Yesterday evening, I made my presentation, “The Role of Blogs in the Rebuilding of New Orleans,” to a special interest group of the AERA. I…
Pronounce the dot.
I guess I’m in a very small minority with this opinion, but I actually support our Louisiana state legislature’s efforts to give themselves a huge…
A neighbor alerted me to a recycling survey, from the city’s Dept. of Sanitation, on the department’s website (halfway down the page). www.cityofno.com/Portals/Sanitation/portal.aspx It has…
We took our first stroll around the block yesterday. Many of the sidewalks are impassable, so we had to push the stroller in the street.…
I salute the people of Louisiana who made it to the polls Saturday. Obama beat Clinton by a big margin; Huckabee beat McCain. Locally, a…
I went to the local wine shop Friday evening. The woman behind me in the checkout line offered to sleep with me if I paid…
We got our “gold letter” from the Road Home today. The letter states that we did not qualify for any compensation. Or, as they so…
A year ago I gave a speech. Sadly enough, I could give that speech again today. Not much has changed. I would have to strike…
It’s not all drudgery. We’ve taken some very pleasant breaks from working on the house to visit friends. Today we went to Li’l Red’s wedding…
I wish I could take comfort in the unity of our City Council today, as they closed ranks and voted for the redevelopment of our…
For most of the year a rumor has circulated in our neighborhood regarding the Lindy Boggs Medical Center. That’s the hospital at Jeff Davis and…
Old Roy came over to borrow a shovel today. He owns the house across the street, which he’s still repairing from flood damage lo these…
The pundits have been remarking on how nice and polite the race for City Council At-Large has been, but yesterday the attack ads hit the…
We’re voting again Saturday. In the fifth precinct of the fourth ward we’ll have three items on the ballot: Attorney General, Judge, and City Council…
Yesterday I referred to Bobby Jindal as a “right-wing nutjob.” I regret that, as I prefer not to call names. I got carried away. I…
My voting philosophy is pretty simple. Here are my general rules:
These are not rigid by any means. I’ll make an exception if I believe in a particular candidate or if some other calculus suggests itself.
Of course, following these rules often means voting for someone I don’t know too much about, or voting for someone who has values that are antithetical to my own. But I’m OK with that. These candidates usually don’t have a prayer of winning anyway.
For the record, I don’t consider voting for a no-chance candidate to be “throwing my vote away.” It’s a protest vote. This is not a frivolous choice. Given the current state of affairs, I think protest is the only rational approach. When the top contenders do not inspire, there’s no other way to express one’s displeasure. I wish we had a “None of the Above” option in many cases.
If I follow those rules tomorrow, I might vote like this:
A friend of mine voted early and sends the following report. Since you gave me some advice, I’ll tell you how I voted. Just a…
Remember the guerrilla art installation I wrote about in November? On the Jeff Davis neutral ground, a pitcher of water was suspended over a map…
This one is for my friends and readers who don’t live here in South Louisiana. Do me a favor. Please. First, when you’ve got a…
Spotted this morning on the way to work on the Jeff Davis neutral ground: It’s a pitcher full of water suspended above a map of…