Hang On: The Times-Picayune for Wednesday, August 13, 2008

1) Turns out the mayor of Mandeville, whose antics and frantics have made him a rival to New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin for negative press, now saw that his relatives were awarded no-bid contracts in violation of state law. I suggest Hizzoner Eddie Price start looking for other work, ’cause he ain’t long for City Hall.

2) A Katrina transplant to Texas, who narrowly escaped conviction for murder in 1999 when a local jury could not agree on a guilty verdict, later moved to Dallas and offed someone. The Texans who formed the jury took care of business and convicted him for first degree murder. Rondel Allen will be a resident of the state pen for the rest of his life. Sorry, Texas friends. If our people had done their job, a man would still be alive today.

3) Our fair state today becomes the last of all fifty to ban cockfighting. What took us so long?

4) In Greeley, Colorado, the body of a 25-year-old suicide victim has been found in the Pawnee National Grasslands. Standing guard beside the decomposing body of Jake Baysinger for the past six weeks was Cash, his German shepherd. The dog had been surviving on mice and rabbits, authorities say, but was thin and dehydrated. The very definition of faithfulness.

5) Critics of China are having fun with a little Milli-Vanilli trick that government played at the opening ceremony a few days ago. A wonderful 7-year-old, Yang Peiyi, sang “Ode to the Motherland” but because she has a chubby face and crooked teeth, a 9-year-old child actor was recruited to lip sync the words. It’s all about the government’s need to present a perfect image to the world, we’re told. If they’re serious about wanting to improve their image, they ought to end religous oppression and take a stand for human rights.

6) A Covington woman who served on the board of “Wishing Well Foundation USA, Inc.,” a Metairie nonprofit set up to grant last wishes to seriously ill children, has been accused of embezzling $17,300 from the organization. She was the accountant and had been trusted. A German shepherd is more faithful.


7) Where the old Lafitte Housing Project formerly stood–it was recently demolished–soon the 27-acre plot will begin seeing 517 new residential units go up. This is down from the 896 units in the old development, built in 1941 and damaged by Katrina.

8) A judge in Plaquemines Parish is on trial for double-dipping. Among other charges, he was reimbursed for attending legal seminars the past few years both by his court and by the state Supreme Court. I’ve known pastors to serve on boards where their expenses were paid by the denominational agency they were overseeing and as well as by their local church. When the news got out, a scandal followed, the church suffered and the minister lost his job. A German shepherd would have been faithful.

9) Columnist Leonard Pitts, in an op-ed piece titled “Edwards joins the parade of humiliation,” opens with this: “There is obviously no way to quantify this, but I regard Bill Clinton as the most thoroughly humiliated person in all of human history. Who else even comes close?”

Overstating it a bit, I’d say, but still. Pitts speaks of the lesson that Clinton’s infidelity and cover-up lying should have taught every politician, then adds: “We soon learned that Jesse Jackson wasn’t paying attention. Nor was former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer. Or Sen. Larry Craig. Or Motown Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Last week, another name was added to the ranks of the obviously inattentive: the golden boy himself, former North Carolina senator John Edwards.”

10) Wednesday is the day for the Times-Picayune to talk about books. I look forward to it every week. Some excerpts from this morning’s edition….

…Nell Saussy, age 81, actress and musician, talks about her reading. How much does she read before deciding to give up on a book? “Maybe 20 pages. If it hasn’t grabbed me (by then), I’m out of there.” As a child, she read “Gone With the Wind” at one sitting–right on through the night, undercovers. She indulges herself in buying books because, as a former smoker, she decided it was all right to spend the same amount on books she previously wasted on tobacco.

…Phyllis Montana LeBlanc rode out Katrina and has written her memoir: “Not Just the Levees Broke: My Life Before and After Katrina.” She says, “I truly believe that home is where the heart is and when you say ‘New Orleans,’ you might as well say ‘my heart.’ This city is for people who really love it, really want to see it come back. I’m one of those people.” Spike Lee featured her in his movie on Katrina and wrote the foreword.

This wasn’t in the paper, but Saussy’s comments about her reading habits reminded me of some insights from 18th century literary figure Dr. Samuel Johnson.

–“Alas, madam! How few books are there of which one can ever arrive at the last page!”

–“Those authors who would find many readers must endeavor to please while they instruct.”

–“The two most engaging powers of an author–new things are made familiar and familiar things are made new.”

–“Nothing would ever be accomplished if all possible objections must first be overcome.” That has little to do with writing, but everything to do with leadership, one of our perennially favorite subjects.

11) Regarding Olympian champion swimmer Michael Phelps, veteran sports columnist Peter Finney ranks him among his three all-time favorite athletes, the other two being Tarzan and Tiger Woods. When Michael Phelps was 7 years old, he writes, he began swimming the backstroke because he didn’t like putting his face in the water.

Johnny Weismuller, champion swimmer of the 1924 Olympics and known ever since as Tarzan, once signed a $500-a-week contract with BVD swimsuits. Their slogan was: “You swim faster in BVDs because the stripes go up and down.” Weismuller’s best time in the 100 meters was 58 seconds, Finney writes, a full 6 seconds slower than the best women swimmers of today.

The comics and puzzles were in the paper also–great stuff you can’t get in the on-line version, Charlie–but I’ll spare you the details.

“What will you do when you retire?” my wife Margaret sometimes asks. I’m tempted to answer: “Read the paper.”

I’m finishing up my vacation this week, so reading is what this week is all about. Yesterday, the grandkids and I visited the local library. The girls came out with more Nancy Drew, and I, being far more literate and mature, checked out four westerns.

5 thoughts on “Hang On: The Times-Picayune for Wednesday, August 13, 2008

  1. I’m glad you posted that about Nell Saussy and her reading; it makes me feel better. My son loves to make fun of how many books I have left with a bookmark stuck about 20 pages in! I’ve always felt badly about it, but maybe some of it is the BOOK, and not just me!

  2. Good Morning Joe,

    In the August 13, 2008 edition of our hometown newspaper, The Leavenworth Times, an editorial apology was printed regarding a photograph in the August 12th edition.

    The picture was of vandalism at a local American Legion facility——the “f” word was spray painted on the side of the building in numerous places. After phone-calls from offended subscribers, the apology showed up. Among other things, the apology said, “We apologize for this temporary lack of judgement on our part.”

    Seems to me this is a classic demonstration of, “It is always easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission”! One wonders what the next “lack of judgement” will be?

  3. Joe,

    It is one thing to read things online but altogether another to hold a newspaper or book in your hands.

    Someone once described a book this way… “No wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It’s so easy to use, even a child can operate it. Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere — even sitting in a chair.”

    And by the way… from one western reader to another, thanks for introducing me to Loran Paine! You mentioned him several articles ago and I went to a used book store and found several. Maybe Louis L’Amour and Zane Gray can find room on the shelf for him.

    Serving Christ Together,

    Terry R

  4. Thanks, Terry. You’re not the first to have a problem with Lauran Paine’s name. Sounds like a female, doesn’t it. (The reason I wanted to point this out on the blog is to encourage others to find his western novels and enjoy them. Helps to have his name right.)

    –Joe

  5. Joe, after Van read one of the Lauran Paine books you left in the country, he quickly decided he wanted to read more of his works. I went on-line to see what he had written and how to go about getting additional books for him. Imagine my surprise to find out Mr. Paine was written more than 900 books and many of them using AKAs such as: John Armour, Reg Batchelor, Kenneth Bedford, Frank Bosworth, Mark Carrel, Robert Clarke, Richard Dana, J. F. Drexler, Troy Howard, Jared Ingersol, Hunter Liggett, J. K. Lucas, John Morgan, and John Kilgore. (Don’t you just know the latter is a relative?)

    Now I can take my list of authors with me as I investigate in the used book stores and the thrift stores. Gives new meaning to my existence.

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