TresSugar

Do You Ever Feel Like a "Closet" Democrat or Republican?

CitizenSugar — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:30:17 -0800

Republican Congressman Anh "Joseph" Cao represents a very Democratic district in Louisiana. Last night, he joked that he might be a "closet Democrat" despite his official party affiliation. He also said that parties shouldn't define lawmakers since "we are basically servants of the citizens of the United States."

Cao's statement about being a secret member of the opposition party got me thinking - how often do people's party identification and actual political views clash?

Living in San Francisco many people I know identify as Democrats, since "Republican" has been a bad word here, especially over the last eight years. Still, I have some "democratic" friends who hold pretty conservative views. Maybe they're just to afraid to admit they're actually Republicans. On the other hand, I know some "liberal" adverse individuals who actually support gay marriage, abortion rights, and maybe even some government action to help the economy.

Do you ever feel like if you followed your head, and not your heart, you'd probably switch party affiliation?

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National Guard to Leave New Orleans 3.5 Years Later

CitizenSugar — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:00:45 -0800

Last week we heard a lot about President Obama's plan to bring US troops out of Iraq. But yesterday, the National Guard ended its patrol of an American city - New Orleans.

Since Katrina US troops have helped with security in the city. The Guard patrolled high crime areas and neighborhoods that had been left empty. That ended last night around midnight.

Last year, New Orleans topped the most dangerous cities in America list, with a murder rate of one every 40 hours. The police hope the Guard's efforts will have a lasting impact, but they're expecting a tough adjustment after coming to rely on the troops.

Hopefully, the exit signals a positive step toward full recovery from hurricane Katrina.

View 5 Photos ›

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Porn Star Wants Larry Flynt to Run Her Senate Campaign

LibertySugar — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 08:00:44 -0800

Porn star Stormy Daniels has been recruited to run against LA Sen. David Vitter in the Republican primary. Vitter acknowledged using the services of the "DC Madam" in 2007. The 2009 Louisiana Republican primary could come down to a porn star and prostitute frequenter.

Stormy got wind of the website Draft Stormy, and she's reaching out to Hustler publisher Larry Flynt. She wants Larry, who ran for president against Ronald Reagan, to be her campaign manager. As for her potential opponent, Stormy says she takes issue with Vitter's hypocrisy.

She hasn't officially committed to the campaign, but would you like to see Stormy's name on the ballot?

Politician's Idea: Paying Poor Women $1,000 to Get Tubes Tied

CitizenSugar — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 07:51:16 -0700

One Louisiana politician's brainstorm for stopping generational welfare - welfare recipients having children who also end up on assistance - is giving birth to huge controversy. The idea? Offering $1,000 to poor women to get their tubes tied. State Rep. John LaBruzzo has a host of other controversial plans including paying poor men to get vasectomies and giving tax incentives to college-educated, wealthy couples for having children - and the plan is causing some medical professionals to point to its similarities to eugenics programs.

LaBruzzo says he's since modified his plan to include temporary forms of birth control, not just sterilization and argues criticism like this, "I don't know how it's eugenics if it's voluntary, and how can it be racist if the majority of people on welfare are white?"

Of the genesis of the idea, the crushing cycle of poverty, LaBruzzo says:

After this recent storm, we had some issues where these people were going into shelters and taking their cigarettes and welfare but didn't have diapers or insulin for diabetic kids, and they felt they were entitled to say, 'Give me, give me.' None of them didn't want to set up cots or do anything.

To see how incentive programs have worked, read more.

Local policy makers say that the number of welfare recipients in Louisiana have actually dropped since 1991, disputing the need for an incentive program - but Planned Parenthood has actually tried it. In 1989 the group ran a program in Denver paying teen mothers a dollar a day not to get pregnant again. The program seemed to work then, though a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood says now:

Such bribes don't work. It doesn't solve the underlying issues - access to health care and paying jobs. If he'd like to ensure that men and women aren't having too many children, then he should propose legislation to make sure that health care and education to prevent unwanted pregnancy is available to everyone.

Following on the heels of Liberty's post yesterday about the judge who ordered a woman to stop having kids, does the idea of providing an incentive not to have kids seem like a creative response to a big problem - or is it a little bit like a Modest Proposal for the modern age? Good idea or dreadful concept?

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Congress Won't Pay For New Orleans' Levees Until State Pays

LibertySugar — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:00:21 -0700

Congress will withhold $5.8 billion in New Orleans flood-defense funding because Louisiana has not offered the $1.8 billion match necessary to trigger federal funds. The Army Corps of Engineers will not go through with levee and other construction projects necessary to prevent another Hurricane Katrina.

Louisiana, one of the poorest states in the nation, wants the feds to give the state 30 years to pay their share. Right now Congress wants the money by 2010. Louisiana officials want President Bush to extend the spending limits putting pressure on Congress. The state's US Senator Mary Landrieu says the restrictions "flies in the face" of Bush's promise to rebuild New Orleans. Others say that the state's $600 million budget surplus means Louisiana could pay its way if it needed to.

Should a squabble over money delay crucial projects like the planned $695 million storm surge barrier? Up until now, all Americans have been helping pay for New Orleans' flood preparation. Is it time for the local government to chip in?

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No Death Penalty, But Should Rapists Face Castration?

LibertySugar — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:45:43 -0700

Convicted rapists and other sex offenders now face chemical castration in Louisiana, under legislation signed on the day the US Supreme Court struck down the state's child-rape death penalty. California was the first state to subject its sex offenders to the procedure popularized by the Nazis who wanted to prevent "undesirables" from procreating.

Upon signing the law, Louisiana's governor Bobby Jindal said: "I am glad we have taken such strong measures . . . to put a stop to these monsters’ brutal acts."

On a side note, Governor Jindal is all sorts of interesting. Currently the youngest US governor, and the nation's first of Indian decent, the potential McCain VP has defended intelligent design and written about his participation in an exorcism.

Not everyone supports chemical castration like Governor Jindal. While it can reduce physical urges, critics argue, psychological counseling is needed to address mental addiction behind assaults. Do you favor sentencing sex offenders to chemical castration?

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Are the Dixie-crats Making a Comeback?

LibertySugar — Sun, 18 May 2008 11:00:48 -0700

Three recent upsets in special elections for US House of Representative seats in the deep South, have Democrats rethinking their political fortunes in the region. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson famously said: "There goes the South for a generation" as he signed the Civil Rights Act. But recent and unlikely victories mean it might be time for the Democrats to draw a new map.

Alabama Pollster John Anzalone told the AP:

The Republican brand has taken a hit. When you have economic anxieties, the wedge issues that Republicans use just aren't that important. People aren't fat and happy now. They're worried.

This sounds like a more-nuanced incarnation of Barack Obama's bitter-gate comments.

Another factor helping the Democrats is the fact that candidates are not shy about embracing "values issues" co-opted by the Republicans. Southern voters find pro-life, pro-gun, and anti-gay marriage candidates, running on a Democratic ticket. What makes these candidates different from the Republicans? They do not accept Republican foreign or economic policy, nor do they carry George W. Bush's baggage.

Are the Spring's special election upsets a signal that the Democrats are going to widen their congressional majority this fall. If the incoming Democrats have a lot of red in their platform, what kind of majority will this be? Are Democrats giving up their core values, or finally understanding their constituency, and thus what it takes to win?

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Murderers Become Cowboys at Prison Rodeo

LibertySugar — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 03:00:16 -0700

Louisiana's Angola State Prison sits on a former plantation that was populated with slaves from Angola, Africa. Twice a year, the prison, which is larger than the island of Manhattan, holds a prisoner rodeo. Yeehaw!!!

NPR painted a picture of the festivities:

The man selling snow cones is in for rape. The man selling pig tails kidnapped his girlfriend. The guy selling the Tornado Potato is in for life.

The arena seats 10,000 people from the community, and inmates compete in seven events, such as bull dogging, wild horse riding, "convict poker" and the "guts and glory" event. Most winners send their prize money home to their families.

Do you think this is a creative way to rehabilitate criminals? Or, does it undermine prison's punishment purpose? Would you stop by the rodeo to taste gumbo made by murderers, robbers, and rapists? To check out an awesome video of the rodeo, read more.

Source and Source

Headline: Three Dead After School Shooting in Louisiana

CitizenSugar — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:41:06 -0800

Continuing a streak of sad news, this morning a female student killed two classmates and then turned the gun on herself at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge. There were 20 students in the classroom at the time, and no shots were fired outside of the classroom. Officers responding to 911 calls from inside the classroom arrived on the scene to find the three already dead. No other details are known at this time.

Say What? Louisiana Judge Won't Marry Interracial Couples

TresSugar — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 07:00:00 -0700

"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way."

- Keith Bardwell, a Louisiana Justice of the Peace who sounds like a Rip Van Winkle character who slept through the '60s,'70s, '80s . . . (you get the picture). He says he's concerned for the children interracial couples would have, and that in Tangipahoa Parish where he lives, interracial marriages don't last long. Last I heard, the chances of any marriage in the US lasting is about 50/50 and that people of opposite sexes, anyway, are free to marry who they choose.