For the past three years or so, Governor Bobby Jindal has traveled far and wide bragging about how tough his administration is on child predators. He’s told audiences that violent child rapists deserve the death penalty, and that sexual predators should be chemically castrated. They’re “monsters,” he never fails to say. As he tours beyond […]
Author Archives: Mark Moseley
Mark Moseley blogs at Your Right Hand Thief. Until mid 2014, Mark Moseley was The Lens' opinion writer, engagement specialist and coordinator for the Charter Schools Reporting Corps. After Katrina and the Federal Flood he helped create the Rising Tide conference, which grew into an annual social media event dedicated to the future of New Orleans.
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Tap it, Gramps: Notes on the Roemerlution and sundry tidbits
Today, let’s do a round-up of recent political news stories. 1. The “Roemerlution” continues! Last week former Louisiana governor-turned- presidential-candidate Buddy Roemer took the guest seat on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.” This probably marked the widest exposure Roemer’s struggling campaign has achieved to date. He took the opportunity to appeal directly to “regular folks” […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Weasel words: BP ‘cleanup’ falls far short of ‘coastal restoration’
BP’s “Louisiana Gulf Response” website exaggerates the scope of clean-up efforts since the blowout. By Mark Moseley, The Lens opinion writer | While reading a local news story on the web, I noticed a familiar yellow and green color scheme on the sidebar. Sure enough, it was a BP advertisement: “Gulf Coast Restoration,” the article teased, […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Oversights or plagiarism? Jim Brown’s mea culpas don’t add up
My piece about the lifted texts in Jim Brown’s online opinion columns grew new legs on Sunday when Gambit published a 3,000-word story on the matter, and a 3,000-word sidebar so readers could compare excerpts from Brown’s columns with their original sources. Hearty applause to writers Kevin Allman and Alex Woodward for pursuing this issue […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
LSEA an engine for business development? Sure, if you don’t mind driving it out of state
In 2008 Governor Bobby Jindal aptly demonstrated his scorn for classroom science, when he ignored advice from his own Ivy League genetics professor and signed the so-called Louisiana Science and Education Act. Apparently, Jindal worried that Louisiana students didn’t possess his level of discernment and that their belief systems would shatter if they heard biblical […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Not self-evident: Our founding documents weren’t created equal
My family and I drove to central Florida to visit relatives and celebrate the Fourth of July. Unfortunately this coincided with the Casey Anthony trial, which culminated this week in a not guilty verdict on the major felony charges. Suffice it to say that my favorite holiday wasn’t favorably enhanced by heading into the main […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
When it comes to weird and slippery, Weiner’s got nothing on Vitter
The senator is seemingly invulnerable to his sex scandals. James Gill of The Times-Picayune is probably the region’s most talented political columnist, yet he’s not immune from the occasional howler. Consider this excerpt from his Sunday column: A strong case could be made that [Sen. David] Vitter is neither so weird nor so slippery as […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Time to kiss gay ‘Kiss Cam’ bigotry goodbye
The first “interracial” kiss in television history took place in the fall of 1968, during the famous Star Trek episode titled “Plato’s Stepchildren.” The episode’s storyline has Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura trapped on a planet ruled by sadistic philosopher kings. As an amusement, these “Platonians” use their powers of telekinesis to force Kirk and […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Tea Partyers lick chops as GOP moderate enters presidential fray
Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman announced for president this morning, which may well mean it’s downhill from here. That’s right, national Huntsmania may never get more intense than it is right now, so let’s all savor this political apex. I suspect it will be fleeting. Huntsman is a Republican who served as U.S. ambassador to […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Elephants and clowns can be found at both ends of Poydras
Before the 2011 Republican Leadership Conference opening event Thursday, a delegate began chatting with me about the conference. She explained that she was a “Mitt Romney girl.” She pointed to the photo of the former Massachusetts governor on the cover of the Liberty Today newspaper. Presidential candidate, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., also graced the […]