Strange Meanderings of a Psychopath

This is what you get when you mix a prostitute and an idiot together. A strange dose of lemon pie.

New Year's Resolutions

Sometimes the feds have New Years resolutions of their own. It is never too late to go after the bad guys. Bad boys, bad boys, what are you going to do when the feds come after you.

Willing To Forgive Infidelity

When it comes to presidential candidates' extramarital affairs, Democrats -- at least in Iowa and New Hampshire -- are much more apt to be forgiving than Republicans.

According to a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, 73% of Democrats who intend to go to Thursday's caucuses in Iowa and 72% of those planning to vote in the Jan. 8 primary in New Hampshire said learning that a candidate had an extramarital affair would have "no effect" on their support.

On the GOP side, 39% in Iowa and 52% in New Hampshire said a contender's infidelity wouldn't affect their support.

On the attack: The poll also found that Democrats in the two states thought Hillary Rodham Clinton had done the most negative campaigning among the major contenders in their party.

In New Hampshire, Clinton was rated the most negative by a wide margin; 40% said she led the way. John Edwards was next at 11%.

Among Republicans, Mitt Romney was regarded as the king of negativity in Iowa at 35%. None of the other candidates climbed into double figures.

In New Hampshire, none of the Republican candidates stood out as negative.

Trapped In The Cycle

When a person is trapped in a cycle of drug addiction, how far will they go to live out their fantasy? Their fantasy can be so great where they find themselves becoming prostitutes or sleeping with prostitutes. It is sad, however, when a father risks his own health and the health of his children to perform oral sex acts on various prostitutes.

Christians Attacked At Christmas Time

Christians across India's Orissa state were terrorized this Christmas season by hate groups opposed to the Gospel. Anti-Christian extremists attacked Gospel for Asia native missionary Matish Junni on December 23.

They also destroyed a newly-built GFA-related church building on Christmas Eve.

What Are Your Friends Reading?

Google Reader has streamlined the process of tracking what your friends are reading by automatically adding their shared items to a new, aptly named, "Friend's Shared Items," option in the main menu of Reader. Of course you could already be subscribed to your friends' shared items via their public RSS feed, but the new features eliminate the need to manually add that information.

The friends are pulled from Google Talk (the chat component of Gmail) and once you’ve logged into Reader and looked over the change notice, you’ll see a new settings tab labeled “friends,” where you can see the new feeds you’re now subscribed to, along with an option to hide an individual’s feed.

Merry Christmas

Will The Convicted Felon Provide More?

Will convicted felon Stan "Pampy" Barre provide useful information?

In August, then-City Council President Oliver Thomas pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from Barré, who was seeking to hang onto a contract to manage a city-owned parking lot. Thomas was sentenced last month to 37 months in prison, a stretch that is set to begin Jan. 3.

Since the Thomas case has run its course, the government's request for an additional delay of Barré's sentence -- for a sixth time -- indicates the restaurateur has provided other information authorities have deemed useful. The motion says as much: Barré "is cooperating with the government regarding other matters under investigation, but not yet completed," it reads.

One lead known to be under investigation is Barré's assertion, made to authorities, that he helped deliver bribes from two local trash haulers to the husband of Orleans Parish School Board member Una Anderson.

Barré has told the government that Jimmie Woods of Metro Disposal Inc. and Alvin Richard of Richard's Disposal Inc. provided the money in exchange for Anderson's promise to support the award of a trash-collection contract to be shared by the two firms, according to sources close to the investigation.

What's On Your Holiday Reading List

As the year comes to a close, it's time to look at some outstanding books published this year by Louisianians.

1. No One Knows the Son by James Cobb

2. Blink of an Eye by Rexanne Becnel

3. The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish by Elise Blackwell

4. Life in From the Heart: Seven Rules to Live By

5. Louisiana Architecture 1840-1860 by Frederic O. Daspit

6. Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson

7. The exceptional Creole Houses: Traditional Homes of Old Louisiana (Abrams) by New Orleans' John H. Lawrence, with photos by Steve Gross and Sue Daley.

8. Landsmen by Peter Charles Melman

9. Skinny Brown Dog by Kimberly Willis Holt

10. Morbid Curiosity by Deborah LeBlanc

11. The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke

12. New Orleans' Favorite Shotguns by Mary Fitzpatrick and Alex Lemann

Two fabulous cookbooks out this year were John Folse's encyclopedic tome, After the Hunt: Louisiana's Authoritative Collection of Wild Game & Game Fish Cookery, published by his Gonzales company and Crescent City Cooking: Unforgettable Recipes From Susan Spicer's New Orleans by Susan Spicer with Paula Disbrowe (Knopf), a book as fun to read and mull over as it is for its recipes.

A coffee table beauty to savor is Richard Sexton's Terra Incognita: Photographs of America's Third Coast (Chronicle Books), which captures the Gulf Coast in brilliant black and white photos.

This list only mentions a few of the wonderful Louisiana books published this year, but perusing these titles will prove once again that this state owns some of the finest literary minds around.

Book news
Betsy Miguez, reference librarian and associate professor of library science at the UL's Dupré Library, has been appointed to the American Library Association's 2009 Newbery Award Committee, which will review and evaluate children's books published in 2008. The committee bestows Newbery awards to "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children."

Investigative journalist Ethan Brown has sold his Katrina book The Goddess and the Suicide King, according to Publisher's Weekly. The book chronicles Zackery Bowen and Addie Hall as they live in the French Quarter through Katrina and its aftermath until Bowen commits a shocking murder-suicide. The couple was featured on the front page of the New York Times for their Katrina experiences.

Acadiana resident Cheré Coen is an author under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Visit her Web site at www.LouisianaBookNews.com and write her at bacoen@cox.net.

HarperCollins and Myspace Join Forces

HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, has partnered with MySpace, the world's most popular social network, to launch MySpace/HarperTeen (www.myspace.com/harperteen), a customized interactive community for teen readers to connect with one another, read author blogs, interact on message boards and forums, learn about upcoming releases, post photos, and participate in HarperTeen contests, programs and online polls.

Beginning January 2008, HarperTeen authors will regularly interact with readers via the HarperTeen/MySpace site through author chats.