I was going to fish out the pages of notes I made last year at this time, but they were full of complaints about the heat and my lack of personal comfort.  That was petty and small potatoes compared to the scope of destruction I found as I ventured around the neighborhood in those first days after Hurricane Katrina.

The introductory meeting of the New Orleans Metropolitan area Drinking Liberally chapter will be held Sunday, July 30th at 6:00 pm at the historic Columns hotel on St. Charles Avenue.  Look for a group of people wielding orange objects.

After musing on the most recent episode of "West Wing" where President-Elect Santos wants to do away with lobbying, I've come up with a different tack.  Instead of abolishing lobbying altogether, how about restricting lobbying to only non-profit groups?

Isn't that the real problem with lobbyists?  They are all out to make a buck on the government's dime and they only care about their company or industry.  They are flush with cash to wine and dine elected officials who then turn their backs on their constituents.

If only non-profits, such as the Red Cross, cancer research associations, environmental groups and social justice groups, were allowed to lobby Congress, then the chances of deals that benefit one company or industry at the expense of the people would be lessened considerably.

A few more musings after the fold.

The bomb is our population.  The fallout is global warming, famine, depressed wages, increased poverty, pandemics and a host of other more minor inconveniences.  There are too many people on the planet.  We're stuck here with over 6.5 Billion of our closest friends.  The situation is predicted to get worse.  In less than fifty years, we'll be scrapping with over 9 Billion others for a breath of fresh air, a portion of food and a place to rest our weary bones.

We don't like to talk about it.  There are no diaries tagged 'overpopulation' and only four tagged 'population'.  We casually float down that river in Egypt and tell ourselves that we're not part of the problem.  If you have any offspring whatsoever, you are part of the problem.  Yes, you with your recently delivered bundle of joy or your honor student at generic school or your daughter the doctor or your son the lawyer.

More after the jump.

My annual crawfish boil will be held Saturday, May 13th around 11:00-ish at Lafreniere Park in Metairie. If you want to come and can make it, let me know by replying here or via my Gmail account. If you need directions, let me know and I'll get you a MapQuest map.

This is the Fifth crawfish boil I've hosted for my online friends and I'm expanding it this year to include my new friends on Kos.  Over the years, the feast has expanded from including only computer geeks to my Pagan friends (who are also fairly political) and now I'm adding political folks to the tasty gumbo mixture.

After the hurricane, we need a sense of coming together what the winds blew apart.  If you're local, please come and help eat the overabundance of food we always seem to have every year.

Here is a letter in the Times-Picayune that torqued my gears:

Re: "The ban plays on," Other Opinions, March 9.

Most Americans do not favor abortion during all nine months of pregnancy. Roe v. Wade allows for abortions for any reason during all nine months of pregnancy.

How long will Ellen Goodman continue to ignore the research of post-abortive women who suffered from a host of problems including depression, suicide, abuse, despair and infertility as the result of past abortions?

Simply examine the evidence and read the testimonies of women who regret their abortions.

    Charles P. Stiebing III

More after the jump.

Over on LiveJournal, there are a number of progressive communities of which I am a member.  One post in particular deserves rehashing over here at Kos.  The main theme of the post can be summed up in this exerpt:

Good government is expensive, so it's best to have as little of it as possible. That way you can afford the best. And the best should benifit those who pay for it, so the expense should be borne broadly.

The entire post and its thread can be found here.  Firewheelvortex makes some intriguing points about whether or not we are getting value for the amount of taxes we pay.