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Todd's New Book Is Out!

JFP Publisher Todd Stauffer's new book, "How to Do Everything with Your Web 2.0 Blog," is out! You can order the book online at Powell's and other outlets. It should also be in local bookstores anytime now.

It's Best Of Time Again!

Alrighty all you proud Jacksonians. It's time once more to vote for the Best of Jackson. The first 2008 ballot is scheduled to appear in next week's issue (Oct. 31) of the Jackson Free Press, which means this is your last chance to add your favorite category-we-forgot to the list.

My Story on Melton in Reason Magazine

Read the piece.

The libertarian Reason magazine today published a piece they asked me to write about Frank Melton and his shenanigans to date. Check it out here (note that a couple of factual things happened in editing, like saying that my ride-alongs were this year, instead of 2006. I've asked them to fix those things; let me see if anyone sees anything else.)

Going away party for John Lawrence and Melody McAnally

And hey, Memphis is just a bigger version of Jackson anyway, right?

John Lawrence was mentioned in the story last week about Jacktoberfest -- the "teach a man to fish" guy who was a driving force behind Jubilee!JAM and Jacktoberfest. He is leaving Downtown Partners and moving to Memphis along with Melody McAnally, and Hal and Mal's is hosting a going away party for them Thursday night from 5:30 until in the Brew Pub. It's a shame to lose people who have given so much of their time and talents to help rejuvenate downtown Jackson, but stop by and wish them well all the same!

Shame on Us

I literally shouted expletives at my TV yesterday morning as I drank my coffee and watched the morning news. In an appalling display of hypocrisy, first lady Laura Bush landed in Abu Dhabi to promote breast cancer awareness in the Middle East.

Ledger Publishes Old News on Michael Taylor

Oddly, The Clarion-Ledger today published a news story about Frank Melton's young friend, Michael Taylor, pointing out that new D.A. Robert Smith will have a conflict prosecuting him. This is really old news, folks. We've been telling everyone since before the election that Smith was going to have a conflict prosecuting Taylor, whom he had represented, and others. Also, it's not news that he is in the Hinds County Detention Center. I saw this story because this blog posting by Chris Joyner popped up in a Google news search on Melton: Where in the world is Michael Taylor?. My first thought was "in jail, of course; didn't they know that!?!" It's also intriguing that Chris doesn't mention that he is hawking the story by his own wife, Kathleen Baydala, which is fine but bears a mention.

Icky: ‘Heritage' Operative on Barbour's Staff

Just when you thought that the past was another half-mile behind us, something like this comes to light. The Associated Press reported:

ARTICLE: The Smoking Scourge Among Urban Blacks

Why do more than half of poor, young blacks smoke cigarettes, mainly Newport menthol cigarettes, and flavored cigarillos like Black and Mild, something I never heard of until I had to stock shelves at Wal-Mart over a decade ago?

With Due Respect, Mr. Agnew ...

It's hilarious that The Clarion-Ledger is trying to position itself in front of the FBI investigation of Frank Melton even though they have followed, if they even bothered to do that, for the last two and a half years. (And turned a blind eye for two decades before that.) After watching The Clarion-Ledger ignore, omit and gloss over the reality of Frank Melton for so long—even refusing to follow up on the Ridgeway story until after Adam Lynch broke it here—it's truly disgusting to watch Ronnie Agnew try to grab some morsels of credit for Melton possibly being indicted by a federal grand jury. From today's pathetic column by Agnew:

JacktoberFest Today: Bands, Beers and Brats

Jacktoberfest was conceived in the near-death experience of another Jackson music fest tradition: Jubilee!JAM. "It was in the wake of a JAM meeting, where the Board had voted to put the festival off for a year so that it could come back to Capitol Street," says Bryan Keller, co-coordinator and "holder of the e-mail address" for Jacktoberfest. John Lawrence, president of Downtown Jackson Partners, lamented Jackson's lack of an Oktoberfest, and a group of JAM board members decided to do something about that unacceptable state of affairs.

Does This Make Sense?

The Clarion-Ledger has a story about D.A.-elect Robert Smith not showing up for a docket call and needing to resolve his pending cases before he takes office in January. The Ledger states:

Little Big Store picnic this Sunday, Oct. 21

The Little Big Store's monthly backyard picnic is this Sunday, October 21. All ages, free, bring your own food/pets/kids. These are cool, unique opportunities to get the family out of the house for some good music, and you might take some music home with you too. This Sunday, Braden Land and Mark Huff will perform. It starts at 1pm, so you churchgoers shouldn't have a problem getting out to Raymond.

Wake Up Jackson meeting this Thursday, October 18, at 6:00 PM

The meeting will be at the ACLU Mississippi office at 964 N. Jefferson Street, which is next to Fenian's Pub.

VIDEO: Bob Ross - Why I Don't Paint People

This YouTube tribute to Bob Ross captures the essence of who he was as an artist and a person.

Libertarian Magazine Probes State Medical Examiner

Over the last week, an investigative story in Reason magazine by Radley Balko probing Mississippi medical examiner Steven Hayne has attracted national attention, even drawing an editorial in the Wall Street Journal. The Reason piece, "CSI Mississippi," starts:

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