My Favorite Beer Commercial

I'm not a beer drinker, but this commercial almost makes me want to become one. I must admit that I have mixed feelings, though, about the use of something this inspiring to sell something like beer. It's not that I object to beer. I just think that this commercial and the slogan "Know Who You Are" could be used to promote something a little nobler and less fattening.

I first saw this commercial a few years ago on the Steinlager website. I'm pleased to see that it made its way to YouTube. More on the commercial and the team that made it can be found here.

That's what she said.

A Texas policeman is fighting his suspension for having sex with prostitutes while undercover.

In his own defense, suspended officer Keith Breiner said:

"I didn't have pleasure doing this. I was paid to do it."

David Vitter - Serious Sinner

The FEC has ruled that David Vitter can use some of his campaign funds to pay for legal fees stemming from his involvement in the trial of the late D.C. Madam.

Vitter argued that he would never have been targeted by Palfrey if he had not been a senator, therefore his expenses are a result of his official position.

"I committed a very serious wrong and mistake," Vitter said in a letter to the commission. "My only point is that others who did the same but were not notable were not similarly treated or targeted by the defense in the Palfrey litigation."

Full article

Think of this before you contribute to his re-election campaign / legal fund.

Killer Bees Found In Winn Parish

I've been waiting for this day ever since I saw The Savage Bees when I was a little boy growing up in Winnfield. So far, the actual occurrence has been very anticlimactic.

Louisiana Family Finds Jesus In Their Bathroom

I see Darth Vader.

Here's the story.

La. Senate Secretary Glenn Koepp Hopes to Keep Racial Quotas in Redistricting

According to an article in the BR Advocate, an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case from North Carolina asks the questions:

Does a district have to be crafted so that a racial minority has at least a 50 percent majority to avoid claims that black voting strength is being diluted? Or can state legislators comply with federal law by drawing a district with no racial majority but where a “realistic opportunity” exists for a minority candidate to be elected because of reliable white crossover voting?

If the Court approves the second option, then states would be able to base their redistricting plans less on race and more on other relevant factors (e.g., natural geography, municipal boundaries).

It seems like a reasonable step toward sanity and away from racial gerrymandering in the redistricting process.

Also, it needn't lessen the number of black legislators:

“The 50 percent rule imposes a racial quota on the Voting Rights Act,” said Sam Hirsch, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who filed arguments in the case for the League of Women Voters of the United States.

Twenty-one black legislators are in Congress — elected from non-black-majority districts, Hirsch said. “Let’s hope the Supreme Court does not put a strait jacket on you,” he told a packed room of lawmakers from across the nation.

However, Louisiana Senate Secretary Glenn Koepp seems to be hoping that the Court keeps the 50 percent rule in place:

“If the court takes away the bright-line, 50-percent district, there’s no way for us as a Legislature to perfect a redistricting plan,” said Koepp, the Senate secretary. “We’ll get sued. No matter what we do, somebody is going to be able to show you can do it better.”

Koepp said that going the coalition-district route would “give all of the attorneys and political scientists out there the fodder to second-guess us and file suit against anything we do.”

Think about what Koepp is saying. He's willing to sacrifice state sovereignty so that the state legislature can keep passing the buck on the racial aspect of redistricting.

Mr. Koepp is right about one thing. Attorneys and political scientists and even ordinary citizens might second-guess what he does. He's a public employee, so he should be used to that.

However, if the Court discards the 50 percent rule, then it will surely replace it with instructions on what the states must use in its place. The new rule might be more nuanced than the old one. It might require state legislatures to use some common sense, rather than just applying a mathematical formula aimed at creating districts based exclusively on race.

Yes, someone might sue. If they do, then face the lawsuit and argue the state's case in court.

The federal courts are finally showing some signs of abandoning federally-mandated racial quotas in redistricting. Let's hope milquetoast state employees don't stop that long-awaited reform.

Michael Jackson Among Top Ten Independent / Third-party Candidates

Political commentator Trent Hill has released his list of the top ten independent/third-party candidates of 2008.

State Rep. Michael Jackson, who is running as an independent in Louisiana's 6th Congressional District race, comes in at number 5.

Jackson's candidacy is noteworthy because he will probably take enough black votes from the white, Democratic incumbent to swing the election to the Republican nominee.

5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turns down Fahrenholtz case

...but he plans to take it to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Here's the story.

Winnfield's Taser Policy

The family of Baron Pikes, who died as a result of Tasering by the Winnfield police, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against several parties, including the city of Winnfield, Louisiana.

One of the lawsuit's allegations is that Winnfield failed to properly supervise and train its police officers in the use of Tasers.

An article in last week's edition of Winnfield's local newspaper deals with that question, though in a mostly different context. The article is not available online, but it documents poor judgment, a lack of communication among city agencies, and a severe lack of oversight regarding the police's use of a potentially deadly weapon. It's too incredible and too frightening to let disappear into the obscurity of small-town print journalism, so I'm transcribing it below. There's no byline, so I can't make any more precise attribution.

From the Winn Parish Enterprise, August 6, 2008:

City Panel Reviews Taser Policy

Policies and procedures of the Winnfield Police Department regarding the use of tasers were addressed at a public safety committee meeting held Tuesday, July 29.

“We had a meeting at the police station and we went through what the department was proposing when the department first adopted the tasers,” said Herman Castete, city attorney. “This was presented to the city council and the council approved it.

“We’re not following any of the procedures and I want to know why. What has been changed and who authorized the changes?”

Castette also wanted to know if no one authorized the changes how did they get changed.

“The council has never changed anything,” he added.

One of the major questions raised by Castete was the medical part of the taser policy.

“You pull the probes out yourself now,” he said. “The policy and procedure says you can’t do that. This was approved by the council. For this to change, it has to go back before the council to be approved. These council members are the ones that decide what happens within these city limits.”

Adam Cockerham, who is in charge of the tasers at the police department, argued that the policy and procedure are just guidelines and they are not set in stone.

“The chief can change it if he wants to,” he said.

Castete said that the chief can not change the policies and procedures.

“Nothing ever goes by policy procedure in the whole department,” said Cockerham. “Not until something bad happens does anything happen with policy and procedure.”

According to Castete, officers followed the policy and procedure in the beginning and quit somewhere along the way.

Cockerham explained that when MedExpress was in Winnfield their personnel pulled out the probes for the department. When Advanced came in, their personnel will not remove anything from the skin.

“Even if we’re there telling them how to do it, they won’t do it,” said Cockerham. “Every time we taser someone and have to pull the probes out, when the ambulance gets there, that’s when we pull them out. Ambulance personnel looks at them and says they can go to jail.”

Castete advised that the department should have come back to the council and said that the policy needed to change because that wasn’t the way officers were doing it anymore.

“You all didn’t do that,” said Castete. “You just automatically started pulling probes.”

According to Cockerham, the whole thing needs to be changed.

“I have told everyone above me that the ambulance people would not pull them out anymore and that we pull them out on the scene with them there,” said Cockerham. “Even if they’re not on scene, ambulance personnel still look at them before they go to the hospital.”

When asked if the probes are pulled out before or after the ambulance personnel arrive, Cockerham said most of the time it is before.

“You are not following what the council said,” said Castete. “That’s the problem. I don’t know if it’s you, or the chief, or the council, but somebody is falling down in their duties.”

Castete also asked the question of when did it get to be that officers could use the taser for passive noncompliance. No concrete answer was provided by Cockerham or Johnny Ray Carpenter, chief of police.

“You are making the city liable for a lawsuit every time you violate this book,” said Castete. “If you think this thing needs to be changed, then the department needs to come before the council and get it changed.”

So Many Socialists

The Socialist Workers Party has become the first party to get on the presidential ballot in Louisiana this year. They are going to have some competition for the socialist vote, though.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation is organizing their Louisiana ballot effort and the Socialist Party USA is also planning to be on the ballot here.

(The National Socialist Movement's candidate may also show up -- but, of course, national socialism is very different from regular socialism.)

One novel aspect of the Socialist Workers Party's ticket is the fact that their presidential candidate, Roger Calero, is not constitutionally eligible to be president. According to the BR Advocate:

"Calero’s name will not be on the ballot because he was born in Nicaragua, and federal law prohibits a non-U.S. born presidential candidate, campaign worker Amanda Ulman said. Stand-in candidate James Harris of Los Angeles will be on the ballot for the Socialist Workers Party, Ulman said.

Berry [the La. Sec. of State's press secretary] said he is not sure what the party’s bylaws allow after an election but the candidate on the ballot has to be U.S. born."

Interestingly, it does appear that Calero will be listed as the presidential candidate on some states' ballots. He ran in 2004 and only needed a surrogate in about half the states in which his party was on the ballot. The plan then was that if the SWP won, the surrogates would champion a constitutional amendment allowing Calero to take office.

Given that the November election is for choosing presidential electors rather than actually choosing the president, I don't think that Calero would be prohibited by the U.S. Constitution from appearing on the ballot.

The Constitution says that "[n]o person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution shall be eligible to the Office of President," but it doesn't say that such a person cannot appear on a state's November ballot.

The Constitution does allow each state legislature to direct the manner by which that state's electors are chosen, so a state could decline to print on the ballot the names of presidential candidates who are not actually eligible to take office.

I assumed that was the basis of Berry's statement, but I've looked through Louisiana's election code and can't find any law giving the Secretary of State that power. The qualifications for elector candidates are clearly stated, but not those of the presidential and vice presidential candidates whose names will be listed with the slates of electors. (I've only made a cursory look through the election code. I'll look more later and update this post if I find anything relevant. I've also emailed Mr. Berry. If I get a response, I'll pass along his explanation.)

Also, if Berry's statement about the presidential candidate appearing on the ballot having to be U.S. born is true, then is John McCain going to have to use a stand-in, too?

Louisiana As I Have Seen It, Part II

I saw this sign at a carnival in Monroe. I thought it offered good advice for life in general.

Fahrenholtz Appeals in Federal Court

Jimmy Fahrenholtz has asked the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review Judge Beer's decision.

At this point Fahrenholtz's chances don't seem very good, but he could argue that the case is not res judicata because the state court refused to properly consider his constitutional argument.

Red Shirt America

Jeff Sadow has drawn parallels between technologies used on Star Trek: The Next Generation and the campaign strategies of Democrats.

Specifically, he compares holograms, cloaking devices, and shields to the methods Democrats use to hide their liberal voting records from the voters.

A much more apt analogy would be to the Changelings (from ST:DS9), who can change their shape and appearance to blend in with their environment or to otherwise suit their needs.

To balance things out, here's Rep. David Wu (D-Oregon) comparing Bush's neocons to Klingons:



Stephen Colbert also showed an amusing juxtaposition of Republican and Klingon invocations of "honor."

Fahrenholtz Fails in Federal Court

Clancy DuBos reports that U.S. District Judge Peter Beer has declined to reinstate Jimmy Fahrenholtz as a candidate in the 2nd District U.S. House race. Judge Beer's ruling was based on res judicata, rather than any flaw in Fahrenholtz's claim that the state statute that lead to his disqualification was unconstitutional.

Fahrenholtz's mistake (the one most pertinent to Judge Beer's ruling, anyway) was pursuing his case all the way through state court. He should have removed it to federal court as soon as possible, since it dealt with a federal question. A federal court might have had a better understanding of the U.S. Constitution and more of a willingness to rule a state statute unconstitutional.

There are two very negative consequences to this ruling.

First, the Democratic voters of the 2nd District won't have as broad a range of candidates as they could have had.

Second, Louisiana will probably go on using a constitutionally flawed qualifying form until it causes problems for some other candidate. Let us hope that that candidate's lawyer learns from Fahrenholtz's example.





This ruling is probably most advantageous to Helena Moreno and Bill Jefferson.

As the lone white candidate remaining in the Democratic primary, Moreno now has a very good chance of making it into a party runoff with Jefferson.

Jefferson, in turn, has a much better chance of winning a Democratic runoff against a white candidate than he would against another black candidate.

Since the Democratic nominee is almost certain to win the general election, Louisiana's constitutionally clumsy attempt at political reform has probably ensured the re-election of a Congressman who is currently under indictment for bribery, racketeering, and money-laundering.


Some of my previous posts on the Fahrenholtz case can be found here, here, here, here, and here.

The Hurricane Katrina Lightning Laser Memorial Tower

MIT artist-scientist and Mississippi native Joe Davis is planning to build a tower which, according to this article, "will literally seize a hurricane’s force, bottle it up and hurl it angrily back into the sky" as a memorial for victims of Hurricane Katrina. He's naming it Call Me Ishmael and he's looking for funding.

“Katrina destroyed the legacy of my family, all the photos of my grandmothers and the furniture, and wiped away everything to the foundation," said Davis, who also lost his father and a friend to earlier hurricanes.

In the 1980's in protest of the censorship of female genitalia from previous attempts to contact extraterrestrials, Davis beamed sonic interpretations of the vaginal contractions of ballerinas into space for 20 minutes before the Air Force discovered his broadcast and shut it down. He called that project Poetica Vaginal.

More on Joe Davis (who is now one of my heroes) can be found here, here, and here.

David Duke Sort of Endorses Ralph Nader

From the Jackson, MS, Clarion-Ledger:

In a telephone interview from Italy, Duke called Obama a "black racist" endorsed by communists and predicted if Obama wins "it will absolutely change politics forever. European Americans will realize we've lost the foundation of our country."

The former Klansman said he'd been told by others that if Obama becomes president it "paves the way for David Duke as president."

Asked if he'll vote for McCain, Duke replied, "No way. I'm not going to vote for somebody I consider a traitor to our American heritage."

Duke cited McCain's support for the war and immigration as reasons he opposes him. "If I were going to vote, it would probably be third party," he said. "I would probably vote for Ralph Nader."

Full article

Louisiana As I Have Seen It, Part I

Memorial Tower at LSU.

I'm very keen on photography. I have been since I was a boy. I've decided to post some of my favorite photographs that I've taken in Louisiana. Some will come from my photo blog (which I still update occasionally) and others will come from the various shoeboxes, scrapbooks, and folders in which I keep most of my pictures.

DuBos and B.A.N. on Fahrenholtz

Clancy DuBos reports that Jimmy Fahrenholtz will be pursuing his case in federal court.

Ballot Access News also has a followup post on the Fahrenholtz case.

Louisiana Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Fahrenholtz Case

According to the Times-Picayune, the state Supreme Court has declined to hear Jimmy Fahrenholtz's appeal.

I don't know whether Fahrenholtz is planning to pursue his case in federal court, which is where it really should have been anyway. It's an interesting case that should have had a better resolution. If his case does ultimately fail, it will probably be because of mistakes that were made in the handling of this specific case. Constitutional law was heavily on Fahrenholtz's side.