Jackblog

Watch for Fraudulent E-mails

Folks, the trolls are up to it again. There is a round of e-mails going around to people who post here made to look like they come from people at the JFP. They don't. (Funny how this happens everytime I write a column about race.) Forward them to us if you want, and we can send them on to the authorities who we've reported this fraud to in the past and who have asked us to report them. Thanks, all, and sorry for the inconvenience.

Snow

The last significant snowfall I recall was New Year's Day, 2001. I remember it well because I was at church on New Year's Eve when the snow started, and it had accumulated quite a bit by the time service was over. Thankfully, I kept a can of de-icer in my trunk at all times, and I even loaned it to someone who didn't have an ice scraper. I crept my way home, unable to see the lines in the street. Despite a traffic jam due to an accident or something, I managed to get home within an hour.

MIT Prof Takes on Real Iraqi War Death Toll

Is it a "right-wing conspiracy"? John Tirman, executive director of MIT's Center for International Studies, thinks so. Get his take on Alternet.

The Choice: Clinton and Obama Running for Different Reasons?

George Packer has a http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/01/28/080128fa_fact_packer ]compelling essay in The New Yorker this week about the motivations behind Obama and Clinton's run for the White House. It ends:

Sundance Day 4: Hindsight is 20/20

So yesterday I got to ride a ski mobile down a big hill. Well, technically, I rode a stretcher behind a ski mobile, but hey, semantics…

Sundance Day 3: Ballast Premiers

Yesterday's premier generated Sundance buzz. Bloggers are comparing Ballast to the lyrical films of Terrence Malick and David Gordon Green, and the all-important Hollywood Reporter and Variety have given beaming reviews. Like Malick's work, Ballast is deliberately and poignantly shot. Like Green's work, the movie is carried by a leaden sense of place. But this time, we recognize the place—Canton Square in Christmas-glow, winter sky over barren fields, Delta rain collecting in corduroy rows...

Other Cards in the Deck

Much has been made about whether Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama played "the race card" in a series of press-filtered exchanges that included an]http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/us/politics/15dems.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=clinton+king&oref=slogin]an analogy to Martin Luther King, Jr. and former President Lyndon B. Johnson. During MSNBC's Las Vegas debate on Tuesday–which, interestingly enough, was supposed to focus on Black and Brown issues–hosts Tim Russert and Brian Williams spent substantial air time pressing Obama and Clinton on a supposed "race war." John Edwards–whose media attention managed to diminish even further as the press salivated over the no-holds-barred]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/17/stewart-blasts-media-cove_n_82021.html]no-holds-barred race bout–was finally invited to weigh in:

Sundance Day 2: Which is really all about Slamdance…

It's 8pm and I am already exhausted. For one thing, it takes a ridiculous amount of energy just to stay warm. The high today hovered at 20 degrees, and the low landed somewhere around 1 degree. At any given time, I sport four layers.

Sundance Day 1: Travel Lite

After a full day of airports (and a cozy airplane ride with a blanket named Bunky and the shrillest baby I've ever met—he's lucky he can flash that cherubic four-toothed grin!), here I am in Park City, Utah, where even grocery stores look like ski lodges. It's been snowing since we rolled into town around 8pm, just in time to layer up and stroll down twinkle-twinkle-little Main Street for the Slamdance Opening Reception at a local fave, the Star Bar.

U.S. Abortions at Lowest Rate Since 1974

The Associated Press is reporting on a new study that shows that abortions in the U.S. are way down:

The number of abortions in the United States dropped to 1.2 million in 2005, the lowest level since 1974 and down 25 percent from the all-time high of 1.6 million in 1990, according to report issued Thursday.

Ledger: DeLaughter E-mailed Proposed Order to Peters

Just in from Jerry Mitchell at The Clarion-Ledger; unclear who "Mills" is supposed to be, though:

no poo for you?

A few weeks ago, I embarked on a daring experiment. After reading about the damage that standard-issue hair products can do to your hair, I decided to go without 'poo.

No Mention of Peters in Ledger Editorial?

OK, this is weird. The Clarion-Ledger's Jerry Mitchell reports that Ed Peters may have taken a million-dollar bribe from the Scruggs clan to get Judge Bobby DeLaughter to rule in their favor. Then, today, the Ledger writes a predictable deer-in-the-headlights editorial about how all this mess means that "the state's system begs reform." (Not mentioning had badly our "watchdog" press needs to reform.) The editorial re-states the basic facts so far, starting with an incoherent lead section:

Former Hinds D.A. Ed Peters Accused of $1M Bribe

The Scruggs scandal is hitting closer and closer to Hinds County. In a story about Booneville attorney Joey Langston pleading guilty to corruption charges, The Clarion-Ledger buried explosive accusations, made in court documents, that Ed Peters—who has worked closely with Tim Balducci—is accused of taking a million-dollar bribe to influence his former assistant district attorney, now-Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby Delaughter:

Clutter: Bad for Your Health?

The New York Times has a piece that links health issues, including weight problems, to disorganization and clutter:

The Associated Press is reporting on a new study that shows that abortions in the U.S. are way down:

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