Remember Their Sacrifice

Tears rolled down U.S. Army Maj. Jeremy Turner’s face as he listened to John Dedon, American Legion Nicholson Post No. 38 commander, offer a tribute Monday to those who made the supreme sacrifice in all wars during the annual Memorial Day ceremony at Baton Rouge National Cemetery.

“I’m a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan and a lot of my friends have been killed,” a somber Turner said.

“It’s just been a long day,” Turner said as he tried to hold back his tears.

Turner, who is stationed at Fort Polk, was visiting family in Baton Rouge for the Memorial Day weekend.

In ceremonies across the area Monday, people such as Turner, came together to honor military personnel who died in the service of their country.

A crowd of several hundred filled the foyer of the USS Kidd Veterans Memorial & Museum, pausing to honor fallen Americans.

Tara Gerhardt was one of them.

“We lost my brother to Desert Storm,” Gerhardt said. “My parents have come to this (Memorial Day ceremony) pretty much ever since.”

Gerhardt’s father, Thomas Adams, sat with tears in his eyes thinking about his son, U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Thomas Adams Jr. who was killed in 1990 when his helicopter crashed during a night training mission.

Eight Marines were lost at sea that day, Adams said.

“I want my kids to understand the importance of this (day),” Gerhardt said.

“Everyone needs to stop and appreciate what our armed forces do because not everyone gets to come home,” she said.

Gerhardt’s son, Colin Roy, 10, seemed to understand the importance of the day’s happenings.

“I loved him because of what he did as a Marine,” Colin said.

Guest speakers at the USS Kidd ceremony included U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville; U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge; and U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La.

The keynote speaker, Staff Sgt. Douglas Ducote Sr., of the U.S. Army, stressed the importance of the holiday.

“Memorial Day is a time to pause in our busy, daily lives, that are so full of television programs, telephones, cars, cell phones and computers, to remember those who have died in service to our nation,” Ducote said.

“I learned the meaning of Memorial Day at a very young age,” Ducote said.

“My father served in the military, as well as two great-uncles, an uncle and several cousins,” Ducote continued.

“But it wasn’t until I went into the military myself that the true meaning of this day hit home,” he said.

Then, as he too fought back tears, Ducote read the names of more than 20 of his friends who lost their lives fighting for their country.

“We are the beneficiaries of their bravery and sacrifice, as are all Americans, and we never should take their sacrifice for granted,” Ducote said.

“It is truly because of every single one of them, in our nation’s 230-year history, that we stand her today,” he said.

Fleet Reserve Association member Jerry Pugh rang a bell in remembrance of those who have guarded America “from the sea, under the sea, from the air and on foreign soil.”

For Janet Broussard, of Prairieville, whose son, Lt. Mark St. Romain, is serving his second tour in Iraq, the day means more than holiday sales and barbecues.

“I wouldn’t be in any other place,” Broussard said of her presence at ceremony at the USS Kidd.

Her grandson Beau St. Romain, 2, wore a button of a picture of his father on his shirt.

“My daddy’s at work. He’s a soldier,” Beau said.

As the ceremony progressed at Baton Rouge National Cemetery, Tracy Konnecker, of Carville, and Chris Durham, of Livingston, arrived with their children “to teach them about Memorial Day and what it is all about,” Konnecker said.

“This is a tradition we will continue,” said Konnecker, a member of the Louisiana National Guard.

The cemetery holds more than 6,000 soldiers and is one of 14 national cemeteries designated by Abraham Lincoln in 1865, said Rex Kern,  director of Port Hudson and Baton Rouge National Cemeteries.

“This cemetery is steeped in a huge amount of history so this is truly hallowed ground,” Kern said.

Dedon said the post adopted the cemetery about eight years ago and began the annual Memorial Day ceremony.

Andy Watts and his son, Ace Watts of Baton Rouge, glanced at the tiny flags placed at each grave just days before the event.

After attending the Memorial Day ceremony at Port Hudson National Cemetery in Zachary, the two headed to Baton Rouge National Cemetery.

“I wanted to remember everybody that served before us and defended our country in all wars,” Andy Watts said.

Memorial Day ceremonies also were held in Port Allen and Gonzales and at LSU.

Following Dedon’s remarks and a prayer by the post chaplain, the ceremony ended with the placing of a wreath on the memorial to the soldiers of Maine, a gun salute and taps.

Check out article at The Advocate.

Be sure to check out the Memorial Day Wiki

YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN!

Tragedy Unfolding on Gulf Coast!

MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER -- Oil from a massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico was starting to ooze ashore, threatening migrating birds, nesting pelicans and even river otters and mink along Louisiana's fragile islands and barrier marshes. Crews in boats were patrolling coastal marshes early Friday looking for areas where the oil has flowed in, the Coast Guard said.

The leak from a blown-out well a mile underwater is five times bigger than first believed. Faint fingers of oily sheen were reaching the Mississippi River delta late Thursday, lapping the Louisiana shoreline in long, thin lines. Thicker oil was about five miles offshore. Officials have said they would do everything to keep the Mississippi River open to traffic.

The oil slick could become the nation's worst environmental disaster in decades, threatening to eclipse even the Exxon Valdez in scope. It imperils hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife along the Gulf Coast, one of the world's richest seafood grounds, teeming with shrimp, oysters and other marine life.

"It is of grave concern," David Kennedy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The Associated Press about the spill. "I am frightened. This is a very, very big thing. And the efforts that are going to be required to do anything about it, especially if it continues on, are just mind-boggling."

Oil clumps seabirds' feathers, leaving them without insulation -- and when they preen, they swallow it. Prolonged contact with the skin can cause burns, said Nils Warnock, a spill recovery supervisor with the California Oiled Wildlife Care Network at the University of California. Oil swallowed by animals can cause anemia, hemorrhaging and other problems, said Jay Holcomb, executive director of the International Bird Rescue Research Center in California.

The spewing oil -- about 210,000 gallons a day -- comes from a well drilled by the rig Deepwater Horizon, which exploded in flames April 20 and sank two days later. BP PLC was operating the rig that was owned by Transocean Ltd. The Coast Guard is working with BP to deploy floating booms, skimmers and chemical dispersants, and set controlled fires to burn the oil off the water's surface.

Protective boom has been set out on Breton Island, where colonial species such as pelicans, gulls and skimmers nest, and at the sandy tips of the passes from the Mississippi River's birdfoot delta, said Robert Love, a state wildlife official.

The leak from the ocean floor proved to be far bigger than initially reported, contributing to a growing sense among some in Louisiana that the government failed them again, just as it did during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. President Barack Obama dispatched Cabinet officials to deal with the crisis.

Cade Thomas, a fishing guide in Venice, worried that his livelihood will be destroyed. He said he did not know whether to blame the Coast Guard, the government or BP.

"They lied to us. They came out and said it was leaking 1,000 barrels when I think they knew it was more. And they weren't proactive," he said. "As soon as it blew up, they should have started wrapping it with booms."

BP shares continued falling early Friday. Shares were down 2 percent in early trading on the London Stock Exchange, a day after dropping 7 percent in London. In New York on Thursday, BP shares fell $4.78 to close at $52.56, taking the fall in the company's market value to about $25 billion since the explosion.

Government officials said the well 40 miles offshore is spewing about 5,000 barrels, or 200,000 gallons, a day into the gulf.

At that rate, the spill could eclipse the worst oil spill in U.S. history -- the 11 million gallons that leaked from the grounded tanker Exxon Valdez in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989 -- in the three months it could take to drill a relief well and plug the gushing well 5,000 feet underwater on the sea floor. Ultimately, the spill could grow much larger than the Valdez because Gulf of Mexico wells tap deposits that hold many times more oil than a single tanker.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was focusing on national wildlife refuges on a chain of barrier islands.

"We're trying to go for the ones where the pelicans are nesting right now," said Tom McKenzie, the agency's regional spokesman, adding that about 900 were on North Breton.

About 34,000 birds have been counted in the national refuges most at risk, McKenzie said. Gulls, pelicans, roseate spoonbills, egrets, shore birds, terns and blue herons are in the path of the spill.

Mink and river otter also live in the delta and might eat oiled carcasses, Love said.

Bird rescuer Holcomb worked the Valdez disaster and was headed to Louisiana. He said some birds may avoid the oil spill, but others won't.

"These are experiences that the birds haven't encountered before," he said. "They might think it's seaweed. It's never harmed them before."

BP has requested more resources from the Defense Department, especially underwater equipment that might be better than what is commercially available. A BP executive said the corporation would "take help from anyone." That includes fishermen who could be hired to help deploy containment boom.

An emergency shrimping season was opened to allow shrimpers to scoop up their catch before it is fouled by oil.

This murky water and the oysters in it have provided a livelihood for three generations of Frank and Mitch Jurisich's family in Empire, La.

Now, on the open water just beyond the marshes, they can smell the oil that threatens everything they know and love.

"Just smelling it, it puts more of a sense of urgency, a sense of fear," Frank Jurisich said.

The brothers hope to get all the oysters they can sell before the oil washes ashore. They filled more than 100 burlap sacks Thursday and stopped to eat some oysters. "This might be our last day," Mitch Jurisich said.

Without the fishing industry, Frank Jurisich said the family "would be lost. This is who we are and what we do."

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency so officials could begin preparing for the oil's impact. He also asked the federal government if he could call up 6,000 National Guard troops to help.

In Buras, La., where Hurricane Katrina made landfall in 2005, the owner of the Black Velvet Oyster Bar & Grill couldn't keep his eyes off the television. News and weather shows were making projections that oil would soon inundate the coastal wetlands where his family has worked since the 1860s.

"A hurricane is like closing your bank account for a few days, but this here has the capacity to destroy our bank accounts," said Byron Marinovitch, 47.

"We're really disgusted," he added. "We don't believe anything coming out of BP's mouth."

Mike Brewer, 40, who lost his oil spill response company in the devastation of Hurricane Katrina nearly five years ago, said the area was accustomed to the occasional minor spill. But he feared the scale of the escaping oil was beyond the capacity of existing resources.

"You're pumping out a massive amount of oil," he said. "There is no way to stop it."

Check out the article at Fox News.

What a terrible tragedy!!! I can only wonder how many years it will take to get our coastline back. The worst part about it to me is the fact that the first thing being hit is a Wildlife Management Area! :(

I'm not one of those people who will point at this as a reason to stop offshore drilling… I just think that more things could be done to make it safer.

Check out this informative interactive graphic from AP.

Earth Day 40th Anniversary!

Back in 1970, there were many inventive, vibrant ideas about how to bring America's attention to what was happening to our environment--pesticides in the water, burning rivers, and air dense with smog. Earth Day was one of these ideas. It was conceived as a way not only to raise awareness about the destruction of our natural world, but also to celebrate the Earth. It wasn't just a protest--it was a joyous event too.

Patricia and I participated in this nascent celebration in Greenwich Village with a small group of very committed individuals including Richard Ottinger, a New York Congressman, who had spoken at our founding conference a month before.

NRDC has been open all of four months when the first Earth Day occurred. We had launched it on January 1, 1970 because a small group of us--including respected conservationists who had blocked a power plant on Storm King Mountain on the Hudson River, a handful of determined students from Yale Law School, and myself had decided it was time to stop the environmental assaults that were spreading across America's cities and landscapes.

You have to remember those were different times.

January 1969 brought the massive Santa Barbara oil spill, just off the coast of California. In June, an oil and garbage slick on the Cuyahoga River in Ohio had caught fire. I remember traveling to Gary, Indiana, seeing the city's fire-spewing smokestacks, and thinking it literally looked like Hell.

Back in New York, I ate my lunch outside everyday in Battery Park, and I would see raw sewage bobbing in the Hudson. If Patricia and I put our young children to sleep by an open window in our apartment, they would wake with soot on their foreheads. Patricia read that a New Yorker breathed as much poison each day as someone who smoked a pack of cigarettes. She said, "It's one thing for me to choose to breathe such air--but what about our children?"

These were the concerns that gave birth to Earth Day and to organizations like NRDC and Friends of the Earth.

Granted, we were making it up as we went along. NRDC was the first public interest law firm dedicated to the environment, and there was no roadmap for where we would go. And in those early days, we barely had office space or payroll. We were living dollar to dollar, and some of the first staff members had to stay on couches at our apartment.

One month before Earth Day, NRDC held our founding conference in Princeton. Thanks to support from the Ford Foundation and the guidance of Storm King champions David Sive and Beatrice and Stephen Duggan, we put together a stellar lineup of speakers. We had legendary David Brower; New York Congressman Richard Ottinger; Princeton biologist Dr. Robert Faulk; John Oakes, editor of the New York Times editorial page; and theater critic Brooks Atkinson.

The group from Yale came as well, including Gus Speth, Dick Ayres, John Bryson, and Ed Strohbehn. So did a third-year student at Columbia Law School named David Hawkins. Dave came to the conference to lobby John Oakes to have the New York Times demand that Fifth Avenue be closed for the first Earth Day. But then Dave got another idea: he asked Dick Ayres how he could get a job with NRDC.

"Are you kidding?" Dick responded. "We don't even have money for our own salaries yet." David did eventually get that job, and he is still with us today as head of our climate center.

The conference was a great success. People grasped what needed to be done to protect the Earth, and we felt energized to get started.

That same spirit was catching on across America. A month later, Earth Day celebrations erupted in cities and campuses. Over the course of the next several months, Congress introduced more than 1,000 new bills aimed at protecting the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency opened its doors, and the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act become law. It was the start of so much we cared about, so much we built our work upon.

Now NRDC is 40 years old. We have more than 350 staff members and six offices, including one in Beijing. I am extremely proud of all that we have accomplished.

Earth Day has also matured. I have come to realize that every generation has to learn to fight for themselves. Everything has to be reborn, and Earth Day helps do that. It draws new generations in and keeps alive the spirit of environmental protection.

This is critical, because memory is short. Back when Newt Gingrich's 104th Congress came in, they had already forgotten how horribly polluted the nation had been just 30 years before. They said we don't need environmental laws; the companies will take care of themselves. That is total baloney, but we had to fight their short-term memory.

That is why we keep rebuilding the environmental movement, rebuilding the leadership--so that the value of safeguarding the Earth is carried on. That is why we have so many young people at NRDC. Each generation has new energy and new skills to bring to bear.

This year, I will spend Earth Day in the Catskill Mountains in Upstate New York, where Patricia and I live. We will be putting the finishing touches to our book, A Force for Nature, a 40-year history of NRDC which Chronicle Books will publish in the fall. We love this region, and we work hard to protect its forests and streams.

I hope the coming Earth Day will inspire other people--and especially young people--to do the same for places they love too.

Check out article at The Huffington Post.

In case you're wondering how you can do your part to preserve our beautiful planet, visit the Leave No Trace website.

Be sure to check out National Geographic's Earth Day page and the Earth Day Network website.

Check out today's Google art:

Tiger Stadium to Feature Purple Field Turf in 2010!!!

BATON ROUGE -- With the National L Club Spring game complete, the LSU Athletic Department has begun preparations to install purple field turf in historic Tiger Stadium in time for the 2010 home opener against Mississippi State.

"It's now time to expand the traditions that surround our football program," LSU head coach Les Miles said. "LSU is going to take the lead in what we think will become the wave of the future and that's field turf in the colors of your school. The installation of the purple field turf will add to the excitement of a Saturday Night in Tiger Stadium and this team will enjoy the opportunity to play on what will be the finest surface in football."

LSU becomes the latest school looking to brand its field with the school colors. Boise State and the University of New Haven play on blue field turf and Eastern Washington recently announced plans for a red field this upcoming season.  In keeping with tradition, the field will feature yard markings every five yards and the eye of the Tiger at the 50-yard line, with the SEC logo on the 25-yard line.

"This wasn't just a knee-jerk reaction," Marcus Davidson, Assistant to the Associate in the Office of Athletic Branding, said. "It was a perfect storm of factors.  Not only will field maintenance be easier for our grounds crew, but being able to project purple and gold to a national television audience is an opportunity for branding that will make Tiger Stadium the greatest place to watch a sporting event in the world.  With the purple turf, the only place that compares is the Roman Coliseum, and to my knowledge, that doesn't even exist anymore."

The turf will be installed by Turfus and Sons, a subsidiary of Vandalay Industries, which is the largest producer of the rubber material found underneath dangerous playground equipment.

"Partnering with LSU just makes sense," said Art Vandalay, the President and CEO of Vandalay Industries said. "We've been speaking on the virtues of colored turf for years at various conventions and we finally have the perfect partner in LSU.  The field is going to be amazing.  Although we have never done a project with our turf on anything more than municipal parks, we are confident that 'Tiger Turf' is going to be a staple of all collegiate athletic fields.  The possibilities are endless.  I see a future where grass will cease to exist."

The football team has been experimenting with the "Tiger Turf" during select drills in spring practice.  With a patent-pending revolutionary design, the purple turf certainly left an impression on players and coaches alike.

"It is definitely faster than anything I've ever seen in my 14 years of conditioning," Tiny Gampshone, the junior executive strength and conditioning coach said. "It is really going to prompt muscle confusion in the other team as the brain wants to run on a green surface."

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

LOL! Could you imagine the Tigers playing on that field in purple pants and purple jerseys with purple helmets??? Talk about the ultimate camo!!! Happy April Fool's Day!!!

Check out today's Google art:

Saturn Moon goes from Death Star to Pac-Man!

Saturn's moon Mimas must be a fan of 1980s pop culture.

Not satisfied with being labeled the "Death Star moon," Mimas has now decided to host an interplanetary game of Pac-Man.

Scientists working with NASA's Cassini orbiter yesterday released the highest resolution heat map to date of daytime temperatures on the icy moon. The map unexpectedly revealed a pattern that's the spitting image of the video arcade icon.

Even better, the map makes it look as if the galactic Pac-Man is about to chomp down on a red-tinged power pellet in the form of Herschel crater, an 80-mile-wide (128-kilometer-wide) basin that has long been Mimas's defining feature.

The zany pattern has scientists baffled, as they were expecting to see daytime temperatures more akin to an off-center bull's eye.

That's because the sun is directly over Mimas at midday, with lots of sunshine hitting close to the moon's equator.

A buildup of solar heat should mean that the moon sees its highest temperatures in the early afternoon, creating a pattern rather like the watchful eye of Hal, of 2001: A Space Odyssey fame.

Mimas's predicted heat map

Instead, when Cassini swooped in for a close flyby of Mimas on February 13, the probe's composite infrared spectrometer saw heat gathered in a bizarre part-eaten pizza-pie kinda shape.

Of course, heat is a relative term: The "warm" Pac-Man region averages 92 Kelvin (-294 Fahrenheit, or -181 Celsius). That stands out in the temperature data because the cold, bluer region is about 77 Kelvin (-320 Fahrenheit, or -196 Celsius).

The astronomers suggest Mimas might have surface materials in those blue spots that are highly conductive, which means they quickly shuttle heat deeper into the moon.

"It's maybe something like the difference between old, dense snow and freshly fallen powder," Cassini team member John Spencer said in a NASA release. Darker, compact snow allows heat to soak through, while fresh, bright white snow acts like an insulator, trapping heat at the surface.

But why Mimas would have such an oddly sharp divide between conducting and insulating materials remains a mystery.

What's more, Cassini's close flyby also revealed more subtle temperature differences around Herschel crater that are equally hard to explain.

"Other moons usually grab the spotlight, but it turns out Mimas is more bizarre than we thought it was," said Cassini project scientist Linda Spilker.

Let's just hope Cassini's upcoming April 5 flyby of the hazy moon Titan doesn't reveal any multicolored ghosts. Otherwise it's game over, Mimas. Game over.

Check out the article at National Geographic Blogs.

Weird stuff!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick's Day: green beer, green cupcakes, green clothes; parades, corned beef, soda bread and shouts of "Kiss me, I'm Irish!" Hard to believe it used to be a holy day.

Even the Times Online's Faith Central blog doesn't mention anything religious until the seventh of its 10 tips to celebrate the day:

"St. Patrick's Day falls in Lent, when in the old days, abstaining from drink was a given. If you really want to be trad, go to Church. March 17 was originally a Holy Day in the Church calendar, marked by Mass-going in the morning, and a feast ... in the afternoon."

Jesuit Rev. James Martin on the Huffington Post calls for people to put the Saint Patrick back in St. Patrick's Day, telling the story of how Patrick was enslaved in Ireland from the age of 16 to 20, yet after he escaped and became a priest, still chose to return there to spread Christianity.

"In his 40 years in Ireland he attracted numerous followers, baptized thousands, and built churches -- for the people who had previously enslaved him. "I never had any reason," he wrote, "except the Gospel and his promises, ever to have returned to that nation from which I had previously escaped with difficulty."

For the Christian, Patrick poses an important question: would you be willing to serve a place where you had known heartache? And how much is the Gospel worth to you? For everyone, he offers a challenge: can you forgive the people who have wronged you? Could you even love them? Think about that over your green beer."

Many traditional Irish blessings mention, if not forgiveness, at least kindness to strangers: "May you always have a kind word for those you meet," ends one. "May your heart glow with warmth, like a turf fire that welcomes friends and strangers alike. May the light of the Lord shine from your eyes, like a candle in the window, welcoming the weary traveler," implores another. Beliefnet lists eight Irish prayers, including that of St. Patrick.

Meanwhile, on the Emerald Isle itself, it is not a celebratory day for everyone. Cardinal Sean Brady used his St. Patrick's Day sermon to address the sex abuse scandal in Ireland in which 15,000 children are said to have been victimized over the course of six decades:

"I have listened to reaction from people to my role in events 35 years ago. I want to say to anyone who has been hurt by any failure on my part that I apologize to you with all my heart."

NPR reported today on the complicated relationship between the Church and the Irish people -- though nearly 3/4 think the abuse scandal was mishandled, Catholicism is deeply interwoven into cultural and civic life. Pope Benedict XVI says he will issue a letter on the subject.

Check out the article at USA Today.

Interesting article… now pour me another green beer! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Check out today's Google art:

Happy Mardi Gras!

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — One of the most accurate arms in the NFL had no trouble finding receivers Sunday night.

Thousands lined the streets to catch small, foam footballs thrown by Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees while he served as monarch of Bacchus, one of the biggest parades of the Carnival season that culminates in Mardi Gras.

The New Orleans Saints quarterback threw 10,000 black and gold footballs, along with the usual beads and doubloons, from his perch atop the float that was designed to look like a Roman chariot. Brees dressed as the Roman god of wine in a short gold and red tunic, gold boots and cape and a crown of gold grape leaves.

A cadre of police officers and parade officials had to accompany Brees from the limo that dropped him off at his float. He was accompanied by his wife, Brittany, who wore a white gown and gold crown. An eager crowd chanted his name and the familiar "Who Dat" cry of Saints fans.

The usual Mardi Gras colors of purple, green and gold were replaced along the parade route with the black and gold of the Saints jerseys worn by thousands.

"I missed the Saints parade," said Henry Exterstern, 50, of New Orleans. "No way I was going to miss him this time."

It was the second parade this week for Brees, after the Super Bowl victory parade Tuesday that celebrated the Saints' win over the Indianapolis Colts a week ago.

Sunday's parade appeared to get an attendance boost from the presence of Brees.

"This is a mad house," said Jennifer LeBlanc, 34, who said she sees the parade every year. "This is the biggest crowd I've ever seen. And every one is having a great time."

Brees began throwing the beads and footballs as soon as he boarded the float, giving a thumbs up to people who caught them.

As the float began to move, Brees took the microphone and chanted, "Who Dat, Who Dat."

"We love you New Orleans," he shouted. "Hail Bacchus."

The final weekend of Carnival saw dozens of parades roll throughout the New Orleans area. Another huge parade, Orpheus, is scheduled for Monday. More parades will roll on Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, when businesses will also be closed and the French Quarter and the parade routes will be crowded with revelers.

It all comes to a close at midnight Tuesday as police clear Bourbon Street and the heavily Catholic city welcomes Lent.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

We skipped out on New Orleans this year… it had to be freaking' crazy down there! Had a great time at Spanish Town and Poseidon, tho!

Drew Brees has sure had his share of parades in the past week... first in Disney, then the Krewe of Champions, then there he is again as the King of Bacchus! Classic pic of Sean Payton wearing LSU Beads with Paul Mainieri holding the Lombardi Trophy right before Orpheus rolled!

Hope everyone enjoyed the carnival season! No more King Cake until next year! :(

XXXpress It!!!

SPANISH TOWN KREWE CELEBRATES 30th ANNIVERSARY
AS NEW KREWE OF POSEIDON JOINS BR CARNIVAL LINEUP

The theme says it all.

"XXXpress It!" As if the Spanish Town parade wasn’t naughty enough already!

Locals have come to expect  lots of risqué  behavior at this long and winding, flamingo-ey festival — a pink parade of adult-themed humor. What else could you expect from groups with names like The Wasted Krewe, I-Da-Ho Potato Queens, or Krewe of Mixed Nuts?

The organizers of Spanish Town take delight in creating controversy, lampooning locals and poking political fun at the newsmakers of the past year. Be prepared to see outrageous costumes and floats that demand a double take. And don't be surprised at the throws you might see sailing through the air!

Spanish Town traditionally draws large crowds, including families. Probably one of the tamer spots to view the parade is from the alcohol-free family zone located on the north side of Convention Street between 5th and 7th streets, according to Board president Bruce Childers.

The parade starts at noon Saturday and features 70 floats this year. The 2010 dignitaries include King Tom Sylvest, Queen Liz Walker and Grand Marshal Nick Spitzer.

(And in all fairness, the “XXX” theme also refers to the krewe’s 30th anniversary.) Go to http://www.spanishtownmardigras.com for more information.

POSEIDON PARADE DEBUTS

While Spanish Town is winding down, members of the brand-new Krewe of Poseidon will be gearing up for their parade, which will begin about 4 p.m.

“Please wait for us,” said Kathy Farber, who with husband Steven, founded Poseidon last year. “We promise it will be worth the wait.”

The co-ed krewe has adopted the theme “Mardi Gras Myths and Legends,” illustrated by 14 floats and about 50 more units, including several bands, the LSU Tiger Girls, and many dance groups. Special throws include the krewe’s collectible polystone pendants  and illuminated seahorses, as well as an oversized plush blue and silver Silvio the Seahorse.

Grand marshals are Randy Jackson from the band Zebra and local blues artist Chris LeBlanc. Don’t miss the krewe’s mascot, Neptune, and his walking fish.

“We’re also very proud of our Dreams Come True Foundation float,” Farber said. “We heard that there were a lot of children with serious illnesses who loved Mardi Gras and had never ridden in a parade before, so we thought it would be wonderful to invite them to ride with us and give them the gift of a special Mardi Gras experience. It’s our way of doing something for our community.”

For more information, go to http://www.spanishtownmardigras.com.

SOUTHDOWNS AFTER DARK

The Krewe of Southdowns parade kicks off the weekend tonight at 7 p.m. with a route that winds through that normally quiet neighborhood.

The theme this year is “Southdowns Really Cooks” and the krewe royalty includes Grand Marshal Mike Futrell, King Gus Wilkes and Queen Kate Kane LaBorde.

The nighttime procession starts at Lee High School and features lighted floats, lots of music and flambeau carriers.

For more information, visit www.southdowns.org.

HISTORY IN NEW ORLEANS

A historical moment will take place Sunday, Feb. 14, in New Orleans, from the balcony of the Astor Crowne Plaza Hotel, according to the captains of Orpheus and Bacchus.

While the Bacchus parade pauses on Canal Street, Orpheus nobility Coach Sean Payton will salute Bacchus Monarch Drew Brees.

The toasting tradition between the two super krewes began in 2003, and the New Orleans Saints’ Superbowl last Sunday win makes the tradition a Mardi Gras moment to remember.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

Can you believe that it SNOWED this morning?!?!? I wonder if the Saints have anything to do with that?

Looks like another awesome lineup of parades in Red Stick this weekend… and we're not afraid of a little cold weather!

Besides, I gotta go see our TigerToons artist King Tom Sylvest!!!

Krewe of Champions!!!

NEW ORLEANS — Only a Super Bowl victory parade could upstage Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

Carnival floats carrying Saints players, coaches and team owner Tom Benson rolled past tens of thousands of jubilant fans in downtown New Orleans on Tuesday, two days after the 43-year-old franchise won its first NFL championship.

Players, wearing team jerseys instead of traditional Carnival masks and costumes, tossed beads into the crowd and signed autographs for throngs of screaming fans. Benson shouted “Who Dat!” into a microphone from his perch atop a float. Head coach Sean Payton blew kisses and held the Lombardi Trophy over his head.

“Here’s to the best Mardi Gras week in the history of this city,” Payton said, raising a glass of champagne during a toast outside the city’s historic Gallier Hall.

The parade, a week before the city’s signature Fat Tuesday celebration, started outside their home turf at the Louisiana Superdome. Black, gold and white confetti floated over the crowd and a man wearing a Saints jacket held aloft a sign that read, “Happy Lombardi Gras!”

The floats stopped at a reviewing stand so elected officials, including Mayor Ray Nagin, Gov. Bobby Jindal and Sens. Mary Landrieu and David Vitter, could toast the team’s 31-17 win over the Indianapolis Colts.

“How’s the ‘Who Dat’ nation feel tonight?” Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees yelled when his float stopped at the reviewing stand. “This toast goes out to you. We love you and we won that championship for you.”

Ten Carnival krewes lent floats for the team to ride. More than a dozen marching bands joined the team on its route, which passed by the edge of the French Quarter and ended at the city’s convention center. An official crowd estimate wasn’t immediately available, but many fans said the gathering seemed larger than any during Mardi Gras.

“This is wilder than Mardi Gras,” said Frank V. Smith, 55, a lifelong New Orleans resident who shot photographs of players from the rear of a pickup truck. “I’ve never seen so many people out here like this. This is beautiful, man.”

Shannon Cobb, 28, of Metairie, said the parade was a party with a purpose.

“Everybody is here for one reason: their love for the city and their love for the Saints and to show our appreciation for what they’ve done for us,” she said.

The Super Bowl win, which capped just the ninth winning season in franchise history, was a stunning reversal of fortunes for a team once derided as the “Aints.” Few players could appreciate that better than fan favorite Deuce McAllister, the team’s retired all-time leading rusher who joined the team on the sidelines for the Super Bowl.

“It’s been pretty crazy,” he said Tuesday. “Everywhere you go, you can see the pride in the fans.”

Fans are grateful for more than just the team’s on-field performance. Many members of “Who Dat” nation credit the team with uniting a city that has struggled with racial divisions and labored to rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which left about 85 percent of the city underwater in August 2005.

“After the hurricane, people were more willing to come back when they realized the Saints were coming back,” said Scott Catalanotto, 35, whose 7-year-old son sat on a ladder and yelled for beads.

In the French Quarter, thousands streamed toward the parade route, turning Bourbon Street into a river of black and gold.

Will Kaplan, 28, stood out in a billowing white toga with a gold-colored halo and the word “Breesus” on his back.

His Jesus-inspired costume, he said, was made from sheets he had in a FEMA trailer he stayed in after Hurricane Katrina on the University of New Orleans campus.

“I’m the spirit of the party,” he said.

Enduring chilly, windy weather under overcast skies, fans started staking out spots along the parade route more than seven hours before the floats rolled.

Tim Thorn, a 35-year-old landscaper, drove in from Baton Rouge to be among the early birds. He said he gave his daughters, Cameron and Carson, the day off school because the event was too big to miss.

“It’s probably the biggest party in the world,” he said.

Check out the article at The Advocate.

The Saints' win in Super Bowl 44 has brought about MANY firsts! For starters, this was the first appearance in the Super Bowl for the Saints. Next, Super Bowl XLIV was watched by more than 106 million people - setting a new record. Not to mention… this parade was the first time that floats from different krewes rode together in the same parade! I'd also have to speculate that this was the biggest & best Super Bowl parade EVER!!!