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founding

Brian, Since you are from Louisiana, I thought you might be interested in this long documentary about Huey Long: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFKwqNzGIyw

Have you ever been to the Choctaw Club in New Orleans?

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Correction: Not from LA - I transferred to LSU and hung around for 12 yrs playing hubby, daddy and Radio/TV. 518 St Charles, CC, the notorious Dem hangout was being 'permanently renovated' during Poydras St repairs. I was more of a Bourbon St guy back when it was naked, boozy and fun.

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Brian, Thanks for the correction. 12 years in New Orleans must have been interesting. A friend online, the one in Indonesia, told me that the new hangout for the politicians and their cronies is the Acme Oyster Club. Funny name. I've never been to New Orleans, just that Celebration of Life disaster near McRae.

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It's been a few years since we stayed in Crescent City. It was still reasonably safe and civil after dark. The "new" Riverboat gambling was hot; touristy stuff was no longer confined to Bourbon. There were lots of great new restaurants, but Commander's Palace, Brennans, etc., were doing just fine. Al Hurt, Pete Fountain's place, and Blaze Starr's body are gone, but....you ought to put it on your bucket list.

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Brian, I'm about 3 hours into the five hour documentary on Huey P. Long. Wow! Louisiana politics are something else. Is the Huey P. Long bridge still there in New Orleans? I also read in the comments on the video that Huey Long was responsible for the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway being toll free.

New Orleans is a unique city.

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Last I heard. Driving across the LPC is a pants-wetter! Huey also decreed any LA high school graduate got into LSU free. Sadly, that's why there was always a massive Freshman class with a ginormous flunk-out rate. It's been a while, but I suspect LA politics hasn't changed much. Edwin Edwards was a pal. Made me Honorary Governor - unfortunately, he wasn't that 'honorary' as Govenor! But a helluva guy!

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Brian, Thanks for your comment. Today I learned that after the Civil War, the Louisiana state budget spent 75% of its money on prosthetics for veterans of the War Against the South.

That is a sad state of affairs.

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I like being warm, but I know that safety is an illusion. Embrace the horror. Any of us could die or suffer horribly at any time. That's life on wonderful planet Earth.

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Most any other planet, too - I suspect...

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founding

Brian, I read "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert Heinlein last year. It's a very good book about a colony of men and women on the Moon who rebel against their Earth overlords. Humans bring their troubles with them wherever they go.

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Thanks for the interview. Proves to me that politics are beyond saving them or us.

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A monopoly on Force combined with aggressive ignorance and terminal apathy makes salvation a non-starter...

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Brian, I agree, but the politicians and bureaucrats think Force will save them and the people are always looking for a political messiah.

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Ahhh, carpentry. Back in Lincoln, Nebraska in the winter of 1971, my good friend Patrick and I were working at Sealrite; Redwood Windows and Doors at the northern end of the city. There was a boxcar from California on the track in the yard of the company.

Patrick worked in the Redwood window division. I worked in the building that built metal doors and screens.

One day, Patrick was working the redwood window assembly line and he saw a human thumb, a bloody thumb, on the conveyor belt. Patrick retrieved the thumb and asked around if anyone had lost one.

The thumb was packed in ice and sent to the hospital along with the thumb missing worker.

The next day, the worker returned to work minus his thumb.

It was a no-nonsense company, but at Christmas we were all called into the office to receive our Christmas bonus. We lined up. When we went to the front of the line, the President of the company presented each of us with a new, crisp, one dollar bill.

That's the kind of company it was.

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Especially like when Don called out the lazy Christendom of modern America toward the end of your conversation. That's near and dear to my scribblings.

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I recommended he check out GN, BC. My neighbor, a retired Army General (Chaplin), listened to the podcast and read the book and was impressed with the Pre-Post Constantine references.

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Thanks, Brian! Very kind of you to recommend, and I'm glad the recommendation was well-received :-)

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