This is my pissed off page.

School Policy

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:07:22 -0500

I am having difficulty digesting the Plaquemines Parish or state policy on the H1N1 (Swine flu) as compared to head lice.

It sounds like a ridiculous comparison but hear me out.

Lice
School policy is that when a child has lice in a given class a note is sent home the day of the school noticing the infestation. All of the children in the class get a note in their book bag stating what to do since lice is in the class and how to kill them. Basic stuff, no big deal.

H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu)
We have been getting word from back door sources that the Swine Flu is rampant in the school. 3 notes were sent out since school started generally stating what to do in case of Swine Flu. Wash hands...cover your mouth when you cough....basic hygienic stuff.

I asked why we as parents of school children weren’t notified when kids in our child’s class were positive for type A flu (90% of the time it is Swine) with the same type of note as with the lice.

Supposedly it is because of the Hippa privacy law that they cannot disclose that information to the “public”.

I don’t want to know names and addresses and voting preferences of the infected people. Just a little heads up would be nice. Just like with the lice.

You cannot be in hardcore flu mode 100% of the time. If you had the heads up you could make damn sure to be thorough during the incubation period (2-3 days according to the CDC) and really try to make a stand to keep your family safe.

I just cannot make the differentiation between the lice which is perfectly ok to release a note to warn the parents about and the flu which to me a significantly more dangerous situation and doesn’t even warrant a note.

How is this different?

The reason I am making such a comparison of the facts is because of this situation that almost played itself out at my house yesterday (Tuesday).

My Mother-in-Law was supposed to be coming over this week for Grandparents Day at the school. She wanted to come over and visit for a couple days Tue-Fri. If we would have received a note Friday or whenever the previous kid got sick we would have told Mother -in-Law to stay away for a few days to see if our kid got sick. Instead , we received no note and luckily our kid got fever Monday evening before Mother-in-Law came over and we aborted the visit. If he wouldn’t have had fever when he did, Mother-in-Law would have been infected Tuesday, and the fact that she is 79 years old would have put her into the high risk group and possibly killed her. The same reason I give here could be for pregnant moms as well.

Our 4 year old is on day 3 of the flu and it doesn’t seem any worse than a medium head cold, Leann has it now, and I’m sure me and Jake are next in line. Being that this is technically a pandemic as the CDC and WHO have declared it months ago a little note would go far in helping to contain it.
BUT, apparently head lice is a far more important and imminently dangerous matter to the health of our children.

The Principal made the distinction of the two for me when I barged in and brought this to her attention yesterday.
Her thoughts on the matter are:
The lice is a parasite.
The flu is a virus and a matter of privacy bound by Hippa.

I know it isn’t technically a parasite but the flu is parasite-like.
It needs a host (our kids) to reproduce and spread. It cannot live for long periods of time in the wild. Neither can lice.

According to my tiny brain the only reasons I can find that it is basically let to run rampant in the schools is :

A. Because the attendance rate of the school is more important to the School board than keeping the kids safe. Maybe they lose money if too many kids are out of the loop for too long a time. The school has a 105 rating and I know this is a big deal with state funding.
B. Maybe they WANT the kids to get it. Maybe the CDC demands they don’t relax the Hippa law to warn parents of the proximity of the virus to the students.
C. Mass panic? Will people freak and keep their kids out of school for the year? All I want is to have a fighting chance.

I now welcome any comments on my thinking and if anyone can find a gaping hole in my reason I would really like to hear about it. My mind is open to change but the facts I am working with right now just don’t add up.
Chad

Polarization

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:20:32 -0500

Since our new President came into power in January I have been noticing a trend in politics and in everyday American’s talking points in conversation.
Long story short:
Nobody talks out issues anymore. It is either you are on my side of the argument or you are wrong. Perhaps wrong is not the right word.....let me see......Socialist, Nazi, Communist, you get the drift. As I am sure everyone is aware, there is a health care reform “debate” going on right now across the country. People are staunchly embedded in one camp or the other. The ObamaCare side and the “Real Americans” on the other. I don’t hear a hell of a lot from ObamaCare proponents. I have read the bill as it is written. It was a long boring read btw. It is not the answer to all our health care problems by a long shot. But at the same time it is not the communist manifesto described to me by the media (Fox, CNN, Rush). I get at least one email a day from some anonymous doctor in Indianapolis saying that this bill would destroy the country. Many are forwarded to me by friends whom apparently believe this or they would not send them on to their friends and warn them. I am sorry to say to the believers but the emails are not legitimate. They are the hard core Republicans and Health Insurance Companies posing as a grass roots effort to scare and intimidate you into running with the info and spreading it to every one you know. How many of you have actually read the proposed bill and compared it to the word on the street and those emails?

No one questions information on TV or in print form anymore. If Hannity says it them you can take that to the bank. Members of my own family are like this. I try to stay away from issues like this with anyone because it is a no win situation no matter how many facts may be on your side.
Is the Obama plan the right thing? I don’t know because nobody can talk and debate long enough to come to a conclusion.

Guns at a debate.
What the hell is this? I love guns and have some of the most powerful weapons allowed to civilians. Yet should I openly carry my AR-15 to the Council meeting? No. Guns are to kill people and sooner not later one of these fools with automatic weapons at a debate is going to get pissed off enough to drop somebody. There goes a whole can of worms with that.
If President Bush was having these rallies do you honestly think these guys would have been able to carry weapons on their shoulders? They would have been whisked away by Secret Service and never heard of again. AND they would have been instantly labeled a terrorist by Fox.
But since there is a Democrat in office, hey this guy has every right to carry a loaded AR-15 with a 30 round clip to a presidential function. If you sop him you are a communist and denying him his rights.

See, it is one extreme or another. There is no talking at these things, just screaming, name calling, threats and Glen Beck quotes.

Again, I am not a liberal apologist telling Republicans they are wrong.

I am trying to show the seemingly majority of people out there they are being manipulated for the corporation’s best interest.
Health companies are going to derail ANY health care reform if they can. They will lose money if the price of health care comes down. They are very powerful and own most senators and high level politicians. Go on a campaign finance site and see which Senators are getting hundreds of thousands of campaign contributions from health insurance companies and correlate that with which of them are against health care reform. They are the same Senators. Bought and sold.

Death Panels.
Whether you know it of not there are Death Panels right now. Blue Cross, United and Coventry, they ALL have Death Panels. If they don’t think you should be allowed certain care they will damn sure deny you. Are people that stupid to think just because you have a health plan that you are entitled to unlimited health care? Read you policy. It is right there in your filing cabinet. I own a company and have to decide which health plan we can afford for our employees. We have to get the middle of the road plan due to not breaking ourselves or breaking the employees. There are maximum lifetime payments.
One of our employees left our program due to the fact he could get it cheaper elsewhere on an individual plan. A couple of years later he came back to our plan because he couldn’t afford the individual plan. They jacked up his premium because he found out he had diabetes. Now he is high risk. This is how they do it. They start out with a decent price but if you get sick and NEED health insurance they raise your rate knowing damn well you cannot afford it so you will have to get off of their plan. Pass the misfortune if you will.
You think you are getting “quality” healthcare right now? It is getting more expensive every year. I have been watching every year as our coverage goes down in order to keep the premium the same. It is a system they are using on us to be satisfied with less and less.

Socialism in the USA.

This is the biggest catchphrase at the debates. “I don’t want socialized healthcare. You’re turning this country into Russia”
This was paraphrased from some lady at a Town Hall meeting. Her speech drew a round of standing ovation from the crowd.
She may not realize the USA that she is so proud of has been in socialized the medicine business since FDR. The key word here is Medicaid/Medicare. Wrap you mind around that on for a second. It is a socialist program. We all pay for it. Only a select few people benefit from it. (Old People, Mentally disabled people etc.) It seems to work like it should for the most part.
Social Security is another Socialist plan taken right out of the German Socialist Handbook. Again another old people plan I’m paying for.

If the purists want to go back to a Socialism free America these plans have to be stopped as well. Do you think she would voluntarily drop out of these programs since she is a real American? Would you?
Don’t think you are getting your Social Security money you paid back either. You are paying for you Grandparents and Parents. Your children are paying for you.

Look everybody sorry about all the typos and misses punctuation I was on a roll.

I will add more later.
Chad

Priorities...

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:44:04 -0500

"The National Guard showed off it's new facility " The $13.3 million, 30,000 sq. ft. center on 3.4 acres was begun in January 2007." Wow. We have a water tower, a tourism trailer, and pilings for a firehouse. GO PLAQUEMINES!!!!

It's been almost 3 years since Katrina. We ("the lower end") is so far from the word recovery that we make the 9th ward look like Las Vegas. Our "leaders" are getting to live it up in Panama for "educational" purposes. A few weeks ago someone wrote the Gazette and asked for a govt. official to answer some questions about some rumors that were flying around about how Road Home properties will be sold and bought. No answer yet and this was a public question being asked to any public official.

On May 6th of this year, I e-mailed the following letter to council members from district 6,7,8,and 9 the following letter:

I am a co founder for www.southplaquemines.net. It is a webpage that my husband and I put together to bring news and information to south Plaquemines.
We would like to invite you to be a part of southplaquemines.net. What we are hoping is that you could e-mail us or call us with news or information for your district. You would have your own personalized page and we would post information that you feel is important for your district to know about. You can put as much or as little content as you would like. You could update the information daily, weekly or monthly...whatever you choose. I think it's a great way for our councilmen/women to reach the community.

If you are interested, please e-mail us or you can call my husband Chad Newman at 504-416-6962.

Thank you,

Leann Newman
-Leann Newman
leann@newmancrane.com

I as of today, July 31, 2008, I have not received one response from any of the 4 members. How about that for community involvement?

We still have no library to support the school in Boothville, Businesses are still not coming back although I hear we are getting a Dollar Store. I really hate to keep beating a dead horse, but I truly believe it's because there is no school here. If you look at Port Sulpher and Boothville, they're doing better than us here in Buras. The only thing in common is that they have a school. Even if a small preschool or private school would open here, it would help.

Anyway, I just thought that it's really great that the national guard can build a 13.3 million dollar facility in a year and a half, and the people who are looking after us can't build a house with popsicle sticks. Makes you think.

Will we get the port or will New Orleans get to put their port on our soil?

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:08:28 -0500

As I am sure most of you have read the multi-page spread in the Gazette this week about the port that needs to be built in south Plaquemines.
The future of this parish hinges on the decisions made from this deal. To a lot of people this may not seem like too big of a deal, but if the Plaquemines Parish Government cannot come to the right decision on this matter our parish will be forever marred by the administration's lack of competence.

The history of our parish’s Council vs President crap is really getting old. We have lost the oil game to Fourchon. I know Louisiana Fruit is trying to make a comeback with the EGR property opening up offshore and reel in some of that. We have a new name of Venice Port Complex, some new paint, new out of town businesses and a united front in terms of what we look like to the oil companies. This is all a step in the right direction but it may be too little too late. 10 years ago Fourchon was a spec on the bayou’s ass. Now Fourchon is THE place to do business in the oilfield. Due to our Governments inability to get on board and actually DO SOMETHING when the time was right, they did nothing. This is not any of the current administration’s fault as none of them were even in office at the time, but it is the history I am talking about. Venice could have been the be-all of the Gulf. Now Venice is picking at scraps for oilfield work.

I am not really a big fan of Perez era politics but shit got done.

The inability of the parish government to push for coastal restoration over the countless years has turned this end of the Parish into a shell of what it was. I know it is not just the Parish but the Corps, oyster lease problems etc.
But the fact remains that they are supposed to address problems and make an attempt to get help if they can’t do it themselves.

The courthouse is another one. Yes I would like the courthouse to be on the Westbank, about halfway down here but the only time I need it is if I have to appear before one of our corrupt Judges to pay a speeding ticket.
Just decide on a place and put it there. Let us vote on it once and for all then build the damn thing.

There is a pattern over the years of the Governments inability to make a good decision. Everything must go to court, suits must be filed against anyone involved in the government.Council vs President and Vice Versa.

I will be very surprised if the council makes the right decision on the issue of a port in Plaquemines Parish. The Port of New Orleans WILL have a port down here whether we like it or not. At this very moment there is probably someone in the state legislature with a “Plan B” ready to roll if our Parish can’t come up with a good plan. And Plan B will not give Plaquemines say so in the Port. There will probably be a couple of seats on a board somewhere. This won’t amount to squat. It will just make the Council feel like they control some aspect of the port. A face saving thing. They will tell us that they have reached an agreement with the Port of New Orleans and we control our port. Ultimately they will not.
It will be another lost opportunity, money funneled out of the Parish,
They need to come to a consensus NOW.
Then, beg borrow or steal the money to get started on the infrastructure. Walker Road needs a shot of amphetamines or something. A railway needs to come back down here. The crappy bridge and tunnel need to be demolished and replaced with at least a 19’th century equivalent. I agree with the council member from District 3 about the whole Belle Chasse problem. This cargo needs to be routed around that bottleneck. This has always been a hinderance to oilfield supplies coming to Venice as well. Again, nothing done for decades.

This project may very well make or break Plaquemines in the coming decade. I can say with almost near certainty our Government will make the wrong decision. (after they spend the next 5 years in court).
The Port of New Orleans will have their port at the Head of the Passes or wherever they choose and Plaquemines will get a token river use fee per 1000 tons of goods.
We lose....again

Chad Newman

Am I wrong?

Empire Bridge project

Sat, 7 Jun 2008 19:16:46 -0500

Later this year it will be 3 years since Hurricane Katrina. The parish/FEMA or whatever government agency deemed the Empire bridge unsafe and needed to be replaced immediately. It was removed several months after the storm and just left as you see it here. The word on the street is that a bridge was donated to replace it. It was one of those swing to the side bridges that needs a pivot in the middle to let water traffic pass on both sides when in the open position. The problem was that the canal is not near wide enough for such a bridge and there would have been a pipe blocking the canal and no traffic at all would be able to pass. This is from talking to different people around town. Regardless of whether this is true or not, there is no bridge to replace the one removed. It has basically killed the little bit of commerce in Empire that has come back. There is absolutely no traffic passing through the area anymore. And to top it all off, if there is ever a problem with the high rise bridge and it becomes impassable, we are all stuck down here. This is THE ONLY way in or out.

UPDATE: 11/15/08
There are sheet piles being driven in the canal.

UPDATE 2/19/10 (Yes, a year later)
Not a damn thing else has happened since then.
Either they are having BAD problems with something or they aren’t going to finish.

UPDATE It is now the end of 2011. (October 24) I see a bridge but have yet been able to drive across it. How long is it going to take to build a damn bridge across a small canal? I really wish our company had been on this job as I would probably be rich beyond my wildest dreams. I wonder how much it cost so far?