Free Republic

NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Mayor Ray Nagin's Martin Luther King Day remark that New Orleans will once again be a "chocolate city" has spawned a cottage industry of T-shirts. There are the "Chocolate City Police" shirts, which say "I'm not bitter" on the back, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. And then there are T-shirts that feature Nagin as Willy Wonka. Dolph Federico, who peddles the Willy Nagin shirts at imnotchocolate.com, said he has received orders from as far away as Norway and Malaysia. "No hard feelings, Ray," he said. "We're just trying to have fun." The mayor's statement,...

Louisiana survived Earl Long's trip to the nuthouse, so maybe New Orleans can survive Mayor Ray Nagin's apparent descent into lunacy. But Long managed to put his eccentric episodes behind him and remained a political force, going on to win a congressional election just before he died. Nagin may not be so lucky. It will be hard to recover from his Martin Luther King Day tirade, because it was not just insane. It was stupid. The mayoralty is there for any credible candidate who wants it, because Nagin just threw away the white vote that got him into office in...

[ Headline only at this point ... Stay Tuned for More Details ... the link takes you to an article already posted on Free Republic about politicians, other than Landrieu, who have benefitted from Abramoff's largesse] LANDRIEU AMONG DEMS WHO TOOK ABRAMOFF MONEY

On Aug. 1, I wrote about the legislators renting apartments at the newly renovated Pentagon Barracks in Baton Rouge at an unfair price. I sent letters to Gov. Blanco and Sen. Donald Hines, president of the Senate, but because of Katrina and Rita, I never received an acknowledgement. It is time to bring up this abuse again when every penny counts. Every taxpayer is going to paying for these two hurricanes for decades to come. It is fair and just for the people we elect to pay the market price of real estate. And, I guess I should remind them...

Photo by Terri FenselOnce a master of the universe, Jerry Luke LeBlanc now sits in the belly of the political beast, and the beast is eating its own. The first thing Jerry Luke LeBlanc does after shaking hands and offering a weak smile is grab a bottle of pills for his fiscal migraine. There are dark circles under his eyes and he's moving a little slow. "I'm having an Excedrin moment," he jests, shaking the bottle and exiting his office momentarily. It's understandable. In 2004 LeBlanc vacated his seat in the House of Representatives, where he chaired the House...

A politically connected motorcycle shop didn't have a license to sell travel trailers when it started providing $108 million worth of post-hurricane housing to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Louisiana Recreational and Used Motor Vehicle Commission on Tuesday found that Bourget's of the South violated state law when it sold trailers to FEMA without proper credentials. Bourget's is owned by the father and uncle of state Rep. Gary Smith, D-Norco. The commission decided against an offer by the uncle, Glen Smith, to plead no contest and pay a $10,000 fine for selling the trailers without the proper license. The...

Memo to governor's office outlines partisan Internet site BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- A confidential memo addressed to Gov. Kathleen Blanco's communications chief outlined a strategy for developing an anonymous Web site that would espouse the politics and positions of Louisiana's top Democrats, according to copies of the four-page document circulated Thursday. The proposed Web site would be used to counterbalance Republican messages becoming more organized and prevalent around Louisiana, according to the memo, which is addressed from John Copes to Bob Mann, a friend of Copes' and Blanco's communications director. "Currently, Democrats have no comparable structure from which to...

A totemic figure in L.A., Mr. Hayes has long emphasized problem-solving and individual responsibility. If you want to stop kids from shooting people , Mr. Hayes has told appalled black preachers and activists, stop blaming cops and "white folks" for urban tragedy and start blaming the lackadaisical inner-city family culture you support. Mr. Hayes spent last fall tooling around the fortified neighborhoods of South Los Angeles, knocking on security screens and urging stunned residents to vote Bush. He explained that the Democratic Party was the Klan's party in the 20th century, and the party of the slave trade before that....