Part of it may be testosterone, but part of my near-silence over the past year or so stems from nothing more than this: I am so tired of self-righteousness, sanctimony, and smugness that I find myself reluctant to make a strong statement on any issue or subject whatsoever for fear of sounding like One Of Those People. It's like I once said to a ( Read more... )

Billy Joel is coming to Jazzfest, Ray Nagin is indicted, and the butcher at Fresh Market called me "sir." This has been a beautiful day in New Orleans.

I finally realized who Rick "Mr. Frothy" Santorum reminds me of a little:


( Read more... )

I just woke up from a dream in which I was a ghoul snacking on a severed head. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me, the zombie apocalypse had happened and the head started screaming at me. It was actually kind of comical, but it hath murdered sleep, at least for the moment ( Read more... )

Many years ago, I believed I was in favor of the death penalty, with a weak sop to my conscience about "reservations due to racial skewing." Well, I'll never agree with the Catholic obsession with position on abortion, but being a Catholic, studying the Church's teachings about capital punishment, and simply seeing the federal/state killing system ( Read more... )

Oh my God, is this Livejournal? Can I post to it ( Read more... )

A helpful substance has been provided and I'm in much less pain than I was yesterday. Like probably 80% less. It ain't Amsterdam, but it beats the hell out of writhing in agony. Gosh, this U.S. War on Some Drugs* has just worked out so well, hasn't it? Did you hear about the man in Slidell who was recently sentenced to life in prison for possessing ( Read more... )

I'm proud to announce that I have been appointed Dic(k)tator flemco and Queen takhisis's Minister of Kicking Ass. My first decree may be found in the comments to his post.

I don't think I've even begun to process the weirdness of seeing The. Prez. O. Dent. Of. The. United. States (and not even a sucky one) walking on the beaches of Grand Isle and Port Fourchon. Don't get me wrong, I think it's very good that he came. But those beaches are where Chris and I have spent some of the happiest, most peaceful moments of our ( Read more... )

Louisiana Representative Charlie Melancon, whom I'd thought was slightly intelligent, had this to say about the BP oil spill:

"We're the United States, and I would have thought if this was going to happen, it would have been in maybe a South African continent or some third world country that just looked the other way or said, you know, if there's ( Read more... )