Category: The Adrastos Wayback Machine

Adrastos, Comedy, Diary, Film, Fog Of History, Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood, Music, New Orleans, Odds & Sods, The Adrastos Wayback Machine, Twitter

Saturday Odds & Sods: Icy Blue Heart

Peter Adrastos Athas
The Mediterranean Coast by Henri-Edmond Cross.

It’s hot as hell in New Orleans. Anyone surprised? I’m certainly not.

The big local story remains the mess at the Sewerage & Water Board.  The temporary head of the agency tried to give two employees raises but they were all forced out instead. Score one for Mayor Cantrell. She finally put some points on the board amidst an early rebellion by the City Council.

The SWB billing melodrama continues. One of the people caught up in that clusterfuck is my old friend Karen Gadbois who wrote about it in the online publication she co-founded, The Lens. Check it out. You may need to check your blood pressure after reading it.

The SWB saga poses the eternal question: where have you gone Ed Norton?

That concludes this impromptu edition of Album Cover Art Saturday. Time to go down the sewer with Norton:

This week’s theme song was written by John Hiatt for his classic 1988 album Slow Turning. Icy Blue Heart is one of the best “tears in your beer” weepers of all-time. We have John’s original followed by a cover by the sublime Emmylou Harris with Bonnie Raitt on backing vocals. The Bonster is pretty awesome too.

The opening lines of that song get me every time:

She came on to him like a slow moving cold front.

His beer was warmer than the look in her eyes.

Now that we’ve wept bitter tears, it’s time to dry off and jump to the break.

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Adrastos, Elections, Epic Blogger Win, Gret Stet Politics, PBJ, Political Crack, Stupid Republican Tricks, The Adrastos Wayback Machine3 Comments

Homeschooled

Peter Adrastos Athas

The appeal of the entire homeschooling phenomenon has always eluded me. I think that kids need to be socialized as much as they need to be educated. It’s become a right wing evangelical thing over the years; one that erstwhile Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is eager to tap into in his upcoming run for the GOP nomination. The key player in this strategy is PBJ’s right-hand man, Timmy Teepell who was homeschooled himself. My old friend Lamar White Jr. has written a swell post about Bobby, Timmy, and the homeschool movement at Salon. Check it out. Btw, neither Lamar nor I … Continue reading Homeschooled

Adrastos, Bigotry, Diary, Elections, Gret Stet Politics, Immoral Values, Marriage Equality, PBJ, Political Crack, Stupid Republican Tricks, Teabaggery, Television, The Adrastos Wayback Machine1 Comment

The Eddie Haskell Factor Revisited

Peter Adrastos Athas

This post started off as another trip in the Adrastos Wayback Machine to February 8, 2007. That’s when I published one of my favorite Bobby Jindal posts; comparing him to a teevee character both of whom are psalm singing sons of bitches like Diaper Dave. We’ll get there eventually, but Gov PBJ remains the Eddie Haskell of politics: a smarmy creep who kisses up and kicks down.

PBJ is back in the news with his latest pander to religious bigots and the far right of his party. A Louisiana house committee killed the so-called  religious freedom act, which spurred the Governor into spurious action:

Just hours after a Louisiana House panel overwhelmingly voted Tuesday to effectively kill one of his priority pieces of legislation, Gov. Bobby Jindal issued an executive order that he said would continue to give life to the Louisiana Marriage and Conscience Act’s intent.

 House Bill 707 had sought to carve out protections for people who oppose same-sex marriage. The executive order is much narrower in scope, Jindal admitted, and some opponents of the measure have questioned whether the order will have much impact. But after the House Civil Law Committee’s 10-2 vote Tuesday to end the measure’s chances this session through a procedural move, Jindal argued that his possibly temporary order was the “next best thing.”

“It applies to all of the executive branch of state government,” Jindal told reporters minutes after issuing the order. “It will offer good protections for the people of Louisiana.”

Y’all have heard of a fig leaf, right? This is one. Despite all the outrage this action has inspired in the easily outraged sectors of social media, this order is of limited scope and will lapse when PBJ leaves office in 2016 unless his successor gives it CPR.

This is what happens when a Governor has a 32% approval rating, they lose key votes. I’m not sure who’s more delusional, Jindal or Chris Christie. At least Christie is a talented stump performer whereas Jindal has all the charisma of a Jello salad.  PBJ keeps serving himself up at church suppers in Iowa but it’s not working. When you’re that unpopular back home, it’s hard for voters to take your candidacy seriously.

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Adrastos, Elections, Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood, New Orleans, Political Crack, The Adrastos Wayback Machine

The Wayback Machine: (Political) Deathbed Conversion

Peter Adrastos Athas

I’ve been complaining of late how boring New Orleans politics have become. On the other hand, they may have been *too* colorful when I wrote this post in 2006. The City Councilmember in question, Renee Gill-Pratt, was a minion of the Jefferson machine and was convicted of a conspiracy to bilk the school system. She is currently enjoying the hospitality of the federal government and will be doing so for quite some time.

In my early days as a blogger, I nicknamed almost everybody. The one I stuck on her is perhaps the best of the bunch: Renee Gill-Pratfall. I’d like to claim credit for her defeat in the 2006 election but her time was up. So, dial the Wayback Machine to Sunday February 5, 2006:

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Adrastos, Film, New Orleans, Television, The Adrastos Wayback Machine

DEBRISVILLE RATS: A MODEST PROPOSAL

Peter Adrastos Athas

It’s time for another trip to the Adrastos Wayback Machine. Yesterday, I was putting some golden (moldy?) oldies online and I got First Draft confused with the archival site since both are on Word Press. In short, this sucker wound up posted here on the 2006 date listed below. I even got a compliment from Monkeyfister on Twitter so I had to re-post this re-post: @Adrastosno I never realized how very Gonzo that piece was. Brilliant. — Monkeyfister (@Monkeyfister1) March 19, 2015 It was probably his first time seeing it but I’ll accept the praise. Thanks. Okay, let’s turn the … Continue reading DEBRISVILLE RATS: A MODEST PROPOSAL

Adrastos, Bigotry, Elections, Fog Of History, Music, Political Crack, The Adrastos Wayback Machine

Exit Poll Flashback

Peter Adrastos Athas

I’ve been following the Israeli election very closely, hoping that the electorate would wake up, smell the coffee, and vote Likud out. It didn’t happen obviously; in part because a personally unpopular Prime Minister waved the bloody shirt of racism. He barely bothered to dog whistle, making a direct appeal to people’s worst instincts. It worked depressingly well. It usually does, alas. In the run up to the election, pundits assured us that the Israeli exit polls were accurate; certainly more so than the ones in the US & A. Josh Marshall had to walk that belief back earlier today. I get where it was … Continue reading Exit Poll Flashback

Adrastos, Diary, Elections, New Orleans, Political Crack, The Adrastos Wayback Machine

The Adrastos Wayback Machine Is Online

Peter Adrastos Athas

It’s going to be a long, slow process because uploading the blog-city files collectively  has proven to be almost impossible but there’s enough meat on the virtual bone at the site to post this link, Adrastos: Welcome To The Wayback Machine.

I’ve opted for the greatest hits approach and have focused on the period between 12/2005 and 5/2006 to begin with. That covers post-K tales as well as the 2006 municipal election, which was by far and away the most interesting one since I’ve lived in New Orleans.

There’s an introductory post pinned to the top of the blog. I still have no clue as to why my commas went missing; maybe they’re pro-Nagin and disapproved of my mocking the then Mayor.

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Adrastos, Diary, Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood, New Orleans, The Adrastos Wayback Machine2 Comments

The Adrastos Wayback Machine: Re-entry Blues

Peter Adrastos Athas

The Adrastos archival project continues anon. It’s a real pain in the ass to upload all the files from my blog-city blog so it looks as if there will be a Best of Adrastos site coming to WordPress fairly soon. I’ll be doing it in bits and bobs because it’s an exhaustive, as well as exhausting project. I’ll let y’all know as soon as it’s online.

This is one of the first posts I wrote for my original blog. It tells the story of how we snuck back into town and how tricky it was to do so. That’s one of the lesser known things about everyone’s Katrina exile: how residents were kept out of the city while all sorts of alleged do-gooders were on the loose. It’s a detail that still aggravates both Dr. A and me and you’ll hear about it after the break.

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