Road Trip

Guys, I thank everyone who donated....muchos gracias.

I am out of town for a few days but I'll be back Thursday.

Paz y amor

Holy Crap guys :) !!!

Thank you so much.  I have a $265.00 surplus right now on donations from my original $25 request.  Thank you!

I am going to sit on the remainder and explain every dollar I use.  I used 28 bucks to buy a domain name: theamericanzombie.com  (can't believe it was still available) and I'm going to start ramping up my efforts to a new level...bear with me because it will take some time.

In the meantime, I am going to spend about 20 bucks tomorrow to obtain a copy of a civil district court lawsuit.  I will hopefully be able to scan that by tomorrow and share it with you.  I hope it bears fruit.

Ashe'

I get by with a little help...

Hey folks....I need $25.  I promised my wife I would not burden our finances with any AZ related efforts as it already takes up so much of my time.  But I am trying to expand my efforts on certain fronts and I need to register a domain name.  If you are a reader of AZ and appreciate the blog, please help a brother out and dump a couple dollars into the PayPal donation button on the right side of the page.  I am trying to execute a larger vision for AZ and I need all the help I can get.  Thanks so much.

And special thanks to KJ for your recent generous donation.

Ashe',

Dambala

A simple poll

Just out of curiousity....which, um, commercial....do you consider to be the most absurd?

This one...



Or...this one?

Which commercial is more full of shit?
	Norwegian Black Gold Hunters
	Lying British fuckwad
pollcode.com free polls

I need daggers...

Is that Kirsha Kaechele on those mysterious St. Claude Avenue billboards?

I thought she was short o' cash.  She has the money to buy billboard space with CBS, yet she doesn't have the cash to clean up the pile of shit she left in her own neighborhood?

Wow.  What kind of person goes into a neighborhood...takes a dump in other people's yard...then posts a big picture of herself dancing over it?

That really takes narcissism to a whole new level.  You think she was fucking Bennett or Meffert?  They should have gotten along swimmingly, no?  Could someone text her Wimpy Loiry's number?  That's a match made in heaven.  Maybe she'll follow the next big disaster to whor...I mean stardom.

Hey...I found a Brabalfish

Foraging through the Benetech forrest, I found this elusive Brabalfish swimming in a stream:

Interesting little company between Plaquemines Parish District Attorney, Chuck Ballay and his law partner, former Plaquemines Sheriff's (Hingle) attorney, former Plaquemines Parish attorney (hired by Plaquemines Pres. Nungessor), Stephen Braud.

Zurik has already laid out the Braud/Bennett thread which ran through multiple layers of Plaquemines Parish government and the potential conflicts of interest on Braud's part.  I'm curious if this company, Brabal Investments, was also on Benetech's payroll or involved in any business investments with Bennett.

My zombie intuition is atingle when it comes to Brabal, Bennett, Braud, Nungessor and Hingle.

OK that was really bad, but it does rhyme.  

Mr. O' Dwyer

I have to admit I've only casually looked into the Ashton O'Dwyer story.

My interest is increasing.  I spoke with Mr. O'Dwyer on the phone today and I plan on taking a harder look at his claims.  The videos he has produced are rather complicated and if you don't have a basic background on his story, it's even harder to follow.  Nonetheless....here is his latest offering:

King Georges just can't stop throwing turds

Last night I got a curious friend request on Facebook....take a look

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003053869217

You know if you wanted to do this surreptitiously, you'd think you would know better than to be the first person to friend the page:

Since last night, it's gone from Landrue to Blandview....so clever.  Also, missing from the original page last night...when you clicked on a link in the info section it took you here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Marcello

I guess they lacked the courage of their conviction to keep that one up....don't blame them.

I am guessing this is yet another brilliant idea financed by King Georges and executed by his former online campaign strategists.  If you remember, we exposed some of their bullshit during the last mayoral election.

I don't think King G got the memo that he lost the last election.  Either that or he's already campaigning for the next mayoral election.  That should excite about 1/4 of the city who got paid by the Georges campaign in the last election....but then didn't vote for him.

I guess King G just can't shake those adolescent tendencies he's so fond of from his glory days at Tulane.

 

You'd think he has enough to worry about instead of throwing shit at MML.

Good night, sweet prince.

You were a constant in our lives, Goatee.....trip the Infinite Loop, Captain Fantastic!

Comment Bump: Have their been any "independent" seafood tests?

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Big Fix Presser":

"Cheesing out"?

C'mon.

I have a basic question: are there any independent (you know, I mean not paid for by anyone remotely influenced by the $$$ or politics of it either way) scientific reports on say a random sampling of oyster poboys or seafood gumbos, or raw or boiled seafood of any kind, from various restaurants or seafood stores?

That does or does not exist, is or is not possible?

The answer is yes and their is great cause for concern:


BP Oil Spill Seafood Sampling Project Results Overview

Tissue

Alkylated PAHs were and continue to be detected in aquatic seafood species from the wetlands and estuaries along the Louisiana coast from Atchafalaya Bay eastward to the Louisiana/Mississippi border.

Oyster

Oyster samples have contaminated with up to 8,815 to 12,500 mg/kg Oil Range Organic Petroleum Hydrocarbons.  The oyster samples have also contained up the 4 Alkylated PAHs, Fluoranthene, Naphthalene, Phenanthrene, and Pyrene in concentrations of 1.4 to 63 ug/kg.

Blue Crab

Blue crab samples have contained up to 2,230 to 3,583 mg/kg Oil Range Organic Petroleum Hydrocarbons and up to 4 Alkylated PAHs, Fluoranthene, Naphthalene, Phenanthrene and Pyrene in concentrations from 84.6 to 162 ug/kg.

Shrimp

Shrimp samples have contained up to 8,356 mg/kg Oil Range Organic Petroleum Hydrocarbons and 5 Alkylated PAHs, Anthracene, Fluoranthene, Naphthalene, Phenanthrene and Pyrene up to 69.4 ug/kg.

Mussel

A mussel sample was contaminated with 6,900 mg/kg Oil Range Organic Petroleum Hydrocarbons and the Alkylated PAHs Anthracene, 2-Methylnaphthalene, Naphthalene, and Phenanthrene at a total concentration of 386 ug/kg.

Fish, Crab and Snail

Samples of fin fish, fiddler crab, hermit crab and snail contained up to 21,575 mg/kg Oil Range Organic Petroleum Hydrocarbons and the Alkylated PAH Phenanthrene.

The problem is that any independent testing is dismissed as non-scientific and simply not recognized by regulatory agencies as "valid". Once again...I believe the government and regulatory agencies have lied to us in order to help cover up the impact of the spill.

You must put your trust in the Ministry of Seafood and Propaganda.  

Seriously, whether or not you eat the seafood...it's up to you.  I just ask that you understand the risks and listen to those voices who have seen this type of tragedy before.  Let them speak as to whether or not you can trust your government:

The Big Fix Presser

One of today's good reads is over at Drake's Place regarding a new study on the safety of Gulf seafood.

Even though, the yellow blog thinks I'm cheesing out over The Big Fix documentary, I'm going to go Munster and keep harping on the spill issues all week.

In regards to the safety of Gulf seafood, I'm not as flippant about the issue as Jeffrey.  I've seen too much evidence and heard the issues directly from the fishermen themselves.  I'm not telling anyone to stop eating it....it's up to you, it's your health, it's your life.  At least listen to what some of the fishermen have to say about the matter:

Donations

Much love and thanks to BB and GR for the donations. Ashe'

Casual late night reading...

Interesting story.

"Asked if he provided Coastal with any information about which properties qualify for the parish grants, Rodrigue said the amount of information was simply too vast for him to have provided his employer with any special advantage. "With the hundreds of properties I dealt with, I'd have to be Houdini to remember all of that," he said."

It's either the stupidest analogy I've ever heard...or perhaps....the most brilliant.  


I need to quiz this man on the biography of Houdini.

Go here

Now.

Forget tar patties...

....try tar logs.

When I shot the previously posted interview with Bay St. Louis resident, John Gooding, he showed me numerous "tar logs" they had found on Ship Island, Mississippi immediately following Tropical Storm Lee.  Check this out:



These things were turned over to the Coast Gaurd and the Mississippi DEQ....they came back and claimed it was not oil from BP.  John was told by the Coast Guard that these things were "machine grease mixed with aluminum shavings".  Right.  Apparently there are some octopi doing some heavy industrial work at the bottom of the Gulf.

Just so you understand how many of these things washed onto the shore...please watch this video of the day the tar logs were collected:



I have sent one of the tar logs off to a lab for independent analysis, as soon as I get the results back I will let you know what they are.

Folks, please wake up.  We still have a very serious problem in the Gulf and if we don't raise hell now we are going to pay a heavy toll for decades to come.

Please attend the press conference for the documentary film, The Big Fix, tomorrow, 2 pm, at the Contemporary Arts Center.  Now is the time to make your voice heard and this film may be the best...and last...chance we have to tell the rest of the country we are still battling the BP spill.  I think the premiere is already sold out but the press conference is just as important....see you there.

Comment Bump: The Big Fix

Red has left a new comment on your post "The Big Fix":

I had almost the exact same experience as the guy in the first the video. Twice since the oil spill I ate fried oysters from two different nice restaurants - one was a Brennan's. The first time my ovaries got so inflamed I couldn't walk for three days. The second time my formerly dormant colitis (ulcer in my colon) started bleeding and, regardless of various medicines that usually work, it didn't stop for 1 1/2 months. I ended up being hospitalized for 9 days because of it. I tried to tell the doctor I thought my illnesses were related to eating post-oil spill gulf coast seafood and I was scoffed at.

I know my body and I know for a fact that our seafood is not safe. Whenever I eat seafood from other locales I'm fine. If I eat so much as a mouthful of Gulf seafood, my stomach begins to cramp and burn. No one wants to even hear about it cause it cuts into their 'quality of life'. No one wants to give up eating local seafood. No one wants to deal with the economic hit to our tourism and restaurant industry and what it would take to mitigate that. No one wants to deal with the long arduous battle against BP and their power and resources. So we ignore the obvious and eat poisoned seafood instead.

We listened to the same rational from Bush after 9/11 and it was to our detriment. "keep shopping, traveling, consuming. Don't let 'the enemy' win by changing our lifestyle". Following the advice of an incompetent and his capitalistic lifestyle prescription as an antidote to what ails this country got us into a massive phony war and ultimately disemboweled our economy. Using common sense on either of these fronts would save lives, money and our future. Unfortunately I see us repeating the same self destructive route with this oil spill that we took with 9/11: sticking our heads in the sand and accepting the lies we're being fed. 

"...these are Grand Lies"

The Big Fix: Trailer

Please attend the Big Fix press conference this Friday, 2 pm, at the Contemporary Arts Center.

This film may be the best opportunity we have to get the truth out about the reality of this oil spill.

The LAI contract(s)

I've been researching the questionable Louis Armstrong International Airport contract with Picke Construction.  I think I have a much clearer picture of what happened and I want to share what I've found.  I need to file a public records request for the contracts but I just haven't had the time or resources to do that yet.

Here is what I THINK happened.

To begin with...there were two contracts in question.  One went to Picke (not sure how much yet, but I think it was about 3-4 million) and a smaller one went to Benetech.  The Picke contract was to renovate an entire concourse and the Benetech contract was to renovate a bathroom.  I believe the Benetech contract was for an even 1 million dollars.

Both companies defaulted before the work was finished.

I am not sure yet about exactly why the Picke contract went into default but I believe the bond company, Infinity Surety, owned by a guy named George Black of Texas (of course), was found to be a bogus company.

In regards to the Benetech contract, I know a little bit more.  Apparently, Bennett received the 1 million dollars from the city and dispensed 300k of it to subcontractors to begin the work.  However, he then stopped paying the subs (which was his M.O.) and the contract went into default.  He kept the remaining 700k.

Now...here are the issues.  I do not believe the city ever recovered any money back from either Picke or Benetech on either contract.  At this point, I'm not even sure we filed suit against them.  At the very least, both companies should have been reported to the state on ethics issues and both should have been banned from receiving any future city or state contracts.  That didn't happen.  They continued to accrue more contracts including Benetech's federal, 50 million dollar, A.C.E. contract.

Why did our city attorney's office not pursue those companies for restitution and why were they not reported to state officials?

Even more egregious is the issue of how Picke's bonding company, Infinity Surety, qualified for the bid in the first place.

All bonding companies involved in city and state contracts must be approved by what is called the T-list.  The T stands for treasury.  The U.S. Treasury Dept. provides a list of approved bonding companies which city and state governments must refer to when qualifying all bids for construction contracts.

Infinity Surety was never approved on the T-list.   This begs the question,  "How did the Picke (and possibly Benetech) bid ever get approved by the city attorney's office?"

T-list approval is a basic requisite for any bid to qualify.  Whoever approved Picke's bid "overlooked" this basic requirement.

On top of that, I have heard scuttlebutt (hell hath no fury) that a certain city attorney actually took the competing bids for the LAI bathroom renovation job over to Aaron Bennet's house the night before the bid was to be awarded.  Aaron was allowed to tweak Benetech's bid to ensure they got the contract.  That....of course....is very much illegal.

If that rumor is true...it may not only lead to criminal charges it may even lead to civil charges against the city on behalf of the losing bidders.

The damage these bastards have done may haunt us well past the Nagin era.

I will try to get more info. as soon as I can.       

How full of caga is this guy?

This was one of the webpages on Benetech's old website.  They reportedly sent this to A.C.E. when the questions begin to arise that Benetech actually qualified for the disabled veteran clause:

That's amazing.  He actually claimed he was a combat vet.  Was that the first Gulf War?  Nope...previous to 1987.  Was it Vietnam?  Maybe if he served as a 3 year old.  Was this guy even in the military or was he making that up as well?

Also...I've figured out some stuff on the LAI contract(s).  I will post on that later on today.  

The Big Fix

This Friday, 2pm @ the CAC....please attend the press conference for the documentary film, The Big Fix.  More info at the Krewe of Truth.

This film is extremely important as it's the best chance the Gulf Coast has of exposing the truth of what's actually happened in the wake of the BP oil spill.  I will be at the presser shooting it...I think it's important to document everything that has gone on in the wake of this spill in order to at least set the historic record straight.

Since the spill, I've been documenting (video) the ongoing health problems and continuing barrage of oil washing up onto the Mississippi and Louisiana shores.  The oil did not disappear.  There are no magic microbes.  The seafood is not safe....yes...you heard me....the seafood is not safe....don't kid yourself.  I wanted to believe it as badly as anyone...but it just ain't fo' true.

Don't believe me?  These two pictures were taken today...right off the edge of Cat Island in Mississippi.  The witnesses said the sheens were miles long.

This is the general area where these pictures were taken:

This stuff is continually coming on shore, not only on the MS. barrier islands, it's coming in on the main coast as well.  Ship Island is currently open and has been for the entire summer.  I will have more on that later in the week.

These are two interviews I conducted for LEAN a couple of weeks ago.  The Mississippi coast, in particular, is seeing continual waves of oil coming in shore.  Mississippi officials are actually "beach farming" the affected areas and you will see the video evidence of that in the following interviews.

 



Much more evidence to come.  Much more.  Please stay tuned and please show your support for exposing BP's cover up by attending "The Big Fix" press conference and the film at The New Orleans Film Festival.  This could be the best opportunity we have to bring this issue back up on the national stage.  Please help...occupy the CAC during this press conference.  

Ashe'

I'd like to make an apology to Greg Meffert...

...I once said he had the biggest ego and biggest mouth in the city. Man, was I ever wrong:

 Aaron Bennett thrives in the heat of enterprises many would shun

I don't even know what to say about this.  He's just gleefully admitting he bribed Nagin.  I really am gobsmacked to the point that I can't even comment on how stupid this is.

Well...a couple of things I would point out in this article.  Reading between the lines and perhaps some subtle foreshadowing on Hammer's part....

"Sources close to the case tell The Times-Picayune that after Bennett began cooperating with investigators, he tried to talk to Fradella in an apparent attempt to help the feds make their case."

If that's true...and I'm not convinced it is....that would mean Fradella still hasn't cut a deal with the Feds.  What this also means is that Ray Nagin is almost certainly about to get indicted.  It also means there must be other people the Fed wants to nail in this investigation and they need Fradella to sing.

Who are those people?  Well...Hammer throws up some suspect contracts Bennett was involved in:

"Bennett could be a fountainhead for investigators because he has held so many public contracts with different government entities -- with the city of New Orleans, Louis Armstrong International Airport, New Orleans public schools, the St. Bernard Parish port, Plaquemines Parish, the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's Office, the Army Corps of Engineers."

Interesting that the LAI contract is thrown in.  I think the MSM will soon find out what happened with that contract and we'll get some answers.

"This is not the end but the beginning of the next phase," Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, said when Bennett was charged. "This could be something that would overlap parish boundaries."

River Birch, perhaps?

In the following years, he bundled illegal campaign contributions for federal elected officials, schmoozed at hot spots near and far with top local politicos and landed multimillion-dollar federal and local government contracts for everything from storm-abandoned vehicle removal to technology management to large Army Corps of Engineers and port construction projects to house lifting and shoring.

Whoop...there it is!  That abandoned vehicle removal "contract" which there is no record of at City Hall.  I think that's because it was handed out as an emergency contract after the storm but the details of the contract don't seem to be recorded.  Ever wonder where those cars ended up?  I think I have found a couple of companies in Texas and Florida who may have been the lucky recipients of those waterlogged vehicles...more on that to come.  Speaking of...

The next year, the attention that surrounded the Chicago and Las Vegas plane trip Bennett arranged for Nagin didn't slow Bennett down a bit. Benetech soon hired one of the city attorneys for consulting services, and a year after that Benetech took over a Home Solutions contract to do city-paid construction work at the French Market -- work that got more lucrative with a series of change orders.

Interesting that he didn't name Ellis as the attorney.  Is he threatening to sue you now as well, Dave?

even though Bennett at that point already knew the feds had caught him on tape making a $10,000 payment to Hingle.

You know...one thing I want to point out....he must have done this after Zurik was already reporting on Hingle.  That's just fucking stupid.  So was this:

Last year, after one of his ex-wives supplied Benetech financial information to The Times-Picayune, he sent her a taunting text message with a nude photo of himself flexing his biceps, which she forwarded to the newspaper.

I got that pic as well and I posted it not knowing it was him.  I thought it was just a joke....well...I guess it was a joke.  What the kind of farking moron would do something like that?  This guy....jeez.

I almost wish he wouldn't have cooperated so I could watch that trial.  Well, I suppose I can at least hope for a Nagin trial.       

Comment Bump: All Roads Lead to King Georges

Of course....of course this makes sense.  Please read the previous post and comments then read this comment.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "They did merge":

As an aside, the property ownesrhip and parcel / description information for 2423 Bainbridge St Kenner is strangely not available on the JP Assessors site. It's one thing for the address not to pop up in the assessor site, it's a whole other for the property to have absolutely no description info, this is what turns up:

"Address: 2423 BAINBRIDGE ST
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lot: N/A
Square: N/A
Section: N/A
Subdivision: N/A
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Area: KENNER
Zip Code: 70062
Neighborhood: CITY OF KENNER
Council District: 3 - BYRON LEE "

This may be a topic for another day (or these parcels could be related, who knows, because there are a lot of them) but the property ***right next door 2501 Bainbridge St Kenner shows up with absolutely ZERO assessed value (though obviously having a lot of structures and work on it):

"Parcel# Owner Location Description Assessment Action

3923110751 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3923110755 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3822313271 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3701410110 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3430884503 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3420832373 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3420835282 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3300507545 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3200312772 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3100129862 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0
3100129864 M & M GAMING INC 2501 BAINBRIDGE ST 0"

And if you look up M&M Gaming it is owned by none other than John Georges.

The zero assessments in JP for some major properties is something that ha turned up on Slabbed before.

Just an fyi, but those are a lot of parcels, it is the property next door and again there is no ownership or description info for 2423 Bainbridge itself so who knows. 


Hey isn't Chehardy now the JP assessor?

They did merge

So it looks like Picke's (originally an HSOA/Fradella subsidiary) assets were dumped into Bennett's Associated Contractors.

I knew this but I couldn't remember exactly what happened.  I surmise once Fradella got tagged by the SEC, he dumped all his Picke contracts, I think mostly N.O. contracts, into Associated Contractors.

I believe Picke was the HSOA company who originally had the airport contract, the Picke website is no longer:

Anonymous to me
show details 9:51 am (1 day ago)
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "All Roads Lead to HSOA?":

http://pickeconstruction.com

It is a beautiful website. It looks professional and polished. The writing on it is a little nauseating. Were it not for the news stories about money problems and lawsuits, I'd be impressed by them at first glance.

Under investors they tell you they area wholly owed subsidiary of Home Solutions of America. They say they work on the Gulf Coast, but all their projects are in New Orleans, and most of them seem to involve getting government contracts. And they DO have a multi-million dollar contract out at the airport.

Under the projects heading, they tell you right up front:

French Market Shed Renovation
$6 905 834

Orleans Parish Prison
$1 779 771

Louis Armstrong International Airport
$4 324 555

New Orleans Public School
$20 739 176

French Quarter Sidewalks
$ 750 000

Tulane University-- Emergency Temporary Housing
$1 502 232

Would someone check my math, please, because I think that adds up to $36 001 568.

That is a lot of public money to entrust to a company that seems to have big problems.

Does anyone know what happened with that airport contract?  I thought we ended up in a lawsuit against Picke but I don't remember if it was settled or what.  Any help?

I admit....this one fell into the memory hole.  I never followed up to find out what went on with that airport contract.

BTW

When I write posts, I don't edit.  I just kick them out and then edit...hopefully....within 24 hours.  Sometimes, I never get back to them for months, maybe years.

I just edited this post from 7 am this morning and I think it's ready for primetime.  In other words, I think it's past "stream of consciousness".

The post right below this one...not so much.  That is simply me looking back through my notes.  I appreciate any help in my studies.

Diggin' up bones

A Bone to Picke

Anonymous said...

ARRGH...http://www.secinfo.com/dujPe.vcn.a.htm

November 1 2006 "Home Solutions of America Acquires Associated Contractors; Acquisition to Allow Company to Participate in $270M Rebuilding Project for Stennis Space Center"

Contact people: Jeff Mattich (HSOA) and Matt Kreps, Halliburton Investor Relations.

Interesting huh?

Read that whole thread...including this comment:

 Anonymous said... all of those HSOA subs have been sold or are defunct. i dont think there is anything of note left to the old picke/hsoa now that fradella is gone. a contractors license search shows the picke license is now registered to an address in kenner. the key here is what did hsoa give to nagin for these contracts? we know at least a trip was given but i think there were other things that were undisclosed. why would nagin meet so frequently with fradella? does nagin go the boh brothers, Gootee etal for regular meetings? why were the hsoa meetings redacted? ..one other tidbit just for fun. when HSOA was putting out their story to wall street they hosted an investors day in new orleans. the keynote speaker was virginia boulet. AUGUST 28, 2009 9:16:00 AM CDT

Don't give two shits about Boulet but note that Picke's contractor's license was transferred to an address in Kenner.  A "Pump and Dump" doesn't just mean you're dumping the stock, it means you're transferring the entire "wealth" of the company...to....perhaps...another company?

Remember that Fradella originally had the French Market renovation contract and it then ended up in Bennett's hands...I could be mistaken on that but I'm pretty sure that's how it transpired.  And I'm still not sure what went on with the Airport contract or the lawsuit the city filed against HSOA.  A lawsuit which I believe may have been in the hands of a certain city attorney.

Also check out this post, particularly this comment:


Ndiyo. Kuna mengi zaidi hapa kuliko hukutana jicho.

... Makini makini.

Anonymous said...

I heard that according to the Department of Insurance, neither Infinity Surety nor Infinity Surety of Louisiana Inc. were ever licenced insurance companies in LA.

They never were authorized to make bid bonds or to write surety insurance.

The case you are pointing out appears to be some sort of personal injury suit. I don't understand that. Is this that Houston bred moron again?

Is THIS the personal injury work his Texas law firm (with the New Orleans City Hall telephone number) does?

Is he, as a City Attorney, allowed to do the side work he did for Aaron Bennett's Benetech if Bennett is part owner of a company (Picke) that gets no bid city contracts? Is that allowed?

And that same company uses moron's wife as an agent or attorney, even in business dealing with the city?

I can't decide if these people are insane baffoons or criminal masterminds.

Who has the contracts at the airport, and how about that story in the paper about Federal City over in Algiers?

I know a lot of amazing men who are Marines or former Marines, and I'd like to be for the investment over there, but that map of Sparky's is unforgetable.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2009 3:13:00 PM CDT 

Yeah...hell...just read that whole comment thread.

Let's talk in a new comment thread...and we'll all look at Sparky's map.

werd bitches :)

   

Prometheus Fallen

I've shed a few tears today...perhaps that's hokey to some but I really can't think of another person, outside of my immediate friends and family, who has influenced my life as much as Jobs (and Woz).

Most of the peeps on the planet who use Apple products don't understand the magnitude of what Jobs, Woz and the Homebrew Computer Club did to liberate the power of computer technology to the masses.  They were stealing it, re-inventing it, liberating it....when TPTB would have stifled it and kept it to themselves.

Jobs and Woz....are what makes America great.  They are what makes humanity great.

Trip the Infinite Loop, Steve...Ashe'.   

Xanax and Highballs

Let's ponder who used that wicked combination to go to sleep last night:

1.  Stephen Braud

2.  Billy Nungesser

3.  Bob Ellis

4.  Frank Fradella

5.  Ray Nagin

Bennett's indictment should come as no surprise but the possibilites of him cooperating with the Fed are elephantine.  I've said all along I believe the Bennett/Fradella enterprise held more deep, dark secrets than the Meffert/St. Pierre enterprise ever did....especially in respect to our former mayor.

I'm not saying all five of those men (- Fradella who is already indicted on SEC charges) will face the gallows.  I'm just saying that if Bennett has gone canary, the aforementioned men should be extremely worried.  Even Fradella...who has already been indicted...should be worried.

The glacial pace of the DOJ should now make perfect sense.

They will carry the candles on their back

Remember, right around the time of the St. Pierre trial it was rumored that the Fed was attempting to negotiate with Fradella, hoping he would cooperate....

...he refused.

Shortly after that, The Fed announced they were introducing a shitpile of new evidence into Fradella's case.  Evidence which undoubtedly means the original SEC charges are going to simply be the appetizer to the impending main course.

Unless....Frank cooperates.

He didn't.

Now Bennett has flipped.

Not good for Frank.

Definitely not good for Braud, Ellis and Nagin.  I'm sure there are other names I'm not considering but I think these are the top five, fo' true.

I may throw in Billy Shultz as an aperitif but I'll hedge that gratuity for a moment.

There is one other name in this equation but I'm purposely leaving that person out.  Having some exclusive insight into this story, I am sympathetic to that person and I hope the best for her/him.  

Oh....I missed it by two weeks.  I need to hedge my predictions better.

Wakka-Bam!

Sheriff Jiff Hingle, businessman Aaron Bennett to be charged by feds, sources say

Superdome: "Lord won't you buy me, Mercedes Benz"

I've tried to shy away from pure punditry in the past year or so on AZ.  I made up my mind that unless I had some bits of information to share, I should forego the time it takes to post.  That, of course, doesn't mean I don't gleefully inject my own opinion into everything but I do try to make sure I'm being informative without just being another asshole with an opinion.  I aspire to be another asshole with an opinion and some good information to boot.

On this matter, I have no new information but I would like to share my opinion.

Here's what I think....in the grand scheme of things I think this could be a really good thing for the city.

Now, I am no fan of mega-corporations and I am definitely not a fan of Tom Bentsen.  I also love the fact that the dome is called the "Louisiana Superdome".  Yes...it is ours....it's sacred ground in ways that not even Wrigley Field is to Chicago.  It will always be a metaphorical anchor in most New Orleanians' subconscious.  Nowhere else in the city has there been so much joy and misery under one roof (unless you remember Monaco Bob's but that's another discussion altogether).

The dome has survived attempts to destroy it and subsequently became a beacon of the city's palingenesis after the storm.  It harbored our citizens in a moment of crisis and then became a prison for our citizens in that same moment of crisis.  It's generated millions and millions of dollars for our city and state and many of those millions were doled out as graft and slush funds.

It is, at once, old and new...loved and controversial...iconic and tragic.  Its history and the emotions it invokes are as complicated as the city itself.  Explaining what the edifice means to the city is like trying to explain "Creole" to a tourist.

It has come to define New Orleans as much as St. Louis Cathedral, Congo Square, Bourbon Street, St. Charles Avenue, etc.  The dome is us.

The idea that it is now about to be branded with a corporate logo, from a non-Louisiana corporation, is unsettling to say the least.  For me, it conjures up stomach turning images of "Capital One Superdome", "Bank of America Superdome", or Legba forbid, "BP Superdome".  That would no doubt end up in an "Occupy the Dome" protest movement or much worse.

But here's the thing...looking past the moral argument of "Is it OK to rename the dome with a corporate logo?", let's look at who the actual corporation is.  It's Mercedes Benz.  It's a company that's been in existence since 1926...a company that is associated with the pursuit of perfection.  It's a little pretentious, especially for New Orleans, but in the grand scheme of things I don't think I could pick too many other companies I would feel comfortable with having their name on the dome.  At least companies that could afford to do it.

Apple...yes.  Google...maybe.  Entergy....never.  I would love to see Abita, Tabasco...Dirty Coast :)....but that's just not feasible.

My point is...looking past the moral argument and looking at the qualifier...who the corporate sponsor actually is....I'm OK with this.  I'm especially OK if it relieves a financial burden on the state.  Especially if MB takes an active role in our city and hopefully our education system.  Especially if MB considers building infrastructure in the state.  Especially if it turns Germans on to the Saints and we expand our fan base across the ocean blue.

Maybe MB will build a new Deutsches Haus next to the dome.

Maybe I'm deluded and pipe dreaming.  I don't know but I see the potential and in respect to the modern corporation, Mercedes Benz seems to be one of integrity.  Maybe I'm wrong and if I am, please educate me.

If the byline to this development would not have included the qualifier, MB, I would probably feel completely different.  Especially if the corporation was a Goldman Sacs, Halliburton, etc.  But putting a face on the sponsor, for me, makes all the difference.  I'm not saying I'm ecstatic about this but I see the potential and I'm willing to accept it because I somewhat trust the face I'm looking at.  I hope I'm right.

What I desire, is man's red fire...

Comment Bump: Bill "Wimpy, Jr." Loiry prices his new snake oil

mandinola has left a new comment on your post "I want to drone attack Baton Rouge":

I received in the mail today the bankruptcy papers on William "Bill" Loiry. He's charging $450 per seat at his DC event Oct. 25th. FYI..... (sorry if it's not related to this story, just wanted to get ya the info.)
Cheers 

The $450 Hamburger...Wimpy, Jr....you sly bastard.

I want to drone attack Baton Rouge

Gene Mills calls for transparency....unbelievable.  I guess he'd be willing to open up the LFF's book then, huh?

(cough...cough)...uhhmmm...excuse me...

Benetech deemed ineligible for federal set-aside program

The federal government has booted controversial contractor Benetech from a set-aside program aimed at steering contracts to disabled veterans after The Times-Picayune published stories showing that Aaron Bennett, rather than his father, a Vietnam veteran, actually ran the firm.


Last year, The Times-Picayune reported that although William Bennett holds Benetech's contractor's license, he has no control over the company's daily operations.

Yeah?  Well...there is this from two years ago:

American Zombie: "We" deserve a piece of the action

Just sayin'....