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‘Mr. Washington Goes to Mississippi'
The Sunday New York Times Magazine is featuring Haley Barbour in a lengthy profile by Pulitzer nominee Nicholas Dawidoff. An excerpt: "While Barbour denies race-baiting, Winter says that Barbour's mention of the ticket is 'a nuanced racist message,' and Hodding Carter, president of the Knight Foundation and former editor of The Delta Democrat Times, says that Barbour's reference to liberals and tickets 'is simply code for n*gger-lover, integrationist, supporter of all the changes they've hated since 1964.' To Robert Haws, chairman of the history department at the University of Mississippi, the election has become a referendum on progress. 'If the subtle way Haley Barbour's using race is rejected by a Musgrove victory, then we may be into a genuine new era of Mississippi politics. I don't know why a middle-class white Mississippian would vote for Haley Barbour when he doesn't represent their interests at all, but race is still deep here.'" There's much more in the story.
Comic David Cross on voting and f*ckin' bumper stickers
Wiretap's Dan Hoyle interviews comic Dave Cross: "It's pretty galling that I know people will wait in line for a weekend to see a f*ckin' movie that's gonna be there for three months, but won't wait in line for 12 minutes to vote. If not for yourself, then for everyone else, it's truly one of the most selfish things you can do. Just the fact that you won't educate yourself on the issues. It's truly one of the most selfish things you can do. Especially because so many people have suffered to obtain that right, or obtain the idea of that right."
Punkvoter sez youth should vote in 2004
CNN reports that 'Punkvoter' founder (and NOFX lead singer) Mike Burkett is trying to unify the youth vote. "So many millions of people don't feel like their vote has any meaning," says Burkett. "There is no reason why younger people can't be a unified force."
Gore Endorses Dean
Former Vice President Al Gore endorsed Howard Dean for president today. AP reports: "Gore said Dean 'really is the only candidate who has been able to inspire at the grass--roots level all over the country.' He said the former Vermont governor also was the only Democratic candidate who made the correct judgment about the Iraq war. 'Our country has been weakened in its ability to fight the war against terror because of the catastrophic mistake the Bush administration made in taking us into war in Iraq,' Gore said."
Dean's Foreign Policy: I Am No George Bush
An interesting piece about Howard Dean and his foreign-policy ideas by John Tirman of the Social Science Research Council:
Democratic ‘Shadow' Groups Face Scrutiny
The Washington Post reports: "Leading campaign finance watchdog organizations as well as Republican activists intend to challenge the new 'shadow' Democratic Party -- a network of independent groups gearing up to spend as much as $300 million on voter mobilization and pro-Democratic TV ads. The organizations -- the Center for Responsive Politics, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 -- contend that the pro-Democratic groups are violating prohibitions on the use of corporate and labor money for partisan voter registration and mobilization drives. Trevor Potter, chairman of the Campaign Legal Center, said the groups have become 'the new soft money loophole. . . . This is the beginning of an important discussion about how these groups are going to operate.'" ... Harold Ickes, who runs the pro-Democratic Media Fund, contended the Republican and watchdog critics are "one, trying to tie us up; two, divert our attention; three, force us to spend money on legal fees rather than electoral activities; and four, to try to chill our contributors."
Musgrove's Economic Plan
October 5, 2003 -- (verbatim release) Today Governor Ronnie Musgrove proposed a detailed plan to keep Mississippi's economy moving forward. National unemployment has grown to a nine-year high, but we've seen 56,000 new jobs created in the last 3 years as a result of Governor Musgrove's tireless efforts to bring good jobs to Mississippi. According to the Bush Administration, Mississippi is one of only two states in the southeast to have seen a net growth in jobs last year. (Department of Housing and Urban Development for 2002-2003). MORE ...
‘The Harry Truman of our generation'
In a big endorsement, Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa has endorsed Howard Dean just days before the primary there, reports the Associated Press, "calling him the 'kind of plain-spoken Democrat we need' and giving a key boost to the embattled front-runner 10 days before the state's kick-off caucuses. ... In the interview, Harkin praised Dean's straightforward approach to campaigning, saying it brought a breath of fresh air to the campaign trail. He said the former Vermont governor is 'the Harry Truman of our generation. Howard Dean is really the kind of plain-spoken Democrat we need.'"
Lester Spell JFP Voter Questionnaire Posted
We have just posted a very complete candidate questionnaire we received from Commissioner of Agriculture Lester Spell, a Democrat, who is running against Republican Max Phillips. Mr. Phillips returned a substantive questionnaire before the primary, which is also posted. Please see both sets of answers on the JFP PoliticsBlog.
Bill Minor on the Democrats' Future
Bill Minor writes that Democrats didn't lose in the state as big as Republicans would like to pretend: "In the wake of the Republican mini-earthquake that hit the state Nov. 4, not just a few Democrats were wondering if their party can survive in Mississippi. That question arose after Kirk Fordice sent shock waves through Democrats in 1991, and some said it heralded a mass conversion to the state GOP in the 90s. It didn't happen. Republicans got a momentary uptick, but by the end of the decade, Mississippi Democrats, unlike those in several other Southern states, still had a decided majority in the Legislature and held virtually all state offices."
The Death of Horatio Alger
Paul Krugman writes aboutreading "a leftist rag that made outrageous claims about America. It said that we are becoming a society in which the poor tend to stay poor, no matter how hard they work; in which sons are much more likely to inherit the socioeconomic status of their father than they were a generation ago." That "rag," he says, is Business Week. "The article summarizes recent research showing that social mobility in the United States (which was never as high as legend had it) has declined considerably over the past few decades. If you put that research together with other research that shows a drastic increase in income and wealth inequality, you reach an uncomfortable conclusion: America looks more and more like a class-ridden society. And guess what? Our political leaders are doing everything they can to fortify class inequality, while denouncing anyone who complains -- or even points out what is happening -- as a practitioner of 'class warfare.'"
‘Is this the neo-con century?'
(Be afraid. Be very afraid.)
Michelle Goldberg reports in Salon: "Neoconservatives are very sensitive people. Even those who've attained stature and power are exquisitely attuned to insults hurled from obscure quarters of the left as well as the barbs of French foreign minister Dominique de Villepin. It's not only bombastic blogger Andrew Sullivan who trolls Web sites like Indymedia.org, hunting for evidence of moral relativism. No less a personage than Richard Perle, the neocon kingpin who sits on the Pentagon's Defense Advisory Board, bristled with irritation when mentioning Talking Points Memo, the blog of liberal Washington journalist Joshua Micah Marshall. To answer the criticism directed against his movement, Perle appeared with Marshall at a panel on Monday in Washington called 'Is the Neoconservative Moment Over?' Perle's answer: Not even close."
JFP Questionnaire posted for Justice Court candidate Nicki Martinson Boland
See her PoliticsBlog page to read full answers.
JUST IN: Voting Irregularities Reported
Secretary of State Eric Clark just faxed this letter to Attorney General Mike Moore and U.S. Attorneys Jim Greenlee and Dunn Lampton, warning of potential violations of election laws.
I Can Fix It
Attorney Wilson Carroll Wants to 'Fix' the D.A.'s Office
Wilson Carroll wants badly to be the next district attorney in Hinds County. As a result, the Harvard and Ole Miss graduate is going on the offensive against incumbent Faye Peterson. In a recent interview in a Phelps Dunbar conference room, private attorney Carroll blamed Peterson's three years in office for the backlog of cases—much of which she, indeed, inherited—in the Hinds County judicial system.
Alltell Arena Update Thursday and on WLEZ Wednesday
[Verbatim from Ben Allen of Downtown Jackson Partners] ARENA MEETING UPDATE
If you are receiving this email, you are one of 70 people confirmed for our Arena Meeting and Luncheon, Thursday October 2nd, at theTelCom Center. The time for lunch has been changed to 11:30 until 12:20. Representatives from the Governor's Office, the Senate, the House, the Council, the Board of Supervisors, MDA, JRA, the Mayor, Chamber, JCVB, DFA, UMMC, JSU, the City, Clarion Ledger, JFP, JPD, JPS, HCEDD, WAPT, CCCC, Arts Council, Mississippi Mainstreet, Mississippi Business Journal, Jackson Progressives and a host of citizens are pre-registered. The program will begin at 12:30 sharp. If you know of others who wish to come to the meeting at 12:30, please ask them to e-mail me at [e-mail missing]. Seating is limited. *The 11:30 until 12:20 "Deli Sandwich Buffet Luncheon" is filled.
JFP Food Blog Live! First-ever JFP Food Issue Is Out!
Today we launched our brand new food blog -- http://www.jfpfood.com -- and published our first-ever (!) food issue, dedicated to both cooking and dining (and a bit of drinking). It's a huge 52-page issue; hats off to ShaWanda for editing and assigning it; Kristin for great design; Ronni and Lacey for busting their butts editing it; and all the freelancers for such great work!
Open Foodies Thread: What are you eating these days? Cooking?
OK, all, now that we have our Food Blog revamped, it's time to start hearing from all of you foodies about what you're cooking and where you're eating. So tell us! (And remember you can use your Facebook log-in now if you'd like!) Bon appetit!
Going to Saigon Restaurant
A crazy fun video by Bobby Anderson. Hat-tip Anna Kline and David McCarty.
Southern and Healthy
No, "healthy southern" is not an oxymoron.