Taken in a Lowe’s hardware store in McComb, Mississippi.
My sanity: taken away in a Lowe’s hardware store in McComb, Mississippi.
The weather is unpredictable. I know, I’m not shocking anyone. But here, I’ve happened to notice that over the past three days, it went from dreary and rainy, to hot and humid, to chilly (60 F in July, in south Louisiana: the weather is broken), and nice today.
What does it all mean? It means my head is confused. Yesterday I had a headache (just like today and the day before), and I hadn’t even visited MySpace that day. Seriously, MySpace gives me a headache. And I’ve been feeling sick. However, I persevere and still do things while I’m sick, only because it’s summer. During the summer, if my head is split open, I’m fine and going down to Starbucks. From August to May, if a piece of dust hits my head hard, I’ve got to go home, rest for three days, and file a claim with my insurance. It’s “the weather”, I like to say.
Wait, was this about weather? I forget.
Governor Weak Leader Arrogant, er, sorry, Bobby Jindal, has vetoed the pay raise for the Louisiana State Legislature. The bill would have given members of the state Senate & House of Representatives a double in their pay. Already, the Bobby Jindal Feel-Good Field(TM) has once again extended over the state of Louisiana, after a brief blip of the public actually controlling our politicians. Thankfully, that long (six day) state nightmare is over, and the politicans in Baton Rouge will be right back to congradulating themselves on the tireless work they accomplished over the past few weeks, including legislation to “ban bullet-proof vests in public schools”, and “require young drivers to use a hands-free device for cell phones” (yeah, little Johnny can’t use his phone, but 98-year-old Granny Estern can. Fantastic.)
And now, for something (almost) completely different…
The state legislature voted last week to ban the La. Department of Motor Vehicles from issuing any kind of identificiation under the REAL ID specifications, which is the US Department of Homeland Security’s (I hate those words) mandatory national ID card. As I wrote back in March, I am 100% against the REAL ID system, although ironically our governor isn’t. In fact, he voted for the bill. Idiot. I’m actually afraid he might veto that bill, and if the legislature isn’t going to hold a special veto session to save their pay raise, they sure as hell aren’t going to come together to vote on something important.
Front page, The Baton Rouge Advocate, June 25th, 2008
An Open Letter to Mr. Bobby Jindal
Welcome back, Mr. Jindal! I say Mister, of course, because calling you a governor would imply the citizenry of Louisiana would like for you to continue to represent our state to the rest of the country and the world. And judging by the fact you went from salt to scum in the eyes of most citizens here in less that 24 hours, I’d say, yeah, we really don’t want you.
You screwed up, Mr. Jindal. You promised during your campaign for governor (which was little more than a formality to give Walter Boasso and John Georges thinking that they might win) to never allow the legislature to have a pay raise. Now you really wish they hadn’t invented the printing press so that could have never been printed on your own campaign literature.
And the sad part is that if one of two things had happened in the October 2007 gubernatorial election, you wouldn’t be in this predicament. You wouldn’t be facing four members of state legislature facing a possible recall, and a rumored recall petition filed against yourself. A recall petition, by the way, I will happily support in any way possible. If you had not have positioned yourself as “the reformer”, as Louisiana’s knight in shining armor, riding up on horseback to throw former governor Kathleen Blanco and the rotten stench that lingers over downtown Baton Rouge (and on a busy day, makes it down to my home) when stupidity, greed, and just plain incompetence meet for legislative sessions; if, sir, you had not have decided to be the Louisiana Barack Obama, giving “hope” and promising “change”, but unable to show where you have the credibility to spew those words; and instead, Mr. Jindal, had you decided to be honest with the people of Louisiana and tell them you want to get things done but you can’t promise anything, if you had made it clear to them that you’re running for the office of Governor of the State of Louisiana, and not for the office of “God which will solve all our problems”, and had you decided to maybe come off your high horse of “almost winning the 2003 election, and losing to Ms. Blanco who people now hate and so I must be able to win” and actually talk to the people of Louisiana beforehand, and not micromanage the media into playing positive sound bites of you talk about change, but instead had you maybe decided to show up to a debate, it’s possible people could have gotten the full picture.
The second thing that could have happened last year to solve all these problems you’re experiencing now? If the people of Louisiana, battered from two hurricanes and an embarrassingly incompetent New Orleans, state, and Federal government, seen through your smile and stories about your childhood, and seen you, Bobby Jindal, for who you are. Not an amazing defeater of special interests, not a triumphant and morally clear public servant the likes of Louisiana has never seen, but instead another politician. An arrogant politician who had the election wrapped up so you didn’t bother to talk with the people. And people fell for it. Not everybody. Certainly not me.
Mr. Bobby Jindal, as I said earlier, you screwed up. Everybody screws up. Most politicians screw up. Hillary Clinton screws up stories. Ron Paul hired people who screwed up his newspaper columns many years ago. Bill Clinton screws interns. Not quite the same thing, but we’ll go with it. But you know what these people did, Mr. Jindal? They admitted they screwed up and apologized. You apparently aren’t entirely off of your high horse. Where’s your apology? That newspaper headline, the one from your and my hometown and current residence of Baton Rouge (if you haven’t seen it, I’m sure it’s right outside the front door; wave to the angry citizens beyond the fence while you’re out there), says that you believe you learned your lesson. But then the subtitle says that you still plan on passing the pay raise bill. So what does that prove? What exactly, Mr. Jindal, did you learn? “I’ve learned my lesson” is the quote of a reprimanded toddler, trying to convince his parents he won’t eat another cookie before supper. Mr. Jindal, do you want to have the credibility of a toddler to the people of this state? What did you learn? That, for the first time in recorded history, the state of Louisiana is mad at you? Do you subscribe to the Bush theory, that the masses are too lazy and stupid to realize when they are being screwed over? If so, look around that governor’s mansion. It won’t be yours for long.
People know you made a backroom deal with the legislature to get you’re own bills passed. People know you said you were better than that. And they’re learning, for the first time, that you, sir, are just another politician.
Veto the bill, Mr. Jindal. Will you still have a negative view around the state? Yes. Will I like you? I never have, but don’t worry about me. Worry about the thousands planning on marching on the capital in early July, and the thousands that can force a recall election.
Veto the bill, Mr. Jindal.
UPDATE: And now it’s happened. A recall petition has been officially filed against Bobby Jindal.
Baton Rouge District - The Thanks And The Jeers
State Senator Rob Marionneaux: You voted for the pay raise. Sir, if you would like to earn some extra cash, I have the perfect job for you. Between sessions, how about you work at Burger King and serve fries to some of our good politicians, such as State Representive Karen Gaudet St. Germain, who voted against the pay raise. We thank you, Rep. St. Germain, and Senator Marionneaux, why don’t you make it easy on yourself and resign?
For the unintiated: What’s Going On And Why We’re So Angry
Now, if you’ve made it this far, you have to have some idea of what is going on. Here’s a little summary: Governor Bobby Jindal was incredibly popular amoung most every Louisianian with the exception of a few (and I include myself in the few). He promised to clean up Louisiana politics, notorius for basically being the most corrupt and stupid in the nation. Everybody loved him, and one of his campaign promises was to not let a pay raise for the state legislature pass. Now that they tried it, however, he’s backing down under threats of not allowing his legislation get through. And the entire state is now furious, at least four official recall petitions have been filed to get many of the idiots who voted for this pay raise out of office. And the rumor is the governor himself could be facing a recall (for the love of God, we can only hope).
What is crazy is this is Jindal being a complete idiot. Which newspaper headline (excluding the real one above) sounds better to Jindal to you?
Governor’s reforms shot down after legislative pay raise vetoed
or…
Governor caves in to legislative pressure, allows pay raise
…and now you know why we used to call him Mr. Arrogant.
Which brings me to my next point…
…I Called It!
From Kevin’s Word archive, October 2007: Election 2007 Special: This Is Our Informed Public
Oh hell.
I wonder what that guy thinks now…
And this gem, the first time I called him Mr. Arrogant, in a Best of Kevin’s Word special last year:
From Kevin’s Word archive, October 2007: Oh How Things Change
From Blanco Ain’t Coming Back!, March 2007:
What was I talking about? Oh, yeah. Vote Jindal. Not that I’m biased, or anything.
—
See, things change a lot. By the way, congratulations, Mr. Arrogant.
Wow. Double quote. I will explain, that for a while I was a Jindal supporter, until I, you know, researched the information.
All that explains… that I didn’t like Bobby Jindal from the get-go. I don’t think he’s genuine, and he was extremely arrogant during the 2007 election.
So, What Can I Do?
If you’re a Louisiana citizen, visit the Louisiana State Legislature website, get the contact information for your members of legislature, and see if they voted for the pay raise. If they did, rip them a new one. Remember, they’re “worth it”. (And yes, the member of legislature that said that quote is the subject of one of the recall petitions).
Contact the governor, and ask him to veto the bill:
225-342-7015
And next time a candidate for any office tries to convice people he’s all “change”, look beneath the smile, and judge his character. If it isn’t honest and humble, you can bet you’ll be in for disappointment after the election.
Note: Now on Digg. http://digg.com/political_opinion/An_Open_Letter_To_Bobby_Jindal_More
openSUSE 11.0 is only minutes away now, so I wanted to give the entire openSUSE project a round of applause and congrats. This is gonna be an awesome release, and I hope to be using it soon ;-). (Note to Novell: that means ship my pre-ordered boxed edition soon.)
I’ve been gone since last Tuesday for a trip to Florida. And now I’ve returned. And I’m swamped with all sorts of emails, info, podcasts, work, etc. I’ve read most of my email, both those directed at me and those from the many mailinglists.
What happened while I was gone? Ron Paul ended his presidential campaign and started another one; Banshee 1.0 was released; and Tim Russert died. God, what will happen on my next trip?
And as you may also be aware, openSUSE 11.0 is coming this Thursday. I’ve already ordered the boxed edition, so hopefully those are going out soon.
![McCain: \](http://kevinsword.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/obama_mccain.png "Obama McCain \")
Finally, I’m back to real content on this website. Yay for me.
So sitting at the kitchen table today comtemplating the meaning of life, I decided to read the paper. I always enjoy reading the newspaper, it brings back memories of the days when everyone got their news from paper you could fold up and throw away. On page 3 (if ya want to get all specific) there was a facinating article entitled Campaigns reject forum on single network.
Let’s go on a flashback. A while ago, John McCain said he wants to do more town hall-style meetings with the voters. Senator McCain came to Baton Rouge and held a town hall, for which I ran screaming away from the city was unfortunatly unable to attend. Back to point (as if I ever have one), he also alluded to the fact that he would like to have a few town halls with Barack Obama.
Now, this is of course, the opposite of what I would like to have. For a while, I’ve been pitching the idea of a Presidential Big Brother. (CBS: Great ratings!) We’ll stick all the major candidates (McCain, Obama, Barr, Nader, whoever wins the Greens) in a house, and we’ll make Katie Couric the host. It’ll be great.
Anyway, let’s focus. According to this Associated Press article, both the McCain and Obama campaigns agreed on something: they rejected an ABC News-hosted town hall in New York. Now, honestly, I see why they would reject ABC News, because unless you’re trying to find out who has a flag lapel pin on, they seem to be kinda useless. (Now, to be fair, an ABC News insider friend of mine has informed me they wern’t going to talk about flag lapels. Instead, they were going to focus on which state the campaign buses were registered in. Much more informative.)
Perhaps more interesting is the reason the campaigns say they rejected the offer. From the article:
John McCain and Barack Obama rejected an offer Sunday from Mayor Michael Bloomberg and ABC News to host the first proposed presidential town hall because they do not want it limited to one television network.
So they want to make the media companies work together? I’d say there’s more of a chance of George W. Bush and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad becoming drinking buddies. Is there an alternate reason behind that explanation? As in, they knew they couldn’t get the networks working together, so it’s an empty promise? I didn’t say it. I just asked it.
Note to the uninitiated reader: Kevin counts the Libertarian and Green nominee as major candidates, and if there are any major independents, those get counted too.
I have discovered as of this morning this blog is now sydicated on the good ol’ Planet SUSE. So hey eveybody!
As now we begin a new chapter in the history of Kevin’s Word, we reflect for a moment on the past, the present, and the future.
-Kevin Dupuy, sometime in the past 24 hours
March 2008 is the last article? Really? It’s been that long? Huh.
Welcome everybody to the new Kevin’s Word. For the uninitiated, I’m Kevin Dupuy. I’ve been working on this website on and off (I have other things to do, sorry! Geesh) and we’ve gotten it to the point I”m comfortable releasing it out to the public.
Some of the new things found here? The main new thing is integration with Yo.TV and a new blog: In the Life of the Yo. You’ll see those posts most common, but if you only want to see Kevin’s Word posts, choose your preference under the Article Filter box on the right.
New posts start immediantly, so get ready.
Peace out, -Kevin & Team
Welcome to the new Kevin’s Word! Please see the Help page above for more information!
