Blanco Rojo - LA Governor Meets with Castro!

2005-03-14T07:20:00.000-08:00

Maybe I'm showing my age by having more than one friend who escaped Castro's regime, but I am sick to my stomach over Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco having a friendly lunch with Fidel Castro last week during a trade mission to Cuba. Gov. Blanco has a reputation around town as being a bit of a dim bulb, but I have always given her the benefit of the doubt. No more. Before exploring trade opportunities with Mexico or Central America, she decided that the best trade mission for Louisiana she could take would be to Cuba. This makes her the fourth Governor in recent US history to go to Cuba. There is probably not a business in America that isn't eagerly anticipating doing business in Cuba upon the communist dictator Castro's death and many are quietly laying the groundwork -- but laying this groundwork does not include meeting with a man who is one of the top five feared dictators in the world. While Blanco met with Castro, she with she refused an invitation by the U.S. State Department's Interest Section in Cuba to meet with Oswaldo Paya, a dissident and Castro critic. This would be like going to South Africa during Apartheid and refusing to meet with Nelson Mandela. She obviously does not see that when Castro dies, he does not have an heir and the US -- lead by business interests -- will work fast and furious to instill democracy and open the market as we did in Iraq. The dissidents and the wealthy, educated Cuban Americans who fled the tyrrany will rebuild that nation hand in hand -- and there is a very good likelyhood that anyone who did business with Castro will not be involved.

Unfortunately, to date, no national media organizations have picked up on the importance of this meeting. It will be interesting to watch and see what happens.

I personally am eagerly awaiting purchasing a wonderful second home on the water in one of the first new developments built in Cuba when Castro is gone. Lets pray that it will once again be the wonderful tropical playground it was before the dictator took over.

Welcome to My Blog...

2005-03-10T12:47:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog! For several years, friends have asked me if I had a blog because I used to be a newspaper and TV reporter and editor and a political press secretary so it would seem to be the natural thing for me to do -- now that I am a stay-at-home mother of two. But alas, it was not until today, when I read about Rosie O'Donnell's blog that I decided I should start one.

The reason I went to Rosie's blog is that she is a regular visitor to my hometown, Baton Rouge, LA because it is also Kelli's hometown. I wanted to see if she had anything to say about Baton Rouge, which as you will learn in my blog is an unsung celebrity hotspot -- we have such a mix here -- she didn't, but I thought that finding Blogger.com was the sign that I was to start a blog.

I think our Celebrities and noted people make Baton Rouge a very interesting place to live. Of course, through LSU we have many famous athletes like Shaquille O'Neal, but our city's celeb reach goes much further than sports. Randy Jackson, the judge on American Idol is from here, as are Director Steven Soderburgh, politico James Carville and of course, Brittney Spears lives in nearby Kentwood and shops at our Mall of Louisiana. Monica Lewinsky's purse company is based here. Besides Rosie's wife Kelli Carpenter O'Donnell, we also have the other side of the spectrum with Family Research Council head Tony Perkins, who is the leading advocate for the Defense of Marriage Act. I love living in a city where people have been taught to stand up for what they believe -- who would have thought Baton Rouge would produce the faces of both sides of THAT issue!

If you watch "Newlyweds" on MTV or read "In Touch", "Us" or "People", then you probably know that the rest of our celebrities come from the film industry. In 1988, "sex, lies and videotape" and "Everybody's All American" were shot here, then last year, the state's film and video office began offering fabulous tax credits that have made Louisiana a new hotspot for shooting movies. Since this fall, Baton Rouge has had Jessica Simpson, Burt Reynolds, Willie Nelson, Sean William Scott and Johnny Knoxville all here shooting the "Dukes of Hazzard" and Jude Law, Sean Penn, Kate Winslet and James Gandofini have been shooting "All the King's Men".

When you look at the celeb magazines, the celebs and the things they do look so inaccessible, but when these big stars are living in your hometown for several months, they have to do the same things you and I do. Last fall, a friend saw Jessica Simpson at the Wal-Mart, another was always at the Spectrum Health Club at the same time and yet another had her as a neighbor in his subdivision. Jude Law lives in another friend's subdivision and has been spotted at many of the places where I do my daily errands near that neighborhood. And Willie Nelson - well, yesterday I was running to the market when I saw that he was playing golf at the public course by my house. I stopped off with my kids at the nearby playground, met him and took their photo with him. He was as nice as could be and very complimentary of our town.

Now, I know that the celebs really want to be in New Orleans because it is such a fabulous place to shop and party, but Baton Rouge has gotten its fair share of celebs too and it is really fun to look at the magazines at the grocery store and see most of the photos are in either California, New York or Louisiana.

Ivy League Housewife

Blanco Rojo - LA Governor Meets with Castro!

Welcome to My Blog...