There are places where having someone armed and standing guard makes me feel at least a little secure. The guard at the bank, the airport, and the police patrol cars on the street are harbingers of safety.

However, church is not one of those places. At least, not for me. But evidently the good Republicans in Louisiana think differently, and so today Bobby Jindal signed the "gun-in-church" bill, authorizing people with concealed weapons permits to bring them to church.

NOLA.com:

Including the "gun-in-church" bill, House Bill 1272 by Rep. Henry Burns, R-Haughton, Jindal has signed into law 940 of the 1,067 bills the Legislature sent him, vetoed 12, and used his pen to line-item spending measures in four different budget bills.

Burns' bill would authorize persons who qualified to carry concealed weapons having passed the training and background checks to bring them to churches, mosques, synagogues or other houses of worship as part of a security force.

The pastor or head of the religious institution must announce verbally or in weekly newsletters or bulletins that there will be individuals armed on the property as members of he security force. Those chosen have to undergo eight hours of tactical training each year.

It sort of kills that whole "love one another" idea, doesn't it?

Informed Comment: McCain, Palin and NOLA

Democurmudgeon: Have you noticed how Republicans love the idea of a Republican, like Palin , going after the major American oil companies so she could tax them?

Oliver Willis: John McCain and his roommates

Ken Silverstein: Since Obama's pastor was vetted more carefully than McCain's running mate, now seems like a good time to examine the viewpoints of Sarah Palin's two most recent pastors.

Economist's View: The Death of the Credit Card Economy

Politics in the Zeros: In Minneapolis, Federal and local thugs with badges are violating the law.

naked capitalism: Bear Hearings: A Charade

Threat Level: U.S.funded search engine, run by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is blocking searches containing the word "abortion."

Sensen No Sen: A Gulag by any other name...

Opinions You Should Have: A NYT/CBS poll has found that a lousy future has soured the public's view of the future.

Danger Room: al Qaeda #2: We'll attack Iran

Facing South: NOLA public housing advocates bid good riddance to G-Dub's disgraced HUD chief. Heckuva job, Jackie!

From Advancement Project, watch the video: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

If you read The Shock Doctrine, this news comes as no surprise. HUD/HANO has been itching to destroy the public housing in New Orleans since Katrina hit. It looks like in mid-December 15th, they are slated for demolition:

On the 12th day before Christmas, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is planning to unleash teams of bulldozers to demolish thousands of low-income apartments in New Orleans. Despite Katrina causing the worst affordable housing crisis since the Civil War, HUD is spending $762 million in taxpayer funds to tear down over 4600 public housing subsidized apartments and replace them with 744 similarly subsidized units--an 82% reduction. HUD is in charge and a one person HUD employee makes all the local housing authority decisions. HUD took over the local housing authority years ago--all decisions are made in Washington DC. HUD plans to build an additional 1000 market rate and tax credit units--which will still result in a net loss of 2700 apartments to New Orleans--the remaining new apartments will cost an average cost of over $400,000 each!

Affordable housing is at a critical point along the Gulf Coast. Over 50,000 families still living in tiny FEMA trailers are being systematically forced out. Over 90,000 homeowners in Louisiana are still waiting to receive federal recovery funds from the Road Home. In New Orleans, hundreds of the estimated 12,000 homeless have taken up residence in small tents across the street from City Hall and under the I-10.

What a lovely Christmas gift to give those who can least afford it. And we'll still call ourselves the richest country in the world.

In conjunction with Human Rights Day on December 10th, a variety of concerned groups will come together to resist the demolition of public housing in New Orleans. They need your help.

Lots of information and resources available at Advancement Project.

Happy Tuesday, harlots and hooligans. Melissa McEwan, trash-talking proprietress of Shakesville, here again, coming to you live from my parents' basement, where I dream up elaborate conspiracy theories while geeked on Bush Derangement Syndrome, clad in my pink footie pajamas and subsisting on handfuls of Dirty Hippie brand granola. But enough about Howard Kurtz's fever dreams. Back in reality, here's today's collection of shiny pennies:

Taylor Marsh explains how Obama isn't the anti-Hillary—and Christopher couldn't agree more. Mike the Mad Biologist says Obama has lost his vote.

Bint Alshamsa reports that public housing may be another victim in the very long line of them left in NOLA by Katrina, incompetence, and institutional apathy. Meanwhile, Scout Prime notes that a homeless encampment by New Orleans City Hall has tripled in size, and there are now an estimated 12,000 people homeless in the metro area.

Chet Scoville would like you to know that the corporate state owns you now. And here I've been bitching about the government trying to take over just my womb when they were planning to take over all of me!

Steven Hart discovers that the Creation Museum is about to become an even bigger, better moron magnet. In other weep-for-our-future news, Comandante Agí reports that automatic flush toilets will destroy America by giving children anxiety. Rachel updates the story of Katelyn Kampf, the girl whose parents abducted her last year to try to force her to get an abortion, because her baby's father is black.

As the action of the writer's union continues to make news, Linkmeister looks at the state of American unionism. (Hint: With Wal-Mart now being America's largest private employer, it ain't pretty.)

And some Quick Hits: Women Can't Cook … Bill Clinton is Emperor Palpatine … Beth Ditto Pukes on Homophobes … and David Broder's a Dick!

Seeya tomorrow! If you've got any hot tips, email me at shakespeares_sister at Comcast dot net.

Spocko's Brain: KSFO-AM Radio is at it again. Hosts tell prison rape jokes and declare that New Orleans Saints' fans displaced by Katrina should "stop whining and shut the h*ll up."   Since KSFO is owned by ABC/Disney, we're waiting for the promo, "Hi, Kids!  I'm Mickey Mouse, and I endorse hate speech!"  Read more...

h/t Cliff Schecter

And it's only Wednesday.

Today on Hardball, David Shuster gave a scathing rundown of what has been a horrific week for President Bush and the Republican Party. Starting with the president's awkward visit to New Orleans to mark the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the "Brownie" moment, Shuster then moves to the resignation of Bush's disgraced Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales and of course, yesterday's revelation that Idaho Republican, Larry Craig, had been arrested for seeking sex with an undercover officer in a bathroom stall at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.

Download | play Download | play (thanks to Scarce for the video)

Shuster: "The White House did offer a statement today on the Larry Craig sex scandal. A presidential spokesman expressed disappointment, but refused to say whether Craig should keep his job. That means the White House is trying to stay detached from Senator Craig in much the same way the White House has tried to stay removed from the lingering Gulf Coast problems since Hurricane Katrina."

Reuters Via Yahoo:

Former Sen. John Edwards said at a Hurricane Katrina conference he would propose what he called "Brownie's Law" requiring that qualified people, not political hacks, lead key federal agencies.

Edwards, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, drew laughter when he spoke on Monday of the proposal at the "Hope and Recovery Summit" ahead of the two-year anniversary of the storm on Wednesday.

"It's an absolute travesty to have people who are essentially political hacks in a very responsible position," he told the audience at the University of New Orleans.

"Brownie" refers to Michael Brown, who was head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency when Katrina struck the United States on August 29, 2005. He was criticized as being a political appointee unprepared to lead FEMA when a floundering government effort stranded thousands for days in flooded New Orleans. Read more...

We must never forget.

First Draft: 

The second annual Rising Tide conference will be held August 24-26, 2007, at the New Orleans Yacht Club. This is a NOLA blogger-organized and supported conference featuring speakers, panels, breakout sessions, and other dialogs on the future of the city of New Orleans. This year's emphasis is on ground-level, grass-roots efforts. It has become clear to those of us in south Louisiana that we will have to watch the watchmen, as well as take the upper hand is setting the city back on track. To that end, there will be presentations on local politics and how to influence them, making civics sexy, sustainability, levee engineering, and media outreach...read on

Christy has a great post up that covers a lot of ground....As is my tradition---and a sad one it is---I will be posting videos when Katrina hit---the White House slept---thousands suffered and are still suffering...Here's another Youtube on Katrina...