5/24/2008 Community Gumbo

Listen | Democracy Now (5/21/08)

Former Chief UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix on the US Rush to War in Iraq, the Threat of an Attack on Iran, and the Need for a Global Nuclear Ban to Avoid Further Catastrophe

Listen | Democracy Now (5/19/08)

Spies for Hire: Carlyle Group to Become Owner of “One of America’s Largest Private Intelligence Armies”

Listen | Democracy Now (5/23/08)

“War, Inc.”: John Cusack’s New Film Satirizes the Corruption, Profiteering and Hubris Behind the Iraq War

5/17/2008 Community Gumbo

Democracy Now

Listen | World Renowned Philosopher Slavoj Zizek on the Iraq War, the Bush Presidency, the War on Terror & More

Listen | Legendary Author Gore Vidal on the Bush Presidency, History and the “United States of Amnesia”

Listen | Back to the Basics: Energy-Efficient Home Designs to Rebuild New Orleans Look Familiar

Architect William Monaghan and his daughter Tess debut "The Octavia", one of ten homes designed using traditional New Orleans architectural principles such as building housing raised on piers, and maximizing ceiling height and airflow to provide comfort without the need for air conditioning. Monaghan founded Build Now to provide affordable but attractive historic designs which are less expensive to build than the cost of renovating a flooded home. Ranging in price from $100,000 to $160,000, the efficient Energy Star designs consume 30 percent less electricity than other modern construction. Monaghan and his daughter Tess are displaying the first completed house at an open house today. In customary fashion, crawfish and a brass band will be on hand for visitors. The open house will be held from Noon to 6 p.m. at 5713 Elysian Fields Avenue, above Prentiss Street.

For more information, the Build Now office is located at 7731 Maple Street. Call Build Now at 324-3964, or visit BUILDNOWNOLA.COM.

Related:

Kate Moran, "Duo aims to make starting fresh affordable," The Times-Picayune, 5/04/08.

Ariella Cohen, "Builders lowering price tag on eco-friendly housing," City Business.

Music Played:

Dirty Dozen Brass Band, "The Flintstones Meets the President (Meets the Dirty Dozen)," Louisiana Scrapbook, Rykodisc, 1987.

The Treme Brass Band, "Wolverine Blues," Straight from the Sixth Ward, Tipitinas, 2003.

Sylvester Weaver & Walter Beasley, "Bottleneck Blues," The Slide Guitar: Bottles, Knives, and Steel, Columbia, 1990.

5/10/2008 Community Gumbo

Listen | Democracy Now (5/6/08)

• Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear
• “Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism”

Listen | Democracy Now (5/7/08)

• Broadcasting Legend Bill Moyers on the 2008 Elections, the Rev. Wright Controversy, the Media, Vietnam and More

Listen | Democracy Now (5/8/08)

• “Economic Hit Man” John Perkins Recounts US Efforts to Block Nationalization of Panama Canal

5/03/2008 Community Gumbo

Listen | Democracy Now (4/30/08)

• Obama Repudiates Ex-Pastor over Controversial Remarks
• The Politics of the Rev. Wright Controversy: A Debate with Melissa Harris-Lacewell and Adolph Reed, Jr.
• CorpWatch’s Pratap Chatterjee and Ex-Titan Translator Marwan Mawiri on Corporate Cronyism and Intelligence Outsourcing in Iraq

Listen | The 311 on Inspector General Robert Cerasoli (re-broadcast)

When Robert Cerasoli began work as New Orleans' first Inspector General seven months ago, he said "I didn't think this would be a bed of roses" (The Times-Picayune, 9/05/07).

Cerasoli initially worked for months without an office, budget, or staff. At the end of November, the City Council approved a $3.2 million budget for the Inspector General's office -- three times greater than Mayor Ray Nagin's suggested $1.3 million (The Times-Picayune, 11/27/08).

He finally moved out of a donated office in the Loyola library, and into an unfurnished office without phones or computers on St. Charles Avenue (The Times-Picayune, 4/19/08).

At the end of March, Cerasoli said he couldn't pay an invoice for advertising to recruit his staff, complaining that his budget hadn't been entered into the city's computer accounting system. "There's a lot of entrenched incompetence, and there's a lot of people who just don't want me to do anything anyway," Cerasoli said (Gambit Weekly, 3/25/08).

This past week, the Inspector General's services would have been helpful in resolving a dispute over the city's 311 contract. WWL TV news reporter Lee Zurik was stonewalled while investigating why New Orleans citizens are paying almost $20 per resident for the telephone information service, almost seven times greater than the national average for 311 services.

In an email mistakenly carbon copied back to Zurik, Mayor Ray Nagin's deputy director of communications James Ross wrote to intergovernmental affairs director Kenya Smith, "Let's smoke him out." Zurik was promised an interview, but was told after he arrived at City Hall that no one was available to speak to him (WWL TV, 5/01/08).

One of Robert Cerasoli's first experiences as Inspector General involved the very topic of the 311 contract.

He addressed a standing-room only crowd of spectators at a speech he delivered last November.

Music Played

Dr. Ross, "Fox Chase," Takoma Records.

Big Joe Williams & Sonny Boy Williamson, "Stack of Dollars," Arhoolie Records.