Louisiana State Cocktail and Other Important Legislation

Louisiana is often last in many good categories and nearly always first in many bad categories, but, there have been signs that those rankings are about to change. Louisiana is in an unusual situation of having a surplus in this year's budget. Fears abound that Louisiana's old style banana republic type politicians may take over and keep the state in bad shape while squandering or worse, pocketing, the dollars won largely on the backs of hurricane victims.

There is also a fear that Louisiana legislators may lose focus on the difficult issues face in this state. That fear was narrowly avoided when Louisiana Senate bill #6 came before the senate. Louisiana Senate Bill #6 was written for the sole purpose of naming Sazerac, a reportedly "world famous" alcoholic drink first conceived of in 19th century New Orleans, the official state cocktail. I love the carefree culture that defines New Orleans and much of South Louisiana in general, but, if Louisiana state senators have enough time to waste naming an official state cocktail, then they have clearly lost focus on the real needs of the people that they serve.

Luckily, North Louisiana State Senator Buddy Shaw - R was bold enough to call into question the merits of Louisiana Senate bill #6 and the measure was defeated 27-8. Times are changing in Louisiana and things are looking up.

Sources: 1. "Senate will get next chance to raise a glass" Thursday, April 03, 2008
By Ed Anderson New Orleans Times Picayune, 2. Louisiana Senate nixes state cocktail Wed Apr 9, 5:02 AM ET AP

Sisters Cause Reflection on the Death Tax

Two South Korean sisters were arrested by Japan for evading inheritence taxes on $58 million. The sisters hid the cash in shoe boxes in a shed. It is unclear in this AFP article what claim Japan would have on South Korean nationals but my guess is that there father was a Japanese national or that maybe somehow the sisters were at one time citizens of Japan.

The real issue that this story reminds us of is the issue of Death Taxes.
There are probably quite a few people around the world that wonder how a government can tax a person all of his life on income and property and capital gains and things purchased (sales tax) and then when that person dies and manages the feat of actually leaving some savings to his family; tax the money that he gives to his family. It is something to think about.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080311/od_afp/japancrimetaxoffbeat;_ylt=Ai1GDQHjsb_RHl1c71g0EwIDW7oF

Materialism Harmful to Children?

There is a poll out that is reported in the article on the link at the end of this post that finds that children are damaged by materialism. The analysis is that when children cannot wear the latest fashions that it lowers there self image causing irreparable harm. The odd thing about this study is not it findings. We have all wanted something in our childhood that we could not afford and can recall how bad that makes us feel just to recall that prized item. What is odd is that some one took the time, spent the money, and polled people on this question. What is odd is that anyone bothered to answer the poll. They must have been paid to answer, thus giving the pollee more money to buy something. What will be the next poll for these daring scientist? That "many men find women attractive and think about them much of the time" or that "many addictions are bad?" I do not care what kind of utopian fairytale land you want to create, if you include people in that land, you are going to have people that value things and don't always get them. While I may be way out there for some of you, I have since considered my "harmful" experience a life lesson about saving and being careful about what you spend your money on. As the Rolling Stones told us decades ago "You don't always get what you want, but if you try, sometimes you get what you need."
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080226103117.duhctnsx&show_article=1

Jindal is Way Too Smart to be McCain's V.P., Hopefully

I have heard the rumor that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal may be a front runner for a Vice Presidential run playing second fiddle to John McCain. This worries me because one of the knocks against Jindal is that he does not stay in a position long enough to complete his mission. While it is pretty much his political opponents grasping at straws to try to make something negative stick, there is enough truth to it to make people a bit skittish in the voting booth. I am a big fan of Governor Jindal, read my blog in which I compared him to my political hero - Reagan. I hope he is smart enough and mature enough to not get stuck playing second fiddle to McCain.

How many 20th and 21st century vice presidents have gone on to be president? Let's think about that question. Teddy Roosevelt became the first president of the 20th century because William McKinley was shot and killed. I love Teddy Roosevelt but, Roosevelt was bumped to V.P. by Republicans that were trying to bury his career because T.R. was seen as a loose cannon. I could make a comparison between Jindal and T.R. in terms of being young and really intelligent, but let's face it Jindal and T.R. are more different than the same and Jindal is certainly no loose cannon. Plus you might notice that T.R. did not move from V.P. to president via an election. You really do not want to become president because someone died. Vice President Calvin Coolidge replaced Warren G. Harding in 1923. Harding died of a heart attack before the end of his term. Some historians believe that the heart attack had been brought about because of the Tea Pot Dome scandal. I do not think Jindal wants to be remembered as the a 21st century Calvin Coolidge and note once again Coolidge became president not by way of election but because Harding died. Harry Truman became President upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt and was saddle with World War II and the decision to drop the Atomic Bomb. Not a good situation. Richard Nixon didn't have to take office because of a death but, does Jindal really want to be considered the Nixon of our times? President Ford took office when Nixon resigned. And finally George Bush, the elder, won an election after he served as Ronald Reagan's Vice President. Bush is really the only V.P. that became President in modern times that is not in a totally unenviable position. I think Bush, the elder, was successful in his bid for the presidency because Ronald Reagan was such an icon. You never hear someone say that they are a "Bush Republican" like older Democrats will call themselves an "F.D.R. Democrat" or like I and many others will refer to themselves as "Reagan Republicans." I like Bush the elder a whole lot but, I think Jindal has a better place if he waits, rolls up his sleeves and gets to work in Louisiana. He will inspire the whole country by showing us what he can do as a chief executive saddled with a clearly difficult task - changing Louisiana for the better.

Being Vice President is really cool and it is a great honor, but you have to pick your places. Jindal is nothing like McCain in terms of political philosophy. I am going to vote for McCain when he gets the GOP nomination. However, it is not a forgone conclusion that McCain or any Republican can win this time around. Obama seems to be getting the biggest play. Of course, the nature of predicting politics is much akin to trying to pin down a whisp of smoke in a wrestling contest. One thing is for certain, if Louisiana's Governor Bobby Jindal jumps ship and runs for Vice President, that likely will be his last hurray on the election merry-go-round. While it is cool to be Vice President, it is not an upwardly mobile position and it seems like a really boring, do nothing sort of position. At least, that is what a lot of us plebs think. I have confidence Jindal will show us that he is smart enough to respectfully decline the position of Vice President and will be brave enough to tackle the monumental problems that Louisiana is facing. At his age he can and should wait for the next opportunity. If he does a good job in Louisiana, the opportunity will be greater down the road.

Louisiana's Retro Governor is the Next Ronald Reagan

Here are some newsworthy odd facts:

• The youngest governor in the U.S. is the Governor of Louisiana.
• The first U.S. governor of Indian descent (India the Country not Native American) is the current Governor of Louisiana.
• Louisiana's governor has adopted the first name "Bobby" from Bobby Brady of the "Brady Bunch."

The best candidate for President of the United States is not in the race. He is the Governor of Louisiana.

During Bobby Jindal's first run for governor he came to Shreveport for a politcal rally and I got to sit down and eat lunch with him. It was purely an accident. My mother, father, older brother, and I were looking for a table where we could all sit together and there was an empty table in what we thought was the back corner. After a short while, I noticed that for some reason someone had left a podium in the back of the room. Then Jindal and a local official, a friend of mine, entered the room and made a beeline to our table. I thought "what an honor, I am going to be introduced to the guest of honor!" My family and I stood up and shook hands with my friend and then were introduced to Mr. Jindal. We then sat down and so did my friend and Mr. Jindal. It was at that point that I realized that our table had been unoccupied because it was supposed to have been reserved for Mr. Jindal. I am active in North Louisiana politics and because of this fact, I do not think that my mother realized that our sitting with Jindal for lunch was not a planned thing. I think in her mind, I had "arrived" politically. You know, I don't think I have ever discussed the truth of that situation with my mom, but that chance lunch with the now Governor of Louisiana reinforced what I had read and have come to believe about Bobby Jindal.

It is well documented that Governor Jindal is probably the brightest rising star on the U.S. political scene today. Jindal is the youngest U.S. Governor . He is the only governor in the history of our nation of Indian descent. (Both of his parents immigrated from India before Bobby's birth and I believe still live in Baton Rouge, La.) Jindal truly ranks in the upper percentile of the population as one of the most intelligent, well educated people in the world. Jindal graduated from Baton Rouge High School (a Magnet school) at age 16, graduated from Brown University with honors in Biology and Public Policy at the age of 20, and then obtained a masters as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University at around age 23. His successful rise continued beyond the classroom. After a couple of years in the corporate world, Jindal was appointed to be the head of Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals at age 25, was appointed President of the University of Louisiana System at age 28, appointed U.S. Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation of Health and Human Services at age 30, was elected to the U.S. Congress at age 33 and is currently is the Governor of Louisiana at only 36 years of age. How many people born in the 1970s (June 10, 1971) have that kind of resume already? Oh yeah, as if he has not been busy enough, he is also married and he and his wife have three children.

So what, in my opinion, drives Jindal? Jindal comes from a professional family and embraces those values but, there is a whole lot more to consider in answering this question. One unique and, I think, important factor in Jindal's blazing success is that his parents are retro immigrants. By "Retro Immigrants" I mean that they represent immigrants that embrace a pro-American philosophy. A philosophical perspective that was much more prevailent in the 1950s and before, than it is today. In the 1950s and before, immigrants were proud to become Americans. They embraced the culture and were often more patriotic than their U.S. born counterparts. A big component of that culture was that America was seen as a melting pot, I think we sometimes referred to it as the "Great Gumbo" in Louisiana, in which we took just a bit of the immigrant's past and folded that into what we defined as "American Values." Unfortunately, since that time we have learned that some of our core American values - like the then misnomered "protestant work ethic" are niether uniquely protestant, nor uniquely American and we just stopped teaching these clearly inaccurate ideas. President Reagan grew up before we "set the record straight" and for a brief time in history, he made us once again proud to be Americans. Fortunately, Governor Jindal was 9 years old when Reagan hit the national political scene so he was able to experience Reagan's vision of "America." Also, Jindal has clearly embraced the "protestant work ethic" even though he is a converted Catholic. Governor Jindal is a proud to be an American.

During Jindal's first gubernatorial campaign, an older Republican from Northeast Louisiana approached me and told me "You know 'Bobby' isn't his 'real' name. His real name is much harder to pronounce. And he is not an American Indian. His parents are from India. He is just trying to blend in." I was stunned that this kind of obvious bigotry still exists in this day and age even in Louisiana. Having been alerted to this bad attitude, I wrote and widely distributed an email that essentially called anyone voting against Jindal based on his parents national origin a racist and backwoods hick, but Jindal lost that election. He lost in Northeast Louisiana. By the way he won in Northwest Louisiana and won overwhelmingly in my home county/parish of Bossier. As I have mentioned, Governor Jindal adopted the name "Bobby" because of his admiration of the character Bobby Brady from the Brady Bunch television show. That fits really well with the idea that Jindal has embrace what makes us the same - being Americans. During gubernatorial debates there were attempts to goad Jindal into pandering to minorities based on his unique position as the only minority in the race. When these attempts were made Jindal showed that he is both a gentleman and an adept politician by side steping these attempts and reinforcing the concept that all of Louisiana's citizens can succeed only by working together. I bet that message plays even better on the national stage when Jindal inevitably runs for President. It reminds me of what drew so many to the Republican party when Reagan was king.

The other thing that is so appealing about Jindal as a leader is that he is not afraid of a challenge. (During the Reagan Era, we used to commonly think of "taking on any and all challenges" as part of our American culture.) Jindal is unafraid of a challenge and there are plenty of things that point to that: first, he could have been a medical doctor but chose to be a public servant; he could have had a long and successful career as a U.S. Congressman; he chose to be a politician in Louisiana (if you don't get that one, email me), and finally, Jindal's first initiative as Louisiana's governor is ethics reform. If that is not enough to convince you that Jindal is unafraid of a challenge, then I don't know what to tell you.

I am not sure whether Obama or McCain will be the next U.S. president and frankly, I do not hold out much hope that either of these very capable men will be able to right the track for our country. I am excited about the prospect of a President Jindal! His values are Retro, he reminds us of the pride that many of us felt in the Reagan years, and he definitely has what it will take (brains, courage, and experience) to lead the United States into a brighter future that we all long for.

By the way, you can check the public records, I have never contributed a penny to any of Bobby Jindal's campaigns. Part of that is because I am really cheap (a.k.a. fiscally conservative) and part of that is because I believe that when people are invited to shoudler the burdens of government by way of appointment, it shouldn't be a matter of buying your position. I may never be asked to help the Jindal administration achieve his goals, but I will help him anyway and if I do play an official role I and everyone else will know that it has nothing to do with my bank account.