Got questions about the debt ceiling madness going down on the Hill? Ask U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany.
Boustany, the Lafayette Republican who’s been representing the 7th Congressional District since 2005, is hosting a town hall meeting from 4 to 5 p.m. Thursday at the Fontana Center on Kaliste Saloom Road.
Boustany’s spokesman Paul Coussan says the meeting will serve as a conduit for residents wanting to know more about the debt ceiling vote that took place last week. You know, the vote that Standard and Poor’s says didn’t do enough to address the nation’s debt problems and prompted the first ever drop in our credit rating.
The former physician made national headlines in 2009 as an opponent of the health care overhaul, also giving the Republican response to President Obama’s first health care address in the same year.
This year, the congressman garnered statewide attention during the redistricting process, which will pit him against U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry, the first-term Tea Party favorite who replaced Charlie Melancon to represent the 3rd Congressional District.
Read more about Boustany in The Independent’s February cover story, “Charles in Charge.”
MAY 24 Blogger Robert Mann posts this entry about the Baton Rouge Chamber's recent report on Louisiana's higher education system. It's critical to economic development, and yet our system is facing a "funding crisis" with no way to resolve it, the report says. The Chamber says control of tuition and fees must be returned to the higher ed governing boards.
MAY 24 Here's a NBC33 story about Tyrann Mathieu. He has signed with the Arizona Cardinals, inking a $3 million, four-year deal. He gets a signing bonus of $265K, but gets another, larger bonus if he doesn't get cut from the team for doing drugs. The deal reportedly includes mandatory tests and meetings for the player.
MAY 24 Jarvis DeBerry posts here about the redonkulus rhetoric that would have us believe NOLA is a safe city with a murder problem. Maybe the city's crime stats don't compare with its murder stats because you can't manipulate a murder, he says: a dead body's a dead body. It just doesn't make sense, he says, and his readers agree: a poll asks if they believe the city is safe, and more than 90 percent say no.
MAY 24 Jindal administration officials announced Thursday that the privatization of public health care is going to cost a lot more than they budgeted for, the Advocate reports here. "I'm so surprised," said no one. Anywhere. The cost they're projecting now is more than $1 billion - a lot more than the $626 million budgeted for it. And, it's more than it cost the state to operate those hospitals. So why are we doing this again?
MAY 24 Blogger CB Forgotston ridicules the recent PR campaign by the state GOP in the wake of a legislative auditor's request to both major parties. The GOP (apparently unaware that the Dems got the same request) started yammering about being targeted because it had "killed" a tax increase. CB finds that laughable, but it's also pretty funny that the GOP was comparing this episode to the IRS scandal (Because the President has so much to do with our state auditor. Right?).
MAY 24 Politico details some recent fund-raising efforts by Sen. David Vitter, which have raised the question of his future political plans. This time, it is a $5,000 per head "bayou weekend" that includes "Cajun cooking" and an all-caps "alligator hunt," the story reports. Funds raised go to a super PAC that can spend money to support Vitter in federal or state races, the story points out.
MAY 24 The pink building on Royal in the quarter was sold at a sheriff's sale Thursday, this Picayune story reports. An injunction that would have halted the sale wasn't enforced because the family failed to post a $150,000 bond, the story reports. So the owner of the mortgages on the building bought it, for nearly $7 million. Now the feuding family will have to negotiate with that company to get a lease on the building that has housed their business for close to 60 years.
MAY 23 This post in Louisiana Voice tells us about a bill by a Winnsboro lege that would require all public high school students to take at least one Course Choice online class in order to graduate. (What?) Blogger Tom Aswell says it's a monument to "waste and corruption," especially in light of the problems he's exposed with the program in recent weeks. Idaho had a similar program, but voters removed it by a 2-1 margin, Aswell says.
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Maybe he can explain why the Military Industrial Complex can't help ole uncle sam out? We've been feeding those FAT DISGUSTING PIGS like a free for all buffet since 9/11 gave them carte Blanche to our tax dollars. You'd think after the back door deals with countries like Saudi Arabia , you know like where we the tax payers give 1.3 billion dollars a year to Egypt so they can buy weapons from these SCUMBAGS SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF THIS COUNTRY, they could help a poor country out. Oh and wait, what is the current political status of this country that we have been ARMING TO THE TEETH? Oh yea it's a Military junta. Gee we might just be fighting our OWN freaking weapons soon. Deja vous huh? Good thing we just decided to sell 60 BILLION dollars worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, I'm sure they'll help because their government is a... Oh yea... Islamic absolute monarchy. Besides we need it to pay the 3 BILLION a year we give to Israel and the additional 30 BILLION we've committed to over the next decade.
CARE TO EXPLAIN THAT BOUSTANY?
No I'm sure you'd like to tell us how brave you were sticking our neck on the line with your stupid game of economic chicken.
Also I wonder if he can recommend a proctologist, he must know one because big corporations have their so far up his he must need daily reconstructive surgery.