Liberty and Justice for All!

If I was someone who knew nothing about Bobby Jindal and I watched Jay Leno last night, I would have probably been impressed with what I saw. He seemed very comfortable, came across as a nice guy, and (if I believed what Jay Leno and Bobby Jindal said) seemed to show a Louisiana that was getting better on ethics. When it comes to the perception of Louisiana’s governor, I am sure that if someone took a poll of Republican voters, that they would be very impressed with our Governor.

Of course, I am someone who knows a little bit about our Governor and several of the statements last night were misleading to say the least. When asked why Bobby Jindal entered politics, he mentioned that he and his wife noticed all of the young people leaving Louisiana. Bobby Jindal entered politics before he married his wife (and probably before he met his wife). Jindal has worked for Bob Livingston when he was in Congress and was appointed to be head of the Louisiana Department of Health before he married Supriya. I don’t think he decided to work for Bob Livingston because of all the young people leaving Louisiana.

Of course, Bobby Jindal was also a bit misleading on our having the toughest standards. Sure, the laws may be tough but if the laws cannot be enforced because the burden of proof is too high. What good are the unenforceable laws other than to try and fool people nationwide that we are somehow better than we used to be. We are not better than we used to be, we just put lipstick on the pig.

Finally, the interview came down to the big question of the day. Would Bobby Jindal say yes if asked to be Vice President. He didn’t say no. He didn’t even use his precognition and suggest that McCain would not ask him (perhaps that was out of respect to Carnac the Magnificent*). What he did do was compare saying no to McCain right now to  saying no to the pretty girl who hasn’t yet asked you to the prom. Guess what? You don’t say no if the pretty girl asks you to go to the prom! So again, I have no reason to believe Bobby Jindal will refuse McCain if asked to be V.P..

Jeff Crouere beat me to the punch this morning by suggesting that no other potential Vice President candidate is appearing on Jay Leno or any other late night T.V. show.

Speaking of Carnac:

Carnac: Goodyear, Tuck, and Bobby Jindal

McMahon: Goodyear, Tuck, and Bobby Jindal

opens envelope

Carnac: Name a tire, a friar, and a liar.

The Supreme Court ruled that asking for a photo ID to prove that you are who you say you are when going to vote is constitutional. Democrats and the ACLU are against this.

Ken Falk, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Unionof Indiana, said he hadn’t reviewed the decision, but he was “extremely disappointed” by it. Falk has said voter ID laws inhibit voting, and a person’s right to vote “is the most important right.” The ACLU brought the case on behalf of Indiana voters.

The right to vote is very important. The right to vote in a fairly run election is also very important. There is absolutely no good reason to be against my showing ID at the polls.

Now, since voting is right and showing  a photo ID is a requirement, Democrats and the ACLU should challenge the fee that goes along with providing a state issued photo ID as being a “poll tax”. Now, I am not saying that drivers licenses should be free. However, state issued photo ID’s should be free if they are going to be required to be shown at the voting booth.

Finally, since participation in fair elections should be a right, checks and balances in the system to prevent against election fraud (like paper trails) should also be implemented.

Oyster quoted the Reduct Box who quoted the Washington Times that said:

Governor Bobby Jindal is escorting Senator John McCain around New Orleans today and by all accounts it’s not just for exercise. Between the Leno gigs and DC Press club speech, Jindal’s playing his VP ambitions about as cool as a Freshman at the Senior prom.

Now, I respect Oyster’s opinion on many things, but we happen to disagree on Jindal’s ambition for higher public office. Oyster does not believe that Jindal wants the VP position, even though he feels Jindal will use such talk to propel him onto the national stage.

The problem with this is twofold. First of all, nobody should take Jindal’s thirst for power for granted. Jindal, and the people around him, drool at the opportunity to climb that political ladder. If politics was an art-form, the way that Jindal has been able to manipulate not only the voters, but the media as well, would be on the level of a Picasso.

Second of all, I don’t think Jindal would risk losing this buzz by not pushing for his spot as VP this time around. Jindal currently is the owner of “the buzz”. If he allows someone else to become the VP candidate and is unable to slay more dragons in the next four years, he risks losing the national notoriety that he currently holds. He could become yesterdays news and I really don’t think Jindal wants that or will allow that. The other reason Jindal needs to hold onto the buzz now is because Bobby Jindal has never held a job for more than 2-3 years. This gives him time to get out before anyone realizes that he has made things worse and not better. If he stays as Governor too long, the voters may realize how badly he misled them.

What will likely happen is that up until the time he is selected, Jindal will continue to play “Mr. Modest” and say how he has work to do here. However, he will never stand up and say “no, I don’t want to be VP this time”. So when McCain asks him to be his choice, he will gladly take it and use this opportunity to sell himself nationwide.

The Reduct Box also points out that Jindal refuses to say “no” when asked about whether he will be VP.

Saying that McCain is not going to ask him to be VP does nothing to clarify what Jindal would say if he did.

Sounds familiar

They are $40 on ticketmaster, $50 at the gate. What they don’t tell you is that after all the fees, 2 tickets for jazzfest wind up costing $100.80. Kinda stupid. Just sayin…

Ric Flair honored by his Congresswoman.

Luckily for us, Ric Flair will be remembered every time that CP3 scores or gets an assist.

Whooooooooo! (I think the Congresswoman needs to work on her “whooing”).

Of course, some people would question Congress wasting time on trivial matters like this. At least Charlotte has a Congressional respresentitive that attends and votes!

From the episode this week:

Woman: He says he didn’t. He has an I.Q. of 70 so…

Alan Shore: Well, executions of the mentally disabled are unconstitutional.

Woman: He was never officially pronounced disabled. A 70 I.Q. only puts him in range. But in Louisiana…

Alan Shore: *groan* He could be Governor…

And with the amount of fact checking the Louisiana media does, and the amount of fact checking the majority of the voters do in Louisiana…. it’s a stretch but not that much of one.

And to all those who are going to cry that I am attacking your favorite governor, just assume he was talking about a previous one you dislike and you will find a chuckle somewhere.

Garland Robinette(Jindal cheerleader and apologist, at least until today) had C.B. Forgotston on his show today at noon to discuss an article in the advocate about the possibility that Louisiana had the wool pulled over its eyes when ethics reform passed. *GASP*

From the article:

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a lot of charges that are unprovable” under the tougher new standard, said Richard Sherburne, the former prosecutor who now runs the Board of Ethics.

“Necessarily that change will let some people who have violated the law avoid responsibility,” he said.

Let’s get into a layman’s explanation on what happened. To win a civil case, the plaintiff only needs to establish a preponderance of the evidence to get a verdict against you. To win a criminal case, the state needs proof beyond reasonable doubt (a much tougher standard). Garland used the OJ criminal and civil cases as an example. So basically what the state has done is made it tougher to prove that someone is guilty! And while “clear and convincing” is not as bold as “reasonable doubt”, it is still more than “preponderance”. This means less people will be punished, even though we have more laws. Let me make that clear so everyone, including all the Jindal apologists, can understand. BOBBY JINDAL SIGNED A BILL INTO LAW THAT MAKES IT HARDER TO CONVICT PEOPLE OF ETHICAL VIOLATIONS.

Hopefully, the Legislature will change the standard so that their “new gold standard” for ethics is not fool’s gold.

Nobody should be surprised that Jindal’s gold standard is more like pyrite. Garland seemed to be very shocked. After all, he has been a shill of Bobby Jindal’s for years now. However, for him to admit that the wool “may”  have been pulled over our eyes is a big step for him. I tried to call in and give him more examples of Jindal’s ethical failings. However, an hour later the show was over and they took no calls.

Please see C.B. Forgotston’s site for the autopsy of the death of ethics in our state.

Update: The State Senator who put forward the change in wording was on Garland’s show this afternoon. And in typical Jindal Apologist style, the State Senator accused Garland of wanting to give “entertainment” and that was the only reason he was continuing to discuss this issue. I am used to those kinds of tactics first hand. See, Jindal Apologists will tend to make wild accusations if  you do not support their beloved politician. If you did not believe that Jindal would bring meaningful ethics reform to Louisiana, you were attacked as being someone who must be against ethics.

Another disturbing problem was that Garland claimed he was being told by his higher ups that he had this all wrong and that the State Senator was correct. Well, Clancy Dubos came on and showed the State Senator to be completely wrong. I wonder why Garland’s higher ups would tell Garland that he had it wrong? Perhaps it is because they feel that they might lose access to Governor Jindal? This happened to Steve Sabludowski for a while over at Bayou Buzz. And according to the author of the article in the Gambit, many people in the media are afraid to write items that are critical of the Jindal for fear of having their access to the governor eliminated. He says that the  those who surround Jindal tend to be “angry” and vindictive (and this is not the first I have heard this). They (probably “homeschool” and Sellers.. and perhaps others) will cut off access to those members of the press who dare challenge the almighty Jindal. Clancy Dubos basically told any journalist who would cower to the thugs in the Jindal administration to grow a spine and do their jobs. (He didn’t call them thugs, but by using fear tactics that is what they are).

Clancy also stated that he has written an editorial on this very issue. As soon as he posts it on his website, I will provide a link.

Bobby Jindal will be on Jay Leno this Monday.

According to a similar Web site news release posted by Jindal’s office, the governor will discuss the many reforms under way in the state and highlight the fact that Louisiana is open for business and working to become the best place in the world to raise a family, get a high-paying job, and pursue a great career.

I wonder if Leno will be allowed to ask whatever questions he wants to ask or if the question and answers will be scripted to be another Bobby Jindal press release. I am sure that Jay Leno will ask the question on if he will run for V-P and I am sure Jindal will give the typical dodge.

A note to the Jindal apologists. Until Jindal answers “NO” to the question of whether he would accept the V-P nomination, you have no reason to believe that Bobby “Job Hopping” Jindal will stay put.

Update: “NBC’s public relations team, meanwhile, is billing the governor as “possibly being the vice presidential candidate on the Republican ticket” in November’s election ” link

When I read the article title, Judge orders La. school district to stop Bible giveaways, I just knew it had to be Tangipahoa. Of course, they do not dissapoint. It seems that they supporting the passing out of Bibles. It seems that they are wrong, yet again.

This leads me to two sets of questions.

A) Would the Tangipahoa school board allow for Hebrew Bibles to be passed out? What about the Koran? Could a muslim group pass out the Koran to students? If the school had no “religious purpose” in distributing Christian bibles, you would think they would have no problem with other religious texts being passed out. I think we all know the answer to that question and it would be a resounding “no”. Why? Because it is obvious that the Tangipahoa School Board has the intent to try and push Christianity on their students.

But the more interesting question would have to be…

B) Isn’t it sad that the board in charge of helping children of Tangipahoa Parish learn has shown that they are absolutely incapable of learning for themselves? I mean seriously, how many times do they have to attempt to promote Christianity in their public schools before they realize that YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DO IT!

Sally Ann Roberts on the morning show on WWL TV stated something to the effect of “if you support him or not, you have to admit that Jindal has done a lot in his first term so far”.

Do I really have to admit that? Ok, if you insist!

I admit that Jindal has done a lot to prove that he is not serious on ethics.

I admit that Jindal put up a lot of window dressing legislation while still allowing bundling to occur.

I admit that Jindal has shown himself to be a liar, the same old kind of politician that Louisiana has suffered under for years, and someone who expects reform in others but balks when change is expected of his office.

And I will admit that Jindal has proven himself to be for sale, giving government funds and government jobs to campaign contributors.

I am amazed at the ability of Bobby Jindal to get all that done in his first 100 days.

Is that good Sally?