La La Land

Thursday's Blogs from the Bog

by Nick Pittman

Where's the oil at? Look for it!

Big Bobby Round-up

In this week's Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, Bobby Jindal shone like a dirty penny in the sun. On the issues, he seemed either confused or overly optimistic about the state of Louisiana's economy. Or, he believes most of us just started working. Jindal pumped our unemployment rate, but moderators pointed out it is higher than the national average. To which he replied, "We have more people working in Louisiana than ever before," Jindal insisted. Uhm, maybe you should check into the state you lead every now and then before making assertions like that. Jindal also seems to be turning to humor to boost his poll results. After sparring with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Jindal offered him a participation ribbon and a juice box. He also took it old school - as in grade school - and went after his opponents (merely just minor obstacles in his inevitable rise to the top of the polls and ascension to the White House) with a toilet metaphor."They give the long speeches called filibusters, they pat themselves on the back, nothing changes when they go to relieve themselves, their cause and the toilets get flushed at the same time and the American people lose," said Jindal. The reaction was pretty flat, as the people who attended were there to see a poltical debate and not the latest Adam Sandler film. You keep it up, Bobby! You gonna crack 3 percent in the polls soon enough!

The Not-so-Great Debate

David Vitter and John Bel Edwards squared off in a debate that was bound to get hostile after the latter's "Prostitutes over Patriots" ad. Although it wasn't as humorous as Jindal's juice box and flush comments, it was heavy on the hatred. Vitter's rode a white horse to the tune of, “There’s nobody who has been the target of more negative campaigning than me.” Edwards quipped back at comments like that with, “If it’s a low blow, then that’s because of where you live, senator.” Jeff Sadow blogged about the debate, giving a near play by play - so you don't have to watch it - and says because it was about issues not scandals, it went in Vitter's favor.

Vitter has Gum on his Shoe

Here's more than you care to read about the recent arrest of a Vitter campaign worker on spying charges. It looks like Vitter is trying to prove his opponents are out to buy nasty stories about him. There's also video of Vitter operatives trying to discredit claims prostitutes made about him. How bad does he want it? The Vitter campaign has allegedly paid one sleuth $135,000. How many burner cell phones do you think that could have bought? Note to Vitter: that is a better future investment.

A Grand Re-opening

After the 2012 theater shooting during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises, The Century 16 Cinema reopened amid complaints from victims' families. The same will not be said of the Grand 16. After four months of being closed following the July shooting that killed Mayci Breaux and Jillian Johnson, the Grand will reopen on Nov. 19. The thinking is that reopening will send a message of our town's healing, our resolve and show that a crazed gunman will not change the way we live. The theater has undegone a massive remodel, all the way from the seats to the exterior paint. Breaux's mother is on board, noting that the removal of barriacades is welcome change. Says Dondie Breaux, “I don’t like driving there and seeing the barricades, it’s like a reminder.”

Forget Waldo, Where's the Oil?

A new study shows that the Deepwater Horizon spill might not have been cleaned up as well as we thought. The University of Georgia's Samantha Joye authored a study that says the bacteria - shaped like a "fat little sausage" - known to eat the oil didn't multiply as it should have and another bacteria - not as hungry of a bacteria - multiplied more. So: where is the oil and what did we really disperse chemicals into the Gulf for naught?