American Zombie uncovers political corruption

In the ongoing race for Louisiana Senate, the investigative journalist at the blog “American Zombie” has posted “Paging Dr. Cassidy…..” with a document dump of public records related to Congressman and Senate candidate Bill Cassidy. The issue is his billing for hospital work. The claims is that he billed for more hours than he told the House ethics committee. According to a new ad from supporters of Senator Mary Landrieu, the congressman appears to be in two places at once.

Bayou Buzz: “Did Bill Cassidy double bill?” by Lou Gehrig Burnett:

Heading into the final week before the election, Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy has come under fire and is on a hot seat concerning allegations he was double-billing (double-dipping) by charging for work at LSU while he was getting paid for his Congressional duties.
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The investigative reports, first broken by the websites The American Zombie and CenLamar, have now been picked up and are being pursued by local and national media, including The Times-Picayune, The Advocate, WWL-TV New Orleans, The Hill newspaper, ABC News, and the NOLA Defender.

Politico: “Landrieu ad riles New Orleans Fox affiliate” by James Hohmann:

Last week, a blog called “American Zombie” posted what it described as an “opposition research” dump. It was a series of emails and time sheets, obtained through public records requests, about Cassidy’s work as a teacher and physician for Louisiana State University.

Recall the blog ‘American Zombie’ was also important in the conviction of Mayor Ray Nagin; see the ZombieLaw post: “The Zombie that took down Ray Nagin“.

Blogger, Jason Berry, is dedicated to exposing public corruption within New Orleans. It’s coincidental that double-billing, or appearing in two places at once, is a sort of zombie-like sci-fi phenomenon relying on assumptions of material bodies and physical time and space. Also it’s related to labor and compensation practices and it’s at a hospital. So there are many zombie themes here. But it’s American Zombie because it’s related to public corruption. It’s a public hospital, and at the very least, something appears to be wrong with Cassidy’s filings to House Ethics.

Incidentally, “American Zombie” is not to be confused with “ZOMBIE: THE AMERICAN” a theatrical performance show coming next season to the Woolly Mammoth theatre thanks in part to a $60,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. See Washington Post: “Kennedy Center program among several D.C.-area groups to win grants from NEA” by Peggy McGlone:

Other NEA grants include $60,000 to Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company for the world premiere of “Zombie: The American,”

And see Washington Post: “Next Season Preview: Woolly Mammoth Theatre” By Peter Marks

“Zombie: The American,” by Robert O’Hara, directed by Howard Shalwitz. (May 25-June 21, 2015)

noticed also coming to the Woolly next season:

“Famous Puppet Death Scenes” created and performed by the Old Trout Puppet Workshop. (Dec. 9-Jan. 4, 2015)

The Woolley Mammoth is located in Washington DC, so it makes sense that their show titles might have a political skew to appeal to their local audience, but it’s not every theatre that gets a 60k grant of federal money. We should probably wonder how cozy this theater’s relationship might be with their local partisans. Is this another case of political corruption?

Let’s also not confuse the American Zombie blog with the “Blog Zombie” by Lawrence White, starring John Byner, which aired on PBS this past summer and still currently available online at WMHT. And see Lawrence White’s explanation of his film at Times Union: “Blog Zombie on PBS“:

The good, bad and ugly occurs on blog time. It provides a sharp-focus snapshot of our society that is both revealing and challenging.

Is blog time like Matrix time? Speaking of movies, let’s conclude by not confusing any of this with “American Zombie” (2007) directed by Grace Lee:

mockumentary horror film … documentary filmmakers who investigate a fictional subculture of real-life zombies living in Los Angeles.

Which also reminds me also of L.A. Zombie (the gang and the queer cinema movie by Bruce La Bruce), which are clearly not the same as “American Zombie” in New Orleans, LA.