News

Monique Guillory

Dr. Monique Guillory has been busy for the last few years. As deputy chief of staff for Jackson State University President Ronald Mason since 2000, the 34-year-old New Orleanian met myriad goals: the restoration of Gibbs-Green Week at Jackson State, commemorating two young men killed on campus by police in 1970; starting the President's Newsletter that keeps 35,000 alumni up-to-date; strategic planning for the university's Millennium Agenda; and writing a grant to fund a collaborative education project. And two years ago her son Julien was born. "The French spelling," she explained. "It's those Louisiana roots."

Barbour proposes plan to cut debt in half

Clarion Ledger reports: "I can't say everything will work," said Barbour, whose plan would wipe out the state's deficit in two years. It also would eliminate some 700 state jobs. 'I'm committed to saving money by controlling costs,' Barbour told reporters at the Governor's Mansion. Earlier in the day, he presented his plan to legislative leaders at a luncheon."

Mississippi GOP Gleeful Over Pickering End Run

Emily Wagster Pettus of AP writes: "Judge Charles Pickering's exhausting journey to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a cause celebre for the Mississippi Republican Party. People shouldn't expect the talk about it to die down just because President Bush made an end-run around congressional Democrats and installed Pickering on the appeals bench Jan. 16. If anything, the GOP is now ideally situated to gain from the Pickering predicament. Republicans got what they wanted, because the 66-year-old judge — a former state senator, former head of the Mississippi Baptist Convention and former U.S. District Court judge — is serving on the court that handles appeals from Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. He can remain on the 5th Circuit bench until the next Congress takes office in January 2005.

‘Dean Goes Bust'

Josh Benson writes in Salon: "Can Dean recover? Maybe. Even without Trippi, he has a core of supporters that will never abandon him. And while the other campaigns will be fighting each other all over the country in the Feb. 3 states, the Dean camp will hope to rebound by focusing on and winning delegate-rich states like Michigan and Washington on Feb. 7. As John Kerry can attest, comebacks have been built on less."

Kerry Gets Endorsements; Dean Shakes Up Staff

In the aftermath of New Hampshire, where Sen. John Kerry won 39% of the vote (and 14 delegates), Kerry has received the endorsements of Senators Jean Carnahan and Tom Eagleton in Missouri, and may received one from Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina. Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack gave him the nod as well. Read the report.

Fingernail Legislation proposed

Byrd of the AP writes:"Under Jordan's bill, the state Health Department would regulate the wearing of false fingernails by restaurant employees who serve or prepare food. He said it's a sanitary issue. The bill isn't winning support from Michael Berry, manager of Nawlin's Grill in Clinton. He said he wouldn't mind if his waitresses wore false fingernails."

Bill approved for optometrists to prescribe drugs

Shelia Bryd of the AP writes: " ... said Beth Clay, an attorney lobbying for the Mississippi Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Association. 'It's creating a substandard of care for the rural or poor people who don't know the difference,' Clay said. 'They're going to think they've seen somebody who's been to medical school.'"

Krugman on the Republi-‘Con'

No, George W. Bush clearly is not a fiscal conservative, says Paul Krugman writing today in the NYTimes, the same day the Congressional Budget Office re-released it's 2004 budget deficit projections at $477 billion (and $2.4 trillion over the next decade). But, Krugman says, it's absurd to think the answer is to simply to cut spending on social programs.

[Just In] Barbour's State of the State Address

[verbatim] Lieutenant Governor; Mr. Speaker; Fellow State officials, Members of

It is a humbling honor to come before you tonight for the first time as your Governor. I want to start by saying to my colleagues in the Legislature: many of you were kind enough to be there for my swearing-in and listened to my Inaugural Address, and now, in less than two weeks, you're being subjected to hearing me speak again... These are the sacrifices you make as a public official. My old friend, State Representative Steve Holland, caught me in the hall today and said he'd read in the paper that this speech was going to last 40 minutes. He asked me if that were true. I said, "Only if you applaud a lot." He laughed and said we ought to be safe.

Barbour: Outstanding Women ‘Rare'

Read the WAPT report.

"'There are some outstanding women but they're rare,' Barbour said. 'I'm not in the bean-counting business. As we fill out this administration, I feel very comfortable that people are going to say those are the right people, they work hard, they're very representative of the state, but I'm not in the quota business.' The co-president of the Mississippi League of Women Voters said Barbour should include more women in his administration. 'This is so important because women make up the 51 percent of the population in Mississippi,' league spokeswoman Fran Leber said, adding that women in Mississippi earn an average of 69 percent what men make."

Poll: Bush Vulnerable Against Unnamed Democrat

Latest Zogby poll: "As Democrats Vote in Iowa and New Hampshire, President Bush Looks Vulnerable in Both His Re-Elect and Face-Off with Generic Democrat; Bush's Job Performance 49% Positive, 50% Negative; Democrats Lead Over Republicans in Congressional Generic, New Zogby International Poll Reveals

Keep Committee Hearings Open!

Common Cause urges in a letter to the Clarion-Ledger that all legislative committees be kept open to the public. Duh. Those men and women report to us. Dick Johnson writes: "So Common Cause/MS recommends all of us contact our representatives and senators, as well as House Speaker Billy McCoy and Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck, and urge them to make sure the rules of the new Legislature keep all conference committees, including those dealing with appropriations and financial matters, open to the public."

Barbour spots investment

Clarion Ledger reports : "Governmental entities enticed Textron Fastening Systems with economic incentives, but they didn't give away the store, said Gov. Haley Barbour."

Bills acknowledges blacks' contributions

Shelia Byrd of the AP writes: "At least two House bills seek to recognize historical contributions of black Mississippians."

Dean's Midnight Note

Here's an e-mail that went to Dean's e-mail list in the middle of the night after Dean's unimpressive third-placing showing in Iowa (BTW, is anyone else as thrilled as I am that Gephardt dropped out? Argh.) ...

Senate Panel Votes for New Thomas/White Election

Jan. 19, 2004--The Sun-Herald is reporting: "A Senate committee has recommended a new election in the disputed Hinds District 29 race. Democrat Dewayne Thomas was certified the winner of the race by the Hinds County Election Commission, but incumbent Sen. Richard White, R-Terry, filed a contest petition with the Senate. 'The full Senate will vote on the committee's recommendation, but it is unclear when that will happen,' said Sen. Terry Burton, R-Newton, chairman of the committee. The committee recommended a Feb. 10 special election in the entire district.

Dean's Grass-roots Team in Overdrive on Iowa Day

Keep an eye on Dean's Blog for America today as the Iowa caucuses take place. Whatever you think of Dean, his *campaign* is pretty damned exciting.

Economist: Bush Wants Stagnant Job Market

Economic James K. Galbraith argues in Salon that Bush wants a stagnant job market to "keep the help from getting uppity." He writes: "The transcendent economic issue this election year isn't the growth rate. It isn't the stock market. It isn't the budget deficit. And it isn't even the rate of unemployment. It's the number of people in this country who have decent work -- and the number who don't."

Tupelo Republican Wants to Block Gay Unions

The Clarion-Ledger is reporting: 'Saying gay marriage 'goes against everything society has ever stood for,' state Sen. Alan Nunnelee has filed a bill to ban the union under the state Constitution. Mississippi lawmakers must have all bills and constitutional amendments filed by Feb. 23. Nunnelee's bill calls for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Mississippi already bans marriage for same-sex couples and does not recognize homosexual marriages performed in other states, but Nunnelee, R-Tupelo, says the 1997 state law may not be enough in years to come.

Americans, Wall Street Shrug Off Mad Cow

Reuters reports:: Investor concerns that consumers would shun beef after last month's discovery of the first U.S. case of mad cow disease appear to have evaporated as shares of steakhouses and hamburger chains have snapped back to their previous levels.In the days following the Dec. 23 announcement, restaurant stocks fell hard on fears that meat from a cow with the deadly brain-wasting disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, had entered the food chain. Humans can contract a form of the disease known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease by eating infected beef."

Business lobbyists eye State of the Union

AP reports that lobbyists are campaigning for a Bush mention Tuesday night: "'You tell everybody you can think to tell' in the White House, said Dan Danner, lobbyist for the National Federation of Independent Business. 'You tell the speechwriters. You tell the congressional people. You tell the policy people. You tell the public liaison people and the economic shop.' Danner's issue is what the federation calls Association Health Plan legislation. It would allow small business organizations to provide insurance for members' workers. President Bush has endorsed the idea often, but not in the State of the Union, the annual showpiece of his administration. A reference in the roughly hourlong address Tuesday night would be a declaration that the president considers the plan a priority and would send the same message to lawmakers whose 2004 session got under way earlier in the day."

Creative Class War

Creative Class guru Richard Florida has a long, compelling piece on Alternet about political culture wars in the U.S. He writes: "The last 20 years has seen the rise of the 'culture wars' -- between those who value traditional virtues, and others drawn to new lifestyles and diversity of opinion. In truth, this clash mostly played out among intellectuals of the left and right; as sociologist Alan Wolfe has shown, most Americans manage a subtle balance between the two tendencies. Still, the cleavages exist, roughly paralleling the ideologies of the two political parties. And increasingly in the 1990s, they expressed themselves geographically, as more and more Americans chose to live in places that suited their culture and lifestyle preferences. ...

Taking Back Free Enterprise

Kevin Danaher and Jason Mark write on Alternet: "As it turns out, corporations operating in a deregulated environment do what is in the best interest of no one except the top corporate officials: government agencies and investors get lied to, pension funds lose billions, companies go bankrupt, thousands of workers lose their jobs, shareholders lose their investments, and faith in the system is shaken. Now we citizens must decide which definition of 'free enterprise' will prevail. Will it be 'the freedom of large corporations to go anywhere and do anything to people and planet' or will it be 'the freedom of everyone to be enterprising'?"

Mississippi House: Jan. 16, 2003 Weekly Recap

By Rep. Erik Fleming -- Haley Reeves Barbour's inauguration and first address to the citizens as Mississippi's 63rd governor and the announcement of committee assignments in the House of Representatives highlighted the second week of the 2004 Legislature.

New License Plate Supports the Arts

From the Mississippi Arts Commission: "House Bill 940 (legislative session 2003) authorized distinctive license tags for several organizations, including the Arts Commission. Our tag is now ready for pre-sale and we hope that you will consider supporting us with a purchase. The majority of money raised on each sale will help fund our Museum on Wheels initiative and other grant programs. To see the tag and obtain an application, visit our Web site, http://www.arts.state.ms.us Checks or money orders should be made payable to the Mississippi Arts Commission. After a pre-sale of 200, these tags will be produced and available in approximately six to eight weeks.

Reese: If not Jefferson Davis ... then Dean

In "A Year for Youth," conservative columnist Charley Reese writes: "When the voting age was lowered to 18, there was a great expectation that youth would flock to the polls. It's been an unfulfilled expectation. This year, however, could be the year of youth, if young people respond to Howard Dean's appeal to their idealism. Dean is telling people that the only way to beat the super-rich and their toady, George Bush, is for people who have turned their backs on politics to get involved. That most certainly includes the 18-to-24 set. Instead of inviting people to $2,000-a-plate fund-raisers, he asks people to send what they can afford, even if it's just $10.

1st black chairman of powerful panel

Andy Kanengiser of The Clarion Ledger writes: "He's finally landed the post. House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, selected (Percy) Watson as chairman of the powerful tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. McCoy previously led the panel. 'It's a very important assignment,' Watson, an attorney and the first black lawmaker to hold the post, said minutes after clerk Don Richardson read off the list of committee assignments."

Blacks unswayed by GOP social agenda

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting: "African-Americans often agree with Republicans on social issues: abortion, prayer in schools and --- most significant in this year's presidential race --- same-sex unions. But they vote for Democrats. Ninety percent of black voters supported Democrat Al Gore over George W. Bush four years ago. Those issues don't determine how blacks vote, said University of Maryland political scientist Ron Walters.

Will single women swing the ‘04 election?

Women eNews is reporting: "Are single women the soccer moms of 2004? That's what some national Democrats are betting on as they gear up for this year's presidential election. Democratic activists are basing their convictions on a study of unmarried women released late December that showed that single women are more progressive than the average voter but are less likely to vote in national elections. Democrats contend that if they could reverse that trend and persuade more single women to go to the polls on Election Day, they could tap into a goldmine of new supporters and tilt what is now regarded as a difficult race for the White House in their favor. 'If unmarried women voted at the same rate as married women, they would have a decisive impact on this election and could be the most important agents of change in modern politics,' said Stan Greenberg, a Democratic pollster who conducted the survey and chair of Washington-based Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research."

Minor and Stringfellow on Barbour's lack of diversity

Columnist Bill Minor writes: "Looking at the lineup of four white, male, mostly 60-something Barbour Administration appointees named last Friday, several to head socially-sensitive state agencies, two thoughts immediately came to mind:

Ellington