Disposable Heroes of Hypocrisy

I think that this Danish technique could also prove effective at slowing drivers here in New Orleans.

Look at the happiness radiating from the faces of the directors of Victory real estate. How could anyone doubt that they have anything but the best interests of New Orleans and her residents in mind?

In case you needed reminding: the Corpse sucks.

The administration managed to screw the country out of 3 bil, while also screwing Katrina/Flood survivors and charities as well. Nice shootin', tex.

Greg Peters forgot to pay his bill.

I'd still pick Amy Sedaris over Heather Mills.

Is there any doubt now, by anyone, that Scott Cowen was simply trying to a) eliminate tenured faculty and b) get his grubby paws on the Engineering and Newcomb endowments?

I'm gonna have to try the skrimps-in-a-ziploc trick.

In case you needed reminding: we're on our own. At least Willie Mae's, Dooky Chase's, and the Camellia Grill are all open.

So we're screwing the local teachers, and their students. At least the school superintendent gets over a quarter mil a year.

Help find the Vaucresson grill.

Beware of Houstonians!!!! They're armed and killing again. THANKS HOUSTON. Again.

My hockey picks are fairly accurate. I thought Nashville would win, but then again, I thought Peter Forsberg could walk. I also thought that Ottawa would show their utter lack of heart, like they do every year. Hmmmm. Here's why game 7s are the shiznit.

In case you needed reminding: Jindal is bad.

After talking to 7 different people at the corporate offices of both Zurich North America (Chicago) and Farmer's Insurance (LA), I just gave up. You guys would have been proud -- I managed to stay very calm, cool, and collected, while I listened to them tell me how they were committed to South Louisiana, despite the tripling of our premiums.

Well, here's the deal. Because some insurers refuse to write in coastal Louisiana, they can charge much less in non-coastal areas of the state. This means that companies who do write in the entire state have had to cut their rates in non-coastal areas to stay competitive.

So guess what? That means that the 34% mean increase results in non-coastal parishes getting rate cuts, and us getting double and triple the multiplier on our premiums.

When I called my agent, she said that Farmer's was the only insurer they could even write with for now.

At least Jim Donelon grew a set large enough to dismiss the RMS 6 climate model. Of course, since Farmer's didn't use this model, that will have zero effect on Farmer's customers.

In case you needed reminding: we are not OK.

Comments

[greg p]

yeah, you right

[Marco]

Another monumental post, with more links than pubs in Ireland. You gotta love those Danish pastries. Maybe in NOLA, in addition to slowing people down, they could also help in finding the Vaucresson grill and the slimey bastards who stole it.

[oyster]

Definitely Sedaris. She's hilarious.

[oyster]

I love the DHH's cover of California Uber Alles, too.

(It's on an excellent Alternative Tentacles DK tribute compilation from around 1992.)

[ashley]

That explains my misspelling: I did have hiphoprisy, and changed it.

I like the DHH version as well.

I *love* Danish pastries, especially the sticky buns.

Look closely at that Sedaris pic...

[Will]

Lighten up, Francis.

Lots of good news out there these days, and it's more than just the Saints this time.

The feds are actually putting mf's in JAIL in Central City. YAAAAAY!

The new Levee board is working exactly like we wanted it to, kicking some Corps butt and watching our backs. No more 3 hour lunch bullshit. YAAAAAY!

Yes, Farmers is pricing itself out of the market. Same thing happened with most private insurers in Florida years ago. If anything, Florida's government is even more...uh..."pro business" than ours. The result is that Florida Citizens is now the largest property insurer in the state. Citzens ain't the greatest answer, but at least it's an answer. People still live in Florida, y'know? Southern Lousiana is not going to turn into an uninhabited swamp due to $10K homeowners' policies, despite what the Times-Pic would like you to think. They just want to panic you because it keeps you buying the paper. Don't don't don't believe the hype (much less repeat it).

And really, is Citizens' that much more expensive than what folks were paying before the storm? No denying that it is a huge hit from a household budget perspective, and that's a big deal for sure. It will hurt a lot of families. But the truth is that we weren't really paying for insurance before, were we? It's clear in hindsight that it was fraudulent. So which is REALLY more expensive: $6K for Citizens' or $2K for nothing other than a big "bend over, sucker" from Allstate? Allstate customers might as well have been lighting $100 bills on fire for what they were getting for their premiums.

Even some of the stuff you are bitching about has more than one side. I know it's the blogger way to axiomatically find Victory and all other developers guilty until proven guilty, but it ain't like a big abandoned hospital is exactly dripping with local charm, now is it? It's just one ugly brick box and giant parking lot replacing another. But one of them is alive, and the other is dead.

Hey, its rough that the local teachers aren't getting the same bonus new recruits do. I'd like to see them get paid better. But a signing bonus to recruit high-demand jobs isn't exactly unheard of, and acting like you're getting unconscionably screwed over by a new signing bonus policy where you work is just naive. Every hospital in the country has signing bonuses for nurses, and it's not like they hand all the staff nurses a check everytime someone gets recruited. Same is true for lots of engineering specialties. And you know what? WE NEED SOME MORE TEACHERS.

I know you love to hate "the adminstration" - everyone does. But was the tax break for donations a White House plan? I thought that one came from Congress.

And French Quarter Fest, Wednesday at the Square, Jazz Fest, Casamentos, kids playing the waterfalls at Monkey Hill, and the smell of jasmine blooming everywhere all mean that Lafcaido was right: it's still better to live here in sackcloth and ashes than to own the whole state of Ohio.

[Marco]

On Amy: the tiny plume comin' out her ass?

[Donnie McDaniel]

What the hell is up with the Road Home propaganda ads on TV?

[Richard P.]

Regarding Cowen, a point I have seen expressed elsewhere is that where universities have served as a stimulus to a local economy it's been thru graduate programs/research, i.e. exactly where Cowen has cut back. Tulane as a primarily liberal arts college, as the Cowen vision seems to be, is not the same for New Orleans as Tulane as a research-oriented institution, and I do seem to remember hearing about him cutting back on such programs even going back to almost the beginning of his regime.

Unfortunately, for every Newcomb or engineering person, etc. with a beef there are many more who hail Cowen as having "saved the university" in a crisis. He's garnered the leverage to push his plans through, for better or worse and only over the longer period will some kind of more objective view of whether all of this has been right or wrong or the best thing for Tulane start to take hold.

Another unfortunate aspect is how the different sides or factions within Tulane don't dialogue. For instance, there are those who strongly hold fast to Tulane needing to stay with D-1A football and then there are those who question Tulane trying to compete at that level but there seems to be a wall of communication which prohibits listening. As with Cowen himself, one either loves and adores him or completely cannot abide him.

[ashley]

Richard,

True, Cowen has been a bane for research that is not "profitable", especially undergraduate research. As a business type, he has truly been about the bottom line, especially when those cuts can somehow benefit him.

Alas, Will, commenter above, is one of those who have fallen under the spell of Cowen's rhetoric that "tough decisions had to be made". Then again, he doesn't follow Keynes: "Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men, for the nastiest of reasons, will somehow work for the benefit of us all."

Contrast this with "intelligent decisions had to be made". With any luck, perhaps the AAUP can come down with their hardest response, that of censure. Then, Tulane will join the esteemed ranks of BYU and Charleston Southern as being unacceptable for both faculty and students. This, hopefully, will be his legacy, and the next leader should be able to begin the healing process.

When an institution is censured, it becomes *extremely* difficult to attract good faculty -- like it's easy for Tulane to attract them now after the mass firing of tenured professors.

I remember the debate earlier this decade about whether Tulane should keep football, drop a level, or stay where they were. My opinion was that without an on campus stadium, there was no way that TU should stay at their current level. Now, especially with Cowen's "strategic" smaller footprint, there's still no way to remain competitive. But don't look for anything to change in that arena, unless Cowen can somehow pin it off on the hurricanes. I predict that he's probably slick enough to do so.

[Will]

I wuz hypmotized!

Seriously, while I didn't (and don't) have an issue with Cowen's gutting the engineering dept., I never understood the cutbacks at the Med school.

On the athletics side, even with an on-campus stadium, Tulane Football is unlikely to ever run at an operating profit. New Orleans is an LSU town and that is unlikely to ever change. Academic fundrasing folks will tell you, however, that operating profit is perhaps not the most meaningful financial measure of a Div IA football team, as alumni involvement (and hence donations) tends to rise and fall with athletic success (famously, donations to Georgia Tech actually *doubled* the year they split the football championship with Colorado).

For that reason, I don't think Cowen ever had any intent of relegating any athletic team. Like most TU fans I know, I think the "debate" about dropping to Div-II a few years back was just a cynical device to rally the alumni and sell tickets in a period of generally dismal on-field performance.

[ashley]

Thanks, Will. I remember you being a supporter of Cowen in those dark days, and I was hoping you could explain your position.

I realize that Cowen, by hatcheting the engineering school, was simply targeting the highest paid faculty that had no real recourse. Evidently, the B School people threatened *him* if they were downsized, and the Law school could actually separate from the University if threatened.

But his attempts at surgery made his intent obvious. By keeping BME and ChemE, he was trying to 1) keep the stars that brought in the big-money, big-prestige grants, and 2) keep the obvious pre-med programs. Since the stars have left, and taken their money with them, point 1 is moot.

Now, with him adding a new engineering program (with more to come), it's obvious what his intentions were. The problem is, that doesn't fly with the faculty handbook, or AAUP guidelines.

His cutbacks at the med school were even more transparent: if your money came from Charity, you were axed. That simple.

And I think that while an on-site stadium (which will never happen) would help the football team, I honestly feel that if Tulane football dropped a division and dominated, the fans/alumni dollars could actually increase.

Keep in mind that the rivalries with Ivy and SWAC schools could bring in a lot more money than the scarcely attended C-USA battles in the dome. And of course, we could still be patsies against Nebraska and FSU for big paydays.

And good analysis on Cowen's motives for relegation discussion. That sounds about right.

[Richard P.]

If it was actually some ploy -- and it was Div. III, not Div. II -- then that stands up as pretty strong evidence that Cowen's word can never be trusted or taken at face value.

Maybe you're right, however I've never believed that that was what was really going on.

If you two are right then that's truly disgusting.

Come to think of it, I'm already disgusted with a.) things that Cowen has done and how/why he's done them and b.) the way so many are indeed under the spell.

I still think he really did want to effect the change and was just about to spring it on everyone (but then why not have the courage to be open about your vision for things and/or stick to your guns?? Everyone might have severely tarred and feathered him at the moment but all he did was sign off on a sort of compromise which I strongly believe is bound to fail in the long term as interest in football steadily diminishes...as even if there's some burst of winning every now and then things are certainly not consistent over a long term and Tulane isn't enjoying success against the teams that local fans know and hold in some regard).

However, the main key is this: exactly how sincere about doing whatever it takes to win are these people?

If they are, they are. High level college football is really slimy no question about it but who doesn't know that?

OTOH if they aren't then eventually it's a slow death when fans don't come and these ploys fail in the long term.

Tulane always seems to be trying to convince people that they're sincere about wanting to win when the hard evidence is pointing to that they aren't and that grates on me more than anything.

Be what you are. Eventually people will see through you.

The football fans are definitely under the spell now since Cowen didn't take Tulane to D-III in 2003, he's jousted at windmills with his public outbursts about reforming college football, he didn't axe everything post-storm and then fired the unpopular football coach (why not let the coach have tenure for life after the 2003 episode and then the storm and everything...something that would have taken some real courage and real conviction?)

As for a stadium there is no way to fit it in on campus.

Doesn't anyone remember Tulane Stadium of old and how that structure totally dominated everything -- and the 1970's Sasaki Plan to use the space?

[ashley]

"Doesn't anyone remember Tulane Stadium of old and how that structure totally dominated everything -- and the 1970's Sasaki Plan to use the space?"

That's why I bring it up...I remember my dad parking in the neutral ground on Claiborne and walking to the stadium to a game. But those days are long, long gone.

[Richard P.]

Most of that stadium was built when people rode the streetcar. Even something such as a baseball regional places a squeeze on what parking is available at Tulane and that's not even during a semester.

It's way, way out of the question.

I don't see it as a panacea, anyway, even if there were space.

There would be plenty of costs that Tulane doesn't bear as things are.

That would not be a magic cure and neither do I see a new coach as the magic cure, either.

These days more than ever, either you're truly serious about trying to win on a consistent basis or you're not and Tulane never has been.

Hiring a new coach is another token Cowen-esque gesture not unlike adding "physics engineering," whatever that is.

Dennis Dodd at CBS Sportsline had some choice comments about Tulane for firing Scelfo and I agree. It was a disgrace.

All about college football reform, all about being brave in the face of the aftermath of the storm one minute and then all about "it's all about and ONLY about winning no matter how slimy" the next.

The difficulties/challenges run a lot deeper than fans seem to want to face up to while Cowen seems to be singing their song as much as they're singing his praises.

What Tulane could do and I'd like to see them do is follow the lead of a lot of other similar private schools and let men's basketball be the main event and try to milk that program. That way you still can get a foot in the door and legitimately be able to say that you're trying to go places in a big-time type sport and you also don't have to expend what being decent in football costs.

There's no value, no benefit to the school in just propping up your program mainly be serving as the football punching bag for the real big boys. Duke, Vanderbilt et al. at least have basketball to fall back on.

The only way there's any benefit to having D-1A football is in following the route of say, USC -- well, maybe not them in particular but there's also TCU somewhat closer by -- in making a real sincere effort, whatever the risk may be in terms of scandals, etc., to be a consistent big-time winner and achieving actual consistent success.

Making a meaningful and possibly necessary change at Tulane would, yes, take having real guts. While Cowen does have a gut he doesn't have guts, does he?

[ashley]

I happen to work at a place that is the largest school *without* football. I think you're right, make basketball the thing. But football costs *so* much, it typically overshadows everything.

And to fire Scelfo after having to play, what, 11 road games? Cowen is not only an ass and a liar -- he's a hypocrite.

[Richard P.]

Not only essentially a whole year on the road in 2005 but also having to manage at makeshift quarters at La. Tech and not being able to strength-train decently at all which was obvious when you saw them play.

Oh but the fans believe that losing games even in 2005 was all (take your pick or picks -- more than one is OK) 1.) the Saints' fault (everything gone wrong with Tulane since 1967 has been the Saints' fault), 2) LSU's fault (the football rivalry hasn't been for real in generations but don't tell anyone that), 3.) the BCS' fault (oh yeah the Big Guys have no more compelling interest than screwing Tulane over), 4.) the media's fault or 5.) Chris Scelfo's fault. In other words, everything gets the blame for Tulane not winning in football except for what logically and really is the cause of Tulane not winning which is that Tulane along with the alumni/fan community pours very little effort into football while continually obfuscating things all the while so that the alumni/fan
dollars and goodwill inflow are not disrupted.

Look, I am no great admirer of Tom Benson but he at least has at times been one to concede that the buck stops at his desk.

Scott Cowen=do it in secret behind closed doors and then spring it as a done deal on everyone or else obfuscate the issues or else pass the blame for something onto some subordinate.

Which brings me to whether or not his own vision for things is something I can abide, what's really worse is his whole m.o.

[Tim]

Whoa, haven't thought about that band in a long time. "Television, the drug of the nation, breeding ignorance and feeding radiation..."

Peace,

Tim

[Will]

I s'pose I may have missed the boat on this thread by being away for a few days, but...

What the hell are you talking about? Scelfo didn't get fired after the '05 season, he got fired after yet another stink bomb in '06. In fact, given that TU hasn't posted a winning season since 2002, it's pretty evident that Scelfo got a free pass for the '06 season specifically BECAUSE of Katrina, so don't give me that "raw deal for Scelfo" crap.

Scelfo was, from day one, absolutely abysmal. His only decent seasons came when he was still working with the previous staff's talent, and as soon as they graduated his total inability to recruit became obvious. He is a horrendous gameday coach, invariably failing to make obvious halftime adjustments. And he can't even maintain basic disciplne - in at least 75% of the home games during his tenure, there was one or more god-awful 15 yard roughness or unsportsmanlinke penalites called on the Wave. The facts are that Scelfo inherited a nationally ranked, undefeated team and had turned it into a cesspool of mediocrity and indiscipline well in advance of Katrina. You really have to be looking hard to find someone OTHER than the head coach to blame for that.

So, Richard P., I don't know if you are Scelfo's cousin or what, but your comments that he should haven been given "tenure for life" make sense only if you are a strong believer in rewarding incompentence. In which case, I suggest seeking a position with city or state government.