Labor Day Lull

Ok, I really have little that I want to post on or am prepared to post on, so if you are Jonesing for a thread, have at it.

Quick Money Rules

When you need cash, I guess civil justice doesn't matter. It is amazing that this company actually was ready to do settle this fast, but what is more amazing is that they set up shop on city property, making I think some of the victims think the city approved of this or it was something the city was offering. Luken did the right thing kicking them off city property.

Refugee

Nearly every news outlet and politician is using the wordrefugee to describe those who have fled New Orleans. The use of the word is totally valid. There are refugees every day from fires and floods. What hits me like a ton of bricks is that there are hundreds of thousands of refugees out of Southeast Louisiana. That is something like out of WWII or out of a famine in Africa. This is not supposed to be happening here in the land of the free and home of the brave. Why is this happening? Why does it seem like the media is able to get around more than the police or National Guard?

Pepper Ad Misleading

David Pepper's TV ad was determined to be misleading by the Ohio Elections Commission, but they refused to do anything about it.

This was political and it really looks like the GOP wasting time when you read about the person who filed the lawsuit:

"As a lawyer, David Pepper should follow the law," said Brad Greenberg, Tye's attorney and executive director of the Hamilton County Republican Party. "We feel it is a misleading commercial. He is not the incumbent."

Tye is Donald Tye Jr. who filed the lawsuit and is a Winburn supporter, and in case you missed it, his lawyer is executive director of the Hamilton County Republican Party. Yea, it was a party action to help hurt Pepper and help Winburn, but crap like this never does anything. It looks petty and pointless. I am wondering if the GOP will go in the gutter any further to try and pull down Pepper, Reece or Mallory. Winburn needs two of the three to be tarnished to have any chance to make it beyond September 13th's Primary.

Horror on the Bayou

How did New Orleans get to this state? Why can’t more be done by the Federal Government? I am not going to blame anyone person or leader for this, no one person can move mountains, but if the USA can drop food over remote Afghanistan villages, why can't they do something similar in New Orleans?

The political fallout on this is starting to grow. I really don't want it to become a political issue. I would want political leaders with the power to move men and machine to get them in the air. Are their any National Guard Airborne troops out there? This near anarchy makes people America look like we don't know what we are doing. We don't, but we usually can make it work. The hell that is the Big Easy is a condemnation on our humanity. I say that with full knowledge that I am sitting on my ass typing, not really doing much. Those with the power should be doing, and it appears they can't do much.

Why can't they do much? Could it, and I am asking honestly, be the result of the over use of the National Guard in Iraq?

98 Degrees Reunion

OK, I know Justin Jeffre was in a boy band, but are we required to suffer through a reuion of the group? Can they just get together and hang out and not perform?

Gas Prices

In case you missed it, gas jumped about $0.45 in a day or two because of the Gulf Coast Hurricane. Now, it is true that the oil and gas industry was damaged, and on a long term basis I would expect prices to rise. Why did they jump that much in a couple of days? Answer? I don't know, but why doesn’t an enterprising young journalist seek out the pricing methods of the gas companies? Why not publish the formula they use to judge how much to charge for gas. People can bitch and moan about taxes and the EPA all they want, but there is no fair reason for gas to have jumped up that much, that quickly. It is about profit, not about passing on cost. If gas companies are going to market prices, then they should use a fairy tale market where they set the price they want and instead stick to real market pricing, not just what they think they can get away with.

Alas, we are stuck. Even after 100 years, gas companies are an oligopoly, and can do damn near what they want to the consumer. Having energy competition would be the best way to push our economy forward. If we had options outside of gas to power transportation on a wide scale, we would be able to move around everything with far greater ease. Why is the government not making that priority one in economic development?