Who Dat owns Who Dat?

I can’t believe the NFL tried to make Who Dat with association to the Saints a trademark, especially at a time like this when the Saints finally earned a spot in the Super Bowl after 43 years of struggle. The phrase Who Dat has been around for 150 years and got its origins from minstrel performances and early jazz musicians. Who Dat is now used as a chant short for “Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints” and the phase has in the past been used as a chant for several different college and high school teams as well. The phrase has obviously gotten its origins from New Orleans but, the NFL says that it still has the legal rights to the phrase when it is combined with the Saints (logo etc.). The NFL has sent many letters to New Orleans vendors demanding them to quite selling Who Dat shirts. In protest a handful of venders rebuked the NFL’s demands and claimed them to be unfair to small businesses. Louisiana Senator David Vitter aggressively opposed the NFL stating that he would make shirts that read “Who Dat say we can’t print Who Dat”. He also wrote a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodwell stating “Please either drop your present ridiculous position or sue me”. With the Vendors and the Senators complaints combined the NFL has backed down on the issue and has recently made an apology.

Moon Landrieu

At the New Orleans in the 60’s lecture last night I thought the most interesting person they talked about was the 56th mayor of New Orleans Moon Landrieu (father of Mitch and Mary Landrieu). Moon Landrieu grew up here in uptown New Orleans and went to college at Loyola with a baseball scholarship. He too taught accounting at Loyola which makes him all the more admirable. But, what I think makes Landrieu a hero and a pioneer for Civil Rights was his campaigns as mayor to do away with all the segregations laws in city that had been scorned by the Jim Crow Laws. This changed New Orleans forever and the openness to diversity that we experience in New Orleans today was born thanks to Landrieu. Landrieu desegregated a city that had been in the past divided amongst whites and blacks and even before that a port at the center of the slave trade.
Even before he became mayor as a representative Landrieu always voted against segregation in the House. During his mayor campaigns he was one of the first to go for the black vote and 99% of it. I too like how he helped minority –owned business and poor neighborhoods get their footing when before they were neglected by the city hall. Moon Landrieu was truly a big influence on New Orleans in the 60’s and I hope Mary Landrieu follows in his foot steps as a great leader for change.

U.S. Troops in Haiti

The Earthquake in Haiti is now considered to be one of the worst natural disasters in history. At this time, the death toll is at 70,000 and is estimated to rise to 200,000 rivaling the 2004 tsunami. Just today the US has sent 10,000 troops to help the relief effort and provide security. The French Foreign Minister and other UN official’s claim that the U.S. action to send the troops was impulsive and that the troops are just occupying Haiti rather than helping it. I believe that isn’t true and to be honest I believe to U.S troops should have gone in sooner.
Through last Tuesday to now Haiti’s stability as a country is fading with all the wide spread chaos caused by the earthquake (This is awful considering even before the earthquake Haiti was barely stable enough to be a country). With thousands off survivors hungry and desperate for water the looting and violence has gone out of control. The Haitian police, who have suffered many casualties from the earthquake, are not a large enough force to keep the peace everywhere. Because of the lack of security U.N. rescue workers, not to long ago, were attacked by a mob who threw stones at them while they were trying to rescue people. Also U.N. relief supplies have been decreasing at an alarming rate and I believe a large military presence is needed in helping provide aid for the people, and security for the rescuers and Haitians stuck in the chaos. The U.S. commanders have agreed that their main priority in Haiti is to help the people and rescuers. The U.S. troops have been very cautious and have been ordered only to use deadly force if necessary and as a last resort. The troops have too been giving large amounts of aid to the refugees as will. Even though the major violence right now is only in certain areas it might get worse overtime and a military presence is needed to keep stability. I do not consider the U.S. troops are in anyway trying to occupy Haiti (like Iraq) and are only there to help Haiti. I too strongly believe that we should make a large effort to help Haiti because Haiti is a near country of the United States. It would be a shame to ignore all the chaos in a country that is only a sea away from us.

Birdman - Rocket From The Cryp...

http://lala.com/zQYaI