we saw that...

attorney jimmy faircloth phones ksyl to "correct the record on what the [schools voucher] ruling really accomplishes"

link to audio download page

attorney jimmy faircloth phoned in to the ksyl talkback 970 preshow program this morning to clear up some misconceptions about the recent district court ruling that found the school voucher funding mechanism to be unconstitutional.

mr. faircloth said that the ruling is suspended pending the appeals process and that no one remembers a district court ruling anyway. 

lee rubin "it was my turn" to be next alexandria, la., city councilman at-large

link to audio file download page

prescient? refreshingly candid? a freudian slip? -- "it was my turn" was the answer alexandria, la. city council at-large candidate, lee rubin chose to give to the question put to him by fred rosenfeld on why is he running for the alexandria city council at-large seat.
mr. rubin was in studio at ksyl am 970, friday, 30 november 2012, to appear on the talkback 970 preshow with fred and bob program. the primary was on 06 november. mr. rubin finished second with 32.12% of the vote out of a six man field.

the runoff is on saturday, 08 december 2012, when he will face the incumbent -- roosevelt johnson. councilman johnson received 39.94% of the primary vote.

here's the thing, we dont want either one of 'em. neither would have been our first choice in the primary.

councilman johnson wouldnt be so bad if he would grow a backbone and stop being a puppet. dude you're not crafty at plotting and deceit. so stop.

it's obvious that the mayor and the silk stocking gang have a lot at stake in this election. they've poured tons of money into mr. rubin's coffers in an effort to solidify the control by the mayor and his gang over the majority city council votes and by extension the public fisc and governmental power.

the results of their massive psyop arent all that impressive. although, at least one person as late as monday, 05 november 2012, election eve, was on ksyl radio predicting that councilman johnson wouldnt even make the runoff.

one glaring omission in this interview that we noticed which mostly speaks to the ethics and integrity or lack thereof of cenla broadcasting -- in that they didnt require the interviewer/show cohost fred rosenfeld to disclose that a local company he owns, the parc england boutique hotel, contribute to the lee rubin campaign.

that was an especially egregious oversight when seeing how it was reported by steve coco from his cenla news blog back on 07 october 2012.

anyway, this race has many fascinating dynamics -- one being how many of the non-johnson votes were more anti-roy than anti-johnson votes? mr. rubin was seen from the start of the race as being the mayor's boy; as far as we know the only one who could be considered outright pro-roy. the only other candidate might be milton gordon who probably looks at the mayor's plans favorably.

so even though mr. rubin was correct when he pointed out to the gannett/alexandria daily town talk that 60% of the electorate voted against the incumbent --  with this whole pro and anti-roy dynamic vibrating through the city the numbers still dont add up to an inevitable rubin victory.

one the other hand the mayor and the silk stocking gang did manage to finally get rid of myron lawson and that was an at-large election too. albeit a few years or in a political sense an eternity ago.

but -- around the same time, charles fredrick "droopy draws" smith was defeated for reelection to the city council despite the mayor and his gangs support.

wst... disclosure: as we pointed out here, we have a wager on the outcome of this race. 

faith ford & alexis crew productions before the alexandria, la., city council

with faith ford; her husband campion murphy and their associate chad bailey (sp?) tuesday, 27 november 2012, appearance before the alexandria, louisiana city council's finance and legal affairs committee, details of their plan to teach the film making craft to locals has become clearer.

the below news report from gannett/the alexandria daily town talk which appeared on their website here and on page a-3 of the wednesday, 28 november 2012, print edition, is a pretty accurate recital of what the acp managers had to say.

although ms. ford's plan doesnt call for a full blown brick and mortar film school as we'd originally hoped, we still support it as long as using taxpayer money is just a one time occurrence. inkind contributions are a different matter.

one thing that does concern us is that the plan as presented doesnt seem to leave much room for error. it really does seem like a one shot attempt.

like she said, ms. ford & acp have some thirty years experience in the film industry. they have valuable knowledge that they are willing to share;  we hope that their project is a success.

blogosphere exclusive: voucher judge tim kelley took recent bribe campaign donation from governor's lawyer

in short, on or about 24 october 2012, the faircloth law group made a one thousand dollars campaign donation to tim kelley who was running for associate justice of the louisiana supreme court. the election was held less than two weeks later. 

according to the louisiana sec'y of state elections website, judge kelley received only 3.07% of the vote or second from the bottom in an eight candidate field.

surely the polls and being so close to the election, it must have been strongly suspected;  especially to a seasoned casino and political attorney such as mr. faircloth, that judge kelley had very little chance of making the runoff -- eh?

then, when you consider that the voucher lawsuit was filed months ago and as far as we know, mr. faircloth has been the governor's attorney from the start and the case has always been allotted to judge kelley ... well, we dont even gamble, much, but it's certainly not beyond the realm of imagination to ponder whether or not that with mr. faircloth's donation he was "hedging his bet," so to speak, on the pending voucher lawsuit. in the least it probably didnt hurt either right?

in any event, due to this revelation of cenlamar's, judge kelley should recuse himself because any ruling in favor of the governor is obviously not going to be seen as legitimate.

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3rd circuit lets the england authority skate in aex runway lighting suit

this is one scatterbrained opinion. small wonder that its unpublished. maybe the state supreme court will hear it.

nevertheless, if you are looking to get a contract with the england economic & industrial development district, this opinion is a worthy read in order to get some sense of how they operate. 

spidey senses r tinglin'

washing up this mornings dishes we happened to look up out the window to see this rather large spider checking us out.

we guess that it was as surprised to see us as us it and after posing for this photo quickly departed the scene.

There be foure things which are little vpon the earth; but they are exceeding wise:

The Ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meate in the summer.

The conies are but a feeble folke, yet make they their houses in the rocks

The locustes haue no king, yet goe they forth all of them by bands.

The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings palaces.

~ solomon at proverbs chapter thirty verses twenty-four - twenty-eight kjv 1611

mr. lea johnson on the tonight show starring johnny carson thanksgiving day 1989

we just read an interesting article on the town talk's website "many rapides residents have gained fame" one resident, the town talk reporter, bill sumrall, mentions is mr. lea johnson (1896-1995) who founded the lecompte, louisiana landmark: lea's lunchroom.

according to the town talk article, on thanksgiving day 1989, mr. johnson made an appearance on the tonight show starring johnny carson. here's the clip:

jfk blown away 49 years ago today

the white house diary 22 november 1963
====

president kennedy would live for another 467 days.

[order this print from the jfk presidential library-click here for more information]
on thursday 06 march 1975, assassination researchers robert groden and dick gregory were the presenters of the first ever television network broadcast of the zapruder film on the "good night america" program (abc) hosted by geraldo rivera.

related posts

lieutenant john f. kennedy, usn in the south pacific

new silent color film of president kennedy at the rice hotel houston on 21 november 1963

jfk on a potential political career for his children

recently discovered jfk audio tape surfaces

the legacy of william "bill" cooper

jfk speech on secrey

bill cooper discussing the kennedy assassination

==== see also jfk 45 years later dr. kenneth salyer lies about it ==== jfk a toronto connection? ====

john f. kennedy presidential library and museum

==== president john fitzgerald kennedy memorial at find-a-grave ==== reposted 22 november 2012 reposted 22 november 2011 reposted 22 november 2010 reposted 22 november 2009 reposted 22 november 2008 reposted 22 november 2007 reposted 22 november 2006 originally posted 22 november 2005 =====

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city of alexandria la paid $16,000 in attorney fees & damages to settle psychic friends federal complaint

according to an hours old press release, from controversial alexandria, la., attorney thomas davenport, jr. and the davenport firm currently linked from the dead pelican.

UPDATED possible film school to locate in alexandria's district 3

a blurb at the end of a billy gunn piece in this morning's gannett/alexandria daily town talk got our attention:

Mayor Jacques M. Roy and Councilman Jerry Jones Jr. announced a possible teaming of the city with actress and producer Faith Ford and her husband, Campion Murphy, who also is in the film business. The couple lives in Pineville, where Ford is from.

The endeavor would train television and film crews needed to produce programs in Central Louisiana.

The company owned by Ford and Murphy has been coined "Alexis Crew Productions," but has not yet registered its incorporation with the state, according to the Louisiana Secretary of State's website.

we see the obvious political intrigue. we were surprised that jules green did as well as he did in the election. 

councilman jerry jones is widely viewed as mayor roy's puppet to cure that perception we expected them to stage a falling out so that councilman jones could establish his independence. apparently they both felt they needed to go to film school first in order to pull that off.

even so we prefer this carrot-n-stick approach because a film school would be an enhancement to the community. it would be good for the blogosphere and online community as well. if anyone could take a class to learn how to film, produce and post online, say, public meetings like a teevee show. then a school like that would provide the public with knowledge and information of real value.

sooner rather than later and one way or another, the louisiana supreme court is gonna have to bow to common sense, technology, public pressure or a constitutional amendment and finally provide for the recording and live streaming of court room proceedings. that channel would get some ratings.

so our initial impression over the film school is that it would be a plus.

others have their own ideas like mr. jules green who phoned in to ksyl's talkback preshow w/ fred & bob this morning to invoke unpleasant memories of the bonnie and clyde film.

you can listen to mr. green's call for yourself here.

he did mention that the city is obligating itself to put up to $50,000 in money and/or services -- info that mr. gunn conveniently left out of his report.

questions that remain unanswered so far are: if councilman jones loses to mr. green will there still be a film school located someplace else or is it all or nothing?
is the film school even viable or is just a hoax to get councilman jones reelected? (remember the hotel bentley sale and downtown condos hoax from several years ago?) would the mayor pull out all the stops and create a hoax to get a councilman that he controls reelected? yeah probably - but on the other hand what does ms. ford stand to gain by participating in a political hoax?

this is what we believe - we believe that ms. ford and her husband want to open a film school and this provides a pretty good plan.

whether the district 3 location is dependent on an all or nothing vote for councilman jones remains to be seen.

anyway, earlier we tweeted ms. ford and asked her to add our email address to any press release list they have; she tweeted back that she would. if we receive anything we'll post it. you can always follow and tweet her yourself @faith_ford.
wst... note we began drafting this post early this morning when we first read the gannett/town talk report and added to it as the morning progressed. we dont know anything more about this project than what we've disclosed here. we have emailed councilman jones and city attorney charles johnson and asked if the film school is planned to be located within district 3 and for a copy of whatever was introduced on tuesday that mr. green was on about. if we receive a response we'll post it.

UPDATE: alexandria city attorney charles johnson replied tentatively:

To date, there are no documents responsive to your request other than the title of the prospective ordinance. I will forward a copy of the titled introduction. The actual draft of the ordinance has not been completed.

UPDATE-2 email from city attorney charles johnson:

Find enclosed the document responsive to your request. The media piece you forwarded does not accurately state what the mayor said at the council meeting. We will send a copy of the full ordinance once completed. It will be near the date set for final adoption.

remember this is just a preamble-- the final ordinance is being ironed out. nowhere does it say or suggest that the mayor is about to hand over $50,000 of the taxpayers money to the alexis crew productions principals.

it's likely that any taxpayer funds expended will be in the form of inkind value.

such that probably any neighborhood that ms. ford placed her school in would benefit.

maybe there'll be some public discussion about it.

lynyrd skynyrd ... the free bird fell to the ground 35 years ago today

it was october in st. louis town when we heard that the free bird had fell to the ground ... and we all said a prayer before we went down, to play ~ cdb "reflections"

Gillsburg, Amite County, Mississippi -- Thursday 20 October 1977

At 1843 CDT a 1948 Convair 240, registered as N55VM to the L&J Company of Addison, Texas, crashed into a swamp located on timber company land in the unincorporated community of Gillsburg in Amite County, Mississippi.

The flight was carrying a crew of two plus twenty-four members of the Lynyrd Skynyrd band; backup vocalists, the bands tour managers, road crew and security manager.

The flight had departed shortly after 1600 EDT from Greenville, South Carolina where Lynyrd Skynyrd performed the previous night at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium.

It was enroute to Ryan Field at Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Lynyrd Skynyrd was scheduled to perform at the Louisiana State University Assembly Center on 21 October for what would have been its fifth performance on its 1977 - 1978 "Tour of the Survivors."

The crash is believed caused by a faulty magneto in the Convair's starboard engine:

The National Transportation Safety Board determined the likely cause of the crash of N55VM was, "fuel exhaustion and total loss of power on both engines due to crew inattention to the fuel supply."

The Safety Board further found that the fuel exhaustion was caused by deficient flight planning, and an engine malfunction of undetermined nature in the right engine which resulted in higher than normal fuel consumption. ~ source NTSB Identification: DCA78AA001 [link broken as of december 2011 see below screen grab] & Lynyrd Skynyrd's Crash

Johnny Mote, 22, a dairy farmer whose property is near the crash site said the crash "sounded like a car skidding in gravel." Mr. Mote was out haying his cattle when he was "flagged down" by three crash survivors, Artmus Pyle, Kenneth Peden, Jr. and Marc Frank.

One of the first responders to arrive at the scene was Jeffrey Wall, 23, a member of the Gillsburg Rural Volunteer Fire Department. He said:

[T]hat when he reached the crash site ... "Some people were crying and some were moaning. Some didn't know what was going on," he also said rescuers had to wade through a waterhole to get to the crash site and that, once there, they had to remove band instruments to free trapped survivors.

Eventually three helicopters from the Coast Guard, Mississippi National Guard and Forrest County General Hospital assisted in the rescue.

At least two bulldozers were needed to construct a path from Mississippi State Highway 568 to site of the crash.

Killed in the crash were Walter McCreary, pilot; William Gray, co-pilot; Ronnie Van Zant, singer/songwriter; Steve Gaines, guitarist/vocalist; Cassie Gaines, backup vocalist, The Honkettes and Dean Kilpatrick, assistant road manager. ~ Read more >>> Lynyrd Skynyrd's Crash

This crash, besides being a source of indescribable loss for all the families left an irreplaceable void in a genre of music much loved worldwide.


"call me the breeze"
united kingdom tour at cardiff wales. date unclear possibly in early november 1975 or '76.

"i aint the one"
herfordshire england
knebworth fair
21 august 1976

"tuesday's gone"
live 1976

"sweet home alabama" / "dont ask me no questions"
dubbed old footage. no date.

"t for texas"
possibly uk tour 1975 or '76

"i'm a country boy"
nuthin fancy 1975

"cry for the bad man"
live winterland arena
san francisco
03 march 1976

"you got that right"
live asbury park
13 july 1977

wolf gangs vault has several lynyrd skynyrd concerts to listen to. you have to register and log in.

for now, you can still listen to full length concerts for free -- after logging in press play now. in some browsers you might have to allow popup windows. you also have the option buy tracks and concerts..

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