Feeding the Beast

Anyone still hanging around this dump should immediately proceed to the home of Turd Polisher. Seems the Baton Rouge photog was recently drafted into satellite service, forced to point his Raggedy Dish Wagon towards nearby Jena and not stop 'til he got there. Egads. That's one camera crush I'd rather watch from afar than smell up close. I don't care what your politics are (really!) - you get that many TV news crews in one place and whatever message you champion gets lost in the exhaust of all those sat trucks. Already, the pictures coming out of that tiny Louisiana town remind me of the Virginia Tech camera massacre - with a little Duke Lacrosse thrown in for color, of course. Speaking of color, can't we all just get along? Not likely, I know - but if the race card's gonna be used to once again fan the flames of controversy, I'd just as soon sit this one out. Besides, I've already chased Jesse through a broken landscape - and came away feeling dirty for the part I played in the ensuing photo-op. Which is why I feel so lucky to have one Rick Portier on the case; his lovingly irascible account of the fustercluck that is currently Jena, Louisiana is rivaled only by his outstanding images. Go check 'em both out and perhaps you'll understand why I'm so eager to buy my kindred spirit a drink or two someday - just as soon as we washes all that exploitation grease off him.