Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Written by Walter Pierce
BP’s public-relations disaster deepens as its own industry turns on the oil giant.
It was inevitable that BP would be made the pariah, not by the public and the politicians — that happened within weeks of the Deepwater Horizon explosion...
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Written by Walter Pierce
Seeking no-good SOBs for a thankless job
Using the term “qualifying” for registering to run for political office is kind of like using the word “practice” for careers in medicine, accounting and law. We’d like to believe our doctors, accountants and lawyers are done practicing when they get their licenses, and we’d like to think that candidates are qualified when they qualify. Clearly that’s not always the case, be it police jury or president...
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Written by Walter Pierce
Uncle Sam helps the Legislature polish its fiscal mettle.
Let me throw a number at you: One billion, eight hundred sixty-six million, five hundred eighty-nine thousand, six hundred and fifty-one. It looks really big when you write it out. That’s $1,866,589,651, or, rounding up and abbreviating, $1.9 billion...
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Written by Walter Pierce
In the waning days of the session, what goes around comes around.
Politics is good when it achieves solutions, better when it rights a wrong and best when it provides grist...
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Written by Walter Pierce
Public school bus drivers prove the power of privilege at the state Capitol.
Of a kind with chickens and eggs, it is unclear to me if my fascination with data like lists of lobbyists registered to do business at the state Capitol is born of being in the newspaper business, or whether I’m in the this business because I get pleasure from such lists...
JUNE 16 This story in the Advocate tells us that the state Department of Education is taking a look at the Course Choice program. They're doing that because the legislature (probably responding to reporting by Tom Aswell, who does not work for the Advocate) ordered them to make sure that these private companies aren't signing six-year-olds up for high school Latin classes without their parents' knowledge or consent.
JUNE 17 Columnist James Gill writes about the recent complaint of death row inmates at Angola: it's hot as you-know-what in their cells, with the heat index topping 120 for months. Since we're not executing people anymore (Gill opines) then we should probably officially end the practice of putting people on death row. The prisoners, by the way, are not asking for cool breezes: they only ask for clean water and a temp that doesn't top 88.
JUNE 17 Here's blogger Ian McGibboney's take on the Baton Rouge plan to give bus tickets to homeless people who have a home with family who live far away. Taken from one point of view, it could be a good solution for some people. But McGibboney raises some good points here, including this one: Why not improve opportunities for everybody in Baton Rouge so these people can find the jobs they came to BR for?
JUNE 17 Picayune columnist Jarvis DeBerry talks here about the Zimmerman trial, but the real topic is the concept of a black man being more dangerous, somehow, than a white man in a fight. It is an interesting discussion, and one that may enlighten people who think that racism doesn't exist because nobody's keeping black folks from eating at the Woolworth lunch counter.
JUNE 17 Here's an interesting column from Baton Rouge Business Report's publisher, Rolfe McCollister, about anger against the government. It's brewing because of recent revelations about the IRS and the GSA, he says. It's readable, not just for the subject, but because of McCollister's collection of sources: Huffington Post, National Review and Wikipedia. That's a combo you don't see every day.
JUNE 17 In this American Press post, Jim Beam talks about the high school diploma track that lets kids who aren't interested in university get what they want and need out of high school. The diplomas get kids ready for technical school, Beam explains, and then he goes on to give some of the numbers. Some of these numbers might really surprise people who think technical school is second best. And, Beam adds, a college diploma does not guarantee anybody a job.
JUNE 17 The Washington Post reports here that OSHA is going to investigate the explosion that occurred last week in Donaldsonville, shortly after the other fatal accident in Geismar. As soon as the site is safe, State Police will be pulling out of the Donaldsonville plant to make way for OSHA investigators, the story reports. (Hey, here's an idea: why don't they go a couple miles down the road and figure out what happened when that massive sinkhole started sucking up land.)
JUNE 17 Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board of Supervisors in this post, taking a look at the many ways board members have served Gov. Jindal and not their university or their students. The board members are esteemed members of their fields, but can't seem to do anything but say "yes" to Jindal, regardless of the cost to LSU, Mann opines.
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