Levees Not War

We’re Levees Not War, and We Approve This Message:

*

The text of the commercial, running in various media markets in Louisiana, goes like this:

We know how David Vitter handled his “serious sin.” And when David Vitter’s staffer violently abused his girlfriend, Senator Vitter let him keep his job—working on women’s issues. David Vitter on women: he voted against equal pay for equal work; against coverage for mammograms; even against protections for women raped on the job. David Vitter: for women, his “serious sin” isn’t even his worst.

See Charlie Melancon’s “Serious Sins” web site. Click here for Talking Points Memo’s article about the ad, and Vitter’s commercial that prompted Melancon to bring out the big guns (linking Melancon with “millionaires and illegals”). TPM comments, “No Wallflowers in This Race.”

Charlie Melancon, a Democratic congressman for Louisiana’s 3rd congressional district, is running for United States Senate. Levees Not War strongly endorses his candidacy and will be pushing for him between now and the November elections.

[cross-posted at Daily Kos]

“[The Democrats’ stimulus] legislation is larded with wasteful spending. It includes . . . $140 million for something called ‘volcano monitoring.’ Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.” —Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana, Feb. 24, 2009

Remember Bobby Jindal’s celebrated response to President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress in February 2009? It included some, uh, noteworthy moments, not the least of which was his sneer at such “wasteful spending” as “something called ‘volcano monitoring.’” Some speechwriter was probably pleased with that line, but this was a contemptuous display of ignorance on the level of Rudy Giuliani’s ridiculing “community organizer—what’s that?” (6:08) at the 2008 Republican National Convention, and just as deserving of a reality-based comeuppance.

The $140 million for the U.S. Geological Survey was partly intended to provide warnings of impending volcanic eruptions in the U.S. and around the world where American military bases are located. The Americans at Ramstein Air Base in Germany probably appreciate that monitoring equipment right about now.

With international air traffic to Europe disrupted for a second straight day following a massive volcano eruption in Iceland (some 17,000 flights were canceled Friday), we have to use the occasion to poke this over-ambitious governor in the eye and say: “Now do you get it?” Jindal the boy genius used to be respected for his intelligence (Rhodes Scholar) and precocious grasp of complex policy, but those days are over. He is not serving his state or the nation—and not his own career, either—by his know-nothing, anti-science statements and decisions. (See our earlier posts “Mr. Jindal, Tear Down This Ambition” and “From Rising Star to Black Hole.”)

(more…)

Just when we were trying to get our attention back on flood-protection infrastructure and coastal restoration . . .

We try to get along nice with everyone, but still we were surprised to receive a “Dear Friend” e-mail from Louisiana’s Republican senator David Vitter (as distinct from the other Louisiana senator who just votes like a Republican half the time). It was dated April 1, but we don’t think it was an April Fool’s joke. Was Mr. Vitter writing to say “sorry I took up so much time trying to stall passage of the health reform bill in the Senate last week with frivolous, unworkable legislation”? No, silly, he was writing to assure us that he has already filed a bill to repeal “Obamacare” because “In the face of tremendous public outrage and bipartisan opposition, the president and liberal politicians in Congress violated the Constitution and ignored the will of American people.” [full text below] Wow, are there really that many liberals in Congress?

The second paragraph reads in full:

This newly-signed law is packed full of policies the American people overwhelmingly and loudly rejected. We know it will add to our already enormous national deficit, increase the burden on American families by enacting job-killing taxes and put the government between patients and their doctors. This bill’s mandates are unconstitutional, and the process by which it was passed disrespects not only the will of the public, but also our legislative process. Worst of all, this bill insults and disregards the traditions that have made our country great—limited government, personal responsibility and individual freedom.

(more…)

Did you miss us? We apologize for a longer-than-usual absence, but there was a family medical emergency involving coronary intensive care that showed us all too dramatically (as though we didn’t already appreciate it) the life-or-death urgency of access to good health care. (Mom is recovering now, thank God.)

We’ve also been busy again with Organizing for America health care phone banks. On Thursday night some two or three dozen volunteers gathered in an apartment in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park to phone voters and urge them to call Congressman Scott Murphy in New York’s 20th congressional district to urge him to reverse his November “Nay” and vote for the health reform bill on Sunday. Our group made 1,446 phone calls, spoke to 417 people,  and got 232 to commit to calling Congressman Murphy. Rep. Murphy has now announced that he will vote for the health bill. (See our previous post “Scenes from a Health Reform Phone Bank.”) One woman we spoke to said she had already called the congressman once; was it okay to call again?

(more…)

President Obama visits New Orleans for about four hours today. He will visit the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School in the Lower Ninth Ward from about noon till 1:00 p.m., and then will hold a town hall meeting at UNO from 1:15 to 2:00. This is his first visit as president. He has been to New Orleans five times since Hurricane Katrina (Aug. 2005). His last visit was before the Louisiana primary in February 2008, when he spoke to a full house at Tulane University. It’s a brief drive-by visit, but as usual we have to be thankful for any attention we can get.

Louisiana senators Landrieu and Vitter have criticized the brevity of the president’s visit—they’re not the only ones—though Landrieu yesterday on MSNBC softened her tone, saying she understands he has “a lot on his plate” and expressing gratitude for the visits of housing and education and other cabinet members and the help they’ve provided and promised. See Landrieu’s informative 8-minute video (above) for a review of the critical issues facing the state that she hopes the president will focus on. In a letter to the president Vitter urged Obama “in the most respectful way possible to expand your visit to ensure that it includes several important site visits, helicopter tours of coastal erosion/hurricane protection issues in parishes surrounding New Orleans, and focused discussion with community leaders regarding ongoing challenges.”

(more…)