Illinois surpasses Louisiana as corruption capital

Living in Louisiana is a lot like being on Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras: none of the abundant, scandalous activity surprises anyone — only because everyone looks like they’re having a great time.

It’s a good way to describe the corruption in this state, although the corruption crown has shifted slightly further up the Mississippi River.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested and indicted for trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder. Blagojevich was quoted as saying, “I’ve got this thing, and it’s fucking golden. I’m not giving it up for fucking nothing,” according to wiretaps taken by the FBI.

In addition to threatening to withhold millions in Medicaid reimbursements to a children’s hospital if the CEO failed to contribute $50,000 to his campaign fund, the embattled governor is also accused of planning extortion and trying to force the Chicago-based Tribune Company to fire editorial writers in exchange for a tax break allegedly worth $100 million.

The Illinois House of Representatives impeached Blagojevich — 114 to 1, with one member voting ‘present’ — and at the time of this column, he awaits trial from the Illinois Senate.

In lieu of resigning his position, the governor instead appointed former state Attorney General Roland Burris, 71, to fill the vacant Senate seat. The appointment caused a predictable stir around the Capitol and across the mainstream media, as the race card once again showed its ugly face in the form of Rep. Bobby Rush, asking the media “not to hang or lynch the appointee as you try to castigate the appointor,” while calling the U.S. Senate “the last bastion of plantation politics,” according to The Associated Press.

The media circus sparked by Blagojevich’s actions brings Illinois — yes, Illinois — back to its true place atop the corruption echelon in America.

A columnist hailing from the home state of Huey P. Long and Edwin Edwards is claiming — nay, asserting — that Illinois was, is and will continue to be the most corrupt state in the nation’s history.

According to Time Magazine, Blagojevich is the first governor in Illinois history to be impeached but is the sixth Illinois governor to be subject to arrest or indictment.

His predecessor, George Ryan, was convicted in April 2006 on 18 felony counts, including racketeering conspiracy, mail and tax fraud and lying to the FBI. The former governor was exposed for trading truck operators’ licenses for political contributions, as well as exchanging government favors for family vacations, tickets to events and other gifts.

Ironically, when Blagojevich was elected governor, becoming the first Democrat to be elected governor of Illinois in 30 years, he pledged to end a “Republican legacy of corruption, mismanagement and lost opportunities.”

Illinois corruption dates back to the 1920s, when former Gov. Lennington Small was charged with embezzling over $1 million in state funds.

Small went on trial in 1922 but was acquitted and would serve seven more years in office, of course after giving state jobs to four jurors from the trial.

Otto Kerner was indicted and convicted in 1973 of bribery, conspiracy, income tax evasion, mail fraud and perjury, stemming from deals made with a horse racing association, promising favorable race dates in exchange for $356,000 worth of stock.

Dan Walker became governor the year Kerner was convicted but left office to start a savings and loan business, only to be indicted for making $1.4 million in fraudulent loans to provide maintenance to his private yacht.

After his death in 1970, former Ill. Secretary of State Paul Powell — no relation to Colin — had his house raided, only to find shoeboxes full of checks, totaling more than $800,000, made out by Illinois residents thinking they were paying license registration fees.

Also found in space he rented: 49 cases of whiskey, 14 transistor radios and two cases of creamed corn. When it was all settled in 1978, his estate was estimated to be worth $4.6 million, including $1 million in racetrack stock.

Considering he was in public office for 42 years, never earning more than $30,000 a year, Powell lived the fullest of his personal motto: “There’s only one thing worse than a defeated politician, and that’s a broke one.”

Only the coming weeks will tell whether Blagojevich will resign from office or be forced out by the Illinois Senate. But the day Robert Grant of the FBI’s Chicago office announced Blagojevich’s indictment, he said, “If [Illinois] isn’t the most corrupt state in the United States, it’s certainly one hell of a competitor.”

Bad news for Illinois: If corruption were a baseball player, Illinois would be Barry Bonds.

Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

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Electing a Dream

I'm only 21 years old, and even I never thought I'd see the day.

Maybe my standards of America are severely lower than most. Maybe I've bought into the pessimism accompanying racial divisions in America. Maybe I'm just naive.

I still believe November 4th was a dream realized.

We've heard stories of 100-year-old men and women wishing beyond wish, hoping beyond sane limits of hope, that America could possibly overcome a huge source of animosity and ambivalence.

If insanity is expecting a different end from the same means, those previously considered insane were released from the asylum.

Now a different notion surrounds me. In a class of mine, a new prism of racism revealed itself. It was mentioned, and later concurred, that it is racist to take pride in Barack Obama's presidency, thinking that our election of a "black" man both transcends and ends racism.

While I agree with this thought -- especially since Obama is a mutt, like me -- I find it somewhat condescending to criticize those reveling in Obama's presidency merely due to his race and not his policies. Personally, I voted for Obama because I read his book, The Audacity of Hope, and found it to be as close a referendum of how politics were, are, and will be in the future. I believed his message of bridge-building in any situation.

It reminds me of a scene from The West Wing. President Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen), in the middle of a particularly busy day, sat in a meeting with essentially his ideological counterpart. The pair agree that President Bartlet is "a tree-hugging, baby-killing commie liberal," while his opponent is "a gun-totin', redneck son of a bitch," but the pair agree on campaign finance reform.

The "either-or" mentality that plagues most, if not all, of our political discussions have proven detrimental to the gathering of solutions. Americans have either been "pro-life" or "pro-choice," or even "pro-death," depending on who you ask. We're either pro or anti-gay marriage, pro or anti-capital punishment, pro or anti-the war.

One thing we seem not to aspire to, however, is pro-solutions.

It's easy to give a diatribe on "coming together" with "common hopes" and "bridge the gaps" to "strive for equality."

Using buzz words and phrases has always been easy than tackling issues head on.

And that last phrase is my personal favorite. I've always wanted to tackle abortion head on.

But in Barack Obama, we find the whole of America. With an exotic upbringing combined with middle-American roots and a penchant for knowledge and understanding, Obama's election was and still is a symbol of what Americans can achieve. Remaining complacent on this sentiment, however, will leave us with the same gridlock that has plagued our politics for decades.

Gridlock, though, is the balance that prevents potential supermajorities from oppressing the minority viewpoint. Consult Alexander Hamilton if you're confused. Stagnancy is what prevents our democratic republic from becoming an aristocracy, or even a totalitarian state.

So to those fearful of the future, for those excited at the prospect -- and in January, the reality -- of an Obama presidency, for all of us, please follow these four steps:

1. Read The Audacity of Hope.
2. Look inside yourself for the issue you feel the most passionate about, and try to find someone who completely disagrees. (For traditional conservatives out there, just find me. Chances are we disagree on something.)
3. Start a debate.
4. After the issue is exhausted, given you haven't cursed out your opponent, thank the other, and invite them to continue exploring the issue further.

Politics aren't meant to be scary. They also aren't meant to be handled by "someone that really cares about that thing or whatever." Politics involve both the best and the worst of all of us. Freedom and equality provide us the opportunity to debate.

So please join me and President-Elect Obama in this, the limitless pursuit of a dream realized.

Yes, oh yes, we can. More than that, we should.

And we will.

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The YouTube Chronicles, III

"New Rule: Referring to voters that America has left behind economically as 'bitter' isn't an insult; in fact, it's a compliment, acknowledging that they're smart enough to understand what's happening to them. The hopeful, now those are some idiots. So, let's separate the bitter, my people, from the idiots. If you think the Democrats are going to take away your Bible, you're an idiot. If you think they're going to take away your gun, you're an armed idiot. And you think they're going to take away your gun and give it to a Mexican to kill your God, you're Bill O'Reilly.

At the end of last week, when Barack Obama ignited the 'bitter-gate' scandal, you'd have thought he climbed Mount Rushmore, dick-slapped Jefferson in the face and spray painted 'God Damn America' over Lincoln. But he wasn't lying. The truth is that religion and guns and hating gays and immigrants are crutches that people lean on. So are fast food, crystal meth and child beauty pageants, but we don't have time to tackle all of America's addictions in one night.

So let's focus on the big thing.

That the people who claim to be the 'non-elitists' are the ones who constantly shift tax burdens from the people who fire you to you. John McCain voted to repeal the estate tax, voted against raising the minimum wage, has no health care plan and is fine with keeping the working class in Iraq for 100 years. But he's a real man of the people. And the President went to Harvard and Yale and inherited your country from his dad. But he's not an elitist because he can neither read nor write. What does it take to label someone 'elitist' these days anyway, they wear shoes? They don't buy their groceries at the gas station? Their dog has a name and their truck doesn't?

You know who is bitter in America? I am, because shit kickers voted twice for a retarded guy they wanted to have a beer with, and everybody else has to suffer the consequences!"


- Bill Maher, Real Time with Bill Maher, April 18, 2008

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A Political Present

You ever want to know what a bipartisan political gift looks like?

This is Sen. John McCain's most recent ad against Sen. Barack Obama, "Celeb," including pictures of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, ultimately making McCain look like a liar and an idiot for including two people who would otherwise never be compared to Obama.

I just hope Middle America's not as stupid as this ad would have us believe as far as susceptibility to commercials are concerned.

Am I alone here, or is it a bad thing to include a giant crowd chanting your opponent's name in approval?

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To Impeach or Not To Impeach

I'm torn.

On the one hand, his administration has lied to the American people 935 times, according to a January 2008 study by the Center for Public Integrity, from the September 11th attacks to the invasion of Iraq in April 2003.

On the other hand, if impeached, President George W. Bush would initiate his final standoff with the nation, a battle which might prove to be useless especially in a campaign year with voters concentrating on who will replace the failure.

For some in Congress, the time for replacement hasn't come soon enough.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-OH, spoke in front of the House Judiciary Committee, as a part of the committee's hearing on executive power and the Bush Administration. A single article of impeachment was filed against Pres. Bush, accusing the Commander-in-Chief of high crimes and misdemeanors stemming from allegations of falsified intelligence by the Pentagon in the lead up to war, the politicization of the Justice Department under Attorney Generals John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales, and the secret propaganda machine involved in selling this war to the American people, among many others.

Regardless, I'm still torn as to the necessity of impeachment for two reasons. First, this is too little, too late from the Democrats. President Bush has a little less than six months left in office, but the Democrats have had control of Congress for the last 18 months. Fight after fight with the Bush Administration leaves Congress with as little as a 9% approval rating this past month.

Second, Rep. Kucinich has the right mind, and I hardly disagree with his reasons for impeachment. Having this issue come up now seems like there won't be enough time to actually complete the process before January 20, 2009. Having this year be an election year, combined with Congress's upcoming, month-long recess -- where we will be treated to our final Crawford Ranch vacation from Dubya -- makes Rep. Kucinich's impeachment article all but useless.

Consider how Pres. Bush has acted this year. He still has the blood of over 4,000 of our troops and countless thousands of Iraqis on his hands, all because of a lie, but no one truly knows for what. That being said, Bush has eased into his role of super-senior. He knows no one, save Kucinich, will challenge his authority as the country is swept into who will sweep up after him.

The country has assumed that there's no point to pursue these sorts of charges on the president, regardless of the validity of the arguments against him, as he will be gone too soon for this process to be effective.

In that respect, I admire Rep. Kucinich's resolve to attempt to stand for democracy and morals in the country's highest public office, but I also realize the apparent pointlessness of pursuing this action, despite my complete agreement and support.

I supported this notion as early as 2002, however, before any of our troops died in the name of a lie. As much of a referendum the 2006 midterm elections were on the war and the Bush administration, Congress has done little to nothing to try to end the war or Bush's tenure as president.

The American people were savvy enough to know this before the election. In a Sept. 2, 2006 CNN Research Poll of 1,004 adults, 57% of those polled thought it would be good for the country if the Democrats in Congress conducted official investigation into the inner workings of the Bush Administration during his first six years in office. By that same token, 69% of the same polling group believed that President Bush should not impeached and removed from office, while 70% of those polled, given the scenario of a likely Democratic Congress coupled with a Republican president, accurately predicted the gridlock and stalemate emanating from Washington since the Democrats took over the Legislative body.

With Congress's current disapproval rating floating in the high 70's, coupled with a president well on his way to that mark by the time he leaves office, the irony emerges. The country has had enough of President Bush and the war in Iraq, but they'd rather not trust Congress with his removal due to their own ineptitude and backdoor dealings.

Basically, the strongest statistic to cite comes from the dissatisfaction of the people in the direction we are going. An average of recent polls finds that roughly 4 in 5 people are dissatisfied with the direction of the country. Contrast this with the same poll question from the month of September 2001, when 1 in 5 people thought we were on the wrong track.

The American people are speaking loudly and clearly, as we often do. But as always in a campaign year, the people are being shoveled coverage of the two candidates like pig feed at a Jimmy Dean farm. And we can't get enough of either Sen. John McCain's search for relevance in rural grocery stores or Sen. Barack Obama doing his best Jesus impression for His giddy followers in Europe. It's hard to focus on the current administration when we look at the relative "inexperience" of a man who convened 200,000 people together in Berlin, versus the light years of "experience" of a man who wants to continue at least a minimal American presence in Iraq for 100 years, who can't remember Czechoslovakia is no longer a country, can't tell the difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, and can't even get an editorial published in the New York Times.

But, as always, I digress. In case you couldn't tell who I was just talking about, Sen. Obama is "The One" who went to Berlin.

The truth in Iraq is the coming down of violence, and Bush's new time horizon for a casual withdrawal of troops seems like more of a reality to the world. Now, contrary to the belief that withdrawal is automatically failure, Republicans can actually talk about withdrawal without sarcastic smirks of the same faux elitism they accuse Democrats, specifically Sen. Obama, of emitting to make them seem out of touch with normal Americans.

Just like Rep. Kucinich's article of impeachment, President Bush's new time horizon is too little, too late on a giant mistake. Whether or not Bush will actually receive any condemnation of his actions remains to be seen. However, due to the previous inaction by Congress and the shortness of time given to carry through to this goal -- which is only five months after Congress's summer break -- when it comes to impeaching the president, just call me the current U.S. Constitution.

I'm torn.

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Health Center should change channel from Fox News

Are we truly beyond the notion of any other television network illuminating the pale beige walls of the Student Health Center?

I'm old enough to understand a couple of things.

I know what happens when you feed a squirrel a piece of bread - unless you have a whole loaf, you will inevitably piss off a massive group of squirrels ready to throw their vegetarian values out the window for the sake of whole wheat.

I know Febreze was sent to us by the grace of whichever God you believe in.

I even know how to recognize and interpret lies when they're fed to me.

But I still don't get why the Student Health Center lobby is somewhat infatuated with showing Fox News to patients waiting to see a doctor.

What are they trying to do to us? What is the ultimate goal?

An increase in anxiety?

I reached the age of intelligent and engaging discourse at the age of 14 and have been able to pick up on both distortions of the truth and outright lies.

And Fox News never fails to deliver.

Whenever I visit the Health Center, it's there, waiting for me like a continuous loop on hell's television, asking me to believe that a story about a missing girl in Nevada with questionable MySpace.com pictures is more important to the American conversation than the economy or immigration.

I'm asked to listen to anyone from Steve Doocy to resident sex pot Megyn Kelly - go to YouTube.com to find out why.

And Cavuto, Cavuto, Cavuto.

Neil Cavuto once described "Happy Feet" as an animated "An Inconvenient Truth" because of its "insidious 'far-left' political propaganda."

Michelle Malkin, a Fox News contributor only by virtue of having a Web site called Michellemalkin.com, wrote for Townhall.com this past Wednesday about "Snob-ama," starting her column with a simple phrase, "The odor of elitism is like onion breath: It's quick to acquire, hard to mask."

What's lost in this comment about Sen. Barack Obama's recent "charges of elitism" is simple: It's now an insult to be considered elite, when as recently as 10 minutes ago, being "elite" in a particular field was a good thing. An incredible thing.

An "elite" thing, if you will.

But Fox News isn't the only entity "charging" Obama with "elitism." Just look at self-proclaimed populist Lou Dobbs from CNN, who recently said,"We don't need another Ivy League-educated knuckle-head." As a graduate of Harvard in 1967, Dobbs is one to talk.

Getting back to my point, I still don't understand why the students of this University are subjected to a daily song-and-dance from the lowest of today's "info-tainment" culture.

This sort of game has no place in the waiting room of the University's Health Center. But this raises a question as to why the channel is on in the first place.

I could understand if many of the alpha dogs on this campus needed a pick-me-up while waiting to see if they have ADD. If they can focus their attention on the long legs and savage beauty that is Megyn Kelly and feel better, it's clear they don't have ADD or a girlfriend.

But what is the motivation behind having the television tuned in to Fox News in the Health Center? Is it torture? Is it a secret neurological study on how the brain works? Or is it, more understandably, the way Dick Cheney would want it?

If you've ever been vice president and shot a man in the face while hunting wing-less quail, this story might relate to you.

In a memo sent out on official vice-presidential letterhead, Dick Cheney made a list of suite demands for whenever he stays in a hotel on official business. Among some of the stipulations, Cheney insists that all of the televisions be preset to Fox News.

Not C-SPAN, where he could at least pretend to be interested in the grumblings within the Senate - of which he is president.

Also included in his suite demands are four cans of caffeine-free Diet Sprite. If traveling with his wife, Lynne, a portion of Perrier should be provided - all-too curious considering that according to Fox News, we're all supposed to be boycotting France right now.

I suggest that, instead of Fox News, a program should be shown in the waiting room of the Health Center that puts the patient more at ease. I could understand the justification of Fox News if someone told me that Fox News makes the patient want to feel better doing daily activities rather than suffering in the lobby.

Maybe then I could understand.

Until that happens, a change is long overdue. Those in charge of the situation need to get their hands on the remote and end the suffering being addressed in their lobby.

I'm just saying we would feel better sooner with less Bill O'Reilly and more Blue's Clues.

Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

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Wyclef Jean brings a message, Carnival to the stage

Greg Talmage was OK. Ingram Hill did their thing. Matt Wertz came and went.

Chamillionaire got the crowd to bounce as high as the moon.

But nobody - I repeat, nobody - did it quite like Wyclef.

The University played host to greatness Saturday, as Wyclef Jean headlined Students on Target's Groovin' on the Grounds.

I've seen my fair share of shows in the past. I've seen The Who rock the same stage as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Gnarls Barkley and The Raconteurs. I've seen Radiohead play for 2 1/2 hours straight.

I've even seen Galactic and Rebirth Brass Band keep the party going until 6 a.m.

But I've never seen a show quite like Wyclef's this past Saturday.

The Haitian-born, Brooklyn musician began by showing his artistic side, asking the crowd to wonder what would happen "If I Was President." He then doused himself with a full bottle of water and screamed, "I'm awake now," before launching into "Sweetest Girl (Dolla Dolla Bill)."

I've seen stunts at shows before, with pyrotechnics blasting every which way. But I've never seen anyone straight-up climb the side of the stage.

During Lil' Wayne's verse of "Sweetest Girl," Wyclef climbed to about 30 feet, scared the crap out of his bodyguards and made everyone in the crowd scream, "There's no way this is really happening!"

Yes, that really happened.

The crisp, newly-cleaned air sent a chilling breeze over the crowd, forcing Jean to don a purple LSU hoodie as he took us back with a medley of club-bangers.

He made the crowd "Jump Around," House of Pain-style.

He was down with "O.P.P." Yeah, he knew us.

He asked us if he could "Rock This." We replied "Yes You Can!"

He then took a second and asked if we would "Let Me Clear my Throat."



For any refugees out there who missed the show, he kept it real. Albeit it was way too young a crowd for "Fu-Gee-La" and "Ready or Not," he grabbed a little boy out of the crowd and brought him center stage during Lauryn Hill's verse. He tried to ask him to get the crowd to put their hands up, but didn't make it to the end of the sentence before the little boy tore it up, on the beat, as the crowd went nuts.

It took me about three minutes to go from presentable in my white tee to soaked with sweat.

He introduced most of the crowd to his new album, "Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant" by singling out a random guy from the crowd and asking him to come up and sing his part as Jean impersonated T.I. Before the song started, Clef put a pair of $3,000 shades on the guy's face, and by the end of the song, Clef said, "Don't worry, you can keep the shades."

That just happened, too.

He then introduced us to what happens in Haiti, Trinidad and the Caribbean during Carnival. With cool bass lines and hot bongo beats, Wyclef implored the crowd to wave their flags. If not flags, then take off your shirts.

Half the crowd instantly went shirtless.

"By the time this show is over," Wyclef announced, "You should all be butt naked."

He then got on his bodyguard's shoulders and walked straight into the crowd. People rushed over to get a glimpse up close, including myself. From the crowd he screamed, "FUCK GEORGE BUSH," to the dismay of the proper fraternity types behind us who stood the entire show and didn't move while sipping their all-too-obviously concealed Jack-and-cokes.

He soothed their types over about a minute later when he screamed "FUCK BIN LADEN!"

After making it back to the stage, he delivered his endorsement, "If you really want to see the change you want, you should make your voice heard and vote for Barack Obama.

"OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT!"

After ending the carnival, he walked off for a moment, immediately inspiring the "one more song" request.

As he came back out, the lighters - and a few cell phones - went up as he closed the show: "Oh won't you help me to sing these songs of freedom? Because all I ever have, redemption songs."

If you decided that Groovin' on the Grounds was a waste of time and didn't go, you've never missed out like you did this past Saturday.

To anyone that was there, though, soak it in. For one crisp, cool night, we were unified under the words of a true hero. Wyclef Jean made me believe.

I don't quite know exactly what I believe in, but it won't stop me from believing.



Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

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LiveBlog: The State of the Union 2008

The State of the Union

8:00pm - It’s prime time on Monday night! Eric W. Freeman, Jr., live-blogging the State of the Union tonight in high definition, as President George W. Bush gives his seventh and last speech to the joint Congress. On a stomach full of beefy macaroni and what looks, smells and tastes like purple drink, LET’S GET READY TO CONDESCEND!!!!

8:03pm - On seeing Sen. Ted Kennedy in HD for the first time, I immediately regret the decision to watch in high definition.

Madame Speaker

8:05pm - THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES! George W. Bush enters the congressional chamber as I cue John Williams’ “The Imperial March” in my head.

8:07pm - Sen. Barack Obama is chillin’ with Ted in the back as Vice Pres. Dick Cheney stops clapping to take a sip of water, and resume clapping. While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continues to clap, as this will be the only time Pelosi claps and Cheney doesn’t.

The economy giggles

8:13pm - We have our first standing ovation. President Bush talks about his stimulus package, asking Congress to pass it without delay or derail. His solution is to make this tax relief, believing in the power of ordinary citizens to spend it well. He cracks a joke about the IRS accepting checks and money orders, to which Republicans glee and chant “AY!!” as they cheer and applaud.

On to Health Care

8:19pm - President Bush urges Congress to help empower patients and doctors to make medical decisions in private, not in the halls of Congress. He continues to think that poor people have doctors. There’s a reason why over 50 million people have no health insurance.

8:22pm - Sen. Hillary Clinton looks reserved as she moderately claps when Bush says “we should make sure every American has health care.” Obama looks stoic with two fingers on his lips, remaining mum.

8:23pm - Whoever is sitting next to Sen. John Kerry looks bored as anything, fidgeting through her program as Cheney smirks boyishly (i.e. frighteningly) behind Bush.

Nucular

8:26pm - Bush wants to invest in new, “nucular” fuels to power the cars and trucks of the future, without realizing it’s the cars of the present that do the damage.
8:27pm - I just notice Clinton sitting next to Sen. Joe Biden. If she gets the nomination, and subsequently wins, Obama will have no part in Clinton’s cabinet.

8:28pm - “We must trust in the innovative science of medical researchers…We must expand without killing more human life.” Bush never listened to science, as his first ever veto in office was against stem cell research. Regardless of successful tests with these cells that don’t destroy human lives, Bush introduces legislation banning the buying, selling, packaging and cloning of stem cells.

8:31pm - “With increased funding from the government, faith-based groups help pave the way for a better America.” So much for separation of church and state.

8:32pm - He announces the summit, featuring Mexico, Canada and the U.S., will be hosted this year in New Orleans. That’s one more mention of my city than last year. Things must surely be different.

Immigration

8:34pm - “Illegal immigration is a complex issue, and it must be resolved by upholding both out laws and our highest ideals.” Both parties stand up and applaud.

8:35pm - “Those are the domestic issues.” Wait, you forgot the Gulf Coast again!!!

8:36pm - “Security at home begins by protecting our interests abroad.” Yep, he forgot about us again. Hold your breath.

The Middle East

8:37pm - “We’ve seen uplifting moments of freedom…and we’ve seen some sobering ones.” He has literally said this four years in a row.

8:38pm - Cheney looks bored and angry at once. Only he can pull it off. Pelosi has her head down and can’t look up as Bush goes into detail about how we made it from 9/11 to invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, while staying on the offense against al-Qaeda. “The American and Iraqi surges have produced results few could have imagined a year ago.” A year later, our troops are still there.

Strong oratory

8:44pm - Overall violence is down in Iraq, as Bush mentions Osama Bin Laden’s videotaped tongue-lashing of his tribal leaders, and he ends with thunderous words of the enemy being defeated that stand every seat in the chamber.

8:47pm - Someone from the top screams, “YOU ROCK!” as Bush and Cheney grin up, while Pelosi continues to look down, wishing it all wasn’t true.

A wider shot shows...

8:49pm - Sen. Mary Landrieu sitting directly, somewhat concealed, behind the Joint Chiefs of Staff. If this wasn’t HD, I wouldn’t be able to tell she was there, slumping behind four massive military men.

The Holy Land

8:50pm - Bush mentions problems with our struggle in the Holy Land. As odd as it sounds to have “a struggle in the Holy Land,” how pretentious does it sound that a Bible-thumping President thinks he can settle a democratic Jerusalem and a democratic Palestine side by side?

8:52pm - He has now said “Holy Land” tonight four more times than “New Orleans” in the last two States of the Union combined.

Sarcasm

8:56pm - “Make no mistake: America is opposed to genocide in Sudan.” That’s a tough decision to make.

8:57pm - First Lady Laura Bush tries to motivate people to clap from the rafters by clapping way too over-dramatically. It looks like she’s trying to conduct the people, but to no avail.

8:59pm - Shout out to Bob Dole!

It's official

9:01pm - “The State of our Union will remain strong.” Good thing he got that cleared up. No honorees, with the exception of Bob Dole for a brief moment. He didn’t do individual honorees at the top rafter. It didn’t seem very long, and he’s now shaking hands with people as Brian Williams gravely announces the death of five U.S. troops in Mosul. As Bush signs programs, I can’t help but admire President Bush’s bitterness during the speech. He knew he wasn’t going to get anything done, but for all the talk he does of empowering the people to make their own decisions, he assumes every American has the means to do so, as any Republican typically would. That’s what conservative means. Currently for New Orleans, as evidenced by the solo mention of “the great city of New Orleans” without the context of unfinished repair after Katrina, the worst thing on the planet is a conservative president. I didn’t expect anything else other than Bush’s unoriginal farewell stump speech.

9:07pm - We now go to Mitt Romney’s comments, which means it’s time to change the channel. I hate HD.

See the original blog entries at The Daily Reveille...

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Bush continues to disregard Gulf Coast

Editorial Board Staff Column

"The evil that inspired and rejoiced in 9/11 is still at work in the world."

Those were the words of President Bush during the 2007 State of the Union address, in reference to the threat of terrorism in the Middle East. But the same evil that inspired and rejoiced in 9/11 is still at work in the White House.

It has become repetitive to say the Bush Administration sold a war to the American people with, as The Associated Press reported this past Wednesday, 935 false statements from 9/11 until the start of the war.

It has become seemingly cumbersome and tedious to continue to speculate how we entered this calamitous situation. But this situation we find ourselves in is merely one of many others - and like the Iraq War, seemingly without end.

The president used the word "bombs" in this past year's address more times than hurricanes Katrina and Rita, New Orleans, Louisiana, Mississippi and the Gulf Coast combined.

The truth: he didn't mention any of them.

The president will enter the congressional chambers for his eighth and final State of the Union address this Monday. After seven long years of incredible trials and tribulations, this administration has proven that when it comes to the security of the American people, the answer lies in our military arsenal.

He mentioned this in the past year's address: "For all of us in this room, there is no high responsibility than to protect the people of this country from danger." He then proceeded to say 2,456 words about war, bombs and death, without one mention of his ineptitude, and subsequent apathy, for American residents on the Gulf Coast.

In the history of the Gallup Poll, no president - not even Richard Nixon - has ever had 50 percent of the population say they "strongly disapprove" of the commander-in-chief's job performance. President Bush won enough hearts and minds this past November to achieve his dream of such a rating.

Bill Clinton's approval rating never dipped below 53 percent, consistently registering in the 60s. But he was impeached. Ample evidence exists to charge our current leader, but this Board feels it is best to wait patiently for a year instead of trusting in a Congress who, only two months ago, had a 20 percent approval rating.

Expect President Bush to be oblivious to the Gulf Coast once again. After all, it was his own mother, Barbara Bush, who said about evacuees in the Houston Astrodome, "so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this [chuckle] - this is working very well for them."

She's right. We're fine. Who has an asbestos-tainted FEMA trailer when you need one?

Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

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LiveBlog: 2008 Iowa Democratic Caucus

7:58 p.m. -- C-SPAN has live coverage of Democratic Precinct 53, and I'm pumped. I've got a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, my Bud's Broiler cup is filled with Brita water, and it's caucus time!!!

8:00 p.m. -- Temporary Caucus Chairman Jim Sutton conducts an interview stating the importance of caucusing and the time spent preparing for this one night. He sounds better than any actual politician.

8:06 p.m. -- I'm probably not original with this, but a good drinking game could be made out of number of times one hears the word "caucus." In the last three minutes, I'd have taken 13 shots already.

8:09 p.m. -- Cynthia Pederson defeats Jim Sutton for Permanent Caucus Chairman. Or, in this case, "Chairwoman." Jim Sutton, in my esteemed opinion, wins the 2008 "That's My Dog" Award.

8:13 p.m. -- Let's get the party started. Each camp is divided into corners of the room. Clinton, Obama, Edwards and Biden supporters have the four corners of the room, while Sen. Dodd has the center doorway, and Richardson occupies the "Got Milk" sign in the room. All undecideds meet in the center, where they will be persuaded by all factions. 15% of caucus-goers ate needed per candidate to determine eligibility for the final ballot. This is called "viability."

8:14 p.m. -- According to Capital News, Sen. Dodd is likely to drop out of the race if he finishes below fourth.

8:18 p.m. -- Sutton caucuses with Edwards.

8:19 p.m. -- Creepy white lady named Barbara, slinks into the Dodd preference group to ask Bill Gates wannabe David if he would like to switch to Richardson. For once, we hear real people debating the issues, unheard of by CNN/Fox News standards.

8:21 p.m. -- Barbara's massive left nostril contains a massive booger. This does not bode well for the Richardson campaign.

8:22 p.m. -- Random blonde boy is shown caucusing with Obama, wearing a Reggie Bush jersey! To the random Iowa voter this might look bad, as anything "Bush" in the Democratic Caucus is practically grounds for heresy. But this kid's parents are my kind of people, Saints fans and Obama people.

8:25 p.m. -- Tall, bald guy screams "TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ NOW!!!"

8:26 p.m. -- Among the frucus, someone says Clinton is in third place, behind Obama and Edwards. Granted, this is hearsay, but great hearsay if I've ever heard it. Santa look-a-like in the Biden group deserts Biden for Edwards. Another makes a push for Richardson, saying "you should go with who makes you comfortable, but consider Richardson." The Biden group looks at him like he's nuts.

8:29 p.m. -- White women supporting Clinton applaud loudly and annoyingly whenever someone new joins their group. One man moves over, and they hound him like he's Enrique Iglesias. He grins menacingly.

8:30 p.m. -- Allegedly, Mitt Romney has spent over $30 million on television ads in Iowa.

8:31 p.m. -- The Biden group is down to about 25 people, and now debate starts over whether or not to move to Edwards, Obama or Clinton. I've found my channel for caucuses and primaries for the rest of the year. CNN, Fox News and the like are filled with graphics and statistics. C-SPAN is focusing its coverage on real caucus members debating amongst each other as to which candidate is viable and which is a pretender. All of a sudden, C-SPAN is providing gripping, emotionally charged television. Who needs writers when you've got Iowans?

8:34 p.m. -- Creepy white lady is back, boogerless and in front of Reggie Bush boy. And she's full of it. She says, for the third time to someone new, that we haven't elected a senator since JFK, and "President Huckabee" scares her. Meanwhile, she's wearing a Richardson button and campaigning for Clinton. She made my head spin.

8:37 p.m. -- Cynthia Pederson announces that Dodd, Kucinich, Richardson and Biden are no longer considered viable, and those supporting must now realign themselves with one of the remaining three. A head count is conducted in the Richardson group, and 47 people support him. Pederson announces that 57 people are needed to be considered viable, and creepy white lady is looking around for those 10 people.

8:39 p.m. -- Biden group member contemplates moving to Richardson camp. This is such great television. Will they move? Won't they stay? No anchors, commentators or specialists. Just Americans.

8:42 p.m. -- Apparently, it's the Obama group making the most noise. Now chants are sparking up all over the place. It's near pandemonium in Precinct 53.

8:43 p.m. -- What happens in Precinct 53, stays in Precinct 53.

8:44 p.m. -- The Richardson group looks like it got bigger, but it doesn't look like he will be viable. CNN's entrance poll shows Edwards behind Clinton and Obama.

8:45 p.m. -- The Richardson group implodes, scattering its wounded ashes between Obama and Clinton.

8:47 p.m. -- Five minute warning announced. Edwards group performes a head count, finishing at 111. They lost count at some point, and debate erupts about how they should count again. Gotta love democracy, a hundred voices at once.

8:49 p.m. -- We have official pandemonium.

8:50 p.m. -- The cameras become glued to the Obama count, as his group looks like half of the room...

8:51 p.m. -- 120 and counting...

8:52 p.m. -- 135 and counting...

8:53 p.m. -- 150 and counting...

8:54 p.m. -- Final count in the Edwards camp: 116. Meanwhile, the Obama camp erupts in applause, although the official tallies haven't been marked.

8:55 p.m. -- Every unviable supporter is ordered to realign. The official word is moments away, and I'm at the edge of my seat.

8:56 p.m. -- The final counts are being added together, and the math is being performed for assigning delegates. Head counts are in: 186 for Obama, 116 for Edwards, and 74 for Clinton. Precinct 53 has made me so proud. The question is whether or not these results will indicate the overall trend across Iowa. If so, Clinton is looking terribly.

8:59 p.m. -- The final tally for delegates is announced. The precinct has 6 delegates to be awarded, and based on the head counts, Obama gets three delegates, Edwards gets two and Clinton is awarded one.

9:03 p.m. -- Both CNN and ABC News project Mike Huckabee as the winner of the Iowa GOP caucuses, with Mitt Romney coming in second. Some more good news from the "Whoop-dee-doo" desk.

9:05 p.m. -- CNN is now projecting that Barack Obama has won the 2008 Iowa Democratic Caucus, finishing at about the same ratio around the state as in Precinct 53. A note to C-SPAN: in 2012, remember Precinct 53 when scheduling live caucus shots. This is it for now, and more will be had five days from now in New Hampshire. Will Clinton come back? Will Obama sustain? Will Edwards become relevant? Will Kucinich see another UFO? Only time will tell.

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Big Easy snubbed in favor of federal weed Mecca

First, let's all take a breath together. We made it through.

Today marks the official close of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season, finishing with six hurricanes as opposed to the nine originally predicted by William M. Gray and his associates at Colorado State University. This is the second year in a row in which the number of predicted hurricanes outweighed the actual amount.

Gray, along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, famously under-predicted on every level in 2005, forecasting 15 tropical storms and eight hurricanes, four of which were predicted to be major storms. There were actually 28 tropical storms, 15 hurricanes - seven major - and a major American city still mending her shattered soul. New Orleanians are still waiting for someone to direct major policy changes in order to repair the wound Hurricane Katrina inflicted.

That someone, however, will not be one of the two candidates for president.

On Nov. 19, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced its collegiate hosts for debates in 2008: The University of Mississippi in Oxford, Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., and Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY. The first debate will center on domestic policy, saving foreign policy for Hempstead after a town hall meets YouTube.com in Nashville. The vice-presidential candidates will debate once at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.

Also next year, we celebrate the 40th birthday of federal weed.

Continue reading at The Daily Reveille...

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Buckwheat returns to disrupt Louisiana politics

Never before have Louisiana politics and Eddie Murphy meshed so well.

According to The Associated Press, state Rep. Carla Blanchard Dartez, D-Morgan City, ended a telephone call with the mother of the NAACP's local president by saying, "Talk to you later, Buckwheat." The mother in question is Hazel Boykin, a prominent civil rights activist who helped desegregate restaurants and Terrebonne's school system in the 1960s.

When I read this, I figured another Republican was promoting the use of ignorance and intolerance when it comes to race relations. I also predicted another arrival of the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to Southern Louisiana to call for someone to resign. Then I reread the passage more carefully and noticed her political affiliation.

Lo and behold, she's a Democrat.

Continue reading at The Daily Reveille...

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President Colbert would shake up Washington

Forget everything I've ever said about Al Gore, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or any other presidential hopeful. I don't have to vote for them anymore. The clear choice in 2008 is finally running.

Dr. Stephen "Tiberius" Colbert, D.F.A., is running for president, solely in the state of South Carolina.

As the host of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," Colbert unleashes a venomous collision of slippery metaphors with enough fire to burn the sun. His rhetoric can be heard by two out of three countries in North America. He isn't bothered by polls, which he refers to as "a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in 'reality.' And reality has a well-known liberal bias."

Colbert isn't one of the elites. He isn't a member of the Factinista. He isn't one of the brainiacs of the Nerd Patrol. His opinions come straight from the gut. He believes the Panama Canal was built in 1941. You can look it up. Maybe some of you will look it up and find out that it's not true, but that's because you looked it up in a book. Next time, use your gut, and your answer will never be wrong.

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Fresh off Nobel Prize win, we need Gore in '08

According to the will of Alfred Nobel - ironically, the inventor of dynamite - the Nobel Peace Prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

The most noble and noteworthy winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, among the 2,000 or so scientists serving on the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is the man who used to be "the next president of the United States." I won't get started on a rant about the Electoral College, but the people of this nation picked the right candidate. According to the 105,417,258 Americans who voted in the 2000 presidential election, 51,003,926 people allied themselves with Albert Arnold Gore Jr., but since the election, he has turned into a philanthropist, activist and role model for citizens of the world.

You better believe a little lingering resentment rests within the soul of this great man over losing to a second generation, silver spoon-fed tyrant who defended his veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, preventing low-income children from getting health care coverage, by saying "poor kids first." According to The New York Times, Gore warned in 2002 that if we invaded Iraq, "the resulting chaos could easily pose a far greater danger to the United States than we presently face from Saddam." Today marks the five-year anniversary of President Bush's signing of the congressional authorization to use military force in Iraq.

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Feelings on Bush change as war on terror drags on

To Josh, Aaron, Jeremy, Jaeger, Julian and Allison, I wish you were here. Hopefully, the progress report on the war will bring you out of Iraq and back home where you belong.

I was sitting in my high school chemistry class in 10th grade, talking excitedly with my friends about this new movie coming out called "Zoolander." A fellow classmate ran in, saying that someone had blown up the Pentagon. We quickly jumped for the television, and at 8:59 a.m. CST on Sept. 11, 2001, the collapse of the South Tower of the World Trade Center was broadcast to a worldwide audience. We remained speechless, confused for a moment as to whether we were watching a movie or reality.

After about five minutes, we decided to continue with the day's lesson, for which our teacher, Dodie Wells, planned a demonstration involving the mixture of pure magnesium and water. For the non-chemistry majors out there, when pure magnesium is mixed with water, it explodes. The bang was audible from the outside, as some classes decided to exit for the day and try to contact loved ones in New York and Washington.

But the phones didn't work. I couldn't reach my cousins, Lindsay and Jamey, until a week later. No one at my school, Isidore Newman School, knew what to do. We were all gathered in the auditorium, where Dean of Students Dale Smith confirmed the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. He said President Bush was on his way to Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, and that senior Will Ensenat, the president's godson, had been escorted off school grounds by the U.S. Secret Service.

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Bill O'Reilly and music videos

Every so often, when I'm flipping through channels, some headline catches my eye when I skip past Fox News, inevitably flipping back to see what the hell these assholes are talking about now. I flip back, missing the end of an interview, having to suffer through Sean Hannity thanking Ann Coulter for being on the program. I'm glad I missed what she said, but I start thinking to myself about these 24-hour news networks. Does anyone else realize that this is a pointless waste of time? That's when I started thinking about the nature of our news. It seems that news really doesn't matter, but exists as a platform for some giant Irish man to yell at people as to why they're wrong. That's the nature of news today. There's no more discourse, no more conversation, no more intelligent debate. Fox News is "fair and balanced?" That's just like saying the Pope is Jewish. It's just not true.

But this phenomenon didn't start with news. It started with a song written 28 years ago by Trevor Horn, Courtney Courson, Geoffrey Downes, and Bruce Woolley. They were better known as The Buggles. "I heard you on the wireless back in Fifty Two. Lying awake intent at tuning in on you. If I was young, it didn't stop you coming through. Oh Oh." We know this song better as "Video Killed The Radio Star," but it might as well be the anthem for news as well as MTV. When this video premiered as MTV commenced on August 1, 1981, no one foresaw the death of music as we know it. For the most part, music is dead. There are songs produced these days that transcend how we listen and experience music, but the love of greed and money that we have today has left its putrid stench on what was once a wonderful experience. When we listen to music, we get a vision. That vision can transport us to a new dimension of life; it reminds us of times spent in the past, whether in a kitchen or a foreign country ("Don't Speak" by No Doubt sends me straight back to France), and music will continue to exist in this capacity.

Just like the newspaper. When we read articles, it forces our mind to receive new information that is forced to react to our own emotions and feelings. Granted, the news has gotten worse and worse in the last six years, but we can still formulate an opinion based on articles that we read. Whether positive or negative, we can think about it. Fox News tells you how to think. They will appraise you if you're "right" (like Ann Coulter, who said that we must invade foreign countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity), and they will yell at you until red in the face if you're "wrong" (like Jeremy Glick, the son of a Port Authority worker slain on 9/11, who was yelled at by Bill O'Reilly, told to shut up, then had his mic cut and was thrown out of the studio. You can see it for yourself on YouTube.) They constantly plant a vision into the minds of mostly uneducated America about what is right and what is wrong. Anyone reading this who agrees with Fox News, let me ask you a question: Do you like being treated like a child, or do you like to make up your own mind? Read the paper, form an opinion, think for yourself.

Peace.

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Impeach The "President"

All I can do is think. Given my current position, living with my mother in Baltimore, anxiously waiting for the next two and a half weeks to go by so I may return to LSU, all I can do is think. I shouldn't claim that a call to action is needed. Hell, only about four people have read any of my previous blogs, and I doubt many more will read this one. But has anyone noticed who is running the country? Has anyone noticed the widespread devastation across this once great land? The bombs, the guns, the blizzards, the raging wildfires, the lies, the division? Has anyone else noticed that America is not the same as it was? The time has come to impeach our so-called "leader", George Walker Bush.

Does anyone really believe that New Orleans would still be in the state she was in if Al Gore were President? If the actual President were in charge of the country, I might be back in New Orleans tonight. I'm not saying Gore, with his massive wind-breath, would have blown Katrina back out to sea. The hurricane would have still hit, and lives would still have been lost. But recently the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans released a 92-page report, describing in great detail what needed to be done to fix the city's canals, pipes, and drainage systems. The estimated cost of this job hovers around $5.7 billion, and experts believe that completion of this gargantuan task would take about 25 years. Meanwhile, the compulsive liar and his beer pong buddies spent $20 million on an Iraq War victory party. Yes, a victory party. A party that hasn't even happened yet. The Iraq War will end up costing America at least a trillion dollars, and the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans needs $5.7 billion to fix the city's pipes and drainage systems. Where do you think America's priorities lie? What else in America lies?

When the two planes hit the Twin Towers five years, three months, and ten days ago, America was swept away with a new definition of "hero." The hundreds of policemen and firefighters who died trying to save lives were heroes. The average passengers on Flight 93 who took control of a bad situation were heroes. There are no stories of people in New Orleans that could be called heroic. The policemen and firefighters lost their homes. The people normally viewed as heroic were in the same predicament as anyone else. Meanwhile, President Liar is increasing his personal bank account fighting people on the other side of the world. He's worrying about whether or not to send troops halfway around the world to die in the name of his stock, while a mere 1200 miles away, Americans are still without power, water, food, or hope. The current administration is fighting against an insurgency to which he has never spoken or met. But he has campaigned furiously in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf Coast region. He knows who we are. He knows where we live. But apparently, he doesn't know how to help.

So, Mr. Bush, I offer you three suggestions, and I hope you take this seriously. Suggestion #1 is to burn the cities of Midland, Texas, and Houston, Texas, to the ground. Destroy your hometown, so you will feel the sadness I do about losing your home. Suggestion #2 is to leave Iraq and fix New Orleans. Use your power for good, not evil. Suggestion #3 is for you and the Dick to leave office immediately. I suggest you follow Suggestion #2, because if you don't, America will make #3 a mandate for you.

Bush is a deeply religious man, and I'm going to end this blog with a quote from Matthew 19:24. "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God." I'll remember that when Bush is burning in Hell.

Merry Christmas.

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Statement of Purpose

August 29, 2005.

I was standing on the Mississippi River levee, in Baton Rouge (in other words, no, not that levee). Four friends and I fought through the near-horizontal rain that soaked our clothes. The 60 mile-per-hour winds literally whipped us back and forth as we neared a meterologist for Channel 2 news in the hopes of getting on live TV. The river's thunderous waves beat against the bottom of the levee, but the surge was nowhere near dangerous height. We pressed on, laughing and smiling, lucky to have gotten out of school for a week. When we finally made it across the levee to the weatherman, we became hurricane hunters from St. Paul, Minnesota, and eventually started a "Go Katrina (clap clap clap-clap-clap)" chant. All five of us LSU Tigers were swept away in a force of nature, and we sang and danced in the pounding rain, only subconciously aware that while we were playing, others were drowning.

As we returned to our dorm, Kirby-Smith Hall on the northside of campus, CNN was reporting a breach in the 17th Street and Canal levee in Downtown New Orleans. From there, I was silenced. The four others had not known New Orleans as their hometown for the past 18 years. They did not recognize the streets that were being inundated with water. I could only watch quietly, and expression-less, as news anchors in swanky New York studios were telling me what I could very plainly see for myself: my hometown was underwater. Sitting in the lobby of Kirby-Smith, clothes still soaking wet from the torrential downpour, I wasn't quite ready to cope with the reality of the situation. But I kept staring, mouth tightly closed, nervous at what the latest reports and images would bring.

That was a year, two months, and 23 days ago. And a lot has happened since then. I left LSU, moved to Baltimore, currently working as a waiter on the Inner Harbor, I have a niece, the Democrats took control of Congress (although not official for another two months), Donald Rumsfeld resigned, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have turned into the voices of truth, Britney Spears got her damn mind back, and I've been re-accepted to LSU, with plans of retuning in January. Oh, and I've lost at least 50 pounds. But I'm getting to the reason of this title, "Statement of Purpose."

Whatever I decide to do in life, writing will be a factor, and it's good to voice one's opinion. It's what made this country great. But now, in the closest thing to fascism that exists, we have gone from democracy to hatred in about 6 years. Actually, 6 years, 2 months and 10 days. September 11th, 2001, changed this country. America transformed from a respected superpower to a feared, out of control wasteland of hatred and disrespect, and it's true. The tragedies of that day (and I am in no way making light of that, it was a tragedy) enabled the hacks in power to send its brave soldiers into battle over a platform of lies. America was afraid that something like this would happen again, and they had every right to be. But the additional fear of another attack led to our invading of a country we now know had nothing to do with arguably the worst day in American history. And it is in this lie that a harsh reality emerges: The estimated cost of fixing New Orleans is roughly the same as the War in Iraq costs.

What happened to America? What happened to the "land of the free and the home of the brave"? What happened to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"? What happened to "this nation of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from this earth"? What kind of world do we live in where our leaders are not held accountable for their actions, regardless of whose lives they damage or outright destroy? I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America. A natural disaster sent me to Baltimore, but the inaction of our government has stalled my return. Personally, my life does not matter as much as the lives of countless thousands of families, friends, and Americans, who wake up on the same days, require the same food, and have the same need for love that all humans possess. The last time I checked, this was America. This was the land where the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses took shelter from their own countries, longing for some individual concept of freedom. And regardless of where those people ended up, or how they fared, they came to America because this was the land of the free. When our government turns its back on its own citizens, when Americans turn their backs on Americans, it is no longer the land of the free; rather, it is the land of hypocrisy. And that must change.

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