I've still got property on the brain. Especially since yesterday and last night got kinda weird for me. I know the police are supposed to be guardians of life, liberty, and property, but the way they're going about it is creeping me out.

Came back from walking the dog to find a fellow walking up the street towards our house, then turning back around as though he was undecided as to whether or not he should approach. He was definitely in some sort of law enforcement capacity, as I could see that he had a gun or two on his belt, but he wasn't wearing an NOPD uniform. He finally decided to head back to his unmarked car, walking past me as I let my dog in through my gate.

"What was that all about?" I asked one of my housemates, who was sitting on the front porch.

"Couldn't tell you," he said. "It looked like he was going to come on up to talk to me, but he turned around and left."

As we watched Quasi-Cop go driving off, we talked about strange happenings in the 'hood. A car backfired like a shot the other night, and the house across the street from us that has been for sale for forever and is supposedly uninhabited proved to have an occupant after all. Some redheaded guy came out to check on things, then headed on back in. Later on, when Dan went out himself to talk with some neighborhood guys on the corner about the backfiring, they said they'd been approached by three cops investigating the noise.

What really freaked me out, though, was when I was headed home from choir practice last night and some police cars were coming through a crossing a block from my house. I stopped at the corner to let them pass, and one of the officers flipped on a spotlight and shined it right in my face. Thankfully, I guess I passed the quickie exam, because he drove off down the road...and I was even more grateful soon afterwards when I found that I'd left my purse at the synagogue. It would have been a real joy if I'd been stopped and suddenly found I had no license with me. "But, sir, I left it at choir practice!" would be my cry as they took me off to wherever and impounded the car. Choir practice...heh...a likely story.

ANYway, I calmed down a tad after heading back and getting a former synagogue president and current choir member to unlock the place so's I could get said purse and drive back home in a legal manner, and I found this gem over at Tim's. "Oops" just doesn't cut it when you have dominoes disguised as supporting concrete pilings. If it ain't the cops, it's contractors you've gotta worry about.

And then there's this most recent election coming up tomorrow, in which one determining factor in the city council race might well be the mystery demographics of the people who are currently living in New Orleans minus the diaspora that is scattered about the country...the displaced New Orleanians that the Walking Id fought so hard to have as eligible voters (vote early from wherever you are!) in the mayoral election that helped put his sorry self back in office for another term. An estimated 100,000+ registrants are now off the books in the city, and who knows how that's going to affect the At-Large circus. If more conscientious folks haven't been bored to tears by the campaigns of those vying for the governor's office, they could well turn out and make it tough for "Pinhead" Bobby Jindal to coast through the primary (CenLamar has many, many reasons why Pinhead needs to stay out of the governor's office - I really wouldn't be surprised if Jindal refrains from voting for himself after reading all they've got on him) . Sheckrastos has got it right in his one-word assessments of those involved in the latest gubernatorial debate - they all start with the letter "I" for a reason.

I say print out Cliff's agenda, make some copies, and pass it out to everyone you see. Good stuff there. Make your own decisions in that voting booth, folks, but be smart about it...or as smart as you can be, considering the choices.

Oh, and we got some great news at choir practice last night! Come our JazzFest Shabbat service next April, our featured performer will be none other than:



If anybody wants to join the choir and start rehearsing with a raucous bunch that loves to sling around some jokes involving organists and condoms between rehearsing liturgy in four-part harmony, let me know. No prior experience with Hebrew, Judaism, or singing is at all necessary. I can't say that Kermit will be barbecuing for the synagogue that night, though...