Louisiana, U.S.A. - As much as Louisianans have worked to pass ethics reforms, clean up the Legislature and show the world that the days of political corruption and old-school politics are behind now, the tactics on display last week in the Louisiana Senate Natural Resources Committee demonstrate old-school political-boss politics are still very much alive.

At issue is Louisiana’s process for addressing onshore environmental conditions that may relate to oil drilling activity that occurred decades or even a century ago. A few plaintiffs’ lawyers file huge damage claims in rural parish courtrooms and extort large settlements.

The cases can drag on for years without any environmental clean-up taking place, where needed. Surprisingly state agency research on these lawsuits released this year found that three-quarters of the claims are filed with no significant evidence of any damage, and LSU economic research found the impact to be 30,000 jobs foregone because of these so-called “legacy” lawsuits.

In a direct response to the Louisiana House’s passage of the legacy lawsuit reform bill HB 618 on April 25, 2012, plaintiff-lawyer interests rammed through committee a substitute of another bill, SB 731. The substitute bill, which includes completely new language, was introduced for the first time that morning, and passed in less than an hour with very limited discussion about what the bill actually does. It had not been properly vetted, and the public was not given access to its effects. That’s one heck of a way to pass legislation…

This is the complete opposite of the open, transparent and deliberative committee process led by Rep. Neil Abramson on House-passed legacy reform bill HB 618.

In fact this is reminiscent of same bullying tactics the trial lawyers have used to try to intimidate Rep. Abramson with trumped-up ethics complaints and the ridiculous attempt to discredit the LSU economist who identified significant economic impacts on the state from legacy suits.

It is hoped that “good government” doesn’t evolve into “whatever’s good for a few powerful plaintiffs’ lawyers,” because the Senate committee-passed bill is bad legislation. It’s no wonder they wanted to rush it through committee.

Among the many issues with the substitute bill is that it creates a bureaucratic quagmire by forcing remediation plans to be reviewed and approved by not just the state’s Office of Conservation, but also by the Commissioner of Agriculture, the secretary of the Department of Natural Resources, the secretary of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality, the secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals, and in some instances the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority.

How could this agency merry-go-round possibly help to expedite the clean-up process?

Another major issue is tricky language in the bill which suggests the legislation is prospective, meaning it will do nothing to help resolve the backlog of hundreds of lawsuits that are currently stuck in the process.

If the goal is to prolong the process of developing a remediation plan as long as possible, for the purpose of dragging out litigation and forcing settlements to extract as much money from defendants as possible — which is the situation we already have in Louisiana today — it seems this Senate bill will certainly ensure that the legacy abuse will continue. If the goal is to expedite the process and get our land cleaned up more quickly — it is clear the Senate bill is not the solution.

Let Louisiana be a lesson that using old-school politics to bow to the greed of a few plaintiff lawyers does not make good policy.

Image Courtesy of   Gage Skidmore

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New Orleans bursts at the seams with parade-goers and excitement during its annual Mardi Gras season, when the entirety of the city celebrates its unique cultural festivities. Although the Mardi Gras parades only occur once a year, where people enjoy one last party before the beginning of Lent, the parade floats and decorations can be seen year-round at Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World.

A factory-sized warehouse located just a few minutes drive from the French Quarter is where Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World houses an extraordinary amount of Mardi Gras memorabilia. Operating since 1947, the Blaine Kern Studios is one of the most prominent artist studios that produce some of the most exceptional work for Mardi Gras.

A majority of the floats and props seen in the New Orleans’ parades are created by the Blaine Kern team. Upon arriving to the warehouse, people are immediately greeted by a walkway lined with elaborately designed statues of animals, cartoon characters and celebrities. The larger-than-life scale of these statues is just a glimpse of what’s to come throughout the warehouse.

A one hour guided tour of Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World kicks off in the gift shop, where ticket holders are each given beads, New Orleans’ signature party favor throughout Mardi Gras. The group is taken into a screening room, where everyone gets to watch a short film on the history of Mardi Gras.

It’s in this film that people are able to gain a better understanding of the cultural importance Mardi Gras plays in the city of New Orleans. Tour goers have a chance to taste one of New Orleans’ signature sweets as well. The King Cake, a pastry that is a crowd favorite during Mardi Gras, is colored in shades of green and purple, traditional colors of the Carnival season.

After everyone has a chance to have a piece of King Cake and a cup of coffee, the tour is led into the main warehouse where all the artistry of creating and producing the Mardi Gras floats happens. A knowledgeable tour guide explains to the group how months of preparation and work goes into making the floats for the Mardi Gras parades.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the tour of Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World comes from seeing the artists at work. Talented artists with a love of Mardi Gras are busy painting and designing the floats as the tour group passes by. Each work station shows a detailed sketch of the design of the float, while pieces of the larger than life product are constructed before everyone’s eyes.

Station after station holds different intricately designed floats, all which are made to roll down the streets of New Orleans for Mardi Gras. These floats are never used for more than one Mardi Gras season. Once the parades are over, the artists go back to the drawing board to start planning their floats for the next year.

Everything from colorful flowers, towering elephants and gorillas, famous sports stars, celebrities, musicians, and cartoons are recreated. The floats are larger than expected and some can hold more than 100 people who throw beads and cups to parade onlookers. When the tour is over, visitors are encouraged to take their time wandering around the warehouse, to marvel in the floats’ elaborate designs and character.

Celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans is an experience that just can’t be found anywhere else in the country. For those who happen to visit the city when Mardi Gras isn’t in full swing quite yet, a stop at Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World is a must. Transportation to and from the warehouse is made extremely easy, as a free shuttle with multiple stops across the city are available. For more information on seeing the floats of Mardi Gras first hand, visit Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World.

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An hour away from the nonstop action of New Orlean’s Bourbon Street is the quiet, peaceful countryside of Louisiana, where historic plantation houses still stand on secluded back roads. Cajun Encounters, a local New Orleans tour company, gives visitors a chance to step back in time to the American and Creole past that significantly define the region.

A full day tour is the perfect way to get a taste of the beautiful state of Louisiana, away from the cosmopolitan city of New Orleans. A tour of the Laura and Oak Alley Plantations allows tourists to experience the wonders of these iconic southern plantations.

Some of Louisiana’s most famed plantations are close enough to New Orleans to give visitors easy access to them. Along the Mississippi River Road is where some old plantations are found, including grand Southern houses and acres of land. The Laura Plantation is the first stop on the Cajun Encounters’ Plantation Tour, where people are given a walking tour of the historic land. The Laura Plantation is unique in the sense that it is a traditional Creole Plantation, which sets it apart in history and character.

Located in Vacherie, Louisiana, the Laura Plantation is over 200 hundred years old and was once a thriving sugarcane plantation. On a guided tour, the knowledgeable tour guide highlights the important physical attributions of the colorful Creole house. Stepping into the building gives visitors a real life representation of how life once was on the land.

The plantation’s house is fully furnished with period pieces and the tour brings visitors from room to room, explaining the purpose and history of each. Along with the interior of the house, the tour takes people around the property, where the old slave quarters stand.

Although it once held a very successful sugar company, the Laura Plantation, like many other plantations in the area, has a dark past of slavery. The walking tour around the land sheds insight on the owners of the plantation, run by four different women, as well as teaches visitors about the role slaves played in the production of the sugar company. Visiting the Laura Plantation is a historic look back in time, to when plantations, and slavery, thrived in the South.

A second plantation tour is included in the Cajun Encounters package, that being the tour of the Oak Alley Plantation. This specific property epitomizes the grand scale of wealth and beauty found in many traditional plantation houses across Louisiana and other southern states.

Located close to the Laura Plantation, also in Vacherie, Louisiana, the Oak Alley Plantation is surely not one to be missed. With a picturesque walkway lined by 200 year old oak trees, the entrance to the Oak Alley Plantation is one that is often photographed and extremely popular with visitors.

A guided tour of the house is provided with the Cajun Encounters package, revealing the rich lifestyle the owners of the plantation once lived. Walking through the dining room, fully set with a table that can fit over ten people, shows the elaborate dinners the owners once held. People are able to explore the rooms where parties were thrown, as well as the upstairs bedrooms where intricately carved furniture still stands.

A beautiful wrap around porch circles the house and gives way to a view of the property below. This antebellum home is one of the most popular attractions in the area, and with its proximity to New Orleans, it is not only an easy destination to visit, but a beautiful and historical one as well.

Cajun Encounters provides intimate tours of Louisiana plantations, as well as other organized tours including a tour of New Orleans and of Louisiana swamps. Visit Cajun Encounters for more information on making reservations for any of their intimate and exciting tours.

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According to award-winning novelist and relative of Columbine shooting victim, Daniel Rohrbough, there is a direct link to school shootings and Al-Qaeda. “When I researched school shootings, more and more evidence pointed to how the Internet is being used to infiltrate, deceive, and recruit boys into the dark world of terrorism,” says Linda Rohrbough.

Formerly a computer book author, Rohrbough discovered a link between school shootings and Al-Qaeda while searching for answers after her nephew was gunned down at Columbine. “My first inkling of the connection to Al-Qaeda was when I attended the Columbine memorial service. I recognized General Colin Powell at the center of the platform in full military dress. He was never mentioned or introduced, and he never spoke. He was just there.”

Powell is an expert on the Middle East, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and credited for successful execution of Operation Desert Storm, which expelled the Iraqi army from Kuwait.

Further reports unveiled the Columbine shooters bragged theirs would be the first of many shootings. Also, the teenage shooters low-level formatted the hard disk drives of their computers before heading out to kill. Rohrbough wanted to know, “How could they know other shootings would follow? And why erase their hard disk drives? What were they trying to hide?”

Fortunately, in two cases, the authorities got to computers before the low-level format was complete. First, in a school shooting in Paris, and second, when a teenager in Florida flew his dad’s plane into a building. In both cases, e-mails traced back to Al-Qaeda operatives. Most recently, three teens in Louisiana were caught before shooting and are being held on conspiracy to commit terrorism charges.

Rohrbough’s extensive research resulted in her new novel, The Prophetess One: At Risk, published on April 20th, 2011, the 12th anniversary of the Columbine shooting.

Image Courtesy of  Randy Miramontez / Shutterstock.com

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