FletchXXX.... Why? How?

[RedShoe]

You're a very intelligent poster here on GFY. You seem to do a lot of research.

Why would the people of Louisiana vote for McCain after what happened to them in 2005?
How could they want more of the same administration?

You live there now, can you enlighten us? Help us understand.

[KillerK]

They know McCain is the only choice

[fatal attraction]

Originally Posted by KillerK

They know McCain is the only choice

I thought you where a moron in another thread....now, I have no doubt!

[Bama]

Originally Posted by RedShoe

Why would the people of Louisiana vote for McCain after what happened to them in 2005? How could they want more of the same administration?

Mayor of New Orleans was a black Democrat
Governor of Louisiana was a woman Democrat

The blame starts there....

[dig420]

Director of FEMA was a white republican.
President was a white Republican.

Funny how responsibility for the performance federal agencies rests directly on the federal govt. according to liberals and conservatives when it's a liberal administration in office, but when it's a conservative govt. it rests directly wherever it can be deflected by conservatives.

Don't you people pride yourself on your sense of responsibility? Why do we never see it when the chips are down, the markets are crashing, and federal disaster relief agencies are run by horse show judges?

[Bama]

Originally Posted by dig420

Don't you people pride yourself on your sense of responsibility?

Not quite sure what you mean by "you" people, but I'm tired of people jumping up the ladder to lay the blame.

Start with the local elected officials who created the mess to begin with before you start yelling about the top dog's ability to come in behind and clean up their mess.

If the Mayor and Governor had gotten the majority of the people out and brought supplies in while they could - there wouldn't have been such a mess to begin with.

I guess that's the usual game plan of Democrats tho - create a mess through inadequate planning and then bitch about Republicans not being able to clean it up.

[Mr Pheer]

Because Obama is black and Louisiana is part of the deep south. I grew up in the deep south and still dont understand thier redneck, fucking backwards thinking.

But hey dont take my word for it, go down there and ask random white people if they would vote for Obama.

[Martin]

60% of Americans are still stuck living in the 50's 60's. Also more then 60% still believe what they read in the bible really happened. Not that hard to figure out.

[cherrylula]

Louisiana has a dark skinned Republican Governor right now. Go figure.

They don't like liberals, and things that go against religion much here.

[12clicks]

Originally Posted by dig420

Director of FEMA was a white republican.
President was a white Republican.

Funny how responsibility for the performance federal agencies rests directly on the federal govt. according to liberals and conservatives when it's a liberal administration in office, but when it's a conservative govt. it rests directly wherever it can be deflected by conservatives.

Don't you people pride yourself on your sense of responsibility? Why do we never see it when the chips are down, the markets are crashing, and federal disaster relief agencies are run by horse show judges?

WTF is wrong with horse show judges??????

[Fletch XXX]

Stop claiming its racism or because the state is "deep south." The reason is simple, and most likely similar to why this happens in many states, lack of education and poverty.

Its not racism, the people here are less racist than in other southern states. Due to the fact that our population has such a diverse range of cultures in the southeastern louisiana region, having been migrated to by Vietnamese, Jamaicans, Africans, and Europeans - this is what creatd the culture of New Orleans, to say we are racist is silly - take a walk through New Orleans and see the diverse culture.

In regards to politics...The current Governor is the first Indian elected Governor in the country. And during the War on Terroism no doubt. And he is a REPUBLICAN and Louisianas first non-white governor, the times they are a changin

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

Redshoe, while I understand your question, the fact is this issue goes much deeper than just politics. Youd have to understand the civil war, the way this area was under its own holocaust type of period during the Great Expulsion of the French (my people, my family, forced to stop speaking language, killed, placed on boats with no food to cross ocean etc...) and the class division that would persist afterwards and still today.

I am from here and I would say its mostly because the majority wont vote and those that do are the die hard republicans. Now of course there are Dems here, it just also happens to be the Catholic bible belt, and a stronghold of religious nuts.

However, don't overlook the fact that in regards to Presidential elections, the people's vote doesn't matter, and nowhere is that fact more true than in a state like Louisiana, why?

Simple: because Louisiana electoral college is free from being forced to vote for their party when it comes to Pres. Some states they are, but in Louisiana electoral college is not bound to vote one direction because of their party affiliation. So you have Dems who vote for Republicans due to lobby efforts and money.

So what you have here is people like Ray Nagin and Mary Landrieu who are "democrats" but the fact of the matter is they are tied to the Big Oil and other things that coincedentally put them in a circle of friends that remains Republican influenced.

The most important fact regarding who gets elected down here is the money influence and nothing else. Ray Nagin worked for Shell and Cox Cable so big oil and big marketing, Mary Landriue is family tied to Big Oil and considering Barack is against Offshore drilling, we can see how our Democratic Electoral college will vote.

You tie it all together and what do you get?

I couldve just said "because its the south" but that would place me in the uneducated category along with those who actually think we have a say in this upcoming election. If "we" did, Gore would've been president.

[cherrylula]

a little info on the current Governor, "Bobby" Jindal:

On October 20, 2007, Jindal was elected governor of Louisiana, winning a four-way race with 54% of the vote. At age 36, Jindal became the youngest current governor in the United States. He also became the first non-white to serve as governor of Louisiana since Reconstruction, and the first elected Indian American governor in U.S. history.

Piyush Jindal (pronounced /ˈdʒɪndəl/) was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to recently arrived Punjabi Indian immigrants Amar and Raj Jindal, who were attending graduate school. His father left India and his ancestral family village of Khanpura in 1970.[2] His mother, Raj Jindal, is an information technology director for the Louisiana Department of Labor.[3] According to family lore, Jindal adopted the name "Bobby" from the character Bobby Brady after watching The Brady Bunch television series at age four. He has been known by that name ever since?as a civil servant, politician, student, and writer?though legally his name remains Piyush Jindal.[4]

Jindal was a Hindu, but converted to Catholicism in high school.[5] He has also offered his religious testimony before Baptist and Pentecostal congregations.[6] He attended public school at Baton Rouge Magnet High School and graduated when he was 17. Following high school, Jindal enrolled, and eventually graduated from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, with honors in biology and public policy where he was a member of the Society of the Pacifica House. Although he had thought of a career in medicine or law and was accepted by Harvard Medical School and Yale Law School, he chose to pursue a political career. He received a master's degree in political science from New College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar.

After Oxford, he joined McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm, where he advised Fortune 500 companies.

^ that guy is the Republican's little helper right now though....

A funny point about Bobby, people seem to think he looks Creole. So visually, he sort of fits in. The guy is Indian from India, but well he looks like he could be from here, so they've sort of accepted him. Plus he has this great Louisiana accent and family man commercials. I'd be willing to bet some old people even do think he is Creole, with the name "Bobby." Do you think he looks enough like Ray Nagin?

He did much better than that jerk Blanco that was Gov before him during this past hurricane season's evacuations and disasters. She made everyone (including GW) wait 24 hours to decide how she wanted to handle the hurricane when Air Force One was on the ground here. A real loser. All she did was make abortions illegal when/if Roe vs Wade is overturned. That is her legacy.

[cherrylula]

Originally Posted by RedShoe

You're a very intelligent poster here on GFY. You seem to do a lot of research.

Why would the people of Louisiana vote for McCain after what happened to them in 2005?
How could they want more of the same administration?

You live there now, can you enlighten us? Help us understand.

Although the lowlife poor here might still blame George W for the disaster in Katrina, it wasn't his fault or the Republicans.

It was a lack of communication, first and foremost, between the local government and the STATE government, which is supposed to be in communication with the Federal government, and none of that happened the way it should. Again, blame Kathleen Blanco. In fact, she is no longer in office, didn't even run. Because a lot of it is her fault!

If you lived here, you would understand. People just don't communicate things. They are too busy planning the next party.

If anyone follows the New Orleans government dramas, which I doubt anyone here does, you'd quickly realize they just want to plan the next party. I mean, anything exciting happens and they try to plan a parade. Literally. From funerals to sports games, the 3rd anniversary of Katrina, its a friggin party. Celebration. They drink, and they drink, and they drink. Mayors of towns here are running around with masked license plates drunk, driving through toll booths. Cops smacking each other and all kinds of corruption. Unreal things you don't even hear about unless you live here and read the news all the time.

So to live here, you have to really overlook these things (its really hard) and just want to have a good time. Congressman gone corrupt? "He's a nice guy though!" (actual quote from family member of mine). Nobody really cares until it directly affects them. A lot of people are okay with the culture of corruption as they call it, but its come down from the top officials, and a way of doing things here. People have almost had to accept it just so they can exist within (I can't believe I am writing this)...

The state has barely been doing oversight in government since Katrina. Look up how many state and city officials down here are in prison now. The head of the NO city council, Oliver Thomas, is in prison. The head of the school board, prison. Tons of other educational board members, in prison. They are trying to impeach a judge. Jim Letton the US Attorney here has his head up many asses right now. I absolutely love it. Not being from here, I can be objective, and I cheer everytime one of these corrupt assholes gets theirs. The city of New Orleans finally has an Inspector General. The police chief and other city officials have been fighting the guy nonstop. The city attorney actually asked him to notify her every time he begins a new case.

Its going to take a long ass time, but New Orleans and Louisiana are coming along. We only hope they don't rape the wetlands too much more. A lot of people just lost their homes this past summer, and you won't hear about it because its not "New Orleans." However it is old culture here in the bayous that is going away because of the destruction of the wetlands.
^ read this article for a little insight on that

So how could the people of Louisiana want more of the same federal administration? I don't think most people here think that far, or even vote. The high government electorals follow the money, simple as that. Republicans like oil, Louisiana likes money and has oil, therefore this is a Red state.

I don't think they will not vote for Obama because he is dark skinned (see Jindal). I think its because he is way too liberal. It really isn't as racist here as some think. New Orleans, which is only Southern LA, is really much less racist than even Los Angeles. New Orleans had the first free people of color in this nation.

[cherrylula]

For the record, living here is like a psychological study. Fletch and myself do not nor will we ever fit into this place. I do not accept any "culture of corruption," and the most difficult thing is telling myself not to get involved because they'd probably want to do away with me due to my views and opinions. Its really tough, but working from home is what keeps us safe from society here. I had a couple of jobs here back in the 90's and it was nothing but drama. It is really hard being here, but not really being here. I get excited thinking I can help vote out people like Bill Jefferson, but the guy running against him is another corrupt guy, brother/cousin of another gov official in jail... it never ends. We are better off back in California where we can be more liberal and fit in better. So this is temporary for a few years, its a life experience unlike any other for me.

[czarina]

Originally Posted by fatal attraction

I thought you where a moron in another thread....now, I have no doubt!

what he said!

[HorseShit]

no one cares about Louisiana anyway

[cherrylula]

Originally Posted by jdavis

no one cares about Louisiana anyway

You should.

Eighteen percent of U.S. oil production originates in, is transported through, or is processed in Louisiana coastal wetlands with a value of $6.3 billion a year. Almost 24 percent of U.S. natural gas production originates in or is processed in Louisiana?s coastal wetlands with a value of $10.3 billion a year.

Louisiana?s OCS (outer continental shelf) territory is the most extensively developed and matured OCS territory in the United States. It has produced 88.8 percent of the crude oil and condensate and 83.2 percent of the natural gas extracted from all federal OCS territories from the beginning of oil and gas exploration and development in the U.S. through the end of 1996.

As of December 1998, Louisiana offshore leases totaled 5,363, with more than 27 million acres under lease, 130 active drilling rigs, 4,489 producing oil wells and 3,813 producing gas wells.

Our latest annual production data for 1997 shows that 353,846,995 barrels of oil and 3,881,352,353 MCF (thousand cubic feet) of natural gas were produced. Between January and July 1998, oil production was at 227,282,332 barrels, with gas at 2,281,832,468 MCF.

Louisiana?s coastal wetlands contribute 28 percent to the total volume of U.S. fisheries.

As of October 1998, there were 3,439 platforms in the Gulf off Louisiana?s coast.

In 1997, oil and gas production was valued at a combined total of $18.6 billion, with federal royalties totaling $2.9 billion.

Recently, the oil and gas industry has rebounded from a downturn in the 1980s. The main reasons are the discovery of oil and gas in deepwater fields of the central Gulf of Mexico, deepwater royalty tax relief, and new and improved technology used to extract oil from the deepwater Gulf.

Industry leaders are expressing a new optimism, and the frantic pace of drilling is breaking old records. The deepwater Gulf of Mexico has emerged as the country?s most significant oil and gas province, and some estimates say within the next four to five years as much as 30 percent of the country?s total domestic output will originate from the Gulf of Mexico.

Market analysts predict this intense level of exploration could last 10 years. The success of Louisiana?s oil and gas industry contributes billions to the state and national economies every year. Offshore companies paid about $2.4 billion to vendors and contractors in 165 Louisiana communities in 1992 alone. Nearly 4,000 vendors serve offshore operations and employ 55,000 people, and more than 30,000 are employed offshore.

http://www.lacoast.gov/watermarks/19...mer/2offshore/

[cherrylula]

while I am here, let me post this also...

A little more insight on just how big this state is with the energy money. They are finding large amounts of natural gas in northern LA right now, and millionaires are being made.

A recent rush on natural gas drilling in northwest Louisiana is turning many landowners into instant millionaires, and stoking others' hopes.

It's an unnatural and sometimes unsettling reality sinking in on the generally modest, conservative citizens of this area. Gas plays in the region date from 1870, but no one has seen anything like this.

Signing bonuses are turning large property owners into millionaires overnight. Mineral leases were going for as little as $100 an acre a year ago. Reports are now coming in of bonuses from $10,000 to $30,000 an acre. At those rates, a family with 100 acres would immediately get a check for as much as $3 million, plus 20 percent to 30 percent of future royalties.

Mike Smith, 60, an appraiser in Bossier City with 343 acres of timber farm, first heard about the lucrative lease deals in the late spring. A quick deal gave him lottery-like shock, and now he's retiring early.

"I got a check for over a million, in less than two weeks," Smith said. "I just didn't get used to it. Gosh, it was like, damn. Somebody hands you a million dollars, and you have to think about it for a while."

After leasing more than 1,000 acres of its public land at an auction this summer, DeSoto Parish received a bonus check of $28.7 million, which was 60 percent more than the annual tax revenue for the mostly rural jurisdiction.

"Everybody's mouth was wide open," Parish President Bryant Yopp said.

article link

Cadillac sales were up 70% there this past summer.

[RedShoe]

Originally Posted by Fletch XXX

I could've just said "because its the south" but that would place me in the uneducated category along with those who actually think we have a say in this upcoming election.

Which is why I asked you.

Although from the looks of it, I should've asked Cherry.

[cherrylula]

Originally Posted by RedShoe

Which is why I asked you.

Although from the looks of it, I should've asked Cherry.

Honestly, I am completely infatuated with the political quirks of this place.

Fletch on the other hand, is from here, and the stuff almost infuriates him to the point it is difficult to even discuss.

I can't even discuss politics with the locals around here, because even they still think some fucked up things. So I have purged here on gfy a bit it seems.

It is hard to even digest that this place is a part of the USA.

for example: Bill Jefferson the disgraced corrupt congressman - he gets these totally ghetto black dudes to stand on corners and hold up signs at election time. They give them BEER, so these guys will have a sign in one hand and a brown paper bag (alcohol) in the other. Totally LEGAL. It is only illegal to have glass containers. So they get free booze, and might even make a couple bucks, and all they have to do is stand on a corner and dance around with a sign. They LOVE the guy! The people don't care about his scandals, he will only lose because of the political support he's lost.

Its like the 9th ward in New Orleans... a lot of older poor black folk lived there, but they were VOTERS. So they'd load them onto a bus (paid for with campaign donations), give them a free t-shirt and a hotdog lunch, and take them to vote. This is why people like Nagin paid so much attention to the 9th, voters (which are now gone).

I can't go on enough how much this place has changed and is changing since Katrina. Its as nice kick in the ass for the place, but it will not be fixed for many, many years.

I love New Orleans, but its not really a place you want to live, if you are sane anyhow. We are outside the city limits btw, no need for fuxored city services in my life.

I wish this state would vote Obama, but again, he is way too liberal.

[raven1083]

I don't care anyway! It doesn't matter

[cherrylula]

Originally Posted by RedShoe

Which is why I asked you.

Although from the looks of it, I should've asked Cherry.

And hey, thanks for caring, most people seem to not per the responses in this thread.

[bloggingseo]

I am from the South and a lot of people will vote for Obama including myself, and yes a lot will vote for Mccain. Don't think all Southern people are prejudiced redneck ass holes. That is a huge stereotype and it's really not fair, most of my friends are voting for Obama and they are white and have thick accents. That's like thinking all people from up north are douchebag guidos, downlow dudes, or uppity jerk offs. Some are, but not all. Yes there are prejudiced ass holes but don't think just because I'm white and have a southern accent that I must automatically be prejudiced and stupid and won't vote for a black man. That is just ridiculous.

[tranza]

It's because of rednecks. Period.

[CDSmith]

Originally Posted by tranza

It's because of rednecks. Period.

[Mr Pheer]

Originally Posted by bloggingseo

I am from the South and a lot of people will vote for Obama including myself, and yes a lot will vote for Mccain. Don't think all Southern people are prejudiced redneck ass holes. That is a huge stereotype and it's really not fair, most of my friends are voting for Obama and they are white and have thick accents. That's like thinking all people from up north are douchebag guidos, downlow dudes, or uppity jerk offs. Some are, but not all. Yes there are prejudiced ass holes but don't think just because I'm white and have a southern accent that I must automatically be prejudiced and stupid and won't vote for a black man. That is just ridiculous.

There are plenty there. And the main reason why I left. Got tired of being around stupid rednecks with nothing better to do than drink and go to church.

[Supz]

Originally Posted by cherrylula

a little info on the current Governor, "Bobby" Jindal:

This looks like Ray Ramono's gay brother

[tony286]

http://www.snopes.com/katrina/politics/blanco.asp