[Sue Doh Nem] Waterboarding, Lies and Videotapes
Mr. Announcement: "This episode of 'All God's Churn Got Shoes' is about one man's junk becoming another man's treasure—or vice versa—as Brotha Hustle and Aunt Tee Tee stumble upon some interesting stuff belonging to the Government Intelligence Agency."
[Hightower] Facts For Action On Health Care
Widely reported fact No. 1: Our country faces a growing health-care crisis, which leaves 47 million Americans with no health insurance—an increase of 7 million people since the year 2000.
[Hutchinson] The Obama White House
A President Barack Obama will be the most scrutinized president since Abraham Lincoln. Ironically, the reason for this has less to do with race, though it will still play a role in how many view him. He's lifted public passions and expectations to the clouds with his soaring rhetoric about hope and change, and portrayed himself as the man who can repair the shambles of Bush's domestic and foreign policies.
Speak Free Or Die
On her last day here, Kawkab al-Thaibani left me a gift of a blue, brown and beige striped ceramic cat, from a little boutique in Clinton. I'm a cat magnet, but I'm not one for hokey cat gifts. This cat statue is perfect, though—with confident mod stripes and wide-open eyes, it looks a tad Picasso staring at me quizzically from the corner of my desk.
Chief: Re-Assign the Bodyguards
The events of Dec. 21 make plain what happens when you give power to the undeserving. Ward 7 Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon said Mayor Frank Melton and two of his bodyguards pulled up behind her car as she drove to work and blasted his police siren while riding her bumper.
[Sue Doh Nem] Costly and Confusing Techno World
Brother Hustle: "In my world history class at Ghetto Science Community College, I learned about Berlin, Germany, a city divided by a wall. The division happened because folks on the west side of town wanted a social-market economy, while the folks on the east side wanted a planned economy.
[Kamikaze] Can You Feel a Brand New Day?
Baby New Year has ushered Old Man 2007 out to pasture. As we begin to focus on a new beginning and resolutions that we will surely abandon before Valentine's Day, let us be thankful for making it through another year. But let us also resolve to make improvements in '08—personally, professionally and politically.
[Dortch] Legislature: Raise Cigarette Tax by $1
"Of all the concerns, there is one—taxation—that alarms us the most. While marketing and public and passive smoking restrictions do depress volume, in our experience taxation depresses it much more severely. Our concern for taxation is, therefore, central to our thinking. …"
Let's Talk About Sex, for Real
The times of neglecting to talk to kids about sex has ended. It used to be OK for adults to be silent about the issue. Good kids were just supposed to magically figure it out. The young women that didn't figure it out were quietly whisked away to "grandma's house," where they would eventually give birth to their babies and hand them off to "deserving" parents. They would return home, only to receive disapproving stares from their mothers every day for the rest of their lives. Not once, of course, did society think to blame those silent parents.
[Hutchinson] America Loves to Hate Sharpton
The FBI warned Al Sharpton that an unspecified, dangerous substance may have been mailed to his National Action Network office in New York. The only thing really remarkable about the warning was that it came from the FBI. For months, Sharpton has bitterly complained that he has been receiving a steady stream of hate mail and death threats, and has repeatedly told local law enforcement and the FBI about the threats. He questioned just how seriously they took them. This time the FBI apparently took the substance threat serious enough to warn him.
Melton, Resolve to Be Mayor
The recent dust-up over the Jackson Public School Board is yet another reminder that Mayor Frank Melton remains focused on petty political maneuvering at the expense of a business-like approach to city government. Citizens would like him to get about the business of running the city and stop his game-playing, personal vendettas, and financial servicing of his friends and family. The era of Melton treating this job as if he'd been elected court jester instead of mayor has got to come to an end this year.
[Sue Doh Nem] Straight in 2008
Mr. Announcement: "It's the Holiday Celebration Choir Cantata, sponsored by the Gripe, Moan and Complain Support Groups of America and the Let Me Hold Five Dollars National Bank. We close the cantata with selections from the GMC Community Choir and the LMHFD Third Shift Praise Team."
[Hightower] Letter to American Airlines
You frequent fliers will call me a fool for even thinking that I could reason with the CEO of a major airline. You're right—I couldn't even reach him.
[Al-Thaibani] Eye From The East
Growing impatient, her teacher walked down the hall to a first-grade classroom and requested me. I did not know what was going on. When the teacher asked me to read the word, the scene was clear. She wanted to show the girl that I, a first-grade student, could read the word that she, a third-grader, could not.
Shop Local and Support Jackson's Best
I find myself, every year, getting in a certain mood around the holiday season. Yes, there are fattening goodies in the JFP break room—every single day—which will hopefully also put me in the mood to hit the YMCA more often.
Spoon-feeding the FBI?
This week's City Council agenda contained an order confirming Mayor Frank Melton's appointment of Millsaps professor Bill Brister to the Jackson Public School Board of Trustees. If confirmed, Brister will replace board member Jonathan Larkin.
[Sue Doh Nem] Questions and Consequences Later
Kunta 'Rahsheed X' Toby: "Welcome to the Bootleg Underground Ghetto Independent Film Festival's 'Pitch a Film Idea' session. You have three minutes to pitch your film idea to me."
[Dickerson] A FedEx Christmas Story
Mackey Wright was on his way to Toys R Us on County Line Road, where he planned to shop for a Christmas present for his son, when he saw something in the road that didn't belong there—a FedEx package.
Protecting God's Green Acre
I didn't go to church Sunday, but I did recycle. It wasn't until after dark when Todd and I made our twice-weekly (thrice lately as we've been moving into a new place) foray to the alley behind the Rainbow Coop. We love doing this. We started and recycling years ago in Colorado Springs, where we would stop off at the microbrewery next to the recycle plant and get a refill of our "growler" of amber beer.
Crossing the 'T' In 'Melton
Sheriff Malcolm McMillin was confirmed this week in his new role as part-time chief of police for Jackson. From what we know of McMillin, we like him, and there is word already that morale may be improving in the Jackson Police Department as a result of his leadership. We hope that continues to be the case, and we'll monitor it to the best of our abilities.
[Sue Doh Nem] A Brainwashed State of Christmas
Nurse Tootie McBride: "This holiday season I want to provide encouragement for the hopeless, jobless, broke and stressed out individual who feels like ending this year with a bang or two. I want to reason with you for a moment. I hope that I'm able to relieve your troubled state of being.
[Kamikaze] Blame It On Hip-Hop ... Again
I ran across a column last week from Foxsports columnist Jason Whitlock. He had some interesting comments on the death of Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor.
[Hutchinson] Rising Latino Numbers, Rising Black Fears
Last month, a small but vocal group of black Los Angeles community activists turned up at City Hall to blast Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other Latino elected officials for their tight-lipped silence about the federal crackdown on terrorist Latino street gang, Florencia 13. The gang's arsenal of mayhem included murders, assaults and intimidation against blacks in South L.A. Though the protestors were few in number, many blacks privately cheered their finger pointing at Latino leaders for not speaking out.
D.I. Your Own Damn Self
One of my favorite responses to the Katrina crisis was a headline—from The Onion, I think—about a man who had decided to just drive a semi-trailer full of ice down to the Coast his own damn self, considering how poorly the Bush administration was responding to people in need.
Words Do Hurt
"Sticks and stones can break your bones, but words can never hurt you." Any child who's been the object of hateful, hurtful words knows down deep that it's a lie. Words can hurt, can damage, can, in fact, leave psychic scars that may never heal.
[Sue Doh Nem] A Financially Challenged Holiday
Brother Hustle (singing): "Ohhhhhhhhhh, the economy has become so frightening, while gasoline prices are steadily climbing. Crime, apathy and poverty plague the poor. I'll just hustle, hustle and hustle!
[Dickerson] Liberal or Conservative? The Home Test
I was talking to a friend the other day, and he asked me why Mississippians are always on the wrong side of every issue.
Crossing Neighborhood Lines
"There just isn't a sense of community here like there was back home," a Denver, Colo., transplant told me after moving to Jackson. In a city with almost three times the population of Jackson, residents there felt that city government and business owners had built up their cities to be inclusive of many people's needs. The lack of this trend in the city that I have called home for 21 years is becoming more and more clear as issues like crime and development become hot-topic items for discussion. Jackson has neighborhoods and associations that create community among a certain group of people, but the community of Jackson is vastly underserved and disjointed.
EDITORIAL: McMillin Needs a Chief, Not a Badge
This editorial appears in the print edition this week. The mayor has requested that Council schedule a time at a special meeting today at 4 p.m. to confirm Sheriff McMillin as police chief.
[Sue Doh Nem] Loving the Lie
Judy McBride: "Welcome to 'What's on Your Mind,' a Ghetto Science Television holiday special. Our topic: Pre-traumatic holiday depression of unemployed and financially challenged individuals. Join me, Judy McBride, Ghetto Science Team psychologist, as I delve into the mind of Mr. Philmo Jones, former urban professional and third-shift manager of the Suburban Y'all Mart.