Posted in Politics | 6 Comments »
LouisianaVoice is initiating its very own Birther Campaign, Louisiana style.
A group affectionately (or derisively, depending upon your perspective) tagged as birthers has worked itself up into such a lather over the past four years trying to prove that President Barrack Obama was born in Kenya and not America, that to expand the argument to our state and our governor just seemed to be the thing to do.
Before we get too far into this and just so we’re clear, we should point out that unlike the real birthers, we are not claiming he was born somewhere other than the U.S. This is purely tongue-in-cheek and not intended to be taken seriously. But we thought it might be a nice topic to kick around during the morning coffee break. Call it a slow news day.
In both 2008 and 2012, when Piyush Jindal took the oath of office as governor of Louisiana, he began his oath of office with the words, “I, Bobby Jindal….”
Moreover, the official ballot printed by the Secretary of State last fall lists “Bobby Jindal” as the Republican candidate for governor.
Bobby Jindal was the only Republican and the only Jindal among the 10 candidates for governor last October.
The problem with all that is there is no such person as “Bobby Jindal.”
His name is Piyush.
He chose Bobby as his name from the character on the TV sitcom The Brady Bunch, (which of course, begs the question of how could anyone who openly admits adopting his name from a character on The Brady Bunch possibly expect people to take him seriously?).
Though he obviously prefers Bobby over Piyush, he never had his name legally changed to Bobby.
His name is still Piyush.
His paychecks are made out to Piyush Jindal, not Bobby.
There is no Bobby Jindal.
Ergo, when he qualified to run and was listed on the Secretary of State’s slate of candidates as Bobby, he was committing fraud of sorts—seeking office under an assumed name.
If John Jones runs for office but lists his name when he qualifies and subsequently on the ballot as Richard Jones and he wins, is John Jones or Richard Jones the new officer holder? Our guess would be neither: John Jones was not on the ballot and it was not Richard Jones who qualified to run.
So, as this guy Jindal loves to say, two things:
Piyush Jindal did not qualify nor was he ever elected;
There is no one with the legal name Bobby Jindal.
So, say hello to Gov. Jay Dardenne.
Posted in Governor's Office | 15 Comments »
As many of our readers know, we are in the process of launching an online newspaper, or to keep up with the technical term, an e-newspaper.
To be called Louisiana Free Press, our publication focus exclusively on Louisiana politics and we will broaden our coverage to all state agencies, boards and commissions. We will solicit submissions from writers all over the state. Subscriptions will be free to our readers with expenses paid by advertising revenue and fund raisers.
Our first fund raiser is to offer vinyl bumper stickers. An illustration of the bumper sticker can be found on the right, immediately beneath the advertisement for the book Edwards in the Governor’s Mansion.
The bumper sticker employs the Greek letter for the mathematical symbol for pi, or π, followed by “yush,” which when combined, is Piyush, the first name of Gov. Jindal. The full bumper sticker which consists of white lettering on a blue background, reads:
π-yush = 3.14 (on a scale of 100)
We are offering these for $2.50 each or three for $6.
State employees may purchase the bumper stickers but should not place them on their vehicles for obvious reasons. But state employees who purchase the stickers can certainly pass them out to sympathetic friends who do not work for the state.
To order your sticker(s), email us at louisianavoice@cox.net and we will send you a return email telling you the address to send your check(s).
Posted in Politics | 7 Comments »
Funny how the same governor who fought so hard to render state employees destitute in their retirement years–and who is closing hospitals, laying off workers, privatizing state jobs and sending them out of state to contractors–never once hesitated to call on state employees to work emergency shelters and emergency food stamp application sites while he sleeps comfortably in the mansion at night.
–A reader.
Posted in Ethics, Governor's Office, Jobs, Layoffs, Privatization, Transparency | 9 Comments »
LouisianaVoice is going to conduct an experiment, but it will require the cooperation of as many of our readers as possible to make it work.
We are asking each or our readers (who are not state employees: that might constitute immediate Teaguing) to email their state legislators—representatives and senators—to ask them:
As critical as the LSU hospitals are to our LSU and Tulane Medical School Students, our indigent population, our medical research efforts, and much more, why is this being allowed to take place without so much as a peep from you? Are you unconcerned? Do you favor privatizing all primary services and assets of the state such as schools, prisons, hospitals, retirement benefits, medical insurance administration, surface water rights, roads and bridges, financial management, and so much more? What’s next, the sale-leaseback of the Pontchartrain Causeway?
Are you aware that the interim President of the LSU Medical School has been granted the power to sell the entire LSU Medical School program and all of its facilities? Are you? Do you think this is the power that should be vested in an appointed position made by the governor? Do you? What then is your role in state government? Apparently nothing more than to meet annually for 30 days and pass resolutions congratulating couples for being married 50 years, or a football player for being named as an honorable mention all-state, or something equally unrelated to the general welfare of the state that has no business cluttering up the legislative agenda. You might as well just leave your rubber name stamp on your legislative desk and stay home and make luncheon talks to the “Save the Ring-tailed Raccoon Society.”
I want to know where you stand on these issues and what you intend to do. Are you going to continue to allow your authority to be usurped by Jindal and his minions? Worse, are you going to Baton Rouge with hat in hand asking what else you can do to help Jindal legitimately rape the citizens of the state?
Moreover:
When are you, as my (representative/senator) going to stand up to Gov. Jindal and his runaway efforts to:
• Disembowel higher education;
• Destroy public education to the financial benefit of private contractors/campaign supporters;
• Dismantle the state’s flagship university by appointing political hacks to the LSU Board of Supervisors, firing capable administrators and closing/privatizing state hospitals;
• Allow voucher and online courses to take the place of public education without even a smidgen of accountability or standards to which public education is held;
• Continually allow our governor to usurp the powers and responsibilities that rightfully belong to the legislative branch, including the choosing of House Speaker and Senate President?
I want and expect a public and publicized answer by you on the entirety of this subject. You’ve been silent long enough.
Click here for a list of House members: http://house.louisiana.gov/H_Reps/H_Reps_ByName.asp
Click here for a list of Senate members: http://senate.legis.louisiana.gov/Senators/
Scroll down the list until you find your representative/senator and click on the name. The legislator’s email address will on the page that will appear. For representatives, you need only click on the email address but you will have to type the senators’ email addresses.
(Do NOT send this complete post; cut and paste only the part that is in italics. It’s not that we don’t want legislators to know the source of this idea (because we really don’t care if they know) but it’s best if the questions come from you, the reader. So, again, do not send the introductory paragraphs in which we solicit readers to send the emails. Send ONLY the text that is in italics. If you don’t know how to cut and paste, simply re-type the questions and send them as originals from you.)
When you have done this, be sure to keep accurate records as to which legislators, if any, respond and record each response verbatim. Also, keep records of those who do not respond. Set a deadline of Sept. 21 and beginning on Sept. 22, forward all responses to LouisianaVoice at louisianavoice@cox.net
Accordingly, we will publicize each response and we also will out those who ignore your emails.
Posted in Boards, Campaign Contributions, Civil Service, Economy, Education, Governor's Office, Health Care, Higher Education, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, LSU, OGB, Office of Group Benefits, Politicians, Privatization, Public Records, State Agencies, Transparency | 10 Comments »
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