Conservative talk show host Michael Reagan, son of late President Ronald Reagan, is the newest addition to the pages of The Times of Acadiana. We could care less if he's conservative or liberal ' his writing's just awful. Michael does not have the gift of communication that his father did; consider the sweeping stereotypes and fact-challenged writing in recent Reagan columns:
"The illegals that come here for a job or for some other reason don't come to become American citizens."
Hmm, we didn't know that Reagan knows the motives of every illegal alien who enters the United States.
From a recent column on Barry Bonds:
"Forget about the fact that long before he ever used a single strength-enhancing drug he was a stand-out star on the baseball diamond. Wrote Boston Herald baseball columnist Tony Massarotti: 'Barry Bonds was a Hall of Famer long before the steroids and he is still a Hall of Famer now.' In my book, that's what counts. Barry Bonds is a baseball player. If he's not a really nice guy, that's another story. What matters in baseball is the ability to play the game well. ... That's what counts in the game. This whole steroid use business has been grossly overplayed â?¦" Â
Tell that to the millions of parents trying to educate their kids about the dangers of steroids and the pitfalls of cheating.
And the kicker, from a column on earthquake insurance in California:
"â?¦ The generous Mayor [Ray] Nagin did not stop there. He urged those [New Orleans] residents to take advantage of a buyout program that would pay them up to $150,000 for their property. Need I tell you who's going to foot that bill? It won't be insurance companies ' most of the residents in the affected area didn't have flood insurance. â?¦ Here in California we don't worry about hurricanes, broken levees or blizzards. We worry about earthquakes. â?¦ We can protect ourselves from having to pay the ruinous cost of rebuilding our homes after a massive quake by buying earthquake insurance, just as the people of New Orleans could have protected themselves from Katrina by buying flood and windstorm insurance."
Data compiled by the office of Donald Powell, federal coordinator of recovery and rebuilding in the Gulf Coast region, shows that two out of three New Orleanians ' 67 percent ' carried flood insurance, compared with a national rate of approximately 5 percent.
It will be interesting to see if new TOA Managing Editor Gene Williams will ever see fit to actually edit Reagan's columns. ' Scott Jordan
REVETT LEAVING KXKC
Lafayette's top rated morning radio program, The Breakfast Flakes, is about to be reduced to a single flake ' Scott Daniels.
Renée Revett, Daniels' talented co-host for the past 14 years at 99.1 FM KXKC, is relocating to Houston after May 5, where her husband has landed a new job. A replacement has not been named.
Never taking themselves too seriously, the smart and informed morning show personalities often had their listeners in stitches with their lively format, which also made them popular with country music stars, a number of whom they've befriended over the years (Revett counts Billy Dean and Brad Paisley among her closest). "I've met everyone, [including] Willie Nelson and Garth Brooks. Kenny Rogers came and sat in on my show Feb. 24. On March 2, Clint Black played guitar and sang," notes Revett, who also served as program director during her entire tenure at KXKC.
The 45-year-old says the move will allow for some much-needed R&R. "I've been getting up at 4:15 since 1986," she says. Revett plans to take up golf and continue to do voice work ' keeping some Lafayette clients.
The Comeaux High grad's radio career dates back to 1977. In the near term, she'll be returning to Lafayette regularly to plan her 22-year-old daughter's wedding and says her heart will never be far from the Hub City. "I'll always have a connection to Lafayette. I can't imagine becoming a Houstonian," she says. "I think I'm going to be a Louisianan who lives in Texas." ' Leslie Turk
MAY 22 This post was written the day after the second line shooting in NOLA, by Brentin Mock. Mock is a friend of Deb "Big Red" Cotton, a blogger who was shot in the back and was seriously injured. It is a raw, emotional piece of writing, something the writer obviously felt he needed to get off his chest. But it raises questions that can't be easily dismissed, and might give some insight into where the source of these events truly is.
MAY 22 In this Baton Rouge Business Report post, Rolfe McCollister considers the privatization of bus service in Baton Rouge. After decades of under-funding, it is a mess, and although a tax (partially) passed last year, improvement hasn't happened yet. McCollister apparently feels it is time to let private business get in on the transit business.
MAY 22 This post on Bayou Buzz by Jeff Crouere urges the defeat of a bill that would grant modest pay increases over the next several years to the state's judges and clerks of court. The state is in no position to fund pay hikes, Crouere argues, with the pay increases costing a total of $9 million over several years. It sends the wrong message to the (proverbial) hard-working people of Louisiana, he says.
MAY 22 The Advocate reports here that State Treasurer John Kennedy is complaining about a meeting of the corporation that oversees the state's tobacco settlement. The Governor wanted it restructured, and he has some support, but not a lot. The corporation agreed with his plan, but Kennedy didn't, and it appears that the meeting was noticed in a manner completely different than that of all previous meetings. Kennedy's given to hyperbole, but in this case the fish don't smell too fresh.
MAY 22 In this Advocate story, Carencro Police Chief Carlos Stout says the recent federal indictment of a strip club owner is all wrong. The indictment alleges that drugs and prostitution went on with impunity because club staff made arrangements with "local" police. Stout says it never happened, and while his cops do work security in the parking lot, they're not allowed inside.
MAY 22 This amusing post in DIG Baton Rouge recounts an ad that ran on Craig's List recently; the advertiser was seeking tenants for a Beauregard Town house. He knew his market, and wrote an ad that the most ironical hipster couldn't resist. Apparently, he really did know his market, because the ad worked like a charm.
MAY 22 In this post in The Lens, Mark Moseley comments on the rhetoric Gov. Jindal employed in trying to save his tax "reform" package. One interesting point concerns Jindal's use of his brother, Nikesh, in a little story. Nikesh left Louisiana because of his inability to get a decent job, the story goes, but the story won't hold water: Nikesh lives in DC, which has an income tax level comparable to Louisiana, Moseley says. If income taxes caused the dismal situation, it should exist in DC too. Right?
MAY 22 This post by columnist John Maginnis traces the trajectory of the bill that would fund construction at community and technical colleges -- and bypass the Board of Regents and traditional higher ed funding mechanisms. Sure, it will bust the legislature's self-imposed debt limit, but some leges feel that there's more need (because there is more growth) in the community and technical college area than in the university area, he says.
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