New Orleans showed its tits, but all it got was ...

After yesterday's absolutely pointless visit to New Orleans by George W. Bush, we here in New Orleans feel like we've been showing our tits to the nation for years now, and all we got was a throw of cheap plastic beads from the Bush administration.

That's not to say that New Orleanians behave so immodestly -- 99 percent of that type of behavior is seen in the trashy girls-gone-wild type of tourists who are drawn to the city by tourism and alcohol industries that profit from the promotion of idolatry, materialism, mindless celebration, alcholism, and sexual exploitation.

As I've said before, I wish we had a mayor who for once would proclaim to the rest of the nation the vital role that Mardi Gras plays in the lives of families, and in the fabric a city of diverse but closely-knit neighborhoods. To be sure, Carnival is a time of celebration, yes, but a celebration that falls on the eve of a very strictly observed Catholic lenten season. It is a celebration that brings families and neighbors together to share food and stories and laughter. It is a celebration, more than anything, for children to enjoy -- because their enthusiasm for throws and flambeaux and marching bands and floats is the greatest reward to adults.

A few items of interest I wanted to point out before I got off on that tangent.

The first is that visualman made a comment in PGR that deserves greater attention. He referred to an excellent post in BAG news Notes which analyzes those unflattering photos taken by press corps photographers of Bush in New Orleans with the Carnival mask behind him.

I've just added BAG news Notes to the blogroll. The analyses of George W. Bush through press photography is profoundly insightful, as in "The Week America Lost New Orleans" which examined photos of the preznit flying over New Orleans after he was criticized for continuing his month-long vacation in Crawford, and after he was criticized for being at least two-days too late in comprehending that Hurricane Katrina was the worst national disaster in U.S. history:

You can see that this is simply a photo shoot, and the President, rather than being somebody at this critical moment, is trying to look like someone instead.

Second, thanks to the same BAG news Notes post, I was directed to an Elizabeth Bumiller article in the NY Times which reflects the same sentiments I expressed in a post yesterday of President Bush accomplishing nothing in his visit to New Orleans except another gratuitous photo op to show to the rest of the nation how he can look like he's doing something when he's really doing next to nothing at all to help disaster-stricken residents of the New Orleans and the Gulf Coast -- by his inaction is actually aggravating the crisis in New Orleans.

Finally, since I'm talking about how ridiculous Bush appears in press photos, and since mixter raised the issue of how he looks increasingly crazy in those photos, I thought I'd note the similarities I recently observed between the wicked squint and uncomfortable grin that Bush shares with Gollum. From the little I know about Gollum's character, I'd have to admit there's probably a comparison to be made between George W. Bush's rise to the presidency (and his ambition to hold on to it), to how Gollum was corrupted by the ring, how the ring extended his life far beyond normal, and the physical, psychological, and spiritual penalty he paid for his ambitious power-hungry quest to recover his "Precious."