[The American]

Mardi Gras is the tool of the devil!

[blackdog]

New Orleans is a disgusting town. Walk the streets at 6:00am to the stench of puke and booze. Look at it this way though, at least they are not in your back yard.

[Arkinsaw]

Mardi Gras is an evil plot by Harry Potter.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez!

[helmsman]

I once saw the biggest set of bazongas this side of the mason dixon line at a New Orleans Mardi Gras. And there were girls kissing each other and performing all sorts of debauched acts. I was sickened...I was, really!

[Dr. Luv]

"Twelve days of parades and lax police coverage practically beg infidels to join in the city's Mardi Gras festivities."

There's that word again...

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

Two things catalyze this transformation: beads and booze. Like nearly every other social problem, alcoholism and promiscuity are the lifeblood of this event.

Somebody from Cornell came down to N'Awlins and couldn't get any booze or babes, so he writes this stuff? Please.

[prisoner6]

Mardi Gras is the tool of the devil!

Mebbie...but dat food....Ahhh...Life IS good!

Made a big Gumbo last week. Gotta go get my King Cake today. Chowing on a Po' Boy raht now. Thinking mebbie for tomorrow I'll make Jambalaya with Chicken, Sausage and Tasso. Mebbie be wearin' my beads tomorrow too. Gonna being happy wit dat warm feeling in my tummy. Be singin' Allons a Lafayette and Bon Ton Roulet! Good cajun n zydeco n blues music...I gaurantee it...hehehe. Bon Ton Roulet!

prisoner6

[Rebelbase]

Every large city has debauchery of its own kind.

Some of my fondest memories of grade school were during Mardi Gras. Collecting beads, trinkets and dubloons thrown from the parade floats was the name of the game and if you did'nt have a pillow case full of the stuff by the end of the season you were a minor leaguer.

The crown jewel of parade paraphenalia was the Zulu coconut. If you managed to score one of those you were the envy of all your friends.

[Gumption]

After reading this, I want to go now more then ever!

[Axelsrd]

Mardi Gras...it's a beautiful thing. I live here and enjoy every bit of it. Was in the French Quarter this weekend and will be there tonight, tomorrow and even this coming weekend which is still quite festive just without the huge crowd. Drinks are great and the women are fine and oh, by the way, if you don't like it...shut the F@$# up and stay away.

[Landru]

"Most of these misguided individuals congregate in New Orleans; nearly four million morons journey there for this annual freak show."

HA!!
{G}

"Twelve days of parades and lax police coverage practically beg infidels to join in the city's Mardi Gras festivities."

To think; I was raked over the coals for 24 hours of, "FeStIvAL", too.
geshhhh.

...Landru's BetaIII is starting to look mighty good now, I'd bet.

[prisoner6]

The Big Easy holds so many conventions that it could expel Mardi Gras with few financial repercussions

Forgot to add...whoever wrote this silly article has their face screwed into a sewer drain. I'm surprised he didn't suggest getting rid of Mardi Gras and replacing it with a relgion based festival. Boy the money would flow in then.

prisoner6

[martin_fierro]

Sorry, but Brazilians during Carnaval make those in Nawleans look like amateurs:

[xzins]

I agree. It is appalling that this debauchery is supposedly in preparation for a period of Christian sacrifice. The history of Lent is that Christians look at the example of Christ who set his mind for his journey to the sacrifice of the cross, and that, likewise, we, too, would enter into a season of sacrifice.

[MadIvan]

The only time you'll catch me quoting French:

"La Chanson de Mardi Gras"

Les Mardi Gras s’rassemblent une fois par an
The Mardi Gras get together once a year
Pour d’mander la charité
To collect "charity"

Ils s’rassemblent une fois par an
They get together once a year
Tout al’ entour du grand moyeau All around the hub

Capitaine, capitaine, voyage ton flag
Captain, captain, wave your flag
Allons aller chez nos voisins
Let’s go visit our neighbors

Capitaine, capitaine, voyage ton flag
Captain, captain, wave your flag
Allons aller sur le chemin
Let’s get on the road

Les Mardi Gras d’mandent rentrée
The Mardi Gras request entry
À chaque maître et à chaque maîtresse
From each master and each mistress
Ils d’mandent la rentrée
They request entry
Avec tous les politesses
With all politeness

Donnez nous aut’s un ’tite poule gras
Give us a fat little chicken
Ou bien un ’tit peu d’riz
Or a little bit of rice
On vous invite de v’nir ce soir
We invite you to come tonight
Manger du bon gumbo
and eat some good gumbo

Voulez-vous reçevoir ces Mardi Gras
Will you receive the Mardi Gras
Cette grand bande de grand soulards
That great band of great drunkards?
Les Mardi Gras vous remerci bien
The Mardi Gras thank you
De vot’ bonne volonté
For your good will

Les Mardi Gras viennent de tout par tout
The Mardi Gras come from all over
Pour d’mander la charité
To collect the "charity"
Ils s’rassemblent de tout par tout
They come from all over
Mais principalement de grand Bayou
But mostly from the big bayou

I have to admit I rather like Louisana. The food and music are excellent, and there is something deeply satisfying about the spectacle of Frenchmen who cannot use the excuse that they cannot speak English. ;)

Regards, Ivan

[College Repub]

Mardia Gras parties on college campuses are VERY fun :) :) :) :)

[Chairman_December_19th_Society]

No one is asking you or anyone else to go. There are quite a few who do go, however, and they seem to enjoy it.

I lived in N'awlins for three years. Mardi Gras can be an absolutely great time. It can also be wretched - it's up to you. Personally, I had a blast.

Also, while living in N'awlins, I learned what the definition of a foreigner is: anyone who lives north of Lake Pontchatrain. Some folks in NOLA believe there should be a border crossing on the twin-span and Causeway bridges. Maybe there's a reason.

[tonycavanagh]

Well I know where I am going for my next holiday abroad.

Cheers Tony

[PatD]

I have decided that the time has come: I, a sixty-two-year-old conservative woman, mother of two daughters, will now say a few approving words about sex and partying.

The Commandment says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Adultery is and was sex between two persons, at least one of whom is married to someone other than the other party. God did not see fit to mention sex between the entirely unmarried in His original ten-point Memo.

Organized religions have always been frightened of sexual pleasure. The Roman Catholic Church abjures even married couples from seeking "too much pleasure" from sex. Many of the decrees of the Church about sex and sexual conduct are plainly ultra vires, and have led to a large and permanent loss of communicants. I won't go into my theories about the reasons for these dicta just now. Suffice it to say that if God has a problem with pleasure, He certainly has a strange way of expressing it. "Out at sea, in His sea, there is pleasure, and more pleasure." (C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters.)

Granted that the lure of sex can lead us into unwise decisions. Granted that, if we fail to prepare adequately, sex can result in consequences we would dislike, and responsibilities that we can't discharge and therefore should not risk. These two statements are true of nearly every other human activity. They're not arguments against sex; they're arguments for prudence and rationality.

Now, concerning intoxication and partying in general: If you're personally ready, willing, and able to pay all the costs and deal with the consequences, it's your perfect right to play the drunken fool. Just don't expect your neighbors to approve of you, or to fish you out of whatever gutter you might land in.

And let's ease off on Britney Spears, shall we? She's pretty, talented, and rich, which makes all the carping about her sound an awful lot like losers' envy. Besides, she's an easy target, being a pop icon, so there's no real challenge in slandering her.

Long live the Republic!
Pat D'Artagnan

[SamAdams76]

Somebody is having a good time and it must be stopped!

Hey, I think Mardis Gras is pretty disgusting too and you wouldn't catch me anywhere near the place. But the author of this piece is really wound up tight! He sounds like the old farts who used to rail in the 1950s about Elvis' hips.