Image of Charles Darwin Appears on Wall in Tennessee.... Thousands Flock

A steady stream of devoted evolutionists continued to gather in this small
Tennessee town today to witness what many believe is an image of Charles
Darwin--author of The Origin Of Species and founder of the modern evolutionary
movement--made manifest on a concrete wall in downtown Dayton.

"I brought my baby to touch the wall, so that the power of Darwin
can purify her genetic makeup of undesirable inherited traits," said Darlene
Freiberg, one among a growing crowd assembled here to see the mysterious
stain...

You can read full story here.

Then there is this story.

"Gov. Jindal exorcizes arts funds from Louisiana budget," by Christopher Knight, Culture Monster Blog (LA Times) March 30, 2009

When Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal gave the now-infamous televised Republican response to President Obama's Congressional address in February, he mocked the inclusion of "something called 'volcano monitoring' " in the economic stimulus bill. "Instead of monitoring volcanoes," Jindal said, "what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington."Twenty-six days later, Alaska's Mt. Redoubt began to erupt, spreading volcanic ash all over Anchorage and egg all over Jindal's face.

Now Gov. Jindal has proposed a $26.7-billion state budget for next year that makes painful but necessary program cuts to deal with a $1.3-billion drop in his state's general fund income. According to the Associated Press, "The largest cuts would fall on health care and education programs.... The state's health department would be cut $413 million, or 5%; public colleges would be trimmed $219 million, or nearly 8%; and the education department would lose $141 million, or nearly 3%."Unmentioned by the AP is the fate the Louisiana Decentralized Arts Fund, a competitive program that makes small grants ranging from $500 to $10,000 to arts and cultural projects in every parish of the state. The arts fund will lose just a couple of million dollars -- chump change compared to the big numbers cited above.

Except, that is, when you look at the percentages. WWL-TV reported today the arts fund would be whacked a whopping 83% -- effectively putting the program out of business. The arts, not health and education, are taking the largest cuts by a factor of 10.

Shocking, I know. Who could imagine a Republican politician wanting to wipe out public arts funding? Gov. Jindal challenged arts funding in the president's stimulus package afew weeks back on "Larry King Live."

"Fundamentally, I don't think ... $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts is going to get the economy moving again as quickly as allowing the private sector to create jobs," he said.The governor did not explain how the minuscule NEA boost -- which Congress ultimately approved -- would hinder job creation in the arts, public or private.

This 'n That Re New Orleans

Not only did Bobby Jindal give a dorkdong speech, notable as noted by many, for a presentation both physical and audio, remarkably like the creepy, sinister character of Kenneth the page on 30 Rock, but also very stupid --tell us again why a high speed mag lev train connecting NO and Baton Rouge is a BAD idea and boondoggle, particularly during the periods of necessary evacuation? -- and it turns out, to have a Great Big Fat Lie at the center of it. Check here on Talking Points Memo blog. Louisiana is getting mighty sick of him, the rethugz' New! Great! White! -- er- Mixed Race! Hip-Hop Off Da Hook Hope! Even the rethugz.

It's like whatever teh stupid is that Illinois politicos drink is also drunk by those of Louisiana. It's the same Big Water System ain't it. It's one giant polluted system of the stupid and the corrupt.

The World That Made New Orleans went back to press for a third HC printing. The trade edition will come out in August simultaneously with the HC The Year Before the Flood.

Yesterday we received an envelope from CRP of the latest reviews and mentions of TWTMNO. Somehow we'd missed this, but on December 31, Susan Larson, the NO Times-Picayune Books Editor, put up her ten best books of the year -- 2 fiction and 8 non-fiction. TWTMNO was one of the non-fiction titles. Among these is Bienville's Dilemma: The Historical Geography of New Orleans, the latest work of Tulane's Geography professor, the invaluable Richard Companella. We look forward to picking it up while down there in March for the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Book Award event for TWTMNO.

We have jacket art for TYBTF. This one, again, has Vaquero's photographs. There's a pattern now among all three of the CRP titles in the jacket art. This one, like the cover for Cuba and Its Music, is filled with light and air; the colors are so luminous they almost feel ghostly ... but it project depth as well as a sense of joy -- ballon, as we say in ballet. It's most pleasing.