by Jim Brown

Chicken Little has got nothing on King Alexander.  The LSU president is shouting from the rooftops that the state financial commitment is crumbling to the ground, the LSU fiscal sky is falling, and he is about to declare “academic bankruptcy.”  Academic bankruptcy?  I’ve been around and a part of Louisiana state government for some 44 years, and I’ve never heard of the phrase.  You can’t even Google it and find any other example. 

by Jim Brown

The Civil War came to an end 150 years ago this week when an exhausted confederate army, led by General Robert E. Lee, formally surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at a farmhouse in Appomattox, Virginia.  From the beginning of the war to a bitter end on both sides, Louisiana played key roles in how this tragic war was fought.

by Jim Brown
How much is it worth for Louisiana taxpayers to have movies made throughout the state?  Apparently, quite a lot.  Recent studies have shown that for every new dollar created in jobs, equipment, catering and all the spin off income, Louisiana taxpayers are paying out four times that amount. Bring a dollar in and pay from the state treasury four dollars out.  What kind of deal is this? 

by Jim Brown

Louisiana is scheduled to have its presidential primary on March 5th of next year, but there is one little problem.  The state is broke and the Jindal administration has allocated no money for the legally required election.  So what happens next? Does Governor Jindal really want a primary? And is there a way to hold an election for free and get huge national coverage in the process?

We all know that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is a traveler.  He seems to be constantly crisscrossing the country in his unlikely and quixotic quest to obtain national office.  But now he says he is also the unrivaled champion of governors who travel all over the Bayou State.  In a recent interview to the Monroe News-Star, Jindal is quoted saying:  “I believe I’ve been to more places as governor than any other governor before me inside the state of Louisiana.”  All the governors I have known, going back to John McKeithen, would strongly disagree. 

by Jim Brown

It’s going to take a lot more than old emails to derail Hillary Clinton’s grasp of the Democratic presidential nomination next year.  Few voters really care how she communicated with her staff while serving as Secretary of State.  Republicans think they are circling the wagons in major attack mode.  But if they look in their own backyard, a number of GOP presidential wannabes, including Louisiana’s fair haired quixotic candidate Bobby Jindal, have the same problem of not following the law when it comes to producing emails. 

by Jim Brown

In his quixotic quest to run for president, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has been out of the state 50% of the time in recent months. He’s rarely been visible in his home state, but voters are getting to know him far and wide in the likes Iowa, New Hampshire, Florida, and numerous other states with early presidential primaries. So the question is — who’s in charge when the Louisiana Governor is on the campaign trail? 

by Jim Brown

I guess the good Lord has to put up with politicians. Nary a week goes by when some governor or other political type is holding a prayer rally and declaring that the ills of the nation can be cured by America being “born again” through embracing a Christian evangelical fervor. So the question is, do the Gospels need politicians?

My Louisiana governor has me puzzled again in his quixotic quest to be a player on the national stage.  I thought Bobby Jindal was part of a Republican Party that tells government to get off our backs and mind its own business.  But he now is apparently on a national pursuit to make us all homogeneous in how we act, live and speak.  And when you come from Louisiana, he’s walking a slippery slope of being way too politically correct.

by Jim Brown

One of the all time great coaches in college basketball passed away this week.  North Carolina’s Dean Smith had retired with more wins than any coach in history, along with capturing two national championships.  But to those who knew him, and I consider myself in that elite number, he was much more than a coach.  He was a teacher, an innovator both on and off the court, a role model, and a real humanitarian.