A Tuneful Stroll thru my Hood

Posted: December 14, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: New Orleans | Tags: , , , , | 3 Comments

Swanspirit who runs Goddess Radio  sent me this link.  It’s a totally delightful song by the group The Be Good Tanyas.  There’s one more thing that I love … this was filmed in my neighborhood and there are many shots of where I live now and where I lived on Royal street when I lived in the quarter as well.  It’s full of post Katrina shots of the Bywater, The French Quarter and the Ninth Ward.  Just Enjoy!  And check out Swanspirit’s radio show if you get a chance.  It’s a delight too!

Here’s the link for the pod cast if you can’t catch it live.   Here’s the description:

Goddess Radio , hosted live every Saturday 10 AM – 1 PM by SwanSpirit , aka Swannie at Cygnus Radio;
http://www.cygnusradio.com.
Goddess Radio celebrates the
women of Independent Music, women with that divine spark of creativity , the finest voices and the very best music ; music not homogenised,sterilized ,or sexualised for mass consumption , but made by women musicians who make music because they love it.

The Ultimate Object Passes Quietly into the Night

Posted: December 12, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: | Comments Off on The Ultimate Object Passes Quietly into the Night

 leggy5This from today’s New York Times:

 

 

Bettie Page, a legendary pinup girl whose photographs in the nude, in bondage and in naughty-but-nice poses appeared in men’s magazines and private stashes across America in the 1950s and set the stage for the sexual revolution of the rebellious ’60s, died Thursday in Los Angeles. She was 85.Her death was reported by her agent, Mark Roesler, on Ms. Page’s Web site, bettiepage.com.

 

Ms. Page, whose popularity underwent a cult-like revival in the last 20 years, had been hospitalized for three weeks with pneumonia and was about to be released Dec. 2 when she suffered a heart attack, said Mr. Roesler, of CMG Worldwide. She was transferred in a coma to Kindred Hospital, where she died.

In her trademark raven bangs, spike heels and killer curves, Ms. Page was the most famous pinup girl of the post-World War II era, a centerfold on a million locker doors and garage walls. She was also a major influence in the fashion industry and a target of Senator Estes Kefauver’s anti-pornography investigators.

We’ve spent a  lot of cyberink here talking about the objectification of women.   Bettie and Marilyn Monroe were the 50s icons of the women as object of male fantasy.  Marilyn couldn’t get beyond the process and died young.  Bettie, while experiencing major problems in her life, emerged in charge of herself.  You can learn a lot more about Bettie here on her official page as well as the Obit at the Times.  Her life was featured in a movie, The Notorious Bettie Page and there are books about her.

One thing that you will learn is that she was born in Jackson, Tenn and that her father, an automechanic, molested Betty May and her two other sisters.  This is a theme that runs through many women’s lives who eventually turn to adult entertainment to make money. She was a straight A student and graduated from Peabody college with credentials to teach.  She eventually decided to pursue a career in acting and took to modelling to make ends meet.  She eventually posed as a playboy centerfold in 1955. 

 Betty became depressed, as many women in that industry do, and she escaped the life at the peak of her career while fighting problems with mental illness.  She went through two marriages and divorces.  She eventually became a born-again Christian.

Her photos, however, lived on and eventually, with help of many folks, she regained control of her imagine and her voice.  It’s a good time to reflect on what we consider the difference between taking charge of our on sexuality and bodies and being objectified as toys for men.  Also, why do we still need to have this conversation?

 “I want to be remembered as I was when I was young and in my golden times,” she told The Los Angeles Times in 2006. “I want to be remembered as a woman who changed people’s perspectives concerning nudity in its natural form.”

Some Random Thoughts about the Sky Falling …

Posted: December 11, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Main Stream Media, New Orleans, president teleprompter jesus, The DNC, The Media SUCKS, U.S. Economy, Uncategorized, Voter Ignorance | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

It's snowing in New Orleansnph-cachecamIt’s one of those rare things in New Orleans. It snowed like crazy this morning and I essentially had a blizzard vacation today. My campus had about 7 inches of snow and the power went off  in Hammond. Down here in NOLA, there were these big huge wet flakes that dropped for several hours.  They iced up my hibiscus, my bananas, my avocado tree, and the roads. My 12 year old lab-mix Karma was a pain to try to walk today because she’s not used to snow. Actually, she wouldn’t walk at all. She just stood there wondering why the sky was falling.

Somethings are rare.  For one, the latest government corruption case has nothing to do with any one representing me. I currently have a state senator, several school board members, and a city council man doing time on bribery and corruption cases.  There’s a Louisiana Governor in Jail right now for the same thing.  My current congressman is just waiting for his trial. Frankly, I’d like to think this current IL thing will catch a few big fish but doubt it.  Most every in Illinois knew Governor 1 was being taped, watched, and followed.  Only Candidate 5 appeared dumb or greedy enough to potentially be caught by the Fed Web.   The exciting information will come if any one from this (including Rezko) turn snitch. If you think these guys may just sing like little girls to stay out of prison, just remember that Jimmy Hoffa’s body is still missing.hoffa  This guy may have been a close associate of Obama, Rezko, Axelrod, and Emmanuel (and basically all part of the Daley Machine) but I’m thinking  the press will be shy to admit they were wrong and could reconsider their fluffing for Obama during the entire election and now.  Also, I can’t imagine any savvy pol that was not careful about what they said to Governor Number 1 when they spoke to him because it was well known the FBI were after evidence for years. If Blagovich just refuses to go any where and continues to stay on the front page, will it help or hurt Obama?  Does it detract from all the problems confronting him or add to them? 

 In the Disrict, Hell freezes over all the time. We’re watching a Republican (supposedly Reagonomics-loving) administration attempt to nationalize its second industry this year.  Banks of course were first because of the general panic..  Now it appears we’re going to nationalize our barely functional auto industry.  My prostitute-loving radical right and moralist Senator David Vitter is threatening a filibuster once the rescue plan hits the senate floor.  Isn’t it interesting how the most self-righteous Republicans are always the ones that have the weirdest sexual proclivities?  Just google Vitter and diapers and you’ll get the idea.

Meanwhile, after MONTHS of being told we were guilty of using racist, right wing Republican memes if we dared use the one’smiddle name, the ONE has decided that he is going to take the oath of office and ensure all the inaugural fal-de-ral will include the Hussein word.  Does this strike any one but me as the least bit hypocritical?  Look for Left Blogosphere to completely ignore this one so that their computers and synapses don’t blow a fuse.  Frankly, I was thrown off blogs for using the one’s name while including Hussein.  It was considered racist and it implied I was pushing the right wing meme that he was a Muslim.  Has the rule changed now the Obama has embraced it again?  Any one?

Some time it’s the sky falling. Some time’s, it’s just that rare thing like a snowfall in New Orleans. Still other times, hell is freezing over and you want to be there with a camera.

UPDATED: Here’s a shot of the Music Building at South Eastern Louisiana University in Hammond.  Seven Friggin inches!!  Unbelievable!  I never would believe I’d have this kind of a snow day down here in the tropics!  The other pic at the top is of my street from my front porch.  Karma retreated to under the bed at this point.

music-building

Only Cardboard …

Posted: December 9, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Human Rights, president teleprompter jesus, The Media SUCKS, Women's Rights | Tags: , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Here’s James Carville in one of his worst moments.

Here’s my response:

What if it were a cardboard cut out of Obama and a noose instead of a bottle of beer?

What if it were a cardboard cut out of Joe Lieberman and some one was putting say, a felt star on him, or a tatoo’d number on his arm instead of groping him  or say they were doing the same thing and were wearing swastikas instead of Obama team tshirts?

What would your reaction be?

What would the reaction be of black civil rights leaders or leaders of the antisemitic leagues?  Being plied with alcohol and groped is strong symbolism for women.  We know that most men can out wrestle us and we are one moment of trust away from brutalization.  Many fratboy antics are in fact sexual assault.

AND Symbols matter. 

Would these two cardboard ‘fratboy antics’ I discribed above be taken as trivial or would they be considered hate crimes?  After all,  a small town in Louisiana became a symbol of lingering racism with the hanging of a noose in a tree by a couple of idiot high school  boys.   Why didn’t folks consdier that to be  just highschool boy antics?  What about the University of Kentucky students that had an effigy to hang of Barrack  Obama who were treated way worse than those guys in California’ responsible for the hanging of Sarah Palin in effigy in a Halloween display?  The guys in California only experienced a little neighborly humiliation.  Not so the kids at at U of K.

And you know what?  None of these citizens put words in the president’s mouth and yet there was tremendous outrage in each circumstance.  In several cases, these were adolescent boys and not 27 year olds on the way to be a Director in the White House for a President of the United States.  This is the jerk responsible for “Yes we Can” and “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for”.   Obama rode those two banal slogans into Washington.

The only time symbolic brutality is sanctioned these days is if its victims are women, GLBT, and possibly the homeless mentally ill people.   This has got to stop.   A symbol is powerful.  If this were not true, people would not be upset by swastikas, confederate flags, and nooses.  We need to stay upset about this until this jerk is told to resign.

Trouble for Barney and Friends

Posted: December 9, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: U.S. Economy | Tags: | 4 Comments

I’ve got many criticisms from Leftblogosphere because I continue to criticize the lending and borrowing practices that have left Fannie and Freddie at the mercy of the taxpayer.  I believe they also contributed mightily to the problems we face now in the mortgage and financial markets.  Again, I would like to emphasis here that I a NOT against affordable housing and that I worked against redlining when I worked in the mortgage/thrift industry in the 1980s.  I do think it is completely bad banking as well as unfair to everyone involved to place people in mortgages that they cannot possibly pay.  I’ve always supported special bond financing dedicated to helping folks with either less than stellar credit ratings, first time home buyers with little to put down, or revitalizing neighborhoods where increased home ownership would help the community.  Lending to folks without income and placing anyone but the most sophisticated investor in an exotic mortgage are both completely unethical in my opinion.

Anyway, with that said, here’s some interesting news coming from the Fannie and Freddie rescue process from the AP wire.

December 9, 2008

Fannie, Freddie execs turned aside warnings

By ALAN ZIBEL   AP Real Estate Writer
Top executives at mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ignored warnings that they were taking on too many risky loans long before the housing market plunged, according to documents released by a House committee.

E-mails released by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday show that former Fannie CEO Daniel Mudd and former Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron disregarded recommendations that they stay away from riskier types of loans.

“Their own risk managers raised warning after warning about the dangers of investing heavily in the subprime and alternative mortgage market. But these warnings were ignored” by the two chief executives, said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the committee’s chairman. “Their irresponsible decisions are now costing the taxpayers billions of dollars.”

Four former top executives of the two companies were poised to defend their stewardship in a hearing held by the House committee.

Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee around half the $11.5 trillion in U.S. outstanding home loan debt. The two companies are the engines behind a complex process of buying, bundling and selling mortgages as investments.

They traditionally backed the safest loans, 30-year fixed rate mortgages that required a down payment of at least 20 percent. But in recent years, they lowered their standards, matching a decline fueled by Wall Street banks that backed the now-defunct subprime lending industry.

Republicans blame Fannie and Freddie, and homeownership policies of the Clinton administration for sowing the seeds of the financial meltdown. Democrats defend the companies’ role in encouraging homeownership and stress that Wall Street banks ” not Fannie and Freddie ” led the dramatic decline in lending standards.

Freddie Mac last month asked for an initial injection of $13.8 billion in government aid after posting a massive quarterly loss. Fannie Mae has yet to request any government aid but has warned it may need to soon.

For years the two companies flexed their lobbying muscle in Washington to thwart efforts to impose tighter regulation.

Internal Freddie Mac budget records obtained by The Associated Press show $11.7 million was paid to 52 outside lobbyists and consultants in 2006. Power brokers such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Sen. Alfonse D’Amato of New York were recruited with six-figure contracts.

The more difficult questions will come next year, when lawmakers weigh what role, if any, the two companies play should play in the mortgage market.

Options include taking the companies private, morphing them into a public utility or a federal agency, or leaving them as government-sponsored entities that have private shareholders and profits, with tougher regulations.

Given this information looks truthful, my guess is that there may be some actionable lawsuits at the very least against management.  It is also possible that the overseers (read Barney and friends) could become entangled in the web of culpability.  Look for this to continue make headlines as we determine what to do with the mess these two quasi-agencies made with the mortgage market.  What role did the the folks responsible for oversight play in this mess and how will they be held to account?

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