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The National Football League is backpedaling on its threat to take legal action against New Orleans merchants using the “Who Dat” slogan on Saints souvenirs they sell.  The Times-Picayune reports that NFL general counsel Gary Gertzog sent a “clarifying” letter to Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell declaring that the NFL does not claim exclusive rights “now or at any time in the future” over the expression, “Who Dat,” “Who Dat Nation,” the colors black and gold or “any combination thereof” or the fleur-de-lis.

Louisiana’s Democratic State Central Committee had urged Republican Governor Bobby Jindal to sue the NFL over the issue, and U,S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) threatened to have his own Who Dat shirts printed and dared the league to sue him.

Meanwhile, in honor of the Saints upcoming Super Bowl appearance against the Indianapolis Colts, the St. Tammany Parish animal shelter is offering all black-and-gold animals for adoption at half the regular adoption fee.

On the off chance that health care reform ever becomes law … The Virginia Senate voted 23-17 to make it illegal to require residents to purchase health-care coverage. Five Democrats in the Democrat-controlled Senate crossed over to support the bill. Similar bills are under consideration in the Republican-dominated House.  The Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would do the same thing, but it has yet to come to a floor vote.  Georgia Republicans also continued to pressure Democratic Attorney General Thurbert Baker, who is running for governor, to join a dozen or so mostly Republican attorneys general in preparing to take  legal action against possible federal legislation on health care reform.

Getting somewhere on the Road to Nowhere: The federal government has agreed to pay $52 million to Swain County, North Carolina, to settle a 67-year conflict over a promised but never built road in the Smokies. The feds had promised the road to folks cut off from family cemeteries when land was flooded to create Fontana Lake.  But environmentalists fought the plan for decades because it would cut  through the wildest parts of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

More tempest in the Tea Party: Tennessee U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn and Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michele Backmann have pulled out of the Tea Party convention scheduled to begin Thursday in Nashville, Tennessee, with Sarah Palin as keynote speaker.  Supporters of the convention contend it will build alliances across state lines, but  opponents contend  the grass-roots uprising is being turned into a top-down organization that will be co-opted by the major parties.  Palin said late last week that she remains committed to the event.

Dew Droplets: Singer Wayne Newton, a member of the Patawomeck tribe, appeared before a Virginia House of Delegates committee to urge official recognition of the tribe … Bella and Deiter, two dachshunds that survived Hurricane Katrina, were flown to Miami after surviving yet another disaster, the earthquake in Haiti … Jeffrey Macdonald, a University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill  associate professor of biomedical engineering, says he has found a way to turn pig waste into fuel that can be used to make electricity … The Hollywood, Florida, apartment building where 9/11 terrorists Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi once lived is being torn down … A former teacher at Azalea Middle School in Largo, Florida, was sentenced to five years’ probation for sexting an eighth grade student … Starbucks denies discriminating against a Boca Raton, Florida, man over his Tourette’s episode … Caressa Cameron, a broadcast journalism student at Virginia Commonweath University, is the new Miss America.

Check out our News and Opinion Feeds for a lot more Southern happenings.

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2 Responses to “Whoa Dat!”

1. Kay Powell says:

   February 3, 2010 at 10:46 am

   Who dat say who dat when I say who dat? has been around longer than the NFL, The Monistere, the Saints and the merchants selling the Who Dat items. What a petty squabble. None of them owns the phrase.

   Reply
2. bobj says:

   February 3, 2010 at 1:36 pm

   Yeah, it’s an irritating story, but I give Bro’ Taylor credit for making passing reference to one particularly happy thought: “Palin said late last week that she remains committed…” I’m certain it was no accident. Fact is, it revives a vivid memory of Ron as he once was in the AJC newsroom: Smokey pipe dangling in his teeth, giggling to himself as he typed.

   Reply

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