The idea of linking unpublished writers with reconstruction efforts has a Keynesian “multiplier” effect, according to David Simon, an economist at the University of Massachusetts-Seekonk. “If we can get underemployed writers–and believe me, they’re all underemployed–to crank out a short story collection at prevailing wages, then use it to fuel a waste-to-energy plant, we will ease unemployment and cut our dependence on foreign oil.”
Faulkner: “Thanks to my Nobel Prize winnings, I can afford to maintain my savage tan.”
St. Stephen is currently working on a three-volume family saga in the manner of William Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County novels. “It’s a stream of consciousness novel told through the voice of Darrell Suggins, the feeble-minded product of inbreeding between the offspring of a morganatic marriage between a scion of the old Southern dynasty and a syphilitic prostitute,” he says. St. Stephens provided this reporter with a sample dependent clause from a sentence of his work-in-progress:
See the full article from “Salon”
New Orleans Strip Clubs: After Rager At Club Voyeur, RNC ‘Young Eagles’ Off To Las Vegas & New Orleans
March 30, 2010
Michael Steele’s exclusive fraternity, the GOP “Young Eagles,” just rolls from strip joint to strip joint, blowing two-grand a pop on Kristol and lap dances. And dumb Republican donors pay for all this, while Socialism is the Law of the Land! What are these Young Republicans typing to each other, anyway?
Young Eagles THIS WEEKEND THE YOUNG EAGLES TAKE OVER VEGAS…NEXT STOP NOLA Email Allison Meyers for more information on the upcoming Southern Republican Leadership Confernce 04/08-11 ameyers@rnchq.org Sat at 10:16am Nicholas P___ Sorry I couldn’t make this one guys. Had to head to Orlando for a wedding. Have a great weekend! Sat at 11:13am · Report
Oh, mysterious Facebook! We cannot click through to the “Young Eagles” Facebook profile because it is apparently gone! And yet this not-so-cryptic message remains. Is “ameyers@rnchq.org” the staffer who got axed for hosting sexy stripper parties for tubby young Republican dweebs?
June Havoc was the younger sister of famed stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. She was photographed in 1983.
Havoc, the younger sister of famed stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, never reached the fame of her sister, but had a varied, successful theater career that stretched from 1918 into the next century. With music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Arthur Laurents, “Gypsy” is considered one of the best musicals ever written. It focuses on the archetypal stage mother, Mama Rose, who ferociously pushes her daughter “Baby June” into vaudeville stardom at age 6 while her older sister struggles to compete. The play was based on a memoir of the older daughter, Louise, who grew up to be Gypsy Rose Lee. Havoc made no effort to obstruct the show, though she detested it. “It meant so much to (Gypsy), her precious illusion; it made her into an ingenue at last,” Havoc remarked bitterly in 1998. “And I loved my si …
See the full article from “NOLA.com”
Word on the street is that one is supposed to publish all coverage of a festival within week of that festival’s end. Well, I say rules are made to be broken! And with that in mind let talk The Canal Street Madam, a doc focused on the definitely infamous, possibly famous Jeanette Maier whose livelihood was upended after the brothel she ran was raided by the feds in 2001. Jeanette is a fascinating character, out spoken, charismatic, and funny, and he attempts to reunite her family and recreate her life make for compelling cinema. It’s great material that a lesser filmmaker could easily rely on to make a fun, yet mediocre film. But director Cameron Yates (and his producing team) took their character and created a film that is one part human drama, one part political analysis, and – most importantly – one part human rights. Before I saw this film, I had never really given one thought to sex workers rights. Now, I …
The Canal Street Madam details the history of the Canal Street Brothel in New Orleans and its notorious closing and uncovering by the FBI and the subsequent arrest of its head madam, Jeanette Maier. First-time feature documentarian Cameron Yates said after the screening that the reason he chose to focus this subject in particular is that he felt the national media gave everyone a voice except for the Canal Street Madam herself, immediately written off as a criminal on account that she owned a brothel. Yates’ doc serves initially as a corrective for Maier’s lack of a voice within the mainstream media, and what a voice she possesses. It is in this respect that The Canal Street Madam serves its triple-function: the film focuses on her as a human being after the incident – so the incident isn’t always the central focus, but its retrospective function frames her character and opinions as documented – and from this character portrait the film tackles an array of issues, from body politics and the rights of discerning, autonomous, consensual adults to political corruption and hypocrisy in the city of New Orleans.
New Orleans Adult Entertainment: Zeitoun, By Dave Eggers
March 27, 2010
Yes, the levees are breached and the city floods, and the family is split when Kathy and the kids evacuate and Zeitoun insists on staying behind to look after their properties. But the ravaged city where he remains is curiously almost idyllic – beautifully quiet, submerged under water that is clean, translucent, “almost green”. Zeitoun retrieves an old canoe he had in the garage, and begins to explore the neighbourhood in it, and make himself useful.
Though his story drifts occasionally into a minor key (when the first signs of looting appear, and the water no longer looks so clean and beautiful), it’s largely a story of hope. As he paddles, Zeitoun finds abandoned dogs and feeds them; he rescues an old lady trapped in her house, and on one curious occasion discovers himself giving a prostitute a ride to work. He calls an anxious Kathy daily at noon, to reassure her that all’s well, that he’s doing God’s work; doing important things to make his family proud. And then, well, then we get into that second half.
See the full article from “Independent”
Charges reduced in phone caper at senator’s office
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN (AP) – 1 hour ago
NEW ORLEANS — Federal prosecutors filed reduced charges Friday against conservative activist James O’Keefe and three others who were accused of trying to tamper with the phones in Sen. Mary Landrieu’s New Orleans office.
The new charges are contained in a bill of information, which typically signals a plea deal. The new filing charges the four with entering a federal building under false pretenses, a misdemeanor. They had been arrested Jan. 25 on felony charges.
O’Keefe, a videographer famous for wearing a pimp costume in a stunt that embarrassed the ACORN community organizing group, has said the group was trying to investigate complaints that constituents calling Landrieu’s office couldn’t get through to criticize her support of a health care reform bill.
Posted: March 26th, 2010 08:14 PM ET
From CNN Political Producer Shannon Travis
Conservative activist James O’Keefe is one of four men now charged with a misdemeanor for entering Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office in Louisiana.
Washington (CNN) – Prosecutors have reduced the charges against four men accused of trying to tamper with the phone system in the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana.
The case involves James O’Keefe, the conservative activist who played a pimp in videos that later embarassed ACORN, the community organizing group now in the process of shuttering its operations. The case also involves Robert Flanagan, the son of an acting U.S. attorney from Louisiana’s Western District.
The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Louisiana said Friday that O’Keefe, Flanagan and the two other associates are now charged with entering federal property under false pretenses, a misdemeanor.
While the prosecutors do not reveal any of the thinking behind the plan, Mr. O’Keefe, in an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News, said he was investigating accusations by some other conservative activists that Ms. Landrieu’s office had ignored phone calls from constituents who were complaining about the health care debate. Ms. Landrieu’s office has denied ever ignoring calls and pointed out that voice mail systems of many senators had been strained from a flood of calls during the most contentious weeks of the health care debate.
Mr. O’Keefe is best known for posing as a pimp and recording his conversations with workers for Acorn, the community organizing group, who advised him and a woman posing as a prostitute how to evade taxes on illegal activities. The video recordings severely damaged the reputation of Acorn, which now plans to close most of its offices.
By Thomas Catan
On balance, this appears to have been a good week for conservative activist James OKeefe.
On Friday, federal prosecutors filed reduced charges against OKeefe and three others for allegedly attempting to enter Sen. Mary Landrieu’s New Orleans office under false pretenses. And earlier this week, the community group Acorn shut its doors after funding dried up; OKeefe and another activist, posing as a pimp and a prostitute, had secretly shot video of Acorn workers last year offering advice on how to set up a brothel and skirt taxes.
In Louisiana, prosecutors filed a bill of information charging the four men, all between 24- and 25-years old, with a misdemeanor, carrying a maximum six-month jail term and a $5,000 fine. The original charge was a felony, carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.