we have loved them. We have gotten aggravated at them sometimes, but always loved them.  We are a family.

Godspeed little Bearkats!  
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Sunday, May 8, 2016

It's Time to Face the Music


I can hardly bring myself to blog about Donald Trump, as you may have noticed.  I agree with practically everything Kevin Williamson wrote about him last week:

He is unfit for any office, morally and intellectually.  
A man who could suggest, simply because it is convenient, that his opponent’s father had something to do with the assassination of President Kennedy is unfit for any position of public responsibility.  
His long litany of lies — which include fabrications about everything from his wealth to self-funding his campaign — is disqualifying.  
His low character is disqualifying.  
His personal history is disqualifying.  
His complete, utter, total, and lifelong lack of honor is disqualifying.  
The fact that he is going to have to take time out of the convention to appear in court to hear a pretty convincing fraud case against him is disqualifying.

There's more.

Truth is, there are quite a lot of things about Hillary Clinton that should disqualify her as well, but they don't.

I loathe Trump.  He's boorish and crude.  He's as far from the Ronald Reagan archetype as any candidate can be.

That being said, he is going to be the Republican nominee and any attempt to derail that through a third-party run or a brokered convention will be doomed to failure and will only ensure to elect Hillary, in my opinion.

Despite George Will's conviction that Trump can't possibly win, and Josh Gelernter's third-party scenarios, I think that at this point, Republicans must unify behind Trump. Certainly nobody wants to, but reality bites.

All the talk about Mitt Romney coming in to save the day is simply garbage. He ran and didn't win, he didn't want to run this time, and he's not going to save you now. And he's the only one with a ghost of a shot.

If America wanted a successful businessman to save the day, we should have elected Romney when we had the chance, but we didn't, and we aren't going to do it now.

I had dinner with friends recently who tried to make the case that as offensive and boorish as Trump is, as president Trump will likely surround himself with people smart enough to do the job that Trump himself can't do.  Trump may be ignorant of the responsibilities of presidential office, but maybe they're right.  Maybe he'll appoint the right people.  It's the only hope we've got.

We are in for a long, miserable campaign and God only knows what after that.  I long for the days when we had class and grace in the White House but those are so far behind us now I don't think we can redeem ourselves.

Perhaps I will unplug from the internet for a few more months...
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Sunday, April 24, 2016

Take a Trip to the Keachie Confederate Cemetery Memorial Service 2016


Located on LA172 just west of the main drag in Keachie is a quiet little spot where Confederate dead rest under the pines. Many of the dead are unknown.

 Keachie is a tiny town in DeSoto parish and is filled with beautiful old houses crumbling from neglect and decay. Towering, wood frame Victorian homes with wide galleries, tall windows, and exquisite architectural embellishments are slowly giving way to time. The cost to restore them must be staggering.

 Of seemingly more historic importance is the Keachie Women’s College on LA172 located across the road from the Confederate cemetery. Opened in 1856, the college was apparently quite an impressive structure:
A visitor to the College in 1890 would have been considerable impressed by the appearance of the physical plant which dominated the village of Keatchie. The main building was a large frame two-story structure with cupola over the principal entrance. This housed an assembly hall, or chapel, study hall, recitation rooms, music rooms and dining hall. A large galleried wing which extended to the eastward, provided "30 dormitories each 16 feet square." Across the street was another sizeable tow [sic]-story building, providing living quarters for men and boys. But then the country went to war and in April 1864 was the Battle of Mansfield and nearby Pleasant Hill. 
The Keachie Women’s College was pressed into service as a hospital and morgue; patients who did not survive were buried across the road in what is now the Confederate Cemetery.

Here is come very cool drone footage of the building shot in February 2016:



 The Confederate Cemetery is now cared for by the Sons of the Confederacy and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. There are many graves there, most marked “unknown.” It’s a very moving sight.

 This past weekend, the SCV and UDC groups met at the cemetery to remember the dead, to honor their sacrifice, and to place wreaths.



 The UDC bestowed two military medals on Confederate descendants who have served their country in military service. The cemetery is located right next to another cemetery, and buried there are families of some of those Confederate soldiers.

 The Sons of Confederate Veterans brought their cannon and put on a very moving reenactment for the guests.


Complete with rifle fire:



 After it was all over, there was cake, cookies, and lemonade to be enjoyed, much visiting, catching up with old friends, and making new ones.



 Our country is torn apart right now as groups argue about symbolism and monuments. Those men resting in graves under the hardwoods and pines in Keachie don’t much care about that. In truth, both black and white veterans are buried there and certainly they deserve to rest in peace and have their sacrifice to their cause remembered. I’m glad to have been there and to have learned a little more about the fascinating history in Kisachie, Louisiana.




There's a history of Keachie College here.

Learn more about the Confederate Memorial Cemetery here.

The SIGIS Take a Trip Series:
Take a Trip to the 2012 Defenders of Liberty Air Show at BAFB
Take a Springtime Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden, LA
Take a Trip to Logansport, Louisiana
Take a Trip to the Lock and Dam on Red River
Take a Trip to the 2012 Barkus and Meoux Parade
Take a Christmas Shopping Trip to Second Hand Rose in Minden
Take a Trip to the Fourth Annual Barksdale AFB Oktoberfest 
Take a Trip to Grand Cane's Fifth Annual Pioneer Trade Day
Take a Trip to the 2011 Highland Jazz & Blues Festival
Take an Autumn Trip to Jefferson, Texas
Take a Fall Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to the 8th Air Force Museum at Barksdale Air Force Base
Take a Summertime Trip to Grand Cane
Take a Trip to Desoto Parish
Take a Summer Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Melrose Plantation 
Take a Trip to Ed Lester Farms and a Random Antique Stop
Take a Trip to the Norton Art Gallery and the Masters of Cuban Art Exhibit
Take a Trip to Natchitoches to See the Christmas Lights
Take a Trip to the Third Annual BAFB Oktoberfest 
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Oakland Plantation
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Sunday, April 3, 2016

Louisiana is now Taxing Pretty Much Everything

As of April 1, appropriately, Louisiana now has the highest sales tax in the nation.  We now pay five-cents on the dollar in state sales tax. Add that to your parish and city taxes and in some places you're paying 10.5% in tax on your purchase.

Buried in the twenty-five pages of revisions to the sales tax statutes you will find an astounding array of new and increased taxes.

In addition to the penny added to the state sales tax, getting the most press are the usual sin taxes: alcohol and cigarettes. The tax on cigarettes went up twenty-two cents for a new total of $1.08 tax per pack.  Taxes on beer, wine, and liquor are also up.

Our legislators have found ways to tax just about everything this time around though, and reading through the twenty-five pages of revisions is enlightening.  For example, we are now taxing Mardi Gras beads at five-percent; the purchases by krewes for those Mardi Gras throws had been previously exempt but no more.

We are also now taxing athletic events at schools now.  The old statute:

(b)(i) The sale of admissions to places of amusement, to athletic entertainment other than that of schools, colleges, and universities, and recreational events, and the furnishing, for dues, fees, or other consideration of the privilege of access to clubs or the privilege of having access to or the use of amusement, entertainment, athletic, or recreational facilities; but the term "sales of services" shall not include membership fees or dues of nonprofit, civic organizations, including by way of illustration and not of limitation the Young Men's Christian Association, the Catholic Youth Organization, and the Young Women's Christian Association.

But that statute is now revised to include taxes on admission charges to athletic events of schools, colleges, and universities (see page nine). That tax will start out at 5% and run until June 30, 2016 and then will drop to 3% for the next two years, and supposedly will expire in July 2018.  This is a terrible thing for public schools who quite often barely support their athletic programs at all. We all know that schools are always involved in one fund-raiser after another to support these programs. Car washes, candy sales, gift-wrap fundraisers, cookie dough fundraisers...it goes on and on.

Where will the extra manpower come from in collecting and accounting for these taxes at the school level?  The ripple effect of this one is disheartening.

Also now taxable at a rate of 5% are your membership fees and dues to civic organizations like the American Legion, YMCA, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Daughters of the American Revolution, local historical societies, etc.  That one is going to hit me on several fronts.

There's a new 5% tax on admission to art museums and science museums.

That non-profit camp you were going to this summer?  Now taxed at five-percent -- unless you go in July and then it's 3%.

Eyeglasses, prosthetic devices, contact lenses, and wheelchairs will be taxed at 5% as will your purchase of a dialysis machine.

Ticket sales by non-profits?  Five-percent.  So, that American Legion Style Show fundraiser?  You'll be paying taxes on that ticket.

Do you shop at the thrift shop at Barksdale or other military installation?  There's a new 5% tax on your purchase.

And you've got to wonder what they're thinking here: "Sales by blind persons who operate certain small businesses."  Five-percent.

Tickets to dance, drama or performing arts performance sponsored by domestic nonprofit organizations: Five percent.

And if you purchase a of one-of-a-kind work of art from an established location within a cultural products district, there's now a 5% tax.

But hey, it's not all bad. If you own a racehorse in a claiming race, you don't have to pay tax!

And you don't have to pay taxes on your food stamp purchases.

And you don't have to pay tax on your crawfish bait.

Most of these taxes decrease in July back down to 3% and the finally expire again in two years, but it is safe to say that Louisiana lawmakers have figured out how to tax just about everything.

Not only that, but because of the new tax on internet sales, Amazon Associates has ended its program in Louisiana. Those links to books or merchandise that used to be in my sidebar and at the end of some posts? Gone with the wind. I no longer earn revenue from those.

The debate on how we got to this situation is another story - there is plenty of blame to go around and it's certain that Bobby Jindal's shell game bookkeeping didn't help us, but neither political party is without blame.  One would hope however that Governor Edwards would consider top level pay cuts or suspension of his own pay, perhaps, rather than the salary increases he doled out upon his election. Instead we are putting the burden on the backs of those that can least afford it.
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Saturday, March 19, 2016

The Softer Side and Doing Good Deeds

Your Speed: 27 mph
One of the reasons I backed off of political blogging is because I found myself angry and agitated all of the time.  As hard as I worked trying to tell people that in my opinion, Barack Obama would be a terrible president and would spread socialism, would weaken our national security, and would do irreparable damage, it seems no one listened. As loudly as I screamed that Obamacare would be a disaster and would result in thousands of people losing their private insurance coverage or paying higher rates, nobody listened.  I was either preaching to the choir or arguing with brick walls.

I burned out.

I got tired of being mad all of the time.

In place of politics I've diverted my attention to writing on other things and to research for my book.  We've been working on the house and the yard, and spending time with friends and neighbors. Instead of anger and frustration, I'm finding joy in the simpler things that warm your heart.

Last night for example, we sat outside under the magnolia tree, pulled up chairs for my neighbors, built a fire in the fire pit, and the four of us talked and laughed long into the evening. The tabby cat sat in the swing between me and Gena in utter contentment.  Three teenage boys walked by, their voices and laughter carrying across the cool air, on their way to one of the fast food joints on Kings Highway. One of them noticed the flashing speed sign mounted to the light pole so they took turns running past it to see how fast they were going.  The 13 mph champion raised his hands in a Rocky-esque victory celebration before they continued on their way.

It was all so much nicer than thrashing out the latest tax increase advocated by John Bel Edwards or digging through the qualifications of Obama's Supreme Court pick.

For the most part, I'm leaving all that to others these days, with the occasional exception.

My focus right now is on my book.  I want to thank donor Steve for hitting my tip jar yesterday, very generously.  That will help fund my trip to Natchitoches over spring break to get some final research that I need to finish revisions on the book.  I'm feeling some new motivation and inspiration to finish strong!  If anyone else feels so inspired, you can hit the tip jar over there in the right sidebar for the good of research!

In other matters: I've been greatly remiss in not watching the Shape of Shreveport series.  I happened to discover, through a Facebook conversation on the tragedy of Fairgrounds Field, that Episode 4 of the SoS series is online at Real Shreveport. This episode covers two crashes that devastated Shreveport: the plane crash that killed six prominent Shreveport businessmen, and the oil crash that killed the banking and real estate industry in Shreveport.  If you haven't seen it, go over to Real Shreveport and watch it.  It's just over sixteen minutes and worth every second.

You may remember my lamentations over the shape of Shreveport last summer.  It continues to make me sad at the wasted potential of this town.

Another thing I wanted to point out before I get back to work today is the good work Nova's Heart is doing. They always step up to help the less fortunate in our city care for their pets most basic needs and the flooding situation of recent days has taxed their resources to the bone. If you can make a donation of cash or supplies to them, that would be greatly appreciated.  If you aren't familiar with Nova's Heart, this is what they do:

Our mission is to help the pets of those in crisis. We are not a rescue and cannot foster or take in any animals. Our services include minor vetting, food, collars, harnesses, and leashes. We are not funded nor do we have the means to take on critical care for pets ( Parvo, Heartworm positive, or any extensive health problems ) We can set up a Vet appointment for a diagnosis but can't at this time provide treatment. We help the pets of those experiencing homelessness, rescues in need, and individuals that are going through crisis.

Their Facebook page is here. Their Amazon wish list is here. There are many items on that list that don't cost very much. For $20 you can send a flat of dog food. For less than that you can send them leashes and harnesses.  Help them out if you can.  If you don't want to donate online or from Amazon, I'll happily accept leashes, harnesses and bags of cat or dog food and take them to the Levy Street office of Nova's Heart for you.

Time to get back to work.  Take time to do something nice today.  The rewards are tenfold.
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Sunday, March 6, 2016

Loose Thoughts

Time to build an ark.
It looks like we're going to need an ark.  I was going to fertilize my lawn this weekend but I think I'll hold off on that as it appears it would all just wash away.  I love the rain but I'm feeling the need to batten down the hatches and hunker down.

The Cammie Book: As I noted yesterday, blogging has been light here lately.  I'm five months away from deadline on the Cammie book and that's consuming all of my mental and physical energy right now.  I'm heading back to Natchitoches over Spring Break to nail down a few details my publisher has asked for and I'm looking forward to that, actually.  I have loved the research aspect of this project -- it's truly been a labor of love.  However, we are not quite done yet, so ...wish me luck, please.  And if you feel so inclined, don't be shy about hitting the tip jar over in the sidebar.  Research takes money: gas, photocopies, lunch, postage, ink....help a girl out if you can.

The Louisiana Primary: Well, Cruz almost pulled off Louisiana, didn't he.  I expected Trump to win it and I maintain my position strongly OUT of the Trump camp.  I've been told that people like him because he is bombastic and will say things nobody else will say; they like him because he has his own money and nobody can buy him.  My personal opinion is that he is a buffoon, a clown, and a reality TV candidate who has offered no real substantive solutions to anything other than "build a wall."  Obviously we have no perfect candidate. But Trump is farther from perfect than most.

On a side note, I'm wondering how far in advance the ballots are printed?  Mike Huckabee dropped out the first week of February, but he received 645 votes. Jeb Bush received over 2000 votes.  Outside of early voting when your candidate may actually still be in the race, why would a person vote for someone who isn't even running?

Glenn Beck is predicting a brokered convention:

They are working on a brokered convention. Any sane leader of the party sees this is a two person race and asks the others to get out to bring us together. They are looking at a war on the floor! It could spill out further.. As I was listening to them and saw the loyalty oaths the party is along people take and the loyalty oath Trump made people take I couldn't stand it.

We are in real trouble, I'm afraid.

Political Clown Parade predicts Marco Rubio's presidential dream is over and I'm inclined to agree.

Stitch Fix:  I'm still getting Stitch Fix boxes - three so far.  I didn't blog the last one because I had to
Photo from Stitch Fix.
get two things altered: I got some flared jeans I requested and some white jeans, both too long.  It was okay because I had requested them no matter the length and they do fit perfectly otherwise.  All three of my boxes have been 5/5's - I've kept all five items in each box.  I'm requesting this green and white jacket in my next Fix -- I love this!

I have almost ten people who have signed up for Stitch Fix through my referral number, none of whom have ordered a box yet.  If they all ordered a box then I'd have a $200 credit!  Order a box for crying out loud!  It only costs you $20 and that applies to the total shipped to you if you decide to keep anything in the box.  If you hate it all, returning it could not be easier -- they include a prepaid mailer bag; just dump the clothes into the bag and drop in a mailbox.

Spring Projects:  We have ripped up the carpet in the living and dining rooms and have a guy coming to give an estimate on refinishing our hardwood floors. I'm also going to get estimates on good quality laminate.  I will always have dogs and dogs and carpet do not go together.  In fact, after pulling up this carpet, I can tell you that I will never have carpet again!  Can't wait to get the rest of it out of here.  If you know someone good who either does refinishing or installs laminate, let me know.  If you have experience with either or recommendations of one over the other, let me know.

In other projects we have trimmed five crepe myrtle trees, refreshed the mulch under the magnolia tree, pulled the pine straw out of the azalea beds and put down new mulch, and started weeding the back beds.  There is still a lot to do outside but I don't have Spring Break for three more weeks (and it'll probably rain and be cold that entire week, as is my luck.)

I'm going to head out and get some work done outside before the coming deluge and then spend the afternoon with Cammie.  My procrastinating must come to an end.





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Saturday, March 5, 2016

Busy

The blog has been sort of quiet for a couple of weeks.  Spring has sprung around here and we've been busy with projects like sprucing up flowerbeds, laying down new mulch, trimming crepe myrtles, and even on the inside we've been ripping up carpet in preparation for refinishing hardwood floors.  Let me just add, I will never have carpet again!

It's voting day here in Louisiana, so that's on my list of things to do today.

And, adding to the chaos, baseball season has started so we've already attended a few Centenary baseball games in the past couple of weeks!

On top of that, I'm still blogging for DaTechGuy every Monday, and I have five months left until my deadline with LSU Press on my Cammie Henry book.  All that big talk I did about being finished "well before" the deadline?  Utter BS.  I'm scrambling right now.  I want it to be the best I could do and to be perfect.

If that all wasn't enough, I'm taking on some administrative and posting duties on a friend's Facebook page, but I don't want to say a lot about that just yet.

All of that and the weather is so gorgeous I just want to sit outside in the swing all day and read.

Anyway, I'm here.  I've been blogging about the Louisiana debt catastrophe at DaTechGuy so check over there now and then.  Meanwhile, go outside and enjoy the weather this weekend.  I'll be back.
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Monday, February 15, 2016

Crisis in Louisiana

Here's a snip of my latest post at DaTechGuy blog: 

 When news broke this past Thursday that John Bel Edwards had halted all payments to the enormously popular college scholarship program, you could feel the panic and desperation throughout the state.  
 Thursday afternoon, February 11, word came down about the program via NOLA:  
Gov. John Bel Edwards' budget chief, Jay Dardenne, said the state will have to leave TOPS approximately $28 million short of what it would take to fully fund the program through the end of the semester. He said all public universities will be informed that they would not receive all their TOPS payment this spring. 
Dardenne added that TOPS could only be fully funded this year if the Legislature agreed to raise taxes a lot -- over a half a billion dollars -- in the next couple of months. Even then, the Edwards administration would likely prioritize filling a shortfall in the Medicaid program before the college scholarship program would receive the money it needs.
The TOPS program began in 1989 and, in brief, it pays college tuition to in-state universities for Louisiana students who score a certain percentage on the ACT and who maintain a certain GPA. The intent was to keep our kids here in the state. Through the years the requirements have been tweaked with the GPA requirement now at 2.5 and the ACT score now at 20. You can read more specifics here.  
Now, there are a couple of things to look at in those two paragraphs from NOLA: first, Dardenne said basically that those students already enrolled in the spring semester are on the hook for the balance of the tuition they had been told would be paid through their scholarship. Literally what he said was that the colleges would “absorb” the cost of the unpaid balance. Recall that higher education throughout the state has already been decimated by Bobby Jindal and there is no room to “absorb” anything.  
Students across the state went to bed Thursday night anticipating bills for the balances to hit their mailboxes any moment. 
The second thing to note from that NOLA quote is that Dardenne indicated that even if the money to fund TOPS was found, it would instead go toward funding Medicaid rather than satisfying the promised TOPS debt.

Go to DaTechGuy to read the whole thing.

Everywhere I've been over the past few days you can hear worried, subdued conversations about the tax increases and the proposed cuts. Edwards has the entire state under emotional blackmail.

And now we have the race card. Can we just stop already with the racial division?

The Special Session has begun and it is already contentious.  Whatever lawmakers ultimately decide to do, you can be certain that you'll be paying higher taxes on everything, and new taxes on things you don't pay taxes on now, and that the TOPS program will be decimated with cuts up to 80%.

Dark days ahead.

Added:  

It gets worse.

And worse. The deficit has grown an additional $17 million.
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