La La Land

Friday’s Blogs from the Bog

Well, that certainly seems ... fixed.

The Session Ends

The drama. The last minute passes. At least one person in tears, another saying we could have done more. Knowing this will all repeat itself. It's not a post game conference from the Saints – it’s the post special session report. There's almost too much to digest and comment on but we are going to do it any way. One good - or bad - takeaway is that education escaped without cuts. The proposed cuts to education would have impacted state testing - making PARCC tests and the ACT impossible to accomplish for schools. Had that happened, many people would have been happy. Now, vouchers might be impacted, which is to the delight of John Bel Edwards. LSU's fall football season has survived the cuts - which is important because so many people in this state base their self-worth on the success of the Tigers. Despite the cuts and revenue raising, there is still trouble on the horizon. The budget cycle is not fixed and could see a $30 million hole in the current cycle and an $800 million in the cycle starting in July. For me, the whole drama of arguing back and forth and then a close finish is indicative of the partisan politics that plague us. It also reeks of drama for the sake of drama. This is a show legislators put on for us. A shell game to win voter support. Here's a simple equation: do your job, do what's right for this state or get out of the way.

Bobby Jindal brings us Together

It's unanimous: SAVE is dead. The act - passed by Bobby Jindal for his no tax resume - was refuted with a unanimous vote (that means all) in the House and Senate. Gee, Bobby, that should read as a message.

Good News or Bad?

According to this report, what we already knew is still true: access to healthcare sucks in Louisiana. Or maybe it doesn't suck as bad as we thought. According to this we are the 25th worst state for access to healthcare. In case you went to school here: there are 50 states; we are 25th; we are right in the middle. So, if you think about it, we are the 25th on the list for the best states for healthcare access. That really doesn't make it any better, does it?

A Silver Lining in the Cloud of Bad Hair

According to The Hayride, Donald Trump will actually get less delegates from Louisiana than Ted Cruz, despite Trump's win in our primary. The Hayride has a screen grab of a Facebook rant from one of Trump's people and a chart that shows why. Hmmm, is this actually a win for our delegates system? Maybe this is why the Founding Fathers invented things like the Electoral College - to save us from ourselves.

Daily Distraction: OMG It’s Cajun Sno!

If you are anything like the people on my Facebook feed, this is more important than the budget crisis. Brace yourself: Cajun Sno is almost ready to re-open. Meanwhile, what happened to this long winter we were supposed to have?