Louisiana Voice

Well now, it seems the good Christians hereabouts have forgotten the teachings of Christ who advocated charity, kindness and understanding – and most of all, love.

You see, a few of these good Christians physically set upon an actual minister of the faith last Friday at Riverside Baptist Church in Denham Springs. The event was some sort of rally called by Livingston Parish Repugnantcan Rep. Valerie Hodges, now a candidate for the Louisiana Senate to fill the seat being vacated by the term-limited incumbent Rogers Pope.

Valerie Hodges, I would remind you, is the same one who, a few years ago – as in the Jindal administration – pushed through a bill to provide financial aid to religious-based schools and then raised holy hell when an Islamic school in New Orleans applied for funding. Apparently she forgot that religious is religious, regardless of the affiliation label that may be attached.

Oh, and she’s also the one who railed against illegal immigration and then when she and her husband purchased flooded rental homes in Denham Springs, employed – guess who? – to perform renovation work. No need to guess, you know damn well who.

Anyway, Hodges called this big rally of “all Louisiana pastors with sound Biblical conviction” to gin up support for what she obviously hoped would be a massive show of support for a veto override session for three gender-related bills that passed the recent session but which Gov. John Bel Edwards has promised to veto. You can see the bills in the attached flier that Hodges sent out to invite those pastors with “sound Biblical conviction.”

Now, I’m not certain if the “Biblical conviction” alluded to by Hodges included Second Samuel 1: 26, the Bible verse which noted that Jonathan’s love for King David was “deeper than the love of women,” or First Samuel 18: 1 where it says Jonathan “stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David,” or in Ruth 1: 16-17 where Ruth tells Naomi, “Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people…” Or if it’s the same Biblical conviction in which God instructs the Israelites to attack an enemy and “Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished” and that “they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eyes shall not spare children.” And in Numbers 31: 31-40, along with His instructions to disembowel pregnant women (could that be considered a form of abortion?) He tells the Israelites to take livestock and virgins for themselves. According to the Bible, the Israelites responded by destroying the Midanites, but capturing 337,000 sheep, 36,000 cattle, 30,500 donkeys and (ahem) 16,000 virgins. Of course, they tithed, giving God 675 sheep, 72 cattle, 61 donkeys, and 32 virgins (just what God did with all that booty remains unclear). If you’re good a math (or even mediocre), you can readily see that those tithes come nowhere near the 10 percent we’re told to give today.

But I digress.

What transpired was anything but Biblical in the sense of the “Biblical” teachings we hear in Sunday School (as opposed to the above-cited passages). An Episcopal minister who has asked that his name not be revealed, did the unpardonable – he spoke of Christian love and acceptance.

His message wasn’t accepted too well. Nor was it loved. Some in the crowd, which also included State Rep. Kathy Edmonston (R-Gonzales), physically attacked the good reverend with at least one person actually grabbing him around the neck. (Not saying Edmonston was one of the attackers, just that she was in attendance.

The Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office had to be called in to restore order, it was reported to LouisianaVoice.

Just another of the Christian influence of the political religious right.

Remember that story Dayne Sherman and I did about how Attorney General Jeff Landry was so gung-ho over those CHILD IDENTIFICATION KITS that he wanted to tap into the National Association of Attorneys General tobacco settlement fund to underwrite distribution of the kits nationwide?

In case you don’t remember they’re the same kits that folks like Texas governors and former governors George W. Bush, Rick Perry, Greg Abbott, Texas US Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton. They’re also the same ones that, thanks to Landry’s involvement, that have been distributed in Louisiana by the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association, Ochsner Health, Our Lady of Lake Health and American Electric Power.

Well, according to PROPUBLICA, which broke the original story on the kits’ ineffectiveness in locating missing children, the State of Texas has pulled funding for the project. It’s ironic in that Texas is where the program appeared to have its strongest support via the aforementioned political heavyweights in that state.

And of course, you already know that Jeff Landry is the state’s self-proclaimed Captain America Champion of Anti-Fraud in Louisiana.

Not so much in Texas, though.

And now he wants to be governor.

As much as I hate to say I told you so….

https://apnews.com/article/police-misconduct-brutality-racial-injustice-louisiana-ronald-greene-eed8724b8e51a397f26aea43ed56cff6

A couple of State Senate votes Louisiana citizens should find interesting:

SB 7, aka the first step toward book censorship, a favorite ploy of a fascist government: https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1322126

SB 149, to increase the minimum wage, which has not been increased since 2008, while CEO pay has increased 1,460% since 1978 and while the CEO-to-worker pay ratio reached a new high of 399-to-1 in 2021 (372-to-1 before the pandemic), compared to the 20-to-1 ratio in 1965:

https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1327320

You get the government you deserve.

There’s a bill quietly making its way through the current legislative session that should be raising red flags with lawmakers and criminal justice advocates alike.

House Bill 357, by Rep. Mike Huval (R-Breaux Bridge) may well have the best of intentions in addressing the state’s myriad problems with its juvenile justice system but as written, the bill would seem to open the door to sweetheart deals with private prison operators in the nine-parish Acadiana region of the state.

And while the bill does create a governing board that would administer the proposed Acadiana Regional Juvenile Justice District, in reality it would allow potentially lucrative lease agreements with private individuals for property and facilities with little to no real oversight.

In fact, the bill specifically stipulates that the board may “purchase or otherwise acquire, construct, reconstruct, rehabilitate, improve, repair, operate, lease as lessor or lessee, manage, and administer or enter into contracts for the management, administration, and operation of a juvenile detention facility or facilities, shelter care facility or facilities, or such other juvenile justice facilities as are useful, necessary, expedient, or convenient…”

Nowhere in the bill would the board be required to take bids or to even issue a request for proposals (RFP) for any such lease agreement(s).

HB357 also provides “such facilities may include but are not limited to office facilities, parking facilities, diagnostic facilities, dormitories, residential units, administration and social service buildings, cafeteria buildings, gymnasium, educational and recreational buildings, and other similar facilities for delinquent, neglected, or abused children or children in need of care or supervision, as well as for employees, patrons, visitors, and relatives of children who may enter the juvenile justice system, or who are in need of care or supervision.”

And while the wording doesn’t make it exactly clear if “employees, patrons, visitors, and relatives of children” may be “in need of care or supervision,” that is probably not the intent of the bill, its wording notwithstanding.

Likewise, it is probably not the intent of the bill to imply that the proposed juvenile facilities may “otherwise acquire” troubled juveniles as “property,” since that practice was abolished in 1863, though the wording does leave that point unclear.

What it does clearly do, however, is give the board carte blanche to enter into leases, acquire and/or construct buildings without the pesky requirement of going through the bid process or even issuing an RFP.

That leaves the door open to all kinds of back-room deals with the relatives of judges, district attorneys, and/or sheriffs and other influential movers and shakers who might have a brother-in-law or a cousin with a tract of land he just happens to being nothing with and which would make a dandy juvenile jail, by the way.

The bill even allows financing of construction projects through the State Bond Commission upon authorization of the 11-member governing board., which is a pretty nice deal for a private entity such as a prison that wants cheap, low-interest financing via the issuance of general obligation bonds.

That board shall, according to the bill, consist of one member each from the parishes of Acadia, Allen, Evangeline, Iberia, Jefferson Davis, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, and Vermilion. Their appointments will be made by the chief judge and district for the respective judicial districts and the sheriff of each parish. Two at-large members will also be appointed – one by the parish presidents and presidents of the police juries of the nine parishes and the other by the city court judges in the member parishes.

Co-sponsors for Huval’s bill are Reps. Beryl Amedee (R-Houma), Beaullieu, Gerald Bourriaque (R-New Iberia), Marcus, Bryant (D-New Iberia), Rhonda Gaye Butler (R-Ville Platte), Dewith Carrier R-Oakdale), Kenny Cox (D-Coushatta), Paula Davis (R-Baton Rouge), Phillip Devillier (R-Eunice), Julie Emerson (R-Carencro), Adrian Fisher (D-Monroe), Bryan Fontenot (R-Thibodaux), Jonathan Goudeau (R-Lafayette), Kyle Green, Jr. (D-Marrero), Jason Hughes (D-New Orleans), Ed Larvadain, III (D-Alexandria), Rodney Lyons (D-Marrero), Troy Romero (R-Jennings), Vincent St. Blanc, III (R-Franklin), John Stefanski R-Crowley), Malinda White (R-Bogalusa), and Matthew Willard (D-New Orleans).