Louisiana Voice

Friday is the final day of the second (and final) LouisianaVoice fundraiser of 2015.

To those of you have responded so generously, we cannot begin to thank you enough.

We are still a little short of our goal and we still need your support to continue. We work at gathering information from the time we arise in the morning until we retire at night and we travel the state in order to keep you informed of what those you have entrusted with running the state are doing. One recent trip took us to the State Capitol in Mississippi in pursuit of documents pertaining to an incident in that state that involve a high ranking state official.

Those contributing $50 to $149 will receive a signed copy of my first book Louisiana Rocks: The True Genesis of Rock & Roll. Anyone giving $150 to $249 will receive a signed copy of my upcoming but as yet untitled book about the Bobby Jindal administration due for publication in January. Those giving $250 or more will received signed copies of both books.

To contribute by credit card, simply click on the yellow “Donate” button below right. Or you may mail checks to:

Capital News Service/LouisianaVoice

P.O. Box 922

Denham Springs, Louisiana 70727

Thanks so much.

Tom Aswell

Publisher

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“I’m doing my job that I was elected to do.”

—U.S. Sen. David Vitter, explaining his refusal to engage traditional campaigning and his refusal to participate in debates with other candidates as he attempts to remain in Washington while allowing his Super PAC, The Fund for Louisiana’s Future, to purchase the governor’s election on his behalf.

“I have the job I want.”

—Bobby Jindal, on so many occasions during his first term that we all got sick of hearing it.

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We are still holding our semi-annual fundraiser to help offset some of the expenses incurred in chasing down stories for LouisianaVoice.

But this post is not a solicitation. Instead, at the risk of sounding like some cheesy televangelist, I want to share a letter that I received today (Friday, October 9) I have removed the contributor’s name and address to protect her privacy.

(I must make a small correction: With Edwards in the Governor’s Mansion is not my book. It was written by former Angola inmate Forest Hammond about his experiences as a prisoner-butler in the Edwin Edwards governor’s mansion. I was merely the editor of the book.)

I received two other checks along with this one in my post office box, each for $100. Those contributions are greatly appreciated but with all due respect, nothing could have touched me as deeply as that letter. And it was certainly not a “paltry sum.” This one gesture meant more to me than the contributor could ever know.

It immediately brought to mind a parable I once read in the Bible. Not being a biblical scholar, I admit that I had to google it and found it was Luke 21:1-4. It reads:

• As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

It also occurred to me that I could never deposit that check. Yes, we need money to operate but we don’t need it badly enough to take it from someone who desires to help us but obviously does not have the financial means to do so. Her gesture is the true definition of sacrifice.

What I have decided to do instead is to frame the check and her letter and hang it on the wall over my computer in my office.

That way, I will have a daily reminder of why I do this.

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Police were placed on high alert Friday after teachers from an Irving, Texas, high school discovered what they thought was a bomb resembling a giant clock mounted on the side of a rocket and placed next to Parliament in London. British PM David Cameron was hauled away in handcuffs by Bobbies and detained for several hours.

Bobby Jindal, campaigning in Iowa, said, “Two things: I told you so and I am the only one qualified to be president because I said it first!”

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“If we learned anything from the previous debate, it’s that these events reshuffle the deck. The deck has been reshuffled. And we’re fighting our way up.”

—Bobby Jindal, in assessing his performance at the kiddie table debate on Wednesday, Sept. 16 by email, as he strives to sit at the grown-up table.

“In tonight’s debate Governor Jindal neutered the Republican establishment in D.C. The Republican establishment in D.C. is the surrender caucus.”

—Jindal campaign manager Timmy Teepell, trying to earn his expensive fees from the Jindal campaign, also by email.

“He’s right—the deck has been reshuffled again. We’re on our way up. Don’t you want to be a part of it?”

—Supriya Jindal, echoing her husband’s less than convincing refrain. Ditto on the email.

“To follow through with their ‘card deck’ analogy: Yes, the debate did reshuffle the deck. Unfortunately for BJ, a joker is a joker no matter how many times the deck is reshuffled.”

—A reader who must by necessity remain anonymous. (and no, its not Earthmother, nor are we quoting ourselves.)

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