Mayor Nagin is Afraid of God Too.
Last week on Martin Luther King Jr. day, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin made several stupid comments. Most of the media jumped on his remarks that New Orleans should rebuilt as a "chocolate city." And certainly it had the feel of a racist tone, but I get what he meant.
He's worried that the racial makeup of New Orleans won't be majority black as it was before Hurricane Katrina. And it probably won't be as high a black population as it was due to the fact that so many former residents in the destroyed part of the city will probably remain where they've been relocated. By the time neighborhoods get rebuilt many of the former residents will probably have established themselves with new jobs and new places to live.
You've got to have some sympathy for Mayor Nagin. He is in charge of a city that will be transformed by both nature (Katrina) and the federal government, neither of which Mayor Nagin had/has any control over.
I remember in the days after the flooding happened he gave a radio interview that was in turn played all over the TV networks during the Katrina coverage. He was irate to say the least. I remember thinking that he had just gone through the worst event of his life and was probably sleep deprived as well. I chalked it up to raw emotion.
But the other remarks he made on MLK Day that wasn't given as much media rap was his ideas about God's wrath. He said God had brought the US all of the recent hurricanes because of our collective actions. Unlike the religious kooks who blame moral sins or homosexuality, Mayor Nagin placed the blame on our war in Iraq.
He stole my idea. I had sarcastically said the same thing in two blog posts (here and here) on just this subject of God's wrath as viewed by religious leaders like Pat Robertson. I also tongue-in-cheek wondered why God goes so easy on Canada as that country has legalized gay marraige and has legal abortions.
Simply put, I don't buy into God's wrath for one moment. I find it humorous that so many people want to attribute the weather or an earthquake to some moral failings that God decides needs violent attention. But when you ask these people something that flips their logic like, why not Canada or why do innocent people die during God's wrathing or maybe it's because we are at war, then they say something like God works in mysterious ways. So, these people want to ascribe reasons to disasters via God as if they understand God, but then they claim they don't understand the mysterious God.
And now Mayor Nagin falls into the God's wrath guessing game. I wonder why? Well, he probably is a bit religious and maybe it's because he's a former Republican (he switched parties basically in order to win the Mayor race). But maybe he's just a bit nutty.
He's worried that the racial makeup of New Orleans won't be majority black as it was before Hurricane Katrina. And it probably won't be as high a black population as it was due to the fact that so many former residents in the destroyed part of the city will probably remain where they've been relocated. By the time neighborhoods get rebuilt many of the former residents will probably have established themselves with new jobs and new places to live.
You've got to have some sympathy for Mayor Nagin. He is in charge of a city that will be transformed by both nature (Katrina) and the federal government, neither of which Mayor Nagin had/has any control over.
I remember in the days after the flooding happened he gave a radio interview that was in turn played all over the TV networks during the Katrina coverage. He was irate to say the least. I remember thinking that he had just gone through the worst event of his life and was probably sleep deprived as well. I chalked it up to raw emotion.
But the other remarks he made on MLK Day that wasn't given as much media rap was his ideas about God's wrath. He said God had brought the US all of the recent hurricanes because of our collective actions. Unlike the religious kooks who blame moral sins or homosexuality, Mayor Nagin placed the blame on our war in Iraq.
He stole my idea. I had sarcastically said the same thing in two blog posts (here and here) on just this subject of God's wrath as viewed by religious leaders like Pat Robertson. I also tongue-in-cheek wondered why God goes so easy on Canada as that country has legalized gay marraige and has legal abortions.
Simply put, I don't buy into God's wrath for one moment. I find it humorous that so many people want to attribute the weather or an earthquake to some moral failings that God decides needs violent attention. But when you ask these people something that flips their logic like, why not Canada or why do innocent people die during God's wrathing or maybe it's because we are at war, then they say something like God works in mysterious ways. So, these people want to ascribe reasons to disasters via God as if they understand God, but then they claim they don't understand the mysterious God.
And now Mayor Nagin falls into the God's wrath guessing game. I wonder why? Well, he probably is a bit religious and maybe it's because he's a former Republican (he switched parties basically in order to win the Mayor race). But maybe he's just a bit nutty.
posted by jon at 8:12 AM
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New Orleans Mayor to Seek Treatment for Addiction
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – The New Orleans Mayor’s office confirmed today that Mayor Ray Nagin will seek treatment for an addiction to chocolate. Spokesman Marcus Spires explained that Mayor Nagin has been battling an addiction to chocolate in private for a number of years. He will enter an inpatient treatment center for 8 weeks.
Dr. Wilbur Peabody of the Oakmont New Horizon Treatment facility explained that, “the Mayor has the all the classic signs of addiction. The frontal lobes of his brain, which regulate decision making and inhibit impulsive behavior, are no longer functioning properly.”
He went on to explain the full extent of the Mayor’s obsession with chocolate confectionaries. “His Honor has consumed so much cocoa,” stated Peabody, “that he has built up a significantly high level of N-Arachidonoylethanolide - one of the main chocolate cannabinoids. He is clearly suffering not only a psychological addiction but a physical one as well.” Peabody further stated that he felt extremely confident that Mayor Nagin would be able to win his battle with chocolate. “I guarantee that after the Mayor completes our treatment program he’ll never so much as utter the word chocolate again much less eat it.” added Peabody.
On the streets of New Orleans many citizens expressed their unwavering support of Mayor Nagin. “I feel so relieved now that we know what is wrong with him.” said Tyrell Coleman age 31. “I initially was pretty pissed off at that brother for not bussing us out of here when Katrina struck. Now I know that he probably just had some kind of short term memory loss and forgot to order the busses to pick us up. It ain’t his fault – it was the cocoa.”
Other constituents echoed Coleman in their defense of Nagin. “This wasn’t the first time that the Mayor rambled on about chocolate,” said Ron Dedeaux a resident of the French Quarter. “Now it all makes sense.” Overall, most people in New Orleans felt positive that Mayor Nagin would recover and get back to rebuilding this once great city.
The Mayor’s office also announced that an interim Mayor has been selected. Mayor Nagin himself announced that he has appointed his cousin Jimmy “Showtime” Taylor to handle his mayoral duties in his absence. The selection of Nagin’s cousin was further proof to the citizens of New Orleans that things were finally starting to return to normal.
Clia Toris IV
www.dungtongue.com
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