Month: January 2012

BREAKING: The Idiots at Louisiana Citziens to squander $500,000 in scarce reserves to appeal judgment to the US Supreme Court (Updated)

Louisiana Insurance Commish Jim Donelon

How sad that an insurer set up via taxpayer fiat is so against the policyholders it was created to serve.  I’ll add that based upon the last legislative auditor report such a move tells me the Citizens is insolvent. I wonder if they are still running quickbooks? What a joke they are!

And to think just 3 years ago the lit and hallucinating buffoons on the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board were praising Jimbo the Clown and Louisiana Citizens Insurance.

File this one under sold out.

Update:

It did not take the Supreme Court long to bitchslap Jimbo down and make no mistake folks this is all Jimbo the Clown. Even worse, he claims to have more ideas to make this mess worse.  Whadda Clown!

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While we wait for news…..

Just shy of five and half years ago, this area was forever changed due to a Hurricane named Katrina. My experience with the storm was up close and personal and the experience best described as life changing. Prior to August 29, 2005 I blogged exclusively for my own financial benefit in support of my investments on places like Yahoo! Finance.  After, I cut back the number of stock holdings I tracked and devoted time to blogging in support of this area and the people in it covering insurance related issues. Lord knows the insurance companies had an army of PR shills arrayed against us but off we went undeterred.  I was so confident in my abilities that I told Nowdy we’d have it licked in 6 months. Here we are 4 years later we’re still talking about Citizens Insurance. Then came an oil spill, the impeachment of a crooked local federal judge and the Jefferson Parish portion of the massive political corruption scandal in metro NOLA to name a few topics where we have not just provided an alternative voice but existed on the cutting edge of the entire media universe.  I am humbled so many people have placed their trust in me to tell their story.

Today when I go to NOLA I am treated like a rock star.  While I certainly appreciate the showing of gratitude I also am struck by the fact I am no different from anyone else. Yeah, I can bash pretty good but if Katrina taught us anything it was when the chips were down the people of the Gulf South always rose to the occasion.  I am reminded of that today. If memory serves today’s song has appeared  just once in the 4,423 posts and 22,300 comments prior to this one and includes one of our very early taglines that still applies today. Enjoy.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. ~ Margaret Mead

Southern Gothic: SouthCoast today has posted an extensive account of yesterday’s court proceedings to silence journalistic inquiry in Yarmouth

Mmmmm, Mmmmmm I love home cooking folks, here is a snippet:

For the third-act and denouement of this dramatic courtroom episode, during the discussions of financial damage awards and level of injunctions sought, Hood seemed more a kindly aunt than a stern justice, as she appeared to be coaching the pair in their demands on the court, which they uncharacteristically seemed muddled and confused about.

When the three appeared to have reached agreement about what was being asked of the court, the session abruptly ended, with Hood inviting the pair back to court the following day to hear her decision.

The entire article at SouthCoast Today is a must read.

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Canadian Goose and Gander: A Guest Editorial by Timothy Gillespie of the SouthCoast Today

Dear Slabbed nation… I have asked the Slabbed publisher to afford me this chance to speak directly to you and to clear up what might be misinformation, lies and innuendo being promoted about me by frequent Slabbed subjects and Trout Point Lodge owners, Charles Leary and Vaughn Perret. While in a Nova Scotia courtroom yesterday, testifying under oath about their outrage at the alleged smears, innuendo and defamatory comments directed toward them by the nation, they took the opportunity to defame me with the exact same tactics.

I would like to set the record straight about defamatory comments made by Perret and Leary in the court room, on their Trout Point Lodge blog and other public documents and arenas. I have never operated as an “informant” for Slabbed or any other person, entity, group or business. I do not publish stories from Slabbed, but produce stories based on a variety of sources and, in many circumstances, based upon hours of meticulous research.

I have never acted in collusion or concert with Slabbed or any other publication or publisher. Sharing sources, leads and story ideas is a common practice in the news business and I have no intention of ceasing this age-old practice among colleagues.

Further, my writings about Trout Point Lodge are in no way connected to an affiliation with a former employee of the Lodge. That the pair chose to defame her on their blog and again in court is something which she will have to take up with them.

I have never intentionally printed false or misleading or defamatory material about the Lodge or its owners and have removed any such materials immediately when being advised of any oversight in that regard.

I was – and remain – grossly offended when recently contacted by Mr. Perret requesting that I turn over to him all email correspondence between me and the Slabbed publisher so, according to him, he “could use them in the damages proceedings.” This is a direct intimidation and an a priori invasion of my rights as a journalist. Continue reading “Canadian Goose and Gander: A Guest Editorial by Timothy Gillespie of the SouthCoast Today”

No Obit for Roy D’Aquila???? (Updated)

Slabbed values our first amendment rights as a media outlet and public forum. That said I have occasionally been approached about pulling factual posts on humanitarian grounds. Such was the case with a Gulfport stockbroker back in 2008 when I marked a factual post as private.  While I have not been approached by family of the late Roy D’Aquila to remove this post I have decided based upon reader comments to remove the original post for humanitarian reasons as it is not my intent to inflict further emotional pain on Mr D’Aquila’s family at this very difficult time for them.

I again wish to express the condolences of the entire Slabbed Nation to Mrs D’Aquila and family and we pray their pain is assuaged in time.

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BREAKING: Trout Point Lodge asks Nova Scotia Judge Suzanne Hood for $1,000,000 in damages against Slabbed plus a cyber execution for the blog.

Well folks, what can I say except 2 of the 3 Trout Point Lodge stooges were in rare form today. The SouthCoast Today has this breaking news story. Here is my favorite part:

The pair testified that they thought that the recent revelations on the Slabbed blog about New Orleans lawyer Roy D’Aquila might have resulted in or contributed to his death yesterday. When the pair complained to the Justice that Slabbed had access to public court documents from Nova Scotia, Hood reminded them that the documents are public records and available for all to see. Perret asked that the Justice clear the courtroom for some of his testimony, which she refused to do.

Leary and Perret testified repeatedly about the contempt which they felt Handshoe had displayed for the Nova Scotia Judiciary and Hood reminded him that the judiciary was not a party to the case.

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BREAKING: Jimbo the Clown’s legacy to Louisiana policyholder revealed. Louisiana Citizens Insurance has assets seized to satisfy court judgment

Louisiana Insurance Commish Jim Donelon

And folks this is what happens when a clown is elected as Insurance Commish. Heckuva job Jimbo!