Earl K. Long, Known as "Uncle Earl"

Earl K. Long, one of the Governors of Louisiana, was elected to three nonconsecutive terms as Governor in the period of time between the late 1939s to 1960. As a matter of fact, he died while running for the U.S. Senate. He was flamboyant, to say the least! He was a progressive, 1950's-style in the South. He even had a lady friend who was a mainstay on Bourbon Street and was tucked away for a time in one of the state's mental hospitals. He got out by firing the Superintendent.

His older brother was Huey Long.

He had been referred to as "The Last of the Red-Hot Papas."

He was the subject of this rockabilly song by Jay Chevalier:

The Fifolet

The fifolet (fee-foh-lay) is rarely encountered in Louisiana. It refers to what people elsewhere call swamp gas or will-o'-the-wisp. Typically, it is seen as a eerie light blue or white light. There are a number of local legends about fifolets. One common legend is that Jean Lafitte, the notorious pirate, had buried chests in the swamp here and there. With each deposited chest, the pirates shot one of the diggers and buried him along with it. The superstitious purpose for doing that was so the slain pirate would guard the booty from intrusion in the future.

Seeing a fifolet is something to wonder about. Some react by fear; not wanting to run afoul of the alleged pirate spirit that lingers around the supposed burial site. But there are the daring, greedy others. And there are some who just like to see what it's all about.

Marie and Etienne were a pair of teens out having a private moment with each other in a car on a back road in a swamp when they saw a fifolet in the distance. Marie, having gotten curious, said, "Let's go and take a closer look." She left the car and started walking toward the swamp gas blue-and-white light.

Etienne followed, looking for an adventure and wondering about the pirates' gold. Etienne and Marie followed the moving light until it stopped above a slight rise in the swamp. They brazenly approached the spot, and started to dig with their hands. The marshy soil was quite easy to dig in at first.

They had dug only a foot or so when they hit what was apparently the top of a wooden chest. However, the earth began to take on a quicksand mushiness. And Etienne was sucked into the sand and had a hard time with it.

Marie got out and screamed! Etienne had further difficulty and through his struggles seemed to get deeper in the quicksand. Marie said, "Etienne, pray with me. It's our only hope!" So they did. Whoo-eee! A real scare!

Finally, Etienne was able to struggle out of the sand.

A week after their scare, they returned to the same place. They saw no quicksand nor a hole. 

Years later Marie and Etienne married others. And neither told family or friends about their scary misadventure together. They might ask too many questions. 

Wanda, the Swamp Witch

The Bayou Teche environs has its own set of perils; and one of them is Wanda, the Swamp Witch.

This free spirit lives along the bayou away from the settlements by choice. This is so she can pursue her nefarious doings with impunity, including shape-shifting. Actually, she is a good business woman despite her failure to advertise in The Daily Advertiser. Although she is not based in a shop in a mall, she is only a short trip down the bayou by pirogue, and people with special needs seem to find a way.

Special needs to buy gris-gris or hexes, that is. Wanda is the local witchcraft service provider and people know where she is and some find occasion to make arrangements. Who knows what dark motives reside in the hearts of men and women . . . . . Wanda knows! And she services those needs!

Once a group of UL - Lafayette alumni desired to insure that UL - Lafayette would be sure to win over University of Southern Mississippi. They sent their most expendable member down the bayou to deal with the swamp witch. She worked a hex on the Mississippi team but demanded in return that she would be supplied with a year's supply of boudin* and that the entire group should take a vow of celibacy for a year.

When the negotiator returned with the demand, they were shocked. But they gave in and kept their vows and sent the boudin. You don't mess with swamp witches; it's bad karma! And, yes, they got their victory! And relieved wives and angry mistresses, in some cases.

Wanda also sells charms to keep husbands and dogs from straying. Of course, pieces of boudin or hush puppies also help!

Shrimpers routinely drop in on swamp witches to get information as to where to cast their nets, and horse race fans from Lafayette Downs inquire of them regarding racing outcomes. The Bayou Teche Swamp Witch does it conservatively; she's inclined to counsel buying show or even place tickets. But she can pick Daily Doubles or Trifectas.

But there's something that swamp witches can't do very well; and that's affect political races. Last year, Wanda predicted that Hillary Clinton would be elected President. We all know how well that turned out. Yet, the Democrats captured the Governorship in Louisiana. 

Wanda put it well: "Politics is the true Bitch Goddess, not Success." It's always good to remember that.

Wanda dressed for the heat of the bayou.

*A type of sausage

Tee Brigitte, Tee Clotilde, and the School Newspaper

Every school must have a newspaper. This is deemed one of those standard features of a high school. Typically, its content is approved by a faculty advisor who ensures that nothing too frank or troublesome to the administration and school board is published. Actually, it is part of the Journalism elective that some students may take and learn real-life journalism skills like slanting the news as the real newspapers do.

Is so happens that Tee Brigitte and Tee Clotilde were editors as seniors; and they mostly made for a very conservative, untroublesome pair of editors for The Weekly Bayou. The faculty advisor was lulled into a torpor of security due to nothing ever written seemly not amiss to good order and civility. That's the way principals and faculty advisors like it, you bet!

As for the paper itself, it was received by the students as a little on the boring side. Students scanned each issue to see if they were mentioned, to read the lame jokes, and to find out the school menu for the following week so they knew whether to eat in or to bag their lunches. The advisor even allowed reporters to wear fedoras in the newsroom with press cards in the hat bands, just like real reporters!

A month before the term ended, les jeune filles put in some hidden surprises. 

A schedule note declared that April Fools's Day was declared an official holiday; and classes would not be held that day. 

An exposé mentioned the Mr. Comeaux, the Assistant Principal, wore pink bikini panties. 

On another page, there was an article that the chemistry lab was designated a Superfund site. That was a teaching occasion, though. Many students first found out what a Superfund site was. As a further happening, the E.P.A. paid the school an on-site inspection to write a report that, as usual, no one would read before it gets filed.

Some eyebrows in the adult community shot up when there was an unconfirmed report that Bayou Teche High School would not play football in Fall, 2017. A frisson of fear transpired: Now what would people do on Friday nights in the Fall? All there is is beer, sex and television.

But an editorial packed quite a wallop. It argued that School Board members should be given intelligence tests and the results be reported by The Weekly Bayou, the Times-Picyaune, the Lafayette Advertiser, and the Baton Rouge Advocate.

With the last deed, that was going too far. Some people, however, thought that the girls had some inside information and demanded that a full disclosure should be made. There's something to be said for journalistic transparency! And for elected school boards.

[I originally wrote this, but filed it away as being too improbable. However, there was a recent report in the Washington Post that some high school student journalists in Kansas looked into the qualifications of an incoming principal for their school. They found her to have gotten diplomas from a diploma mill and other things that were overlooked when she was hired! Sometimes people overlook the obvious.]

Bonfires on Christmas Eve

In St. James Parish, just upriver from New Orleans, they have a tradition of lighting bonfires along the levee for Papa Nöel. These are large teepees of firewood, and make for a spectacular sight. You can see these at Lutcher and Gramercy. 

Merry Christmas! -- Joyeux Noël! -- Feliz Navidad!

Where Dixie Came From

There are conflicting stories about how the South came to be known as Dixie. Some say that it was thus named after The Mason and Dixon survey of the Maryland-Pennsylvania boundary. Why wasn't it called Masie, instead? Well podners, that ain't right. Here's the real deal:

In the early days of the 19th century, when the flatboat and keelboat men from the Midwest states and Kentucky tiresomely poled their ways down the Mississippi, they were looking forward to the end of the trip and getting paid. )Think of Mike Fink, the King of the River.) Now typically these keelboat men were paid is locally-issued banknotes with the French word "dix" on  for "ten" on them. Now the keelboat men, not pronouncing the French word dix properly with a silent "x", referred to New Orleans as the land of the Dixies.  Gradually, the scope of Dixie spread until it included the entire South. It could have been worse: if the keelboatmen pronounced dix right, we might have wound up with 'Dee-hee."

And that's why there is Dixie Beer! Drink a bottle in honor of the tired, French-challenged keelboat men!

Rayne, LA: Frog Capital of the World

Small towns have a need to proclaim their place in the sun. In the process, some have some extraordinary claims to fame.

Rayne, Louisiana styles itself "The Frog Capital of the World." And they have an amusing statue of a top-hatted frog:

Rayne is also known as The City of Murals. Often these are frog-themed. Here's a few to inform and mostly entertain you:

Clearly, this is a place where Kermit would feel at home. After all, it isn't easy being green! There's even more; some neat statuary in front of stores:

Why did Rayne become so froggy? Well, it seems that a restauranteur from New York City tried some, liked them, and added them to the menu. They were a hit. And other restaurants started featuring frogs' legs. And eventually the town started shipping them to Paris and other places on the Continent. No, the French were referred to as 'frogs' much earlier, because of this dietary proclivity they already supposedly had. But that's another story.

It's not hard being green in Rayne, Louisiana.

Legislation to Ban Video Games

Rep. Dewaynus Holm (R - Bogalusa) was known in the Louisiana House as being a bit of a lazy and retrograde thinker; however one time he manfully jumped into the breech and came to the aid of lonely teen girls. Kind of like a blind hog finding an acorn in the forest.

It started when he overheard his daughter Mitzi and her friends lamented their lack of dates on Friday night; and he was an old-fashioned father, yessiree!

He further eavesdropped, and thought that he got to the root of the problem. They boys spent all their time playing video games on their X-Boxes, and not courting* teen girls like they should. And presto! We have the emergence of a falling birth rate which would result in fewer grandchildren to grace parents' old age!

Zounds! And holy cow! (Dewaynus had a rich vocabulary from having read a lot of pre-Victorian literature.)

So being a selective governmental interventionist, he decided to get to the root of the problem in a manner typical of a legislator. Yes, he would sponsor a bill to ban devices that play video games. It was a long time since he had played Frogger!

So he wrote a bill, and after politicking behind the scenes, he put it before the Louisiana House.

"Fellow members of the House, I offer this bill to ban video games as a means to redress a possible threat to the well-being of our daughters and the good of the state.  Fewer girls are being courted After all, if teenaged girls are unhappy, their grades suffer, they spend a lot of time moping, and some might turn to non-Biblical sex to fill in the gap! I ask for your support for H-29."

Rep. Horace Watson (D - Bunkie) countered with a comment, "I am surprised that my esteemed colleague from Bogalusa would move to curtail a harmless pastime and thus circumscribe personal liberty. Where is your Libertarianism now? And in the process increase the possibility of teens engaging in s- * - x outside of lawful marriage."


Rep. Henri Arnaud (R - Thibodaux) raised a possible problem: would banning X - Boxes stimulate bootlegging from nearby Texas and Mississippi? Nothing pisses the Louisiana legislature more than outsiders contributing to crime that they can't get kickbacks from.

But Rep. Sylvia Avery (R - Bossier City) commented, "In my opinion, a bigger problem comes from football and basketball. Boys get so involved with practicing for those sports that they're too tired to do schoolwork or to date. We should consider limiting high school football!"

A shiver of horror, like a blast of arctic air, went through the Louisiana House like Marley's ghost had paid a visit.

"We can't do that! Think of the trickle-down effect on L.S.U. football!"

"That would make Baton Rouge even duller than it is now!"

Clearly, the legislators were in session too long. This in-House debate made the news on major state news channels like WBRZ-TV and WWL-TV. And WDSU-TV made a special editorial asking for help with the problem by requiring teen boys to date at least one girl a month. LGBT people objected. 

Anyway, raising the specter of cutting back on football did result in a watered-down version of the bill that made playing video games legal only from Sunday to Thursday. Even the Louisiana House knows how to compromise. 

*Dewaynus Holm was rather retro in his vocabulary.

Breaux Bridge, LA's Phone Book

Breaux Bridge, LA is a small town in Cajun Country, was once cited by the Louisiana Legislature as the "Crawfish Capital of the World." It's located in St. Martin Parish; and it's an intimate place, small enough that most often people know each other.

It also has an interesting peculiarity: its phone book lists people by nickname as well. This is because many people are often known by their nickname rather than by their given name. This has been going on since 1950 or so. The pace of life is different here. Somehow, it just seems like a more friendly feature in a place where everyone sort of knows your name, at least the name you go by. Also see:

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1985-12-07/features/8502250459_1_telephone-directory-nicknames-phone-system



Angélique (Tee Angel)

The Bridge over Bayou Teche

Changing Parishes to Counties

It's the Era of Bad Feeling; the dawn of the Age of Iconoclasm. First it was the Confederate flags and monuments. Right now four New Orleans monuments are in the process of being moved - where unspecified - due to Hizonner, the Mayor! And, like in many other places, the expedient position is to give the complaintants what they want rather than have some costly litigation that can go any odd way.

Anyway, I figure they will go; and I'll miss Creole General Beauregard [Burreygard], as he's pronounced in New Orleans.

But, flushed with this success, like Thomas Crapper, the crabs and common scolds now sought out to destroy additional targets.

One of the unique traits of Louisiana is that it has parishes, not counties. These came from original divisions corresponding to the river parishes back from the days of French and Spanish rule. Suppose some people favoring extreme separation of Church and State sued to change the names of Louisiana's local government areas from the churchy parishes to the righteous, California- and New York-approved counties? Yes, some of them would! Furthermore, some of those parishes carried saints' names! Yes, there were St. Bernard, St. Helena, St. James, St. Charles, St. Martin, St. Mary, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany, and Landry Parishes.

The plaintiffs threw in Ascension Parish just to be safe. It sounded vaguely religious, as Louisiana had little need for elevators in that river parish. [The plaintiffs missed Assumption Parish, think it had to do with making assumptions. They made the wrong assumption.]

Well, the locals in those places were, like, really pissed! And they didn't roll over too easy. They pointed out that they changeover would entail prohibitive costs of new signage, new stationary, new paint jobs on deputies' cars, and new decorations the numerous courthouses, 64 in number. But, most of all, they feared that documents with the old name would be null and void. This would negate all marriage licenses and birth certificates before the court-mandated name change! Kind of reaching, but anything is fair when you don't want things done.

Yes, the number of parishes crept up to 64 by the 20th century. Actually, for a while the state had both parishes and counties until the Constitution of 1845 made them all parishes.

Actually, some parishes being called that did not preclude them being havens for wickedness: East Baton Rouge, Jefferson, and Orleans being the most known for dishonesty and vice. And one of the "saint" parishes was not named about anyone cited in hagiography: There is no Saint Tammany! St. Tammany was named after the Delaware Chief Tamanend, who was not Catholic or Episcopalian. He made peace with William Penn and was known for his goodness.* As a matter of fact, Tammany Hall in NYC was named after him.

Well, you likely know how this was going to turn out. The court mandated that parishes would henceforth be changed to counties, and that eight of the nine "saint" parishes would have a court nominated name change. St. Tammany Parish became plain old Tammany County. The other eight became Alpha through Hotel Counties, in all.

The court declared the older documents still valid. After all, an attorney can be a son of a bitch; but don't call him a bastard!

Seeing this nomenclature change befalling the Pelican State, some extreme Tea Party types threatened a suit to change the four Commonwealths**  to mere States, feeling that Communism is implied in that term. Thomas Hobbes rolled over in his grave!

*Even though, during his life, he did not meet General Philip Sheridan's criterion for a good Indian.
**Massachuetts, Virginia, Pennsylvania, anf Kentucky

The Charivari on the Bayou

Ole Big Boudin was a bit of a pain; plus he was a cheap son of you know; and everybody nearby was surprised and chagrined that he got married; and to none other than Suzette Clairvieux, the prettiest girl from the high school.  Only she didn't graduate yet; and Big Boudin was In his forties. Un trés grand scandale! 

And the bayou people talked, despite sermons by the good father against gossiping. But gossiping, you know, is cheaper than beer. Good beer is trés cher, c'est vrai!  

And the young men were disappoint, you know! They were all hoping that they would marry Suzette; but Big Boudin spoiled that dream and it was a long way down to number two! They were talking in the bar; a place for idle hangers-on, and they got a good buzz on.  You wid me so far? Why would Suzette, a jeune fille with such promise, get tied to that much older guy? This was the subject of speculations, and dubious surmises: (1) Ole Boudin took Suzette's virtue, and got her in a family way. (2) She married Ole Big Boudin because he had lotsa dollahs! (3) Her family made her do it. (4) She admired Big Boudin's working parts; after all, why was he nicknamed Big Boudin? There are reasons for things. 

I will mention that Boudreaux and Thibodeau, young mans, were among the major drinkers and talkers; and when Meaux said, "Let's do a charivari, they were in!  A charivari was an old custom practiced by a community whenever a mismatched couple got married; they do it to express their collective disapproval.  And they did the numbers: 45 - 16.  Hmmm.

So they went to their houses, both boys and girls, told their Mamas who told their Pops to get off their lazy butts -- we're going to do a charivari! Most were strongly game, and they came with pots, pans, Granny's old washboards, horns, fireworks, and pistols.  Oui! Fils des biches have big time on the bayou! 

So about midnight they gathered at Big Boudin and Suzette's house, and started a hellacious din!  Now the newly married couple were about to, how should  put it? Test drive their marriage, so to speak. When Boudin gets jerked up by that incredible din! It was more noise heard on the bayou since the Yankees made their one-way trip up the bayou in 1864 or so. Anyway, all the animals began to howl, even the raccoons! Suzette snatched the covers up; and Big Boudin put on his robe and went to the door with his shotgun. Alas, he was outnumbered; the whole parish seemed to be there! Even the sheriff's deputies, all making noise. 

So Big Boudin, cheapstake so-and-so he was, decided to wait them out. After all, they would get tired! But no such luck. One A.M. came, followed by 2 A.M. Then 3 A.M. You get a pattern here?  The charivari noisemakers got reinforcements: some from Grand Mamou and Alligator Point. So the noise went on.

Finally, Suzette put her dainty foot down,  "Big Boudin, you stop being such a cheapskate and give those neighbors some beer and whiskey." Well, Big Boudin wouldn't do it, so she said, "Dammit, Boudin!  Either you treat them or we have separate bedrooms."

So Big Boudin caved in, and put out a spread. And the neighbors and the outsiders from Big Mamou congratulated the couple on tying the knot. And so having a charivari returned as a custom on the bayou!

Hipsterdom Comes to Louisiana

With the increased awareness of hipsters and the hipster lifestyle, it soon became likely that some 20's or 30's in unlikely places as the Deep South would flirt with the hipster ethos. Yes, Southerners are known for irony; almost like a reflex. After all, a culture in which women say "Bless his heart" has some capacity for putting on others!

And already post-Katrina New Orleans has made the list of hipster-friendly places, along with Williamsburg in NYC, Cambridge, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Seattle. Therefore, it should not be surprising that proto-hipster beliefs and folkways should spill over into Bayou Country. For example, shopping locally and being a locovore:

And adopting hipster music trends, but with the addition of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Carrie Underwood, and Taylor Swift. And you pretend to do so for ironic reasons. Actually, doing that is the supreme exercise in irony, much like watching porn without lust. Jazz, of course, has always been cool. And zydeco is beyond cool.

Urban guy hipsters can follow the lead of the Robertson family of Duck Commando fame and grow full beards. They have released the inner back country essence in many an urban hipster. Even better if the beard is wild and unruly, testifying to the essential untamedness of the wearer. Some women with androgynous syndrome have even taken up this look!

Hipster fashion statements are easy to adapt to a Southern climate. Worn jeans and Daisy Dukes definitely can be seen as the wearer making an ironic statement. Likewise, wearing a scarf or a shocking t-shirt or a guy's long-sleeve shirt will do for a top. However, flannel shirts can be impractical much of the year due to the climate. Bras are, of course, optional. However, if you do wear one, wear one in a color that shows through clothing. Also, some clothing lines already advertise hipster btiefs for these extreme Southern hipsters:

Well, maybe that was a different use of the word hipster.!

But where are these non-urban hipster places? Well, Lafayette and Opelousas can make a good case for cool. And Baton Rouge still manages despite being a source of hot wind. 

Naturally, certain kinds of grooming are no-nos for hipsters. Big hair will cause you to be scorned. It's better to leave your hair straight and somewhat messy, like you just got out of bed and are not too keen with the idea of being awake. Make-up: act like you don't give a damn. Perfume: something from Bath and Body Works, but nothing that may mark you as a hip call girl like some of those French brands. Tattoos can be part of your ensemble, if you are into ink. An obvious point: a nice L.S.U. Tigers tattoo will not be wrong, especially in biker bars.  

Cool tastes are part of the ensemble of Louisiana hipsters. Greek philosophers are cool. Thomas Hobbes or William James are risky. Tom Aquinas is woefully uncool, but William of Ockham is okay. If you can pass off understanding them, Wittgenstein or Nietzsche are gods! (But shy off if Wittgenstein brandishes his poker!)  Modern art of the sort produced by Rothko or Johns marks you as discerning; but some remarkable genre like gay cowboy art* means that you are totally au courant! Photographs should be arty but not of Arty. 

Diet: Louisiana hipsters eat only gluten-free crawfish. And they NEVER call them "cray-fish." Or mudbugs!  Those that do are required to become Catholic so that they can confess this sin to an unsympathetic priest. And the solid hipster always tears his French bread and never slices it. Jambalaya or gumbo for hipsters must have shrimp or andouille. 

Here's an obvious point: never, ever refer to yourself as a hipster. Doing so will cause you to be exposed as a poseur!

*There is such a genre.

A Cajun Blonde Joke

A Cajun blonde (Tee Boudreaux's cousin) was weed whacking the tall grass in her back yard when she accidentally cut off the tail of her cat.

Poor minette!

However, she immediately put the cat and her tail in her car, and drove directly to Wal-Mart.

Why?

Mes amis, don't you know that Wal-Mart is the largest re-tailer in the world!

The Lake Peigneur Disaster

I'm sure that working in a salt mine sucks, as judging from the common metaphor associated with work: "Back to the salt mines."

However, there was an occasion in which a salt mine itself sucked: this was the Lake Peigneur disaster of November 20, 1980.  The setting: Iberia Parish, southwest of New Iberia, in southwest Louisiana.

A Texaco oil rig was digging with a 14 inch drill when it accidentally broke into a salt mine of the Diamond Crystal Salt Company..  As a result, the fresh water of the lake coursed down the hole, filling the enormous salt mine.  Fortunately, no human lives were lost; the miners had an effective evacuation plan and were able to leave safely while the rig crew was able to get off before the rig got sucked into the maelstrom.

Previously, the water from the small lake flowed into Vermilion Bay;  however, the stream connecting the two temporarily flowed in reverse, resulting in salt water flowing into the lake.  This in turn temporarily produced the largest waterfall in the state of Louisiana.  Also, the water that coursed down the hole into the salt mine tended to flow outward through the ventilation shafts, producing unLouisiana-like geysers for a time.  Here's a video of the event.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Peigneur

Mike Gets an Epic Road Trip

This may be one of the most epic college pranks of all time; unfortunately, LSU was the butt of this  one nearly 65 years ago.

At that time, probably before the LSU - Ole Miss rivalry became primo, LSU had one with Tulane.  Like that little university in New Orleans. 

Anyway, LSU's teams were known as the Tigers since 1896, and they obtained Mike the Tiger as a real live animal mascot back in 1936.  Mike would show up and roar appreciation for his team at home games, and a few away games as well.

It so happened that LSU was playing Tulane on December 2, 1950, and they brought Mike along to New Orleans for the game.  Four Tulane students who had been on a coon hunt (!) happened upon Mike the Tiger in his traveling cage.  They acted on impulse and pulled the cage away even though their car had no trailer hitch.  They did a little carpe diem, you might say; and made off with a 14-year-old, 500-pound Bengal tiger!

Now different accounts have it that the tiger's cage was painted green; and some even say that Mike the Tiger was painted green.  However, the most credible one is that the cage was decorated with green and white crepe paper (Tulane's colors).  No cats were harmed in that escapade. The tigernapped feline was returned before the LSU - Tulane game, with the encouragement of the N.O.P.D.  Perhaps they tracked down the guys who were buying kitty treats by the case!

LSU took a dim view of the whole escapade, Mike the Tiger's unofficial road trip.  The four Tulane culprits were banned from the LSU campus for 50 years!  According to one Georgia newspaper, one of the participants regularly told the story of the tiger heist.  Mike was, fortunately, not worse for wear despite being in New Orleans for a while.  By the way, the game ended in a 14-14 tie.

There were six Mike the Tigers;
this is one of them.

The Louisiana Senate Refuses to Allow 'Chicken Boxing'

As incredible as it may seem, a Louisiana State Senator actually brought up a bill that would make "chicken boxing" legal.  This "sport," very similar to cockfighting but with the birds wearing rubber gloves over their talons, was offered as a harmless, bloodless sport by Sen Elbert Guillory (R- Eunice).

Louisiana outlawed cockfighting in 2008 -- the last state in the country to do so.  Cockfighting is a disgusting enterprise; cruel to the birds, debasing to the humans who want to watch such a spectacle, and a blot on the state.  Outlawing cockfighting was long overdue. 

I could not help but see this bill as a deliberate attempt to circumvent the anti-cockfight legislation by creating some exceptions.  And, of course, when sheriff is not around, the protective gloves might be removed from the birds and they can fight by using their own talons.

Fortunately, the Louisiana Senate saw it this way too: it turned down the bill by a vote of 29-8.  For once, more level-headed members of the Legislature prevailed.

I did a cursory on-line search.  No state allows bullfighting.  (Thank heaven for small favors.)  In all states, dog fighting is a felony offense.  One state, Alabama, even specifically has outlawed bear wrestling.  I wondered whether this was a misspelling, as in forbidding unclothed individuals from wrestling, whether in a ring or in a pool of Jello.  No, it forbade ursine participants from doing so. 

While people tend to associate cockfighting and dog fighting with the backwoods South, it does occur in other areas as well.  It is important to ensure that the anti-animal fighting laws are not modified so as to provide loopholes in which those disgusting practices can continue.






http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/04/louisiana_senate_rejects_chick.html

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/la-senate-refuses-protect-chicken-boxing-23231566

Ultimate Thule in Louisiana

There's an expression, 'Ultimate Thule,' used historically to refer to some place that it beyond the known world; most often thought to be in Iceland or Greenland.  As a matter of fact, the U.S. Air Force once had Thule Air Base in northern Greenland, less than 800 miles from the North Pole.  So Thule, the concept, evolved into Thule, the place.

When you go to the ends of certain roads in Louisiana you can sort of get that sense: proper dry land is supplanted by a thin road going into the salt water marshes with only fishing shacks or occasional businesses around.  And, if you persist, brave traveler, you may reach one of the two Ultimate Thules of Louisiana: Grand Isle or Cameron.

For the most part, the temperature is warm most of the year; but it may be windy.  Both of these communities are known to be vulnerable to hurricanes when they come.  Tragically, Cameron lost 300 of its residents due to Hurricane Audrey in 1957; today, there are only about 450 persistent souls remaining.  There's still a sense of doom having happened here; but Hurricanes Rita and Ike did their part as well.  All in all, it's sort of depressing, like you have gone to Ultimate Thule.

Grand Isle has been hit by too many hurricanes to remember them all.  It's primarily a place for people to go for fishing and to drink beer.  Some partygoers even report seeing mermaids.  Then it's time to lay off that Bud Lite stuff.  Grand Isle is interesting and festive, but ephemeral.  It's best to consider that, if there's threat of bad weather, you bail out and head for Houma.

Coastal inhabitants understand this as a fact of life.

Is Louisiana America's Laziest State?

There's a lame article in Business Week alleging that Louisiana is America's laziest state. 

Louisiana in general, and New Orleans in particular, seems to be topics that result in a lot of internet shooting from the hip and making hostile assumptions, both by writers and by commenters. We are a different culture: we tend to emphasize different values, styles of life, and modes of expression than do people living in many other places.

It can be summarized as follows: "People in Louisiana work to live.  Everywhere else, they live to work."  In short, why work for work's sake? 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38382866/