Only In New Orleans ... You Can't Make This Stuff Up

So, I'm researching because this site is talking about Senator Vitter and a Wendy Cortez, which matches the first name given by the Canal Street Madam here. And the charges are supported by a Vitter enemy who also happens to be a Republican: Vincent Bruno.

As you can read below, or read here, the Louisiana Weekly that broke the charges ... went back to investigate after running with it and calls the results mixed. And who is Vincent Bruno? Vincent Bruno was David Duke's "spiritual advisor".

George Bush didn't blow up the levee during Katrina, folks. Something tells me God has had New Orleans in his sights for quite some time. ; )

On June 3, 2002, The Louisiana Weekly published allegations that Congressman David Vitter had engaged in an extramarital affair as a state representative with a known prostitute.

They were made by GOP operative Vincent Bruno. In what became a high stakes political battle between some of the most prominent members of the Louisiana Republican Party, Bruno charged that a prostitute, who stated her name to be Wendy Cortez, allegedly confessed to him to having a paid sexual relationship with the Congressman. Three separate and independent sources also confirmed to the Weekly that Cortez told them of the details of her alleged affair with Vitter.

However, despite written testimony from the sources, The Weekly could not find Cortez to receive her own confirmation of the allegations. This newspaper began a two-month search for the former stripper and escort. Investigators for The Weekly managed to find someone claiming to have knowledge of Wendy Cortez, but the results are at best mixed.

The individual in question, a madam named Nicole of a prominent New Orleans escort company, said that Cortez lived regularly in Atlanta, but would be in the Crescent City on the evening of Tuesday, August 17th. She said that she could arrange a meeting. (She also insisted that The Weekly would not use her full name or the name of her escort company.)

Originally, Nicole agreed that Ms. Cortez would speak to reporters from The Weekly on camera. After midnight, when the meeting was to occur, Weekly Investigators contacted Nicole. At that point, she had a woman with her that she alleged was the Wendy Cortez in question. However, she said that Cortez had decided not to testify.

What the woman claiming to be Cortez told Weekly investigators when asked if she would talk was, "I stand by my story I have nothing more to say on the matter."

Comments

[Kissm Yass]

Something tells me God has had New Orleans in his sights for quite some time. ; )

And something tells me you've been an ass for quite some time

[chris]

"George Bush didn't blow up the levee during Katrina"

No, the simpleton was actually practicing guitar during that time. His flyover really showed that he 'cared', though.

[new orleans sucks]

That filthy city of drug dealers, murderers, drunks and the dregs of society is almost gone, and here we have a couple of yahoos crying in their beer. I'm touched!

[Tim]

New Orleans is a dump. The problems the city has are its own fault. You need to quit blaming other people for the shithole of a city.

[David M]

Trackbacked by The Thunder Run - Web Reconnaissance for 07/11/2007
A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.

[IslamoLlama]

Yes, if only New Orleans had been more like Trent Lott's house in Mississippi. Oh wait, that got smashed too. Either way, I blame this all on Marti Grais. Clearly God had it out for girls showing their boobs for money. That's why New Orleans has hurricanes and Los Vegas is now in a giant desert. Because God hates parties.

Deep thoughts from the "religious" right.

[chris]

God REALLY must hate those backward redstaters. Hurricanes, floods, tornados - repent, rubes!!!

[Purple Avenger]

"God REALLY must hate those backward redstaters."

Ummm...Louisiana is a solidly democratic state.

[templar knight]

Chris, you are one dumb mother. New Orleans is one of the bluest voting cities in the United States. For God's sake, do a little research before you come on this blog and prove how truly ignorant you are.

[chris]

You guys are further proof that rednecks are morons. Point is that it's the RED states that God hates and reminds the rest of us by sending them hurricanes, floods tornados, etc.

[Dan Riehl]

"You guys are further proof that rednecks are morons. Point is that it's the RED states that God hates and reminds the rest of us by sending them hurricanes, floods tornados, etc."

Yeah, I mean, all he's going to do to California is eventually drop it in the ocean killing everyone. Lucky they're on his side.

[IslamoLlama]

If LA is so blue, that must explain why Vitter (R) is a Republican Senator from the state. It's all so clear to me now.

I mean, by that logic, Texas is liberal-topia because of Austin. And New York City, having elected a Republican Mayor twice in a row, must be the capital of conservatism. Silly wingnuts.

[templar knight]

Llama, you dumb ass, what party holds the governorship in Louisiana, the other Senate seat, the majority of the House seats, the State Legislature? The Democrats, you idiot. No party in any state, including New York, holds every position. You are truly one of the stupidest tools I have ever encountered.

"Silly wingnuts", you say. No, not hardly. My position is supported by fact, whereas you have nothing but bullshit. That's all you've ever had. Now, take a flying f... at a rolling doughnut and let us men talk. You are nothing but a punk college boy who just got his plow cleaned.

[bloodrage bob]

anyone who's been to new orleans in the last 40 years can confirm it's the biggest, sleaziest, scummiest shithole in the country. populated by equally scummy denizens. (if that sounds harsh, ask any houstonian about NO people). this was *obvious* to anyone with eyes & a brain.

naturally, pointing this out has just *infuriated* our resident liberal trolls. "teacher said value judgements were WRONG!"

odd, is it not, that the same morons who can blithely say that "all republicans are nazis", and "all christians are hypocrites" have such trouble with statements like "new orleans is a shithole". ya know, it almost *SOUNDS* like they're using some sort of arcane...double standard. can that be it??

[tally]

Bruno, Duke, Vitter, Nagin, Jefferson, Blanco - that's just the latest in the long line of crooks from Louisiana. As far as the fly over, the local officals couldn't handle a presidental look see at the time (at least that's what the Ms governor said). God help the good people of Houston, they have their hands full.

[Phoenix]

Crime rate in Houston has quadrupled since Katrina. Houston should be a microcosm of America if we don't get the border situation fixed.

On any list of negative statistics, Louisiana and Mississippi vie for last place - meaning worst. As in crime, education, out-of-wedlock births...... I know that is all Bush's fault even if those statistics go back to the fifties.

[bloodrage bob]

houston already IS a microcosm of the evils of wetbackry, phoenix. i lived there many years. (been gone quite awhile now, but i still have family there.)

sharpstown is a not-quite-fullblown-suburb in southwest houston: think of it as a "super-subdivision", say. big area. from the time it was built, in (i think) the late '50's, it was a very nice area: ranging from pretty-high-end homes to nice affordable ones for new families.

the thing was, it was a *showplace*. you lived in sharpstown, you were doing GREAT. nice area, plenty of parks, tree-lined streets, your kids went to *fantastic* schools. your own little slice of (incredibly humid) paradise. it stayed that way right up to....say.....1983 or so. then something awful happened.

by 1992, it was 80% mexican. with a smattering of the central americans, too: guatamalans, etc. i'm told it's now a bonafide hellhole, just like the 3rd & 5th wards, albeit different minorities.

from *paradise*....to *hellhole*. in under 10 years.

and you can find stories just like that in *thousands* of towns & cities all across america. southern california comes to mind: it really did used to be ACTUAL paradise. i've lived there. i've talked to the oldtimers. i've seen the old photos. now? now it's just tijuana norte.

which is why ted kennedy ought to be taken out and hanged.

[Phoenix]

BB,

I think I said it here, but our town just went through a huge growth spurt, and there are several high-rent show places with large houses and nicely done grounds design. They have covenants, of course, but it seems something awful happened. Hispanic couples bought two of the houses (400 - 600k) and then five families moved in with them. Now everyone wants to sell and move but they can't because no one will buy a house next door to a house stuffed with 25 Mexicans. Nothing like spending 600K on the house of your dreams and within one year have it be worth four dollars.

[seekeronos]

The way those McMasnions are built, they could easily sleep 20-40 migrant workers (read: illegal aliens) in a house ostensibly meant for a family of four or five.

Look for these Mexified McMansionPlexes to become the new Camdens (NJ) of the early 21st century, speading like a mold all over the southwest, from SAn Diego, CA to Lincoln, NE, and from Brownsville, TX to Portland, OR.

All full of indolent, angry, second-generation anchor babies grown up on the American welfare teat, and unwilling to work the sub-minimum wage jobs their parents did. It's alost a ready made nation-state fit for secession around 2024 or so.

[bloodrage bob]

bloodrage bob finds himself troubled by sneering commentary about "mcmansions". this being - you know - this being *america*, BB thinks that people should be allowed to/strive to live in the biggest, nicest, niftiest house they can afford. without envious sneers from others. sneering that, disturbingly, quotes the statist control-freak liberal left; and 'doonesbury'; and the eco-loons who want (to force us into) 800 sq. ft. homes "for the sake of the goddess gaia".

what's wrong with wanting/having a big nice house? if you look at a trend line of house sizes, you'll note the avg. size is going up: in the 1920's, it was under 1000 sq ft; in the '50's, it was roughly 1200 sq ft (levittown is full of tiny little houses); and today, it's big enough to qualify as what our parents/grandparents would have breathlessly classified as "a dream home!"

still not seeing the problem here. if "house holds lotsa wetbacks" is the issue, rest assured, a 1200 sq ft house will hold 20 mojados quite easily.

so why bash someone's big nice home that he worked hard to aquire and is very proud of? is not "home ownership" a cornerstone of the american dream? is not "trading up houses" what's made 75% of all US millionaires that rich?

is not sneering attacks on the "bourgeois landowners" a staple of soviet-style social engineering?

[seekeronos]

I helped build about 30% of the McMansions outlying Denver (tons of the upscale David Weekly "homes" and Richmond Homes in Highlands Ranch).

I can attest that the building materials were crud, the workmanship was below what I would consider an acceptable standard of quality (mostly the framing and the exterior wall covering, inside trim details were moderately good).

The actual design of the homes were a hideous hodgepodge of different periods with strange pop-outs and other dissonant features which gave the appearance of affluence, but denied true taste to any discerning buyer.

And paying a slick half-million for an oversized, energy-inefficient (mind you, I am not shooting from the enviro-loon angle, but from the "OMG, How can I pay the gas bill!!!" angle) house which ws sited on the smallest possible parcel of land, so as to be able to pass the Sunday newspaper from the bathroom of your house to your neighbor's, without even having to lift both butt cheeks off the toilet seat...?

Your experience, BB, with mass produced near-luxury homes may be different than mine, granted. I wish neither insult nor injury to any one owner of such a home, but I am painfully aware of the lack of quality and lack of inspiration in what basically amounts to a somewhat upscaled appearance and size of the old Levittown homes, but with much lower quality throughout th majority of said homes.

There were also plenty of custom homes which I built near the ski towns (in the mid 1990s, around the 800K ~ 1.5M range) which gave us time and scrutiny to make sure their were no warps in the walls, that quality materials were used, and much attention paid to the details - with no worries about your neighbors being close enough to hear and smell them at night whenever after they ate beans for dinner.

Now, I do not contest any American's right to pay for and own whatever living arrangement they choose or can afford - be it a lowly single-wide mobile home, on up to the Trump penthouse. Or even a McMansion.

It's all good. I'm only criticizing the fact the vast majority of these horrifically ugly, outsize dwellings parked on postage-stamp parcels of land are generally an eyesore, and hold much potential to decline into the ghettos and low-income neighborhoods later in this century.

Especially if un/underemployed/unemployable migrants and their children inherit the at the cost of the scandalous lending policies held at the end of the Greenspan era housing bubble.

[bloodrage bob]

the fact those builders chose to use substandard materials/techniques to build those big houses makes THEM the bad guys, seeker. not the people who bought them. certainly not the homes themselves.

bad management, verging on *criminal* management, it sounds like. why did you allow yourself to be linked to such swine? more interestingly, why do you allot 2 lines castigating the (possibly criminally inept) *builders* of such houses, (yet not the employees who actually DID the substandard construction: just as if they played no part whatsoever in the defrauding of homebuyers)("i vas only followink orders!"?), and 30 lines castigating the homes themselves? since you "helped build" those homes, and saw that they were made of "crud building material", and constructed with "substandard quality", why'd you allow that to happen on your watch?

why didn't you reject that crap lumber/sheetrock/electrical material rather than take delivery? why'd you allow the subs to get away with doing halfassed work? subs can be held to high standards. i know this, because i've done it. it's a ton of WORK, to be sure; it takes a lot of TIME & EFFORT, but it's possible. i've also walked into newly built homes with *finished & painted* pony walls that were 20 degrees off vertical. with *tiled & grouted* floors featuring a 3" tall, 5 ft. wide 'hump' in the middle of the kitchen floor. when questioned, the builder invariably whines about "those awful subs!". omitting entirely the fact that if the builder's rep had gotten off his ass & walked into the house *just once*, he'd have seen it a month beforehand. lazy builders. bad management.

so again: why are you blaming the HOUSES here?

[sad nola resident]

Everyone who says that they've vacationed in New Orleans and that its full of sleazy people needs to take a cab out of the French Quarter, pass the projects, and see the other seventy percent of the city. Most residents are not drug dealers and murderers, but hard-working individuals who don't want to let their hometown fall by the wayside. Alot of N.O. residents leave the city during Mardi Gras, because they can't take the rednecks that flock into the city from the surrounding Louisiana countryside and the trashier tourists the tacky holiday attracts. Yes, the French Quarter is surrounded by a bad area- you think normal people want to look at the hell hole of Bourbon Street? No, so they don't live by there. Please, just drive past those niches, there's more city for you.