Dirty Evidence (A Serious Article Interspersed with Attempts at Comedy)

I heard a story on NPR this morning about the "…beautiful granite and stone…" courthouse in New Orleans. Apparently, the evidence room is in the basement and the judge, who rode out the storm in the courthouse, witnessed about 8 feet of water in the lobby. I think it's safe to say the basement had some flooding. I think it's also safe to say that New Orleans is a city that cares a lot about partying and very little about planning. It's not surprising that the basement flooded, but who puts an evidence room in the basement in a city that is known for (among other things) a need to "bury" the dead above ground so that their coffins won't float to the surface the next time it rains? Had the basement never flooded before? Did they not know (like the rest of us) that the hurricane was coming 4 days in advance? I hear hurricanes bring the occasional shower or two. NPR reported that literally thousands of cases may have to be thrown out if the damage is as bad as they think. That's the other thing; no one knows how bad it is because no one has been down there to survey the damage. With the priority being rescue and body removal, there hasn't been time. Fox News, in this interview is reporting the same story, and also that new criminal cases and filings have to be put on hold for now. During a time when it is most needed, the wheels of justice are bent and the tires are flat.
Frankly, I'm tired of hearing about the mistakes, inadequacies, and incompetence of every freaking level of government. To quote a co-worker, this shit is old. I know about the system of checks and balances on the federal level; I learned that stuff in junior high. But who polices city governments? It seems like we have to depend on what we hear on the news to know when things are going wrong.
If I were working for say, the city of Dallas and I discovered that the mayor and the police chief were in cahoots to defraud the populace, who the hell would I call? The only answer that comes to mind is Becky Oliver, Investigative Reporter. I quote from her bio: "There is nothing better than having a positive impact on your community, helping someone or exposing government corruption… I really enjoy feeling like we are a voice for the community and holding government officials accountable. I would like to think of us as political watchdogs, making sure taxpayers are getting their money's worth."
Becky claims she became interested in investigative reporting while earning her masters and decided to switch from feature reporting to investigative. Sweetie, we've seen your face. You no more decided to switch to investigative reporting than Michael Jackson decided to be black.
I guess you could argue that she made a decision since it was either investigative reporter or hausfrau.
Her bio finishes with a phone number, e-mail address, and a form that can be filled out online to get in contact with her. So this is it. This is the system of checks and balances that exists at the city level: A chick that couldn't get a job as a feature reporter or anchor because she's not quite pretty enough, never mind that she has her masters and a functioning brain.
Oh, and never mind that she can spin her "investigations" any way she wants. Never mind that her goal is getting the target demo to watch her channel so she can bill the acceptable amount of advertising to the network. Jeez of Nazareth, she probably cries herself to sleep at night after telling people all day how rewarding her job is. On top of that she probably gets death threats from angry corrupt business owners and wackos who want her to have their babies. I wonder what they pay her.
Becky's not the only investigative reporter in Dallas, so evidently that sort of news is a big thing around here. That being the case, I decided to check the N'Awlins affiliates. WWL (CBS) - nothing. WGNO (ABC) – zilch. WVUE (Fox) – aught. WDSU (NBC) – goose egg. The closest thing was a consumer advocate on the NBC affiliate. My search led me to the little end of nothing whittled down to a point. Coincidence? I think not!