Day: June 11, 2012

In our continuing episode of Magnum J.D. Baldwin v Costner: In fact Bull Durham, we’re all amused.

Folks in today’s update of the trial in Judge Feldman’s courtroom Bull Durham was on the stand last week and me thinks the pressure is getting to Costner, who could not read his testimony from a script like he did before Congress back in 2010. Here are a few snippets from 2 AP stories filed on the topic the the first of which detailed Bull’s testimony from last Thursday:

Actor Kevin Costner says he was heartbroken as he watched millions of gallons of oil spew into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and that he headed to New Orleans to see whether cleanup devices he helped develop could aid the recovery effort. Costner, who has been sued in a multimillion-dollar business dispute involving the devices, told jurors he was nervous. “My name is at stake,” he said.

Indeed it is as we’d all be disappointed if Bull is perceived as anything other than full of BS because that is all we saw back in 2010 when he showed up in this area like a fly on shit after the oil spill peddling useless centrifuge technology as a cure all for the Macondo well blowout. Bull has an interesting self concept of his contribution to combating the spill:

“I’m not just a celebrity,” Costner said during testimony. “I’m not just a person who opens doors.”

Continue reading “In our continuing episode of Magnum J.D. Baldwin v Costner: In fact Bull Durham, we’re all amused.”

Citizens for Good Government updates the fight with Councilman Lagasse over pay to play in Jefferson Parish

Supporters of Good Government:

Citizens for Good Government is passionate about the need for reforming Jefferson Parish’s service contracting process.  To accomplish this, as we have indicated in previous UPDATEs, we enthusiastically support the recommendations contained in the recently-released Bureau of Government Research report entitled “Reforming Jefferson Parish’s Unusual Approach to Service Contracting.”

The current process for selecting the winners of service contract permits councilmen to select the contract awardees without requiring them to take into consideration the ranking of evaluation committees. However, BGR recommends awarding service contracts to firms because they rank highest in an evaluation committee’s scoring of relevant, weighted criteria. 

According to BGR, the role of our councilmen should be limited to approving or rejecting the evaluation committee’s recommended contractor or terminating the procurement.  The current process, which permits district councilmen to select the winner of service contracts for work done in their districts, bears a significant portion of the blame for the Jefferson Performing Arts Center fiasco.

Continue reading “Citizens for Good Government updates the fight with Councilman Lagasse over pay to play in Jefferson Parish”

Times Picayune employees to hit the chop shop this week.

A few weeks have passed since the news hit regarding cutbacks at the Times Picayune and my thoughts have come together on what Slabbed has to add to the discussion since I think some very important aspects of this story have been missed. In the interim I’ve spoken with reporters at several publications since the stunning announcement was made last month via the New York Times media decoder blog that the T-P will be drastically downsizing.

First off I need to make clear that for inkophiles there is no hope as the notion of a daily printed newspaper is a figurative dead man walking. The subscribers base that is left for newspapers these days are those stuck in habit they will not voluntarily break in reading the daily paper version of the paper. Mrs Sop is one of those folks which is why we still have the Sun Herald delivered. I pick it up most mornings but I never read it as I read the news on my tablet. That does not mean I wouldn’t pay for online news as I would and have since the 1990s via the online Wall Street Journal. That aspect of this topic needs its own post though because newspapers have conditioned people to believe gathering news is free by giving their web content away for free.

Another aspect of this whole saga is that the way it went down indicates serious internal problems exist inside the Newhouse family publishing empire. There is no way to candy coat that part of it but former Newhouse employees that spoke to Slabbed indicated the current family decision makers represent the third generation of Newhouses to run the business, taking control around 5 years ago. It appears they are very intent in putting their own mark on the company. What is disturbing to me is they do not appear to have fully anticipated the management turmoil the changes have caused. Let’s review.

In 2009 Ricky Mathews was poached from The Sun Herald Continue reading “Times Picayune employees to hit the chop shop this week.”

All signs indicate a Ray Ray indictment is at hand

If Maurice “Hippo” Katz had lived, he would have given Team Fed both Morial and Harry Lee. I mention this because Sir James wrote a column for yesterday’s Times Picayune about the fact former HSOA CEO Frank Fradella strongly looks as if he copped a plea and is working with Greg Meffert to insure former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is sent to the Graybar Hotel for a very long time.  Jason over at AZ was on to this tidbit a few weeks ago and has been all over Nagin era post-Katrina corruption since this became a story.

For his part Nagin appears to be firmly in denial hiring Aaron Broussard lawyer Robert Jenkins as this Channel 6 story illustrates. Jenkins has an “in” with WDSU, which passed him off as as a simple “legal analyst” in their reporting on the Sal Perricone saga before Jenkins filed motions in the Broussard case over Perricone’s online activities.  Dane Ciolino was the king of such backdoor commentary on his cases but Jenkins clearly knows that media trick too.  What he does not know is how to practice law in Federal Court according to the fabled Slabbed legal team.

Finally, speaking of NOLA political hacks, Jason over at AZ and David over at CoD continue exploring new District B NOLA City Council representative Diana Bajoie’s connections to a Con Profit that derived its state revenue from gaming taxes.  Half Moon promised change folks but hopping in bed with retreads like Bajoie clearly illustrates NOLA City Hall is both open for business and sale.

sop