Showing posts with label students. Show all posts
Showing posts with label students. Show all posts

Monday, September 17, 2012

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign


Kids. You have to spell out everything for them.

And at the student union on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's city campus, administrators just want to be clear that they're being absolutely clear. Because it's those darned kids . . . they'll test you.

As I seem to recall from my own college days somewhat farther south than Lincoln, youth from the ages of about 18-22 are kings and queens of the loophole. The second you assume that everyone knows you're not supposed to skateboard in the union. . . .

No, you need . . .

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Slush funds make the world go 'round

The Louisiana House of Representatives has passed a budget in which there's no room for elderly veterans, some Medicaid expenditures or for full funding for higher education.

THERE IS ROOM in the budget, however, for largesse for private and religious organizations, and for local-government expenditures that rightly ought to be funded locally. After all, isn't that why God invented property taxes and local sales-tax levies?

When you read how state legislators "earmark" a budget to death while cutting monies for legitimate state obligations -- like health care and colleges -- it certainly ought to give the American taxpayer pause when the Gret Stet next goes to Washington, hat in hand and crying "Katrina" crocodile tears.


As a native Louisianian, I am embarrassed that my people never developed past the "padrón" model of government, where the Big Man at the statehouse doles out favors to his infantilized dependents.

As a Nebraskan, however, I am infuriated that the American taxpayer is now expected to be the padrón's padrón, with no expectation that the Gret Stet will even attempt to budget that largesse like adults, as opposed to dissolute teen-agers. With that, here's the entire slush-fund list -- and, yes, Asparagus for Allah is still down for 20 grand:

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Jefferson Parish for the Jefferson Parish Department
of Parks and Recreation for Pontiff Playground $ 250,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Hungarian Settlement Historical Society, Inc.
for museum restoration $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Lafayette Housing Authority for
an affordable housing program $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Vivian for purchase of a new generator
for the police department $ 65,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office for mobile video
digital upgrade $ 40,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Allen Parish Fire District No. 3 for the purchase
and installation of fire hydrants in Fire District 3
and Ward 4 $ 15,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Elizabeth for firefighting equipment
and fire hydrant replacement $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Beauregard Parish Recreation District for site
preparation and equipment in Ward 7 and Ward 8 $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Merryville Historical Society and Museum, Inc.
for construction of restroom facilities $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Vernon Parish Police Jury for repairs to
Donald Perkins Road $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Vernon Parish Police Jury for repairs to
Mathis Cemetery Road $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the village of Ida for wastewater system
improvements $ 100,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Beauregard Parish Sheriff for the 2008
Veterans Day celebration in Dry Creek $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church Charitable
Foundation for summer youth enrichment program $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Eunice for tennis court construction
and renovations $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Jefferson Parish Recreation Department for
improvements to Thomas Jefferson Playground
for restrooms and drinking fountains $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Sabine Parish for purchase of three hydraulic
rescue tools for Fire District Nos. 1, 3, and 5 $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Stonewall to purchase a vehicle for
the Road System Department $ 12,500

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Mansfield Fire Department for purchase of
equipment $ 12,500

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the village of Longstreet for handicap accessible
renovations for Longstreet Village Hall $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Historic Grand Cane Association for safety
upgrades and maintenance in the historic district $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Logansport for a walking trail in
Riverfront Park $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the village of Heflin for the Heflin Civic Center
for renovations and acquisitions $ 15,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Sarepta for purchase of a new police
vehicle $ 15,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Springhill for purchase of a trailer-mounted
pump unit $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Springhill for purchase of a video unit $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Rosepine for construction of a new
town hall/police station $ 40,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Boys and Girls Club of Natchitoches, Inc. for
tutorial and enrichment programs for youth $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Community Awareness Revitalization and
Enhancement Corporation $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Jackson Parish Watershed District for repairs
and improvements to the Ebenezer Boat Landing on
Caney Lake $ 45,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Young Men's Christian Association of Baton
Rouge Baranco/Clark Branch $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the American Muslim Mission of Baton Rouge, Inc.
for provision of a year-round farmers market in old
south Baton Rouge $ 20,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Friends of the Algiers Courthouse for repairs
and restoration of the courthouse and grounds $ 150,000

Payable out of the State General Fund by
Statutory Dedications out of the Algiers
Economic Development Foundation Fund to
Algiers Economic Development Foundation,
pursuant to R. S. 27:392(C)(3) $ 100,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Algiers Athletic Club Inc. dba PAC Sports
for restoration and repairs to PAC sports facilities $ 250,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Westbank Redevelopment Corporation for
improvements to the Brechtel Park, Terrytown
Park, and General DeGaulle Boulevard neutral ground $ 100,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Beauregard Parish Police Jury for the
South Beauregard Recreation District for park
and recreational facilities equipment acquisitions $ 30,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the City of Crowley for the Crowley Police
Department $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Arnaudville for infrastructure repairs
and improvements and playground equipment acquisitions $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the village of Cankton for infrastructure improvements
and playground equipment acquisitions $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury for Waterworks
District One for a waterline on Alamitos Court $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the City of Westlake Fire Department for acquisition
of personal protection equipment and fire preplanning
computer software $ 30,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury for Ward One
Drainage District #8 for equipment acquisitions $ 90,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Calcasieu Parish district attorney's office for the
Prosecutor's Early Intervention Program $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Freed Men, Inc. for repairs to facilities $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury for the Ward 6
High Hope Drainage Project $ 40,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Acadia Parish to be distributed equally to the
volunteer fire departments for Mire, Egan and
Mermenta $ 15,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Kent Plantation House, Inc. for programs
and services $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Rapides Children's Advocacy Center, Inc.
for programs for victims of child abuse $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Caddo Parish Commission for the STAR
Boot Camp $ 75,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the McKinley High School Alumni Association, Inc.
for youth outreach activities $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Iberia Parish Government for repairs to parish
veterans buildings, to be divided equally among the
Jeanerette Veterans Building No. 1, the Jeanerette
Veterans Building No. 2, and the Lydia Veterans Building $ 45,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Department for the
Cops and Clergy Program $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Evangeline Parish Recreation District for
construction of a ballpark $ 150,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Melville Volunteer Fire Department for equipment
acquisitions $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Vermilion Parish Police Jury for replacement
of the Henry fire station destroyed by Hurricane Rita $ 75,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Delcambre for infrastructure
improvements $ 40,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Erath for infrastructure
improvements $ 40,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the village of Port Vincent for renovations to the
community center $ 30,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Killian for water meters $ 35,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Albany for renovations to the police
station $ 30,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Springfield for drainage improvements $ 30,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Sorrento for purchase of new
police cars $ 40,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Maurepas for renovations to the
community center $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the St. Amant Fire Department #63 for
operations $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Avoyelles Parish Port Commission for port
improvements $ 15,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the village of Moreauville for improvements to
Couvillon Street $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of St. Francisville for a drainage project $ 205,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Booker T. Community Outreach Project $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Slaughter for construction of a storage
building $ 30,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Novice House, Inc. $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to The New Way Center, Inc. for supports and
services for at-risk youth $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the St. Helena Parish 6th Ward Volunteer Fire
Department $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Amite for a police department building $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the village of Roseland for purchase of a vehicle
for the police department $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the village of Tangipahoa for purchase of a vehicle
for the water department $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Top Gun Boy Scouts of Ouachita $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Central for purchase of generators
for the fire department $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Crowley for acquisition of playground
equipment $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Rayne for acquisition of playground
equipment $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the village of French Settlement for renovations to
the town hall $ 30,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Livonia for building acquisition $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Pointe Coupee Parish Police Jury for drainage
and erosion mitigation on Portage Canal $ 110,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Rapides Parish Fire District #12 for renovations
to the fire station in Cheneyville $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Franklin Parish for the Croweville Volunteer
Fire District $ 60,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Columbia for the Main Street
program $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Winnsboro for the Main Street
program $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the New Orleans Recreation Department for
the Treme Recreational Center $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the New Orleans Recreation Department $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Ruston Airport Authority $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the village of Simsboro $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Gibsland $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Homer $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Junction City $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Haynesvillle $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Community Coordinating Council, Inc. $ 100,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Men of Vision and Enlightenment, Inc. $ 100,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Boys and Girls Club of North Central Louisiana, Inc. $ 30,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Louisiana Alliance for Boys & Girls Clubs of
America for activities in Claiborne Parish $ 60,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Project Each One Reach One, Inc. $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Greater Grambling Chamber of Commerce $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Jackson Parish Police Jury for support
of community action agencies in the parish $ 20,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Achieve to Succeed for provision of services to
the elderly $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to City at Peace for a youth-centered conflict resolution
program $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Scotlandville Community Development
Corporation for housing for low income families $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Iberia Parish government for the Iberia Parish
Economic Development Authority $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of New Iberia for the Santa Ines wastewater
maintenance project $ 7,500

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of New Iberia for pump station
expansion at the Virginia Street station $ 7,500

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the village of Loreauville for water plant
improvement and sidewalks $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Lake Charles for a traffic light on Mill
Street and Ent Boulevard $ 12,500

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Lake Charles for turn signals at Pineview
and East Street $ 12,500

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Lake Charles for a turn lane at Moeling
Road $ 12,500

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Lake Charles to close the canal on
Opelousas Street $ 12,500

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Gueydan for a phone system for city
hall $ 8,500

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Cameron Parish Police Jury for Recreation
District No. 9 for equipment acquisitions $ 12,500

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Kaplan for the electrical system $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Abbeville for a walking trail for the
elderly at Gertie Huntsberry Park $ 14,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Meaux/Nunez Volunteer Fire Department
for equipment acquisition $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund by
Statutory Dedications out of the Greater New
Orleans Sports Foundation Fund for the Greater
New Orleans Sports Foundation $ 1,000,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Louisiana Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs of
America to promote the social welfare of the boys
and girls in the state $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Mercy Endeavors, Inc. for services for seniors $ 75,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Global Green USA for the Build It Right Back
Initiative to provide assistance to Road Home grant
recipients $ 30,000 [What? Is Brad Pitt tapped out? -- R21]

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Community Opportunities of East Ascension for
the construction of a multipurpose facility to provide
respite center and adult day care, as well as serve as a
disaster evacuation shelter for persons with disabilities $ 405,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Greenwell Springs-Airline Economic
Development District for economic development
purposes $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Dryades Street Young Men's Christian
Association $ 700,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Progress 63, Incorporated for education, skill
training, healthcare awareness, and referral services $ 400,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Crimestoppers, Inc. for crime reduction activities $ 100,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Just the Right Attitude, Inc. for nourishment and
counseling assistance to needy individuals and families $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the George & Leah McKenna Museum of
African American Art $ 75,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Serving People District 40 (SP40) for educational
and training programs $ 340,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the St. Martin Parish government for infrastructure
improvements $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Youngsville for infrastructure
improvements $ 100,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Broussard for infrastructure
improvements $ 100,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Rayville for infrastructure
improvements $ 20,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Delhi for infrastructure improvements $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Mangham for infrastructure
improvements $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the village of Richmond for infrastructure
improvements $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the village of Epps for infrastructure improvements $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the village of Mer Rouge for infrastructure
improvements $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Jefferson Davis Parish Police Jury for Houssiere
Park $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Calcasieu Parish Ward 1 Volunteer
Fire Department for equipment acquisition $ 60,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Westlake Police Department for
weapons and equipment acquisitions $ 30,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Winnfield Civic Center for improvements
to the parking lot $ 300,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government
for road improvements on LA 733 and US 167 $ 140,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Hammond for repair of water and
sewer lines $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Pontchatoula for sidewalk
improvements and litter abatement $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Kenner for infrastructure
improvements $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Kenner for infrastructure
improvements $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Saline for infrastructure improvements $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Chatham for infrastructure
improvements $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Ringgold for infrastructure
improvements $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Calvin for infrastructure improvements $ 30,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the village of Sikes for infrastructure
improvements $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Human Assistance Needs and Development Inc.
(HAND) for additional support $ 200,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the St. Mary Parish Council for flood control and
drainage improvement projects $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the St. Tammany Parish Government for the
Maritime Training Institute $ 75,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the village of Maurice for facilities renovations
and improvements $ 150,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Harahan for road improvements $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Mandeville for implementation of
the Master Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan $ 100,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Terrebonne Parish Veterans' Memorial District
for the Regional Military Museum in Terrebonne
Parish, in the event that Senate Bill No. 25 of the
2008 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature
is enacted into law $ 100,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Neighborhoods Planning and Community
Development Network $ 20,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to St. Bernard Parish for the Hospital Service District
for planning and studies $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Grand Isle Port Commission for public
dock facilities $ 15,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Golden Meadow for infrastructure
improvements $ 17,500

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Lockport for infrastructure
improvements $ 17,500

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Youth Education Solutions, Inc. for an urban
youth entrepreneurship program $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Youth Education Solutions, Inc. for a fishing
program $ 15,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Youth Education Solutions, Inc. for after-school
programs $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Algiers Development District for post-hurricane
blighted housing remediation $ 500,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Terrebonne Parish for construction of dog parks
at Glenn F. Pope Memorial Park and Lafayette
Woods Park, to be equally divided between the
two parks $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Community Renewal International, Inc. for
activities related to restoration of safe and caring
communities $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Children and Arthritis for the jambalaya jubilee $ 30,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Denham Springs for park improvements $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Bunkie for purchase of a computer
voice stress analysis program $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Cottonport for street maintenance
equipment $ 2,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Pineville Concerned Citizens, Inc. for
community support $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the village of Hessmer for sewer treatment plant
repairs $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Mansura for parks and recreation $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the village of Evergreen for installation of warning
and safety signs $ 3,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Mt. Zion Community Development Corporation
for the Health and Wellness Ministry for promotion
of healthy living among under-served populations $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Marksville for the Edgar Park Senior
Citizen Walking Track for installation of lighting $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the village of Plaucheville for community
center repairs $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Simmesport for purchase of a commercial
zero-turn mower $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Louisiana, Inc.
for enhancements to the teen program $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Arna Bontemps African American Museum
for additional support $ 15,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Education Foundation of Epsilon Psi Lambda
Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. for
educational enhancement programs for middle and
high school students $ 15,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Bossier Parish Government for infrastructure
improvements to Sewer District #1 $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Southeast Louisiana Council Boy Scouts
of America for enrichment programs for boys $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the St. Tammany Parish Government for the
Slidell levee project $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the St. Tammany Parish Government for the
Slidell levee project $ 75,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the St. Tammany Parish Government for the
Maritime Training Institute $ 100,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Pearl River for the Town of Pearl
River Museum $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Girl Scouts Louisiana East, Inc. for enrichment
programs for girls $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Abita Springs for community
development projects $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Plaquemines Parish Council for support of
volunteer fire departments which were directly
impacted by Hurricane Katrina $ 75,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Unity of Greater New Orleans, Inc. for
homelessness prevention activities $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the St. George Fire Protection District in East
Baton Rouge Parish for equipment acquisitions $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Baton Rouge Fire Department for equipment
acquisitions $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Catholic Charities Hope Haven Center for
road repairs $ 75,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Arcadia for infrastructure
improvements $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Northeast Louisiana Family Literacy
Interagency Consortium for Even Start $ 60,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Our House, Inc. for support services for
homeless, runaway, and victimized youth $ 60,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Monroe for the Cooley House restoration $ 35,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Jefferson Parish for the Jefferson Parish Department
of Parks and Recreation to be equally divided between
Bright Playground, and Lakeshore Playground $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Evangeline Parish Volunteer Fire District No. 4 $ 20,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Assumption Parish for the Paincourtville Fire District $ 75,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Assumption Parish for Recreation District #2 $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Rayne Police Department for operations $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Acadia Police Department for operations $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to East Baton Rouge Parish for the Pride Fire
Department $ 75,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Plaquemines Parish Council for an architectural
and engineering study for a new government complex $ 250,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Pontilly Association, Inc. for disaster recovery
efforts $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Pontchartrain Park Community Development
Corporation for a housing initiative $ 75,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of New Orleans Recreation Department
and neighborhood taxing districts $ 175,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Scott for the municipal complex
building $ 100,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Scott for the Scott Volunteer Fire
Department for materials and service needs $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Vermilion Parish Police Jury to be distributed
equally among the volunteer fire departments of
Maurice, LeBlanc, Indian Bayou, and Leleux for
materials and service needs $ 100,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Lafayette Parish Consolidated Government
for the Milton Volunteer Fire Department for
materials and service needs $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Assumption Parish Police Jury for the E.G.
Robichaux Ball Park $ 20,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Assumption Parish Police Jury for the
Bayou L'Ourse Ball Park $ 20,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Assumption Parish School Board for the
Assumption High School Tutoring Fund for Athletes $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Terrebonne Parish Veterans' Memorial District
for the Regional Military Museum, in the event that
Senate Bill No. 25 of the 2008 Regular Session of the
Louisiana Legislature is enacted into law $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Terrebonne Parish Police Jury for assistance
to shrimpers $ 15,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Terrebonne Parish for Recreation District No. 10 $ 15,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Morgan City for the Morgan City
Auditorium parking project $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to St. Martin Parish for infrastructure improvements $ 100,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to Lafayette Parish for infrastructure improvements $ 150,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct) to
Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church Charitable
Foundation for assistance to needy families, at risk
youth, and the elderly. $ 5,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Ferriday for infrastructure
improvements $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Clayton for infrastructure improvements $ 15,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Vidalia for infrastructure improvements $ 30,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Tallulah for infrastructure improvements $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Waterproof for infrastructure
improvements $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Lake Providence for infrastructure
improvements $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of St. Joseph for infrastructure
improvements $ 20,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Newellton for infrastructure
improvements $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Concordia Police Jury for infrastructure
improvements $ 20,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Tensas Parish Police Jury for infrastructure
improvements $ 20,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Madison Parish Police Jury for infrastructure
improvements $ 20,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the East Carroll Parish Police Jury for infrastructure
improvements $ 20,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the St. Tammany Parish Council for aid to the
needy in the Bayou Lacombe area $ 75,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the St. Tammany Parish Council for support of
local humane society efforts $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the St. Tammany Parish Council for support
of community activities to assist persons with
severe disabilities $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Mandeville for community enrichment
programs $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Sterlington for operational support $ 50,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the St. Bernard Parish Hospital Service District
for additional support $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Top Gun Boy Scouts of Ouachita for
mentoring and leadership programs for urban youth $ 15,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the LifeShare Blood Centers for the Louisiana
Public Umbilical Cord Blood Program $ 20,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Northeast Louisiana Sickle Cell Anemia
Technical Resource Foundation, Inc. for community
education workshops $ 10,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the Louisiana Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs
of America for expansion of community-based
prevention and mentoring programs $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Bogalusa for public safety equipment $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the town of Franklinton for public safety equipment $ 25,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the St. Tammany Parish Government for the
Maritime Training Institute $ 30,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Covington for utility improvements $ 75,000

Payable out of the State General Fund (Direct)
to the city of Madisonville for sewer repairs $ 35,000

Monday, May 12, 2008

They could have watched Leno for free


The new graduates of Our Lady of Holy Cross College in New Orleans paid thousands of dollars a year for four years to get their degrees and sit through commencement . . . just to get a rerun of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's performance on the Tonight Show when it came time for their Big Moment.

FOR THAT MATTER, people paid 50 cents to buy a copy of The Times-Picayune to read about what they could have watched on YouTube for free:

Gov. Bobby Jindal told a group of college graduates on Sunday they didn't have to leave Louisiana to find opportunity.

"Dorothy from 'The Wizard of Oz' was right: 'There's no place like home,' " he said. "You can dream big right here at home."
AH, BUT THAT'S THE RUB. Lots of people dream big in Louisiana. Then they go somewhere else to make them come true. Somewhere where mediocrity is not a height that's seldom achieved.

Over the years, Jindal said Louisiana has exported gas, oil, culture and its sons and daughters "who felt they had to leave home to pursue their dreams."

Jindal said that he'd called his mother that morning to wish her a happy Mother's Day, and that she had told him she was proud of him, but for her, his greatest achievement was her grandchildren.

So, Jindal told the graduates, before looking for an out-of-state job, consider the parents in the audience.

"They're looking forward to the day when you fulfill your real purpose by giving them grandchildren," he said. "And they're not letting you take those grandchildren out of this state."

THEY HAVE for decades now.

The trouble with Louisiana -- and with the kind of governor Bobby Jindal is shaping up to be -- is that talk and dreams are plentiful and cheap in the Gret Stet. Success is rare and difficult.

Yes, Dorothy was right in The Wizard of Oz. There is no place like home.

And the wizard's balloon says "State Fair Omaha."


UPDATE
: Who knew that the gub'na's speechwriter gets a salary and not paid by the speech?
Three commencement addresses, one speech.

Why try harder, eh, Cap?

Screw the veterans, we want Muslim veggies!

The Advocate in Baton Rouge reports that the House Appropriation Committee found room for some extra spending while it was recommending cuts to Louisiana's colleges and universities . . . and cuts to Medicaid, a veterans nursing home and biomedical research.

Here's what the folks who Louisiana voters elected to represent them think is more important than educating young people, caring for war veterans or curing dread diseases:
* $75,000 for the city of Zachary for an economic development master plan.
* $50,000 to the city of Central for economic development planning.
* $25,000 for the Louisiana Arts and Science Museum operations.
* $100,000 to improve the intersection at Florida and Sherwood Forest boulevards.
* $400,000 to improve Coursey Boulevard between Airline Highway and Jones Creek Road.
* $100,000 to improve the intersection at Jones Creek Road and Coursey Boulevard.
* $25,000 for equipment for the Baton Rouge Fire Department.
* $75,000 for the Pride Fire Department.
* $50,000 for park improvements for the city of Denham Springs.
* $50,000 to the McKinley High School Alumni Association for youth outreach activities.
* $20,000 to the American Muslim Mission of Baton Rouge for a year-round farmers market in old south Baton Rouge.
I'M SURE the old, sick veterans are especially excited that they're getting screwed over so that the McKinley High School Alumni Association might reach out and touch some yutes. Not to mention so that the Muslims will be able to hawk asparagus for Allah in the 'hood.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

God helps those. . . .


Get into a discussion about poverty or social dysfunction among most any group of white folks, and it won't be long before someone prescribes the "bootstrap" cure for what ails "those people."

This is especially true back home, in the Gret Stet of Looziana.

AFTER ALL, as eeevvverrrrybody knows, God helps those who help themselves. It's in the Bible. Somewhere toward the back. I think.

Well, if that's how things work in Heaven and on earth, then what are we to make of a state that's at the bottom of all the good rankings and at the top of all the bad ones? What do we make of a people who kill one another at a faster-than-average clip, elect a frightening parade of crooks and buffoons to public office, and are disproportionately poor, ill and uneducated?


And what of a place that never seems to get a clue about the importance of public education, or of honest government, or of a diverse economy, or of just having roads and cities that don't look like out-of-control landfills?

While we're thinking about it, what do we make of an electorate that alternates between idolizing amusing scoundrels or looking for a political messiah to magically lift Louisiana out of the civic poo after it's (yet again) crapped in its own bed?

NOW, TO A BUNCH of average Louisiana Bubbas -- and, for that matter, to your average gaggle of Uptown Brahmins -- the answer is simple enough if you're talking about a poverty-stricken single mother of five who's not of the Caucasian persuasion.

Keep your knees together, get a damn job and quit waiting for the taxpayer to solve your damn problems.

But what about when a whole state of four million (and shrinking) is a basket case? If God helps those who help themselves, can we then assume -- to borrow from the right-wing's favorite African-American preacher -- that God has damned Louisiana?

If we're willing to bring down holy fire and brimstone upon the pitiful minority wretch who has squandered the assistance money on Colt 45 and cigarettes, and who drives Junior to his preliminary hearings in a welfare Cadillac . . . what, then, of a chronically ignorant state that has squandered 300 years of human and natural riches? And which, when it's budget-cutting time, always slashes the essentials and protects the chaff?

The Monroe (La.) News-Star recounts the latest verse of the same old song:
Proposed higher education budget cuts could "cripple" Louisiana's public colleges and universities if they are adopted, according to officials at the state Board of Regents.

Subcommittees of the House Appropriations Committee have recommended a total of $116 million in budget cuts, and nearly $70 million, or about 60 percent, are education related.

The House Appropriations Committee sets ordinary operating expenses each fiscal year. Members are scheduled to discuss House Bill 1 this Sunday.

The cuts are in response to a legislative directive to trim 5 percent from Gov. Bobby Jindal's executive budget.

"It just doesn't seem equitable that the best strategy they (the legislators) could come up with targets educational institutions," said Commissioner of Higher Education Joseph Savoie.

Approximately $31 million in proposed cuts would come from public colleges and universities, meaning higher education would absorb about 23 percent of the total reduction in budget.

"Any reduction would naturally have a negative effect," said Dan Reneau, president of Louisiana Tech University, who has survived 13 budget cuts during his tenure.

"For the first time last year we had 100 percent funding. To go below that — it just doesn't send a good message to the faculty," he said.

Reneau was referring to a formula designed to fund state colleges at an average comparable to institutions in the 16-state region known as the Southern Regional Education Board.

Based on 2006 figures — the most recent year data is available — the board set the average at $6,213 per student at four-year institutions. The average at two-year colleges is currently $3,150.

However, several variables affect the exact amount from institution to institution.

To maintain the SREB "at average" level, 16 schools across the state would need an additional infusion of funds this year, including Louisiana Delta Community College.

Delta stands to lose about $150,000 in funding, said Savoie.

"Prior to last year, we were well below the average. We've been working toward (100 percent funding at the SREB average) for a long time," said Savoie. "This idea of retreating from progress is ridiculous."
AS NOTED in an earlier post, no less an authority than retired LSU baseball coach Skip Bertman easily identified Louisiana's self-fulfilling mentality of shiftlessness.

A profile of the soon-to-be-former athletic director in 225 magazine noted that "from his bosses to his players, from the governor to the maintenance crew that chafed under his daily calls for updates on Alex Box, Bertman has noticed something about Louisiana: Mediocrity is accepted." [Emphasis mine -- R21.]

The article went on in damning detail:

“When the past governor and the one before her say, ‘We want to get to the Southern average,’ I think, ‘Our goal is to be average?’” Bertman says. “I’m not putting them down, and I understand what they mean, but you can imagine how that sounds to me. I’m not saying I could be governor and not have to say that, but in baseball I could do it.” Bertman recalls having to convince his 1984 team that they were unique and capable of achieving their goals. Two years later LSU finished fifth in the country, and by then all his players had to do for a confidence boost was put on the uniform.
IF BERTMAN IS RIGHT -- and he is, you know -- then it just doesn't matter how much American taxpayers pay to rebuild broken levees, or how high the new levees are. It doesn't matter whether American taxpayers pay to rebuild New Orleans, or put Louisiana homeowners back in rebuilt homes.

It doesn't matter whether the American taxpayer pays to rebuild south Louisiana's ruined infrastructure or rebuild its crappy roads and highways.

It doesn't matter whether we pay outrageous gas prices or sky-high air fares to vacation in the Bayou State, stuffing our already overstuffed American guts in its restaurants and braving the state's crazy-high sales tax to buy Looziana geegaws and tacky tee shirts.

None of it matters, because no matter how the American taxpayer tries to help the Gret Stet, the stupid bastards will just screw themselves up again -- it's in their nature. It has to be in their nature, like Skip says.

Who else but some basket-case, doesn't-have-the-good-sense-God-gave-a-jackass, knuckle-dragging, moron, metaphorical welfare queen writ large would make higher education take 60 percent of proposed budget cuts?

Especially when you're already a basket-case, doesn't-have-the-good-sense-God-gave-a-jackass, knuckle-dragging, moron, metaphorical welfare queen writ large.

Tell 'em to grab their bootstraps and pull.

Isn't Louisiana the state whose educated young people are fleeing in droves? Isn't Louisiana the state already woefully short on intellectual capital -- and workers capable of meeting the needs of a high-tech, information-based economy?

Isn't Louisiana the state that's already chasing after all sorts of economic development but -- when corporate America asks "What do you have to show me?" -- the only thing she can resort to is lifting up her shirt?

After all, God helps those who help themselves, and Louisiana hasn't done much to help herself. Why the hell should the American taxpayer be more generous than God?

Tell 'em to grab their bootstraps and pull.

And when Gov. Bobby Jindal goes to Washington and gives the guardians of our cash a song and dance about how Louisiana is stiil hurting and, by the way, it now has "the gold standard" of ethics laws? Particularly when that "gold standard" is a big sham that may look good but actually is worse than the "crap standard"?

Tell 'em to grab their bootstraps and pull.

LISTEN, LOUISIANA. This is the United States speaking. We can't help you.

Your problems, with the exception of the New Orleans levees, are self-inflicted. We can't fix that. Hell, we can't even get Hillary Clinton out of the Democratic primaries.

As any good ol' boy in your neck of the woods knows, your problems will be solved when you get off your lazy asses. In that vein, take an interest in your own governance, have a little pride in yourselves and your state, for God's sake, and just damn fix it.

Here's a helpful hint. Education is important, which you might have figured out for yourselves if you weren't so fuggin' ignorant. Don't cut that.

Otherwise, just grab those bootstraps and remember that God helps those who help themselves. Certainly, your legislators must know a little something about helping themselves.

Right?

Sunday, April 20, 2008

The (almost) work of a madman!

Here we have yet another Associated Press dispatch from some average American place full of average Americans recounting yet another American atrocity or near atrocity.

Fortunately, this one -- in South Carolina -- was of the "near" variety.

It's easy for folks to say "The work of a madman!" -- as in
Walker Percy's dystopian novel, "Love in the Ruins" and then change the subject. One has to wonder, though, how many atrocities -- and near atrocities -- have to occur before we stop, scratch our collective head and ask, "What the hell is going on here? What gives?"

And now,
the latest AP filing from yet another American anteroom of Hell. What gives?

A high school senior collected enough supplies to carry out a bomb attack on his school and detailed the plot in a hate-filled diary that included maps of the building and admiring notations about the Columbine killers, authorities said Sunday.

Ryan Schallenberger, 18, was arrested Saturday after his parents called police when 10 pounds of ammonium nitrate was delivered to their home in Chesterfield and they discovered the journal, said the town's police chief, Randall Lear.

The teen planned to make several bombs and had all the supplies needed to kill dozens at Chesterfield High School, depending on where the devices were placed and whether they included shrapnel, Lear said. Ammonium nitrate was used in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 that killed 168 people.

"The only thing left was delivering the bombs," the police chief said.

Schallenberger kept a journal for more than a year that detailed his plans for a suicide attack and included maps of the school, police said. The writings did not include a specific time for the attack or the intended targets.

‘He also left an audio tape to be played after he died explaining why he wanted to bomb his school. Lear wouldn't detail what was on the tape except to say Schallenberger was an angry young man.

"He seemed to hate the world. He hated people different from him — the rich boys with good-looking girlfriends," Lear said.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Louisiana: Stupid is as stupid cuts

If you want to cut a state budget, the logical place for a chop job would be all the places you can least afford it, right?

Only if you're a legislator in Louisiana.


SOME OF THE STUPIDEST members of the Stupid Party -- which, to tell the truth, could be either one in the Gret Stet -- plan to slash higher education and health care budgets to save a lousy $250 million out of a $30-plus billion spending blueprint. This in one of the stupidest and sickest states in the nation.

Which goes a long way toward explaining a lot of things, actually.

The Times-Picayune reports:
Gov. Bobby Jindal's $30.1 billion budget plan is facing friendly fire from his allies in the state House of Representatives, who are proposing to save up to $250 million by cutting planned spending on higher education, health care and other priorities.

House Speaker Jim Tucker said the goal is to reduce the state's reliance on non-recurring money to pay for ongoing programs in the fiscal year that starts July 1.

Tucker, R-Algiers, said doing so perpetuates spending policies that Republicans frequently criticized under former Gov. Kathleen Blanco. "It's got a number of members very concerned (because) they didn't get elected to continue the same-old, same-old," Tucker said.
DEAR JIMBO, I know you may not have gotten the memo, but when you get elected on an anti-same-old, same-old platform, that DOES NOT mean people want you to be an even bigger dumbass than "Mee Maw" Blanco was. When a state lags horribly behind the rest of the nation in education and health care, you don't go around crippling education and health care.

At least if you have a problem with the people around you being disproportionately ill-educated and just plain ill.

A spokesman for the Louisiana State University System said it would mean a $36.6 million cut, and that individual campuses are in the process of combing through their various programs to decide where to trim.

"The impact would be dramatic, if enacted," LSU System spokesman Charles Zewe said.
IMPACT. DRAMATIC. That for a university system that isn't even funded to the Southern regional average. I wonder what the state's GOP legislators plan for the health-care system?

Hospitals with no doctors?

Wheelchairs with no wheels?

Now, if cut $250 million they must, there are ways to do it without sacrificing, say, excellence in education or badly-needed facility upkeep.

Trouble is, the Louisiana Legislature isn't even close to dreaming of having the cojones to pare back the ridiculous number of public universities for a state of 4.2 million people and emptying out fast.

The state, of course, needs the LSU system. And it needs LSU-Baton Rouge as its "flagship" university -- the pre-eminent academic and research institution.

Excellence matters. I know Louisiana has little experience with excellence, but trust me on this. Other states "get it" -- even if many Louisianians don't.

BUT DOES LOUISIANA need Nicholls State University an hour's drive from the University of New Orleans? Does it need McNeese State a hour down the interstate from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette?

Couldn't Southeastern Louisiana University be changed into a smallish liberal-arts college? Couldn't LSU-Alexandria and LSU-Eunice be integrated into the state's fledgling community-college system?

Should the all-but-destroyed Southern University-New Orleans have been reopened after Katrina? Should not the historically struggling historically black school now be folded into UNO or closed altogether?

Which brings us to the 800-kiloton nuclear elephant in the room.

CAN LOUISIANA really afford, both financially and sociologically -- for all intents and purposes -- one state-university system for white people and another for African-Americans?

What, in a larger sense, does this really say to a state where not only isn't the past really past, but neither is Jim Crow?

I understand the rationale for historically black colleges. I do. Likewise, I understand their heroic and proud history.

And I don't think that history ought to be ignored or these universities' role completely relegated to the landfill of days gone by.

That said, the sheer duplication of facilities and programs between "white" and "black" institutions -- usually right next door to one another -- is insane, not to mention increasingly unaffordable on any number of levels.

So here's a modest proposal.

Because it just isn't feasible, culturally or politically, to kill off the oldest such school, Southern University, it stays as is. Indeed, it possibly could be enhanced with some of the resources of closed "white" schools.

On the other hand, it doesn't need a law school. Not unless someone could come up with some desperately needed, specialized niche it might fill -- being, as it is, right under the nose of the much larger and much better law school at LSU.

That leaves Grambling State University, another school that has a proud history but has suffered from terrible leadership in recent times. Grambling, just a short drive down the road from Louisiana Tech in Ruston.

How. In. The. World. Do. You. Objectively. Justify. That?

My solution: Merge 'em . . . probably on the present Louisiana Tech campus. But call the combined institution Grambling State University and commemorate the proud role that school played in educating a people once deliberately cut off from the "mainstream" of public life.

That leaves LSU-Shreveport and Northwestern State as the last candidates for major realignment. I don't see how you can justify the existence of both.

So, how about a compromise? LSU-Shreveport could merge with Northwestern State in Natchitoches, where the new school would remain. It would be brought into the LSU System, would be renamed the University of Northwestern Louisiana and would have a satellite campus in Shreveport.

THAT'S HOW you save money without needlessly sacrificing infrastructure or educational excellence. It's not brain surgery.

It does, however, require a few things not usually associated with my home state's governing class -- political will, intestinal fortitude . . . and wisdom.

Good luck, Louisiana. You'll need it.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

'White schools' and 'n***** schools'

The problem with conservative ideologues like Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is that rarely do they "conserve" anything. Except, of course, the ability of radical individualists to blow up society for their own profit.

Thus, the dirty little secret behind the "school choice" agenda Jindal has embraced in his call for the state's second special legislative session this year,
as reported by The Times-Picayune of New Orleans:
The governor spent little time in his prepared remarks on the tuition tax deduction proposal. But teachers union lobbyist Steve Monaghan said afterward that it could define the tax portion of the session.

At a $20 million cost -- allowing parents to deduct half of each child's tuition cost up to $5,000 per child when figuring their taxable income -- the plan is a blip on the state's budget radar. But the precedent, Monaghan said, would establish that the state's educational priority list is no longer topped by public schools.

"This is a distraction," said Monaghan, president of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers. "If we're truly concerned about building a world-class public education system, then we have to stop sending mixed messages. Why incentivize sending children to private schools?"

Jindal said the idea, which was not part of his campaign platform, came from several legislators and other advocates of "school choice."

"They made a persuasive case," the governor said. "We think it's important for our families to be able to send their children to high-quality schools all over Louisiana."

WHY IS IT that someone who bills himself as a "conservative" -- particularly a fiscal one -- is so enamored of what amounts to welfare for the well off? Or at least well off enough to shell out thousands of dollars a year in private-school tuition.

Welfare for the at least moderately well off is what Jindal's proposed tax credit is, too. And it's what passes for sound public policy in the eyes of Jindal's buddies in the "school choice" movement.

One of those "school choice" friends is Rolfe McCollister, publisher of the Baton Rouge Business Report and a founder of the city's Children's Charter School.

McCollister, who's had his scrapes with the local school system, recently penned a column calling on voters not to renew a penny sales tax that funds part of teachers' salaries and provides funds for school construction and renovation. He decries the local public schools' poor performance, particularly their record with at-risk students.

This despite his own charter school's barely passing grade from the Great Schools website, which uses publicly available data and parent ratings to grade America's schools. In fact, according to Great Schools, McCollister's Children's Charter School had the second highest pupil-teacher ratio of any school within a five-mile radius, while earning only a 6 rating on a 10-point scale.

One would think Children's Charter School would be drawing the at-risk children of the most motivated of at-risk parents. Parents you would assume at least gave enough of a damn to try a charter school. Yet. . . .

On a college grade scale, 60 percent is a D. Barely. On my old high-school grade scale, 60 percent is a solid F. And one nearby public, non-charter school at least managed a C. Barely.

IF I'M BOBBY JINDAL, I'm going to be seeking out advice on education policy from "D" educators? And I'm going to be following these folks' advice to pursue a policy of undermining public schools . . . for what, exactly?

There are none so blind as right-wing pols who refuse to see.

"Conserving" a civic culture and a functional society does not include aiding and abetting the "school choice" of the relatively privileged while abandoning the rest to a "separate and unequal" public-education system. There is no "conservative" principle, properly understood, in tolerating decay and dysfunction as the normative environment of those "left behind" in public schools.

(East Baton Rouge Parish public schools, in the wake of court-ordered desegregation, now are 83 percent minority and 79 percent African-American. Most students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches.)

And there is nothing "conservative" about opening the public coffers, wholesale, to private groups for carrying out the public's business. In this case, that would be educating Louisiana's children.

"Conservatives" have forgotten -- utterly -- the flip side of freedom. That would be "duty." Just because middle- and upper-class folk have the ability to "escape" a struggling school system, that freedom to do so does not therefore become an entitlement underwritten in whole or in part by the state.

And it certainly does not translate into some "right" to cast the less privileged into an abyss of voters' making, either by commission -- as in the separate but unqual of Jim Crow days -- or by omission . . . as in the separate but unequal of some McCollisterian "I'm not paying a cent of tax money for 'failed schools'" dystopia.

When, by default, most white children attend private schools partially underwritten by public monies and most black children attend public schools abandoned to decay and dysfunction, it is difficult to discern how the "desegregated" present differs substantially from the darkest days of de jure segregation.

LONG AGO, before de jure school segregation had breathed its last in Baton Rouge, my parents used to threaten me with being sent to "the nigger school" when I misbehaved at the officially all-white Red Oaks Elementary. That was supposed to imply a fate worse than death to a young mind indoctrinated, from birth, into a white, racist milieu.

Now, in my hometown, they're working on making every public school "the nigger school" -- with all the awfulness that once meant to little white ears -- and all you have to do to get your kid sent there is not have enough money (or luck, or whatever) to get into this generation's "white school."

And if you don't have the dough (or luck, or whatever) to get into the "white school" in the first place, I don't see how Bobby Jindal -- or his proposed tax credits -- can offer you any hope. Any hope at all.

Let me know how that works out for you, Louisiana.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Washing their feet and looking at the moon


With people like Chas Roemer -- son of Louisiana's last (failed) reform governor -- running education in the Gret Stet, it's hard to hold out hope that anything will ever get better there.

Roemer, newly elected to the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from Baton Rouge, is another Capital City swell who thinks teachers and children need to pay the price for the sins of the school board. He writes in the Baton Rouge Business Report:


Taxpayers are now faced with the proposition of either sending more money to the same system or being labeled as “against the kids.” Nothing could be further from the truth. I, for one, will vote against the tax—not because I’m against spending the money, but because I am against wasting the money. I would support any number of different approaches and, in fact, could support sending even a greater amount of money to a system that I believed put the kids first and not “the system.” I have witnessed firsthand the system making decisions that protect them while sacrificing potential opportunities for our kids. For example, the system turned away KIPP Academy—a nationally recognized charter school provider that specializes in serving urban kids. They turned down the Children’s Charter School in their attempt to expand—despite that their student body is 98% at risk and scores above the state average on school performance scores. Children’s Charter operates an 11-month school year with extended day for the same amount per pupil as the system. Furthermore, for years the Children’s Charter operated exclusively out of temporary buildings. Why can’t the system do some of these same things?
HERE'S A NEWS FLASH, podna. When you willfully advocate a politcal course of action that will force teachers to take a pay cut of between 2 percent and 22 percent, you're not only against the teachers . . . you're "against the kids."

And when you willingly advocate a politcal course of action that will doom the parish's students to remain in crumbling, outdated and squalorous "facilities," you're "against the kids." In fact, you're guilty of child abuse.

But that's OK. Baton Rouge's public schools now are 83 percent minority.

So it's not like the children of actual white people are on the line here. At least not enough of them to represent an unacceptable level of collateral damage when you blow up the public schools so that a magical voucher scheme might descend from the heavens and set everything aright.

BUT WAITING FOR GODOT is what my fellow Louisianians do. They're good at it. And the state's periodic political messiahs are happy to offer up the latest hare-brained scheme to throw Bubba a sop and stick it to the Negroes in the name of "reform."

Gov. Bobby Jindal (PBUH) is the latest to try that approach, just today calling on legislators to approve a tax credit for private-school tuition. In other words, welfare for people who have the money to pay thousands per year in tuition for their kids to go to private schools . . . so they don't have to give a damn about public schools.

Welfare is only a dirty word when it applies to minorities -- whose children are left to rot in defunded ratholes.

Gotcha.

IN OTHER WORDS, things ain't changed much in the Gret Stet since Gov. Earl Long stood at the dais in the Senate chambers and laid into one of its members, arch-segregationist Willie Rainach. In his book, The Earl of Louisiana, the journalist A.J. Liebling recounts the scene:

"After all this is over, he'll probably go up there to Summerfield, get up on his front porch, take off his shoes, wash his feet, look at the moon and get close to God." This was gross comedy, a piece of miming that recalled Jimmy Savo impersonating the Mississippi River. Then the old man, changing pace, shouted in Rainach's direction, "And when you do, you got to recognize that niggers is human beings!"

It was at this point that the legislators must have decided he'd gone off his crumpet. Old Earl, a Southern politician, was taking the Fourteenth Amendment's position that "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States . . . nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

AFTER THAT, they put Uncle Earl in the nuthouse. Being in favor of the Fourteenth Amendment . . . that'd always get you in trouble in the Gret Stet of Loosiana.

Still will, I suspect.