State Needs Real Transparency
Mississippi, we have a problem. Governmental bodies and agencies from right here in Jackson (city, JPS and JPD) all the way up through state (secretary of state's office) have a really bad habit of trying to hide public information from you the taxpayer, or at least delaying it.
[Stiggers] Hustle and Barter
"Thank you for keeping hope and my business alive in 2011."
[Letter to the Editor] Vol. 9, No. 20
Dear Sirs (really just Todd Stauffer),
Dear Sirs (really just Todd Stauffer), I should have written this letter while the last issue was still on the newsstands, but I had to summon the courage. As a frequent reader and left-of-left liberal, I was appalled to read in your Dec. 29 Publisher's Note "Common Sense in 2011" (Volume 9, Issue 16) the line in which you say President Obama's tax compromise is "probably good economic policy in the short term." I think my jaw actually dropped.
[Rhodes] Jackson: A Beloved Community
"The end is reconciliation, the end is redemption, the end is the creation of the beloved community." —Martin Luther King Jr.
The Secret is ... People
I thought about going back into the JFP archives to check and see how many of these publisher's notes in previous Best of Jackson issues I've started with, "You hold in your hands the largest-ever issue of the Jackson Free Press."
[Balko] Justice for Sal
Last week The Washington Post reported that Sal Culosi's parents have reached a $2 million settlement with Fairfax County, Va., police Detective Deval Bullock, who shot and killed the 38-year-old optometrist during a January 2006 SWAT raid on his home. The unusual settlement reflects the outrageous facts of this case, in which an unarmed man suspected of nothing more than betting on sports was recklessly gunned down during an unnecessarily violent operation.
[Kamikaze] Taking a Stand
I've always said if change were going to come in Jackson, it wouldn't come easy. I've known for years that some folks would have be dragged kicking and screaming into the new millennium. A "rebirth" isn't going to be pleasant. In fact, it's going to be painful for some.
The New American Myth
When I was 6 years old, the concept of zero made my brain hurt. "How can there be nothing?" I wailed in utter frustration. "Even when you take away all the apples and all the oranges, you still have the basket; you still have the air!"
Stand Up to Senate Scheme for Votes
The Mississippi Senate shamed our state Tuesday when it approved an Arizona-style anti-immigrant law that will require law enforcement to profile anyone they think could be an "illegal" immigrant and demand their papers.
[Stiggers] Le Swanky Steak Shack
"It's funny how a lot of people perpetrating disrespect toward ethnic minorities expect them to smile and be pleasant always. Those smiling and shuffling days are gone. Today, ethnic minorities are serious and intelligent enough to recognize the undertones of hatred and disrespect."
[Dennis] Defensive Reflex
Are we ready, yet, to have a serious and civil conversation about guns, violence, and hate?
[Balko] The Year in Clemency
It was a strange year for clemency, the often misunderstood and generally misused power that allows the president and governors to grant pardons (which overturn convictions) and commutations (which reduce sentences). The federal clemency power was meant to be a last check on injustices that might slip through the courts. But it is typically used for other purposes, mostly for political patronage or to confer a kind of government-sanctioned redemption on people who have atoned for their crimes.
[Collier] Single Black Female
For much of 2010, it seemed everyone from ABC to CNN to RT (formerly Russia Today, a worldwide English-speaking channel) were concerned about my single dating status. Well, not me, specifically, but black women in general.
The Color of Love
"You don't know who you are, holding that cracker's hand!" I heard a woman say as my husband and I walked down the street in San Diego. At first I didn't register what she said, and I didn't know if the words were directed at us.
Politicians: Tone Down the Rhetoric
The United States changed Saturday morning, Jan. 8, when an apparently mentally disturbed man took out his anti-government venom by trying to assassinate a U.S. congresswoman, and killing a little girl, a judge and other people's loved ones in the process.
[Stiggers] Random Stuff Happens
My advice to my fellow constituents is to stay ready and be secure, because random stuff happens in desperate times.
Put Up or Shut Up, Progressives
2011 is already promising to be a tumultuous year, particularly in Mississippi. Legislators have numerous crises to confront in this year, most of them rising from not having enough revenue to keep up with the rising operating costs of effective government.
[Balko] The System's Epic Fail
When the SWAT team came for Richard Paey in 1997, it battered down the front door of the home in Pasco County, Fla., where he lived with his wife, Linda, an optometrist, and their two children. Paey is a paraplegic who uses a wheelchair after a car accident and botched back surgery. He also suffers from multiple sclerosis. The cops were there because Paey was accused of distributing the medication he used to treat his chronic pain, even though there was no evidence he had sold or given away a single pill. Thanks to Florida's draconian drug laws and mandatory minimum sentences, he was eventually convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
The Hard Stuff
Evelyn Rasco believed in the power of story when no one else did. After her daughters, Jamie and Gladys Scott, went to prison for life for a 1993 robbery with details so confusing that no one really knows how much money was taken, Ms. Rasco did not give up.
Building A Future that Works
Beginning a brand-new clean calendar at the turn of the year provides all of us the perfect opportunity to take stock of the past and make changes for a better future, especially those things we may have been procrastinating about.
[Stiggers] Funky Finances
Miss Doodle Mae: "2010 proved to be a stable year for the staff and management of Jojo's Discount Dollar Store. Despite the recessive economy, loyal customers continued to spend their hard earned dollars at Jojo's. Also, the Ghetto Science Community Financial Stimulus Grant helped Jojo retain his staff and expand consumer goods and services. And he didn't give himself a pay raise, either."
[Kamikaze] A Fresh Start
2010 could be described as "the best of times and the worst of times" for the Franklin family and me. We always have high hopes and expectations, but sometimes life throws you a few curve balls. It's those surprise occurrences that test your mettle.
[Head] And the Good News Is…
The 2011 legislative session begins Jan. 4, and it's likely to be exceptionally loud, complicated and messy. Mississippi faces an unusual alignment of unfavorable omens: a budget crisis, a national climate favoring anti-immigrant sentiment, a contentious statewide election year and an inexplicably influential tea-party movement with which conservative elements in both parties have fallen madly in love.
Common Sense in 2011
Political junkies watched with some surprise as the lame-duck 2010 Congress passed a number of last-minute bills to bring the year to a close. Widely heralded as a week of "wins" for President Obama, the accomplishments are hopefully a bit of a harbinger of things to come.
End Mindless ‘Tough-on-Crime' Policies
A few weeks ago, the Jackson Free Press published a lengthy cover story exposing the mindless politics behind juvenile-justice policies that treat children as adults and end up turning many children into hardened adult criminals, increasing dangerous crime rather than making society safer.
[Stiggers] The Good Foot
Mr. Announcement: "Welcome to ‘Cooking with Fat Meat,' the culinary arts television show that adds a whole lot of flavor to your life. On today's show, Chef Fat Meat presents foods that might bring good fortune into the new year."
Homage to a Shirley Temple
"Don't go far. Mommy won't be long."
[Flynn] Kids Need Sports
It's not news that childhood obesity is a major problem in America. The problem is particularly bad in Mississippi. As recently as last June, our state led the nation in obese children, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in "F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2010."
[Balko] Conservatives Rethink 'Tough on Crime'
Last week I received an e-mail press release directing me to a new public-policy website. On that website, a quote from Reagan administration Attorney General Ed Meese says it's time to reconsider mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders.
Of Barbour and the ‘Uptown Klan'
It seems Haley Barbour went too far this time. In an interview with the conservative Weekly Standard, he downplayed the terror and racial caste system of his town and our state during the Civil Rights Movement.