I do not mean the car companies, I mean the city. Never been there, just read about their plight, and roamed aroung th eplace with Google Earth, but I have some thoughts. Who knows, amybe eventually something will happen.

Clearly, there is a lack of leadership. For those who don't know, the mayor is in jail and a successor has not been elected.

It seems like the root of their problems is that there is a large proportion of lower class unskilled people who no longer have living wage jobs thanks to the demise of the auto manufacturing industry. Many hovel houses, many burned, and many abandoned. It is expensive to demolish them. Anyone with brains and or skill has left. So what to do.

It appears that there is much farm land in Michigan. So, it may be expensive to demolish on an individual basis, ten grand a building I read. But, I do not think it is so expensive to demolish on a grand scale. Here is where leadership is required. The city needs to contract. So demolish on a large scale. Not a house, but a whole neighborhood. A half dozen giant front end loaders can make many acres of farm land in a day. Farm land is no good without people to work it. But, remember the low skilled population desperate for jobs? I bet the return on the sale of produce will offset much of the costs, making it a far better deal that unemployment and welfare payments.

Its a start.

Just trying to change the worls in my spare time.

There are lots of pretty smart people here. Lets here your thoughts. How's this related to the FE? How's Bethlehem related to Chritmas?

One of the big problems is that younger people just flat out don't want to work. I have worked for the same company for over 23 years and I see it every day. Young kids come in, work a couple days, ( not hard work) and they don't come back. As much as they love their beer and cigarettes, they don't want to work for it. they want it all handed to them. But the farm land clearing is a good idea.

Can't grow nothing without fertile top soil. Was stripped bare for delevopement.

Stop the flow of our industrial base from moving to China or this problem will just keep growing. Our contries lifestyle is leaving with our industry. Free trade creates averaging of lifestyle. I don't want our lifestyle averaged with China's. I can't beleive that our government does not seem to see it. How much foreign money is flowing to our politicians?

Stop handing things to them (social programs). If you get hungry you will learn to work. I really beleive that if we had no social programs at all, the amount of people that really need help would be handled by charities. There is really something wrong with people getting a social security check for being a drunk, drug addict, or being obese.

If a man can't work, he will steal. The so-called "surplus" of low wage jobs is BS. I know people that apply for those kind of jobs - if you speak English, no need to apply. No one wants a worker that will complain about scrapping out a little asbestos, without a  Hazmat suit or has any qualms about dumping it in the nearest Lake, river, stream or burying it on some hidden lot in a "bad neighborhood".

The problem with Detroit and many other cities build on  MFG. jobs is the companies that did the hiring, just left! Nothing came in to replace those jobs. Every time an industry dies, there is always a large number of people that are lost, displaced and can't be absorbed in the job market; in a short period of time. The more experienced the worker, the worse it is for him. We had similar problems when cars took over from horses, carriages and related industries. Same when Electronics took over from electro-mechanical, when steam, then diesel replaced sails and stevedores. No more buggy whip makers, no more sail makers, no more pick n shovel miners. But there was always a new industry coming around the corner. This time the next big thing is already outsourced.

I'm not a proponent for endless welfare either, but blaming the victim seems to be the latest "sports craze" for those who have the benefit of distance from these blighted areas. I guess it isn't a real problem until it affects the white-collar jobs, executives and educated?

You can still get a bowl of soup, a bed and a prayer session at the local Church, Salvation army. But that won't give a man a job and certainly not provide him with a dream. The American Dream seems to only work if you have never had anything. If you had, then lost - you might be deemed a loser, not fit for compassion.

Its going to be a long, cold winter - probably lasting for the next 2 to 3 years ???

Question: Would you really plant on or eat food grown on ground that used to be part of a city? The cost of reclamation, cleanup seems prohibitive.

I was raised in a city where they did HUD development back in the '60's. The used emminent domain to condem a whole subdivision of homes (yes, there were some really bad houses - but there were also some nice houses, churches, schools, paved roads. The people that lived there were working, owned their homes and cared about their kids). But the city only saw the Federal dollars they could get if they re-developed the area.

Today, the area is still going through  re-development. About 20-30 sq. blocks of the city is a waste land. The streets are there, but no houses. No one will build there first, and the people that didn't get bought out are stuck...can't get a decent price for their homes because the city...in its wisdom... zoned the land for trailers and light industrial use when no developer would build on the cleared land.

 

we have this here in Atlanta.Old living area torn down new better houses built.Now all those new houses are vacant.People walked away from them,because they lost their jobs

crux of the matter. I noticed my latest big purchase a Sony Home Theatre was made in China. That means the Sony products long made in Japan where it was cheap has moved the jobs to the newest lowest priced provider of labor China. The lifestyle of the Chinese worker is a couple bucks a day if that and the USA well just look at Min Wage (don't forget all the added costs incurred by his employer)
The world has to get the pay/lifestyle equal.
Unfortunately I regretfully disagree that this Economic Mess we are in will all blow over in a few years. Point blank America makes next to nothing in the world market we have horse traded paper and barely produced goods. When I look at the big build-up we did for WW-Two I shudder to think if we had to gear up much of anything from producing steel to manufacturing equipment on a big scale.

It'll also cure the displaced worker issue. Cutting back on health care will shorten our collective lifespans by 10 - 15 years.

All those disaster movies from the '8o's had a point. Escape from New York, just put a big fence around the city. No one in, no one out. Contain the problem? But we are already on the way to that dream, aren't we. The USA has more of its citizens in jail than any other industrialized nation in the world.

I know I feel safer. Merry Christmas!!!

i think not. where i work there is a guy that is 6'4" and skinny he is always friendly with the ladies and he shows up 6 days out of every 2 months lately. He changes batteries and works in maintenance. The first shift guy weights in at 390 lbs @ 5'10" he lost a few pounds he was over 430 lbs. the guy on second shift yeah the skinny guy is always being covered by the first shift guy. He ends up working 16 hour days. He is a white guy and it is hard to tell when he leaves dirty from hard work every day. I guess we should tell him he is lazy because he doesn't seem to realize it yet. jmho, matt

biggalaxie@aol.com

what did I miss

But since the subject was brought up... Obesity is a medical term that defines a person that is based on BMI or weight tables for "average" people of a specific height, in some cases these can be off - based on lifestyle. Especially the weight charts; they only give a general idea of ideal weights. People who train for sports, or are genetically prone to large frames or are of light frame, may be slightly above or below the chart levels.

The body mass index (BMI) tool is the medical standard for defining obesity. Body mass index (BMI) is a number based on both your height and weight that can help evaluate the degree to which you are overweight and assess your total body fat.

A formula is used to calculate an adult's BMI:

BMI = weight in kilograms / (height in meters) ²

Normal BMI is 20 to 25. Generally, men with more than 25 percent body fat and women with more than 30 percent body fat are considered obese. Use our Body Mass Index Tool to check your BMI.

Doctors also use weight-for-height tables, which chart acceptable healthy weights for a person of a given height.

The only problem I see is misapplication of the specific medical term "obese" when what most people are say is based instead on the common terms of Fat, muscular, heavy: which are solely based on appearence. Obese is fact, Fat is an opinion.

In the last 20 years or so, the difference between actual body weight/size and Idealized weight/height, proportion is way out of sync. Even "normal" guys are getting sensitive about weight. The Beauty companies have been waiting, drooling for this for years. A whole new market of insecure people worrying about weight, white teeth, fragrance, clothes and style.

Note: Most, if not all, body builders would be considered Obese, based on standard charts...even though most have less than 10% body fat.

 

These bail outs (to banks, not the loans to the car companies) is a fine example of averaging us working folk to the lowest common denominator while the politicians get richer and more powerful.

************************************



1967 FE 390GT engine: 416 CID 233/238* @ 0.050 Solid Lifter w/ 4 spd TL.

1968 GT/CS Mustang. 289/c4

1995 Mercedes e320 I6 DOHC, 216 HP wagon.

2003 Tundra SR5, 4.7 DOHC, 4x4.

Another Galaxie (one day.)



Oh and a Bicycle - daily driver to save gas for the 'F'un 'E'xcursions.

.......clearing the blight would be much deeper than 10K per building. Just the cost of removing the infrastructure, utilities (gas, water, electric, sewers per home or business), and the same utilities associated with the roadways/streets is astronomical. Think of the humanitarian ramifications in the dislocation of the crack ho, the pusher, the pimps, and the other scourges of society (excluding auto workers). This travesty will be shared by other communities across the country when the second wave of mortgage defaults begins from loans that were similar to the sub-primes, but allowed 'interest-only' payments and now these homes carry major negative equity. It ain't over yet, JMO, Rod.

Mickey Thompson's 63 1/2 #997 S/S Hi-Rise 427 Lgt/Wgt Galaxie,
1957 C-600 Cab-over carhauler w/390-4V, 2-speed rear-end
FGCofA member #4908
MCGC member #75

"There will ALWAYS be an FE in my LiFE"

my father's sisters left ga in the sixties for detroit.They could not get good jobies here because of race problems.They and other people went there looking for the american way and hope,in the 50's.
Here in Ga. we plant two or three times a year.Up there because of the weather you might get one crop a year.This is what happens when you put all of your eggs in one basket.
The State of Michigan is at fault,they did not prepare these people.The state was happy just sitting back and
raking in the tax of the vehicles being made there.
My relaties are dead now,that moved there.So I don't care what happen there,but don't use my tax money to fix it.Let it sit there so we will all be remined of a failed government

Put the Military to work between battles and wars.
Young strong strapping men rebuilding Iraq should be in Detroit.
IMHO

Turn it into a military base.

Same with the WPA...but there are a number of people on this board that call those kind of programs "socialism". Its better to complain, feel superior, than to help a Fellow American get back on his feet?

Few people would deny help for someone that is genuine about "getting back on their feet" The trouble is, it's difficult to sort through the thousands of confirmed deadbeats in order to find him. I'm still looking for a guy or gal standing on the corner holding a sign that says "F.E. Ford race vetren, will work for T&D rockers" I will finally roll down my window.

sell to canadia

which corner should I be standing on ???

I'm still awaiting the T&D Rockers i bought on eBay (thanks for the tip Thor) but i didn't have enough money to pay for them so I wholesaled off a few parts quickly.

Quoted from The Weekly Standard

Link: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/945aynyk.asp?pg=2

....Before arriving, I conducted an exhaustive survey, reading everything I could about Detroit, including and especially the journalistic labor of the diligent if shell-shocked scribes of the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press. How bad is Detroit? Let's review:

Its recently resigned mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, he of the Kangol hats and five-button suits, now wears jailhouse orange as he's currently serving a four-month sentence as part of a plea agreement for perjuring himself regarding an extramarital affair with his chief of staff, which yielded soupy love-daddy text messages that would make Barry White yak in his grave. Those in Detroit who are neither recipients of sweetheart contracts nor Kilpatrick family members on the city payroll at inflated salaries think he got off easy. Because what led to the perjury was concealing an $8.4 million payout from city coffers to settle a whistleblower suit brought by cops who'd been fired for investigating, among other things, the murder of a stripper named Strawberry who, prior to her death, was allegedly beat up by Kilpatrick's wife when she caught her entertaining her husband.

In a city often known as the nation's murder capital, with over 10,000 unsolved murders dating back to 1960, the police are in shambles through cutbacks and corruption trials. (They have a profitable sideline, though, as one of the nation's largest gun dealers, having sold 14 tons of used weapons out-of-state.) Their response times are legendarily slow. Their crime lab is so inept that it has been closed. One Detroit man found police so unresponsive when trying to turn himself in for murder that he hopped a bus to Toledo and confessed there instead.

Detroit schools haven't ordered new textbooks in 19 years. Students have reported having to bring their own toilet paper. Teachers have reported bringing hammers to class for protection. Declining enrollment has forced 67 school closures since 2005 (more than a quarter of the city's schools). The graduation rate is 24.9 percent, the lowest of any large school district in the country. Not for nothing did one frustrated activist start pelting school board members with grapes during a meeting. She probably should've reached for something heavier.

An internal audit, which was 14 months late, estimates next year's city deficit to be as high as $200 million (helped along by $335,000 embezzled from the Department of Health and Wellness Promotion). With a dwindling tax base--even the city's three once-profitable casinos are seeing a downturn in revenues (the Greektown Casino is in bankruptcy)--the city has kicked around every money-making scheme from selling off ownership rights to the tunnel it shares with neighboring Windsor, Canada, to a fast food tax. It's perhaps unsurprising that Detroit now has the most speed traps in the nation.

It also has one of the highest property tax rates in Michigan, yet has over 60,000 vacant dwellings (a guesstimate--nobody keeps official count), meaning real estate values are in the toilet. Over the summer, the Detroit News sent a headline around the world, about a Detroit house that was for sale for $1. But it's not even that uncommon. As of this writing, there are at least five $1 homes for sale in Detroit.

The city council has been such a joke that one former member demanded 17 pounds of sausages as part of her $150,000 bribe. Its prognosis for respectability hasn't grown stronger with Monica Conyers, wife of congressman John Conyers, taking the helm. She has managed to get in a barroom brawl, threatened to shoot a mayoral staffer as well as have him beaten up, and twice called a burly and bald fellow council member "Shrek" during a public hearing. But with all the problems facing the city, the council still found time to pass a nonbinding resolution supporting the impeachment of George W. Bush.

How bad is Detroit? It once gave the keys to the city to Saddam Hussein.




Interesting endorsement ...... (good thing these guys all have a sense of humor)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZNvC_-RW2Q

that business as usual is not the solution. Schools don't work, The city leaders don't lead - the Reform candidates are worse than the intrenched goons. The cops are stupid, corrupt, lazy, variously incompetent or unwilling to investigate nor prevent crime. (City's finest is the term most often used to describe our Police forces). Say it ain't so...please.

Yet, the people suffering under these conditions - your comments seem to explain it all away as somehow its their fault? I would believe that the Billions (Trillions?) of dollars spent, by the current administration, to bring freedom, democracy and safe streets to an un-named foreign nation, once led by the person you mention - who was also invited to the White house and recieved government assistance and purchased weapons from us. This is an example of how things were done wrong, in the past or how to do things different - with the benefit of 20 - 20 hindsight?

Forgive me if I can't see where these issue you bring up are anything less than a reason to rebuild the cites, using a community based effort. Obviously, Detroit as it stands today - by your examples is bereft of an effective, working regiem that can claim to "lead" the city. That generally means the people are pretty much on their own.

OK Sherman, lets get in the "Way Back" machine and fix things in the past. Where the Heck is Mr. Peabody when you need him?

Or, lets look at what we can do, today - to fix the failures of the past, today!

Nothing is worse than the decades of the same liberal democrat run politics and cronies that helps keep this once proud city as a national joke now.I lived near there for years and in the 70's and 80's it was colman young that ran it into the ground and made it worse followed by a long list of similar politicions.You can't keep throwing money at a problem that needs a severe attitude adjustment.If you don't change the attitude the problem will only get worse.Yes it takes some money but far less than what has already been wasted there. People on welfare or renting should not have the right to keep voting themselves raises by relecting the very people that are more than willing to keep them right where they are.They will generation after generation continue to vote for the one that gives them the most not the one that will make the most real improvements for the city.There should be provisions put into place where a person can actualy only vote once (local and National elections).I really think there should be an short basic IQ test given before someone can vote .Why should a stupid person cancel out the vote of smart person.For everybodys well beeing why should a stupid person have a real say in things they are unqualified to make a thought based choice.As a second thought give all congress and senators a IQ test also if they are not able to give a above average score replace them.Hard problems will never be cured by stupid people making selfish or just dumb choices.Time to role up the sleeves make some tuff choices and actually make things better not just tell people what they want to hear and turn and walk away after the votes are counted.I really doubt that it will ever change for detroit or many other big citys nobody has the balls to make the tough changes.

69 R code Mustang coupe 68 1/2 R code Mustang coupe 70 ram air Drag Pack Cougar 67 505 F.A.S.T legal Fairlane

Some of these people were hard working tax paying people.Some do need to be plushed down the sewer.We send money to counties that have never helped use.Our good Jewish State or county.Even Africa has never helped us.We need a plan to help our own people.
No social programs other than training and aid while in training.Those wanting to find jobs and wanting to work will find jobs.While we are on this get rid of the free
trade agreement,also people that are not suppose to be here

Detroit (and New Orleans and a host of other urban centers, too) represent the crowning achievement of LBJ's Great Society. But just when you thought social engineering, income redistribution and entitlements couldn't get worse: The Dali-Bama cometh.

Exit question: Who is John Galt?

Government needs to provide people with the opertunity to provide for themselves, not provide for them.

dali-bama thats a good laugh. Just another socialist to spend our money.
Ron.

Detroit is sinking as surely as New York will as the ocean levels rise; as New Orleans is and will despite the trillions they'll spend down there on levees and dikes.

Let them sink.

It's all part of the circle of life.

Detroit's circle is closed and spiraling in and down. Why throw more money down the drain? End all government support and those that can make it without aid can stay, maybe prosper, maybe rebuild the city into something. But if the city doesn't make sense anymore, like Venice (another sinking city) now is all tourists and no real residents, then abandon it or transform it. But if you can't get tourists or some other source of funding other than handouts? Leave.

Like a giant laxative in the worlds monetary system, the Federal Reserves quantitative easing is starting to have an effect. You wouldnt necessarily call it the desired effect. After all, were talking about the eventual destruction of the U.S. dollar and the global monetary system upon which its based. But its an effect nonetheless.

Both the Aussie and New Zealand dollars were up against the greenback. These two are probably not rising because they are commodity currencies. The strength of commodities versus the U.S. dollar is only relative at the moment. But the interest rate differential might be a factor.
The Bailout Time Bomb
Our faithful central bank is busier than ever. Its feverishly working to nationalize as much as it can and destroy our currency in the process.

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee met in America last Tuesday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected the U.S. central bank to cut short-term rates to just twenty-five basis points, and it did. That puts them at just 0.25%. Though pathetic, the move is largely symbolic.

.

Mickey Thompson's 63 1/2 #997 S/S Hi-Rise 427 Lgt/Wgt Galaxie,
1957 C-600 Cab-over carhauler w/390-4V, 2-speed rear-end
FGCofA member #4908
MCGC member #75

"There will ALWAYS be an FE in my LiFE"

Government is to blame. Thessalonians 3:10 says While we were with you, we gave this order: "If anyone doesn't want to work, he shouldn't eat." Government has made itself God to the people. As long as we give they will take. Problem is, how do we reverse it? Michigan is reaping what it has sowed and apparently the majority of people living there can't see it.

thegoingthing.com

Gee we pay for everything else

http://www.google.com/search?q=iraq+awards+power+plant+construction+china+&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7GGLD

"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self." James 2:8

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah

How could this be? One time the greatest industrial infrastructure on Earth. With a tax base to fund schools and services better then any in the US. Union wages and benefits that far exceed the national average. An 83% black population, black president, black Mayor, black city counsel, black police chief, and black school director we are unable to escape oppression.

even it bites you in the butt. There's no excuse for a minority individual to claim oppression as their reason for not succeeding in this country. More employment oppurtunities exist in this country for people of color then any other place else in the world. If black people continue to worship at the altars of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Louis Farakhon (sp) they will never achieve or succeed at any of their dreams or ambitions.

I've lived in the Detroit metro area for 13 years, and last May, I started working in downtown Detroit.

For those of you who haven't been there, it isn't like what you would imagine. It is not some post-apocolyptic wasteland inhabited by flesh eating zombies. There are probably run down areas of your own home town that look a lot like areas in Detroit, the difference is that in Detroit, there are more of them, and they are close together. Detroit is not completely devoid of nice areas, good resturants, and beautiful buildings. There are relatively new baseball and football stadiums, three brand new casinos (not my thing, but...), a nice river walk, parks, etc...

The city government has been completely negligent for at least 30 years, and most of the residents who gave a sh*t moved out of the city into one of the surrounding cities years ago. There is very little new investment within the city limits because it is very difficult (impossible) to make a buisness case to deal with the corruption and taxes involved in building something in Detroit, when you can probably get more benefit in a location less than 10 miles away.

For 13 years I've looked across the DMZ near Wyoming street (the locals might know what I'm talking about) pondering ways to rebuild Detroit, and I still don't know if it could be done. In other cities, the land is valuable because it is in the center of the action where everyone wants to be. Detroit has enough freeways so that you can navigate around the donut of surrounding communities without much trouble, so that most people can (and do) avoid going into the city.

One building I drive by every day is the Book Tower. This used to be the tallest building in Michigan. It is a simply gorgeous building. In Chicago or New York, or in just about any other city, this building would be worth $100s of millions, maybe even a billion dollars. Here in Detroit, it is just about vacant. There are a lot of big buildings downtown that are vacant with no windows. The Michigan Railroad Terminal across from old Tiger Stadium is a modern ruin. You can see the beauty that must have been there, and then recognize that you are looking at a corpse.

One idea that is floating around that I hope comes to fruition is a change in the City charter to make council members representatives of districts instead of being elected by the city at large. There is very little accountability in city government, and if a particular part of town had it's own representative, perhaps the voters in a region could hold their particular council member accountable. At least then there would be some hope that at least one region of the city could start to rebuild.

If you do.......then what in the hell is this?......one long diatribe of wasted bandspace on the FE forum.

M.

....home of the TexasOutsiders
www.texasthunderperformance.com

Not the response I expected, but 35 or so members felt the need to express their opinion, good, bad, or indifferent. What's a forum for? Seems like detroit ought to be near and dear to our hearts. I never would have started a save Miami thread here.

Detriot?...special?..."near and dear" my ass........it's a wasteland of greed, corruption and decay.......and I am NOT speaking of the city.........the Auto industry.......take it up on a political forum......

Mark

....home of the TexasOutsiders
www.texasthunderperformance.com

reverence for the birthplace of the FE. What else do you get so worked up about?

I get "worked up" about many things......some even FE related.......Detroit?..not hardly...as in the context of your posting.......worried about the US auto industry?...yes I am...Detroit...hell NO.........What does the plight of our cities have to do with the auto industry..........MOST OF IT IS OFF SHORE NOW ANYWAY........REVERANCE FOR THE BIRTHPLACE OF THE FE?...........are you joking?

I have reverance for many things.........but a city falling down around it's knees?...like New Orleans.....same boat........mis management, greed, corruption and flight to avoid by most working folks.............and the beat only goes on, and on, and on.........

ELECTED OFFICIALS.......biggest joke in America.

but you see NO MODERATORS YANKIN' ANY OF THESE WORTHLESS POSTINGS.......

LEMME SEE...I think I should start one, and I can get ole Gopher to assist.........let's try Toyota this time........

Mark

....home of the TexasOutsiders
www.texasthunderperformance.com

below sea level, a lake on the 4th side big enough to run an offshore boat in. On the Gulf Coast, where hurricanes are a regular occourance.

The only lesson we should have learned from Katrina is we should have put a lid on it 10 years before so none of the dumbfucks could get out. Problem solved, Darwin wins.

But no, we will rebuild it... and oh we took a pretty fair President down because some bleeding heart liberals (about the only thinking ahead that was done down there,lets see we need a catastrophe to blame on President Bush, yeah a hurricane in a place where morons rule and dickheads drool) thought it was great time to get everything set for the Obananation we have now.

Yeah... Lets see how long this post lasts. How about we move the big three where people would appreciate working a little more... Detroit is a depressing fucking place.

Tongue in Cheek.

Have you noticed how much press has been devoted to the law suit by the NRA against the hierarchy in NO regarding gun confiscation during the Katrina aftermath. NRA won, of course.

I have a friend who lives high and dry on the bank down there who builds custom Harleys. He had to post 24 hr armed guard to protect his shop. Food? Water? He builds fuckin' choppers! What would someone trying to drag a 121" S&S motor out of his shop have to do with survival? He had to shoot a fucker in the ass for that. Cops came and wanted take him inwhen he called forthem to come pick his bleeding ass up. A county deputy came over and deputized him sohe could legally protect his business. Or a flat screen TV? A guy got in trouble for shooting a looter (who shot at him first) trying to haul his electronics shop away. I don't know of anyone who could eat any of those things, anyone here who can? I could understand getting some food or water where you could, but stealing peoples business and personal belongings that won't have any value until the lights come back on? That was the biggest load of bullshit ever foisted on a nation.

I know a lady who lived down in the 9th ward. For months any building material you took down to fix your house dissappeared. You would put in a window, come back the next day its been taken out, a toilet for God's sake. They went back and not only the toilet, but all of the pipes too. You don't think 'ol Pres Bush was scavenging around down there at night to build his house after he lost the election do you? They abandoned it and moved to Baton Rouge.

Now if we started building that lid...

N/M

I cool with 'dat. Makin' bacon beats chompin' grits any day.

I would have loved to have seen that dude's face lugging that S&S though and getting shot in the ass by my buddy. That would have been a Poloroid moment there like the black guy on the three stooges who saw a ghost. Whats really hilarious, my buddy is Creole and Cajun, almost as "colored" (as they so civilly still call it down there) as the perp. Him telling me the story on the phone was hard, beacuse he has a real "Looousannar" accent. Shooting someone in the ass is almost universally funny though and once thats out there, the language barrier falls. LOL